Two new real-time strategy previews have been posted this evening...the first one is up at Gamecenter, where they call Earth 2150, "far more polished and immersive than any RTS in recent memory" based on the beta build they received. Naturally there's a handful of screenshots up along side the preview. Also, Future Gamer has posted a preview of Dogs of War, the game described as, "Cannon Fodder meets Unreal meets Hidden and Dangerous." If that makes no sense, there are some new screenshots to help clarify things.

incitegames has released a new MPEG movie featuring in-game footage from KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child, Third Law Interactive's upcoming LithTech engine game of massive carnage and wild makeup. The film features footage from the same demonstration levels that have been shown many times before, so it may seem familiar to you.

The official Age of Wonders site has been updated with a version 1.35 patch for the retail version of Triumph and Epic's fantasy strategy game. Thanks Gone Gold. This release fixes some rare crashes, improves the automatic combat calculations involving archers and fixes some minor balance issues. The complete list of changes can be viewed here.

Cinematix has released more international editions of the Revenant version 1.2e patch, now offering German, French and Italian downloads of the patch, which was released in US and Korean editions last week (story). Thanks RPG Vault.

A collection of images for your evening viewing pleasure:

• There's a new screenshot of Deep Space Nine: The Fallen on GA-Source, similar yet subtly different from one of the shots posted elsewhere yesterday (story).
• The official Summoner site has been updated with a new screenshot of the week, as well as a new section to the story page.
• incitegames has posted five new screenshots of Echolon, the futuristic combat flightsim by Russian developers Madia and Buka formerly known as Storm.
• There is a brief preview of Kingdom Under Fire online at GameProWorld, showing nine new scenes from this upcoming Korean role-playing strategy title.
• Belgian developers Larian Studios have released four new screenshots of Divinity: The Sword of Lies, their isometric role-playing game under construction for a Fall release (thanks AVault).

GameSpot has posted a preview of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, an upcoming isometric role-playing game by Troika Games, a new company founded by developers that have the designs of Fallout and Fallout 2 under their belts while still at Interplay. A boatload of new screenshots illustrate the industrial fantasy world on offer.

Hot on the heels of their Bob White interview (story), XQ's Interview with Harvey "Witchboy" Smith grills the ION Storm lead designer of Deus Ex, their upcoming 3D action RPG, in ten questions, nine of which are answered into varying degrees of detail.

As promised, a new self-running demo of Parsec is now available for download at the official site in Windows and Mac versions, with the Linux version promised for tomorrow. The 18MB download runs for over 11 minutes, and shows a lot of in-game footage from this upcoming, non-commercial space combat title.

As announced in this forum post, Interplay has released the playable demo of Star Trek: Klingon Academy (82.4 MB) for download on their ftp server, as well as on the