GameProWorld has posted a brief preview of MDK2, BioWare's sequel to MDK, along with a bunch of new screenshots. MDK, as everyone knows, stands for My Darling Klementine.

Also online at GameProWorld is a new gallery of Evolva, featuring an even dozen screenshots from the action/strategy game that will see you dipping your toes in the gene pool.

As promised, Dynamix has released version 1.10 patches for Starsiege: TRIBES. Here are local copies with a few mirrors of the patch to upgrade version 1.0, the patch to upgrade version 1.9, and, for those who already have the Map Updates installed, even the patch to upgrade version 1.9.1. Thanks Ryan Stotts (who must have been watching Sierra's ftp server like a hawk). Here is the list of changes for this version:

- Fixed a health kit bug/cheat issue.
- Fixed armor/damage level bug.
- Fixed a server crash bug issue.
- Fixed OpenGL "black bug" with new maps.

InciteGames has posted a bunch of new screenshots from Raven's Quake III Arena engine title Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. The shots show off a few different areas, and even a borg or three. Update: the same eight shots, and seven more, are available on GameProWorld.

There is a new preview of Ground Control on Gamecenter, consisting of a short interview with Massive Entertainment lead designer Martin Walfisz, and seven new screenshots of their 3D real-time strategy title.

GameRush has posted ten new screenshots from Digial Anvil's Starlancer, roughly half of which are in-game, and half of which are from the game's pre-rendered CGI.

chUmbaLum sOft has released a new version of their low-polycount 3D modeller MilkShape 3D, which offers static, experimental Quake III Arena support (meaning, it doesn't support tags or animations as of yet). Thanks to Pheral for the tip.

InciteGames has posted some new screenshots from an early build of Soulbringer, a new RPG in development at Gremlin. There are seven in-game shots, as well as two from the pre-rendered CGI sequences.

This week's slew of 3D RTS site openings (story and story) continues, as Activision has recently unveiled its official Star Trek Armada site, featuring information, screenshots and the first short movie trailer of their upcoming Trekkie RTS (thanks GamesMania). The kick-off feature is a look at the Romulan Star Empire's fleet and their special weapons.

AVault has posted some preliminary information and conceptual renders from Dreamland, a new tactical combat game for the PC and Playstation 2 from the creators of X-COM. It should be stressed that the images, while impressive, are not in game, but conceptual renders.

As further proof that the game is in its final stage of development, Unreal Universe has posted a status update from Deus Ex designer Bob White, who says just that, as well as some details on the QA team that's working on the game.

HalfLife.net has posted an interview with Brian Martel, former 3D Realms and Rebel Boat Rocker employee, and currently at Gearbox Software where he worked on their Half-Life mission pack Opposing Force. The interview focuses mainly on his texture work, but he also comments on other games and trends in the industry.

Westwood has posted the official FAQ for their isometric action game Nox (thanks Noxious.net). The FAQ contains various questions about the game, from the different character classes and the game's deathmatch style of multiplayer to some technical issues as well.

Eurogamer.net has posted a preview of ION Storm's Deus Ex, which is based on a demonstration they were given by the game's lead designer, Warren Spector. The preview features some new images, as well as quotes from Spector himself about the game.

Recently re-opened EliteForce.Net has posted an interview with Chris Foster, Raven's lead designer of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Conducted over IRC, the talk has a freely roaming nature, but it does cover a fair amount of info on the game.

If (like myself) you're wondering if upgrading to Windows 2000 is right for you, check out ZDNet's massive Windows 2000 special which features all kinds of useful stuff, including a list of compatible hardware and software, as well as a comprehensive guide to the new OS, and even downloads to help you beef it up once it's released (on February 17th).

Dear lord, it's another on-time edition of the Mail Bag. In this week's 'bag: the mysterious power of Blue, the closing of the Ultima IX boards, a beef one reader has with Devil's Bridge, an open letter to 3D Realms, and were Soldier of Fortune and SiN switched at birth? Head over and take a read.

E-tailer Checkout.com has posted an interview with Peter Molyneux, the creator of the classic Populous, and who is currently working on his latest "god game" Black & White. The interview covers his whole career, including questions about the released-too-early title Powermonger, and even the classic Magic Carpet (and of course, questions about Black & White). Thanks love ME for the tip.

AVault has posted a special on the Blair Witch Project games in development from the Gathering of Developers, which features all kinds of good stuff. There's an article examining the trilogy of games, which features quotes from the developers, the publishers, and even the producers of the movie. They've also posted a new interview with Jeff Mills, a producer at Terminal Reality, and if that's not enough, they've scored some new concept artwork as well.

GA-Strategy interviews The Rift is a talk with TrushWave's lead developer James Thrush about their space-based RTS, for which a playable demo should be released on February 9. A tenner of new screenshots is included as well.

GameSpot UK has posted a detailed preview of Shogun: Total War, the upcoming 3D real-time strategy game by Creative Assembly and Electronic Arts, illustrating their hands-on encounter with an alpha build by a set of new screenshots.

Diamond's Underground site has posted all kinds of stuff for owners of S3 cards and Quake III Arena. There are a whole bunch of new S3TC textures available for download, as well as a handful of new levels available (which presumably use the S3TC textures, although it doesn't specifically say so), and they've even got a page up with tips for level designers (thanks Voodoo Extreme for the tipoff).

Deus Ex Incarnate has posted some screen grabs from a Deus Ex movie on the March 2000 Incite Magazine CD. Because they're shots of a movie, and not actually from the game, the quality is a little questionable, but they do show off some previously unseen (or rarely seen anyway) areas of the game, including the augmentation interface, a sniper shot, the appearance screen, and even some good ol' fashioned crate bashing.

Voodoo Extreme has posted three screenshots from BioWare's upcoming third person action title MDK 2. MDK, as everyone knows, stands for More Danish Kabobs.

A new version of QuakeWorld Forever, an encrypted client/server build of the QuakeWorld source code (making it nigh-impossible to cheat) has been released. Along with this new release, the developers have also completely released the source code according to the GPL under which the Quake source code was released.

Tim Sweeney updated the Unreal Technology page with some kind words for the latest Unreal engine licensee (story) as well as an update on the state of the Playstation 2 version of Unreal Tournament. According to Tim, the engine is running on the hardware in bare bones form, and he says, that he's "thrilled with the Playstaton 2" and that "consoles will be a big priority for Epic from this point forward."

GameSpot UK has posted a preview of Daikatana 64, the Nintendo 64 port of ION Storm's Daikatana. The preview is based on a playable build of the game, and they've posted nine new screenshots and two new movies in addition to a detailed critique of the game.

Building a starship, Part 1 is how Computer Games Online kick off their preview of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, the Q3A-engine powered action game currently under construction at Raven. Construction is literally the angle chosen for this article, as it describes the efforts taken, and changes made, to convert the Voyager TV sets into a playable game world, and a number of side-by-side screenshots (including the first in-game image of Seven of Nine) illustrate this. The preview then moves to look at the game itself, which is described like this:

Over the course of our visit we had a chance to take a close look at how far Voyager: Elite Force has come since we saw it at the Electronic Entertainment Expo last year. The game is still a ways from being finished, but Pelletier feels confident that the team is still on target for a spring release. There were a number of levels in a semi-complete state—some merely empty environments, others with AI characters and some scripted events in place. The team also had one mission to show that was effectively content-complete, a rescue mission that takes place aboard a Borg Cube.

Gamers Central has posted a new movie of Killer Tank, showing off three and a half minutes of gameplay from this tank action game by Russian developers ElectroTECH. The movie is also available on the official site, but in the less convenient format of 11 small downloads.

• GT Interactive has opened their official site for Imperium Galactica II: Alliances, providing info and some screenshots on the space-based RTS being developed by Digital Reality.
• A Talent For War has word of several updates to the Conquest: Frontier Wars site, where a new developer's journal, a new team bio, and four pieces of concept art were posted for Digital Anvil's entry in the space-based RTS arena.
• PC Zone UK has posted four new screenshots of Command & Conquer: Firestorm, the upcoming expansion pack to Westwood's Tiberian Sun.

A new version of the System Shock 2 FAQ and walkthrough is up on GameFAQs, adding more tips for survival on deck 4, as well as various other changes.

Surreal-News.com has posted a huge list of changes planned for the upcoming version 445 patch for Drakan: Order of the Flame. In addition to general changes, like the removal of the CD check, there will be several multiplayer enhancements to Surreal's third-person dragon-riding action game, including new server administration options, teamplay changes, and new multiplayer design/gameplay features included for the editing community. They also have quoted a messageboard post from Stu at Surreal describing the pieces already in place that could be used by an intrepid mod author to create a form of persistent online multiplayer universe.

• Thresh's FiringSquad's Bitboys interview talks with the Bitboys Chief Graphics Architect Petri Nordlund and their new President and CEO, Shane Long about their Glaze3D accelerators, among other things touching on the delay from the initial expectation that they have produced their first silicon by now.
• The Oxygen Tank's Voodoo3 Tweaking for Quake III Arena.
• ASUS V6600 Deluxe (SGRAM) video card is reviewed on CTNews.
• 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 is reviewed on Tweak3D.net.
• Diamond Multimedia Monster Sound MX400 sound card is reviewed on GA-Source.
• Soyo SY-6VBA133 VIA PC133 motherboard is reviewed on BXBoards.
• Super Duper Slot Fan is reviewed on PCstats.
• Iwill Slocket II adapter is reviewed on Extreme Hardware.

The Wyrm news page has the debut release of Wyrm 3, the Quake III Arena version of Wyrm 2 (for Quake II), which is a teamplay modification that features roll-your-own classes. The mod supports up to 32 user-made classes, and offers class support for bots as well as players.

The newly-relocated Beryllium website has a new version 0.99B of this Quake III Arena mod that offers a highly configurable set of options to create a custom server much in the vein of the Lithium II mod for Quake II (each mod also taking its name from the Periodic Table of the Elements, if not Uncle Duke's medicine cabinet). The new version features a new Micromod system, said to be able to get your custom server up and running in minutes.

A new version 1.2 of Merc's Q3A TeamMod is now available. The new release adds a ton of changes and fixes, including a boatload of new variables. A full rundown on the new features and changes are listed here.

The Black Knight Productions page has the first beta release of their Prisoners of War (PoW), a teamplay mod for Quake III Arena, along with info on a beta server where the mod is running. Thanks Ryan Stotts.

A new version 2.0 of the Servarena Quake III Arena dedicated server launcher is now available, described as the final version of Servarena 2.0. Thanks Killjoy. The changes in the new release are significant enough that there is only a full installer, and rather than a patch for users of version 1.x, they have the suggestion that you uninstall your previous version before using the full 2.0 installer.

Borderfield Software has released the debut version 0.1 beta of their Q3A Shader Editor, Q3ASE, which provides a real-time preview of your texture effects in an OpenGL accelerated window. There are still some rough edges, and the opening of existing shaders is not yet supported. Speaking of Shaders, id Software's Shader manual, detailing the secrets of this mystic art, has been converted to HTML format from the original Word document. gXp interviews g1zm0 talking with the author of the Japanese Castles map for "Beben 3 Arena," the euphemism they must use for Q3A since they are based in Germany, where the game is "Indexed."

Another follow-up, today's is regarding the new version 1.1 of Reload Be Gone for Quake III Arena on Quakeheads.Com reported yesterday (story). Word from the authors is that the new version ads extra ammo to the weapons with an increased firing rate making the caution from the Quakeheads we passed along about being conservative with your fire unnecessary, the Tony Montanas among you will be pleased to note.

The Razer CPL Event website has word that registration for this upcoming $100,000 tournament has been delayed "because of heavy loads that caused a third party registration software to fail." Registration is now expected to open on Monday, February 7 at 5:00 PM EST (4:00 CST).

Crossroads' Design Your UO2 Contest offers three winners prizes straight from Origin for the best suggestions for things to include in Ultima Online 2, the upcoming sequel to their massive multiplayer RPG. While the Origin folks will be assisting in the judging, winning does not guarantee your ideas will definitely make it into the game. Also, are you proud of your pocket protector? Geek and Guru is holding a competition to find "Who Is The Sexiest Geek Alive?"

• A4Tech 4D+ WWW-11 mouse on Overclockers Australia.
• Age of Empires II: Age of Kings on AMPGO.
• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on Games Domain Review and Electric Playground.
• Codename Eagle on EuroGamer.
• Descent 3: Mercenary on Games Domain Review.
• Hangsim on GameSpot.
• Jane's F/A-18 on GamePower.
• Mortyr on Thresh's Firingsquad and Computer Games Online.
• Quake III Arena on AMPGO.
• Quake III Arena versus Unreal Tournament on GameCritics.
• Soldier of Fortune Demo on Maximum3D.
• South Park: Chef's Luv Shack on Game Revolution.
• South Park Rally on PCGamers.net and Game Over.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on GameLinks.
• System Shock 2 on AMPGO.
• The Sims on Games Domain Review.
• Tread Marks on Computer Games Online.
• Wheel of Time on Insane Gamers.

• Epic Programmer Steve Polge replied to a thread called Epic Can you fix the Unreal I Monster AI so that they will attack Bots on the GT Forum saying "It will be fixed in the next patch...coming soon." Thanks devilbunny...
• Sgt. Hulk sends word that TeamEvolve's Zaero mission pack for Quake II is now available at Sgt Hulka's Web Store for $9.95...
• BennyBoy's Clan List has been newly relocated and redesigned, now supporting various forms of QW, Q2, Q3A, UT, HL and TRIBES, featuring "just under 500 registered clans in the UK & Ireland." Also, there's a new Q3Center Player and Clan Listing for Quake III Arena...
• Like the sands of time through an hourglass, another Diablo II screenshot of the week is up, as is the new D2 cinematic shot of the week...

Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?), when we traditionally attempt to gauge how much winter remains based on whether a groundhog sees his shadow...

Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?), when we traditionally attempt to gauge how much winter...

Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?)...

Tomorrow is Groundhog day...

Tomorrow...

Link of the Day: MrMethane, "the world's only performing flatulist." Thanks Lars.
Story of the Day: UK Man dies in crucifix race. "The seven-mile race...in memory of the 'orginal (sic) tough guy' Jesus Christ...has drawn criticism from church leaders who say it is disrespectful..." The victim died after treatment at New Cross hospital.
Image of the Day: Rorshach's Comedian movie poster on Tritin Films.

The second preview of Evolva today has been posted at Future Gamer, who take a brief hands-on look at Computer Artworks' action/strategy game in their typical Q&A format, along with a set of new screenshots.

A new postmortem article on Gamasutra examines Spec Ops: Rangers Lead the Way, Zombie's action game that more or less initiated the soldier-sim genre. In the article, which is a reprint of the June 1998 issue of Game Developer, lead programmer Wyeth Ridgway discusses in fair detail the features of the Viper engine created for Spec Ops, and takes a balance on what went right and wrong in the game's development.

InciteGames has posted a brief preview of Digital Anvil's Starlancer, featuring a few new shots from the game (although one of them appeared earlier today in another preview). Starlancer is a space opera that's being called "a prequel" to Digital Anvil's other title Freelancer, despite the fact that of the two, Starlancer will be shipping first.

GamesMania has posted a brief preview of Rogue Spear: Urban Operations, the upcoming expansion pack to Red Storm's tactical squad action game. Although short, the article does feature five new screenshots from the various missions under construction.

German gaming site Gamesurf.De has received six new high-res screenshots of RUNE, revealing more scenes from Human Head's upcoming third-person Viking bash. A piece of concept art is included as well.

InciteGames has posted the first handful of images from Terminal Reality's upcoming Nocturne engine based Blair Witch Project game, as well as word that all three games (the other two are being made by Human Head and Ritual Entertainment) will be using the same engine. The images show some concept artwork of the various monsters we can expect to see in the game, as well as the first in-game shot.

As reflected in Jason Hall's .plan, Black Isle Studios (makers of the RPGs Baldur's Gate and Fallout in addition to others) have licensed Monolith's LithTech Engine to make "the next generation of role playing games." Here's the press release, with all the vague details:

(Kirkland, Wa February 1, 2000) LithTech Inc. today announced they will license the powerful LithTech Engine to Black Isle Studios, the role playing game (RPG) division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: IPLY). The LithTech Engine functions as a complete 3D game operating system that allows game developers to quickly and easily design, develop and focus on content without reinventing technology from scratch each time a new project begins.

“The Black Isle name is synonymous with quality RPG games,” comments Jason Hall, CEO of LithTech Inc. “The versatility of the LithTech Engine will allow the team to create the most dynamic, graphically beautiful game possible. We can’t wait to see the end results.”

The LithTech Engine, the technology behind Shogo: M.A.D. and upcoming Monolith games Sanity and No One Lives Forever, allows for a full range of cutting edge graphic effects, from spectacular lighting to highly detailed character models. The engine also allows designers to create breath-taking outdoor areas from magnificent mountain ranges to sprawling cities.

“In researching all the available 3D Engine technology out there, we were very impressed with both the support and advanced feature set of the LithTech engine. It is an engine that will definitely help Black Isle create the incredible worlds we are known for,” said Feargus Urquhart, Division director for Black Isle Studios.

The Mortyr Editing Site has posted a skin editor for Mortyr, allowing you to make your own custom player skins (thanks Morytr.net who also have the file posted locally).

According to this story on ZDNet, Microsoft's next consumer OS upgrade, formerly known as Windows Millennium, has been renamed Windows Millennium Edition, or simply "Windows Me." The upgrade is expected to go into its third beta phase within the next few weeks, and is another incremental update to the Windows 98 codebase. This news comes after a confusing few weeks where Microsoft's consumer OS plans have been continually changed, with the reworking of their project formerly known as "Neptune" which is now called "Whistler" and will be the first consumer OS based on the NT kernel.

A new preview of Earth 2150 is up on GameSpot UK, featuring 33 new screenshots from this 3D real time strategy game from TopWare/Mattel Interactive.

A new edition of the Soldier of Fortune designer diary is online at SoFCenter, with Raven's Eric Biessman looking back at the demo release and the responses it got, and commenting on a few issues they have addressed for the final release of the game. One such issue is the inclusion of several default configs, to cater for different player's tastes in their use of mouse and keyboard.

Unreal Center has posted an interview with Human Head programmer Chris Rhinehart, talking to him about Rune, their upcoming third person Unreal engine game of drunken pillaging. Chris discusses some general info about the game, as well as how they're handling the camera, and why they decided on making a third person title.

Despite the author's claim that the previous version would be the last one, a new version of the Jumbot for Half-Life has been released. This new version has some major changes, including new area favoritism code, improved enemy hunting, and lots more. Check it out at the official Jumbot site.

Two new sites for upcoming 3D real-time strategy games have opened their doors for your perusal (thanks AVault). First up is the Star Wars: Force Commander preview site, offering preliminary information and a few screenshots of LucasArts and Ronin's new title. Also online is the Earth 2150 website, a full-featured affair showing off TopWare and Mattel's entry into the 3D RTS arena, including info and screenshots of the three races in the game, and a new movie trailer.

He Finds Open Source Fair Game is the name of an article on Wired News that chronicles the history of Loki Software, a company started by Scott Draeker that's responsible for many of the recent commercial game releases on Linux. Amongst the games Loki has published are Quake III Arena (via a unique arrangement with id), Heavy Gear II, and Civilization: Call to Power. Loki is currently showcasing Heavy Gear II as well as a new open source MPEG library with hardware acceleration on ATI Rage 128 cards at the LinuxWorld Expo.

GA-RPG has posted a Q&A with Trent Oster, the producer of BioWare's Neverwinter Nights. The questions deal primarily with the game's multiplayer, with Trent explaining how the game is different from other online RPGs (like EverQuest and Asheron's Call) and explaining how it will work without an online service.

Gold Creek Technology has announced Second Genesis, a new RPG based on the Unreal engine. One name associated with the game should be familiar: Paul Schuytema is the chief creative officer for the company (before his work with Gold Creek he was the lead designer on Prey at 3D Realms). Here's a description of the game, which is set for release in 2001:

Second Genesis is a science-fiction adventure game that transports players to alien worlds populated with many different races and cultures. Taking on the role of a mercenary soldier, fighter, pimp, or even a good Samaritan, players embark on quests while exploring environments and flying through space. Gamers learn and execute a variety of martial art offensive and defensive techniques in addition to traditional weapons use while controlling a dynamic inventory and weapons system. As the player progresses through the single player game, they will encounter several gladiator or arena matches for multiplayer action.

The demos from the XSReality Invitational Quake III Arena tournament have been posted for download. Every demo from the event is up, from the first round to the finals, and even the Clan 9 vs. NPk match.

IGNPC has posted a lengthy interview with Scott Krager, producer of the first game based on the Evil Dead movies, entitled Evil Dead: Ashes 2 Ashes (story). The talk covers the inception of the project, the involvement of Sam Raimi ("mainly from more of an approval standpoint") and Bruce Campbell ("end up being the most involved in the end"), the influences of horror movies on games, and the stage of the game's development, which takes place at Heavy Iron Studios and THQ. Here is how the discussion kicks off:

IGNPC: First of all can you summarize the plot of the game for us, as much as you can?

Scott Krager: The game takes place eight years after the events of the last movie. Essentially, Ash goes back to the cabin in the woods, and again encounters the evil left behind from the Necronomicon. From there he sort of has a new adventure, where he basically has to save his girlfriend, and that's about all we're kind of giving away at this point.

Also online at PC.IGN.com are half a dozen new screenshots of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - the Fallen, the third-person action game by The Collective and Simon & Schuster that was recently pushed back to an August release.

There is a modest gallery of new Starlancer screenshots up at GameSpot UK, the space-combat sim in development by Warthog and Digital Anvil, which they say should be ready for take-off in late April.

Third time's a charm, as PC.IGN.com has also updated their Evolva preview with new info on the upcoming 3D action/strategy title by Computer Artworks, based on their experiences with a recent beta. A bunch of new screenshots are included.

There are a few tutorials on making Quake III Arena mods on quakeheads.com. Also, the first FvF World Q3A Modeling Tutorial is online, showing how to make like Samuel Colt and build your own weapon, albeit with 3D Studio Max instead of steel.

There are four new screenshots from The rift on TeleFragged and ten more on Gamers Central showing off more of this upcoming space RTS from ThrushWave Technology. A preview demo of The Rift is expected on February 9.

Gameplay.com's Longbow Digital Arts... in the family way is a profile of the folks behind Tread Marks. The Q&A introduces us to the four members of the McNally family, a pair of brothers along with their dad and mom(!), the team entirely responsible for this just-released tank racing/combat game.

• The S3 Beta Software Library has a new version 8.10.33 Windows95/98 display driver for Savage4-based accelerators. Thanks Ryan Stotts.
• This German ASUS FTP directory has a new version 1.26 BIOS that AMDZone says "does look like it is beta, so try it at your own risk."
• Linux Games' Linux vs. Windows uses Quake III Arena and a Voodoo3 to try and compare cross-OS performance.
• Chips embark on road to 20 gigahertz (cnet). Thanks Haakon Larsen.
• Cole 3D: GeForce Overclocking.
• 3D GameForce: How to Install A Temperature Monitor 101.
• TECH-REVIEW.com's Weekly CPU Price Chart has been updated.
• ASUS V6600 Deluxe video card is reviewed on RIVA 3D.
• Creative Labs GeForce Pro video card is reviewed on Overclockers Australia.
• Guillemot 3D Prophet SDR video card is reviewed on Riva Extreme.
• Gigabyte GA-MG400 (Matrox G400) video card is reviewed on Sharky Extreme.
• 3Com Gaming Modem is reviewed on Gamers Depot.
• Asus K7M motherboard is reviewed on The Tech Zone.
• Aopen AX6BC Pro II motherboard is reviewed on Gamers Depot.
• 3dfxCOOL Alpha 7HO-FAN CPU cooler is reviewed on SystemLogic.
• GlobalWin FKK50 CPU cooler is reviewed on HipHardware.com.

A new version of Reload Be Gone (RBG) for Quake III Arena is now available on Quakeheads.Com. The mod alters the properties of some of the weapons (for instance, the machine gun no longer has any "spread," and the gauntlet is much more powerful), and to live up to its name, increases the rate of fire for every weapon in the game (though the name does belie the fact that ammo is still limited, hence a warning to be conservative with your fire).

Seems the UT Jailbreak release mentioned yesterday (story) was a work-in-progress version not really intended for widespread release. Dave 'anarchy' Dynerman sends word that the beta was designed so that mappers could test their maps, and to get gameplay feedback from "the few JB nuts out there" to help fix "several glaring errors that make the mod look very unprofessional." Since our post resulted in quite a few downloads, they want to make it clear that "although .5 may seem rough around the edges right now, we can assure you it will be a product of the utmost professionalism when completed. Please don't draw conclusions from this early beta!"

Star Trek Armada - The Chosen Ones has the list announcing the beta testers for this upcoming Trekkie RTS. Thanks Reverend Raven. Also, today is the Star Trek Armada chat in the ongoing Omega Project chat marathon. The chat starts at 7:00 PM EST (4:00 PM PST/00:00 GMT) on the IRC server omegaproject.net in the channel #lobby.

• Age of Wonders on WomenGamers.
• Asheron's Call on Electric Games.
• Delta Force 2 on Future Gamer.
• EarthWorm Jim 3D on Insane Gamers.
• Final Fantasy VIII on Aus3D, GameProWorld, Well Rounded Entertainment, and CheckOut.
• GP500 on PlayDevil.
• Mortyr on GamesFirst.
• Planescape: Torment on Electric Playground.
• Razer BoomSlang 2000 mouse on Cached.Net.
• South Park Rally on GameSpot.
• Test Drive 6 on Insane Gamers.
• Tread Marks on CheckOut.

• polycount has posted the "Miss Connecticut 2nd place in 'Lowpoly lovedoll contest' plug-in Player model" for Quake III Arena, is the second place finisher in the contest, converted as promised by Paul Steed to a Q3A model for those wishing to play as a thong-clad, high-heeled "warrior" ...
• Here's a new UT screensaver (direct link) by Avat@r. Also, there's a new Q3A wallpaper on Q3a.de with a neat version of the logo, as well as a new trailer in .mpg format of an upcoming Q3A movie titled Pissedoff (like the wallpaper this really doesn't have much more from the game than the logo)...
• ExciteAtHome Hopes Security Tool Calms Users-Cable service links up with McAfee. Thanks Andrew Stern...

Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?), when we traditionally attempt to gauge how much winter remains based on whether a groundhog sees his shadow. I will be personally running around Punxsutawney, PA (apparently where the tradition began, evolving from a European tradition involving hedgehogs) with a parasol and a pair of Ray-Bans for old Punxsutawney Phil to try and make sure he's shielded for the sun, because this has turned into one ugly winter in the northeast US, and I'm not willing to take any chances if there's a hope it can prevent the season from stretching on six more weeks.

Congrats to new dad Randy Pitchford.

Link of the Day: Dynamic Mona (click on "Click Me"). Thanks CausticPuppy. The warning from the site reads: Caution!!! If you love art, and would be offended, horrified or mortally wounded to see great masterpieces of the past terribly mutilated, GO NO FURTHER!!!"
Story of the Day: Eighth graders use Super Glue, 'surgery' to save tarantula after brutal fall. Thanks Garrett Galten, Maverick, and dr will.
Image of the Day: The Quake Mobile, the new-and-improved model (its predecessor, reported here a couple of years ago, was apparently stolen).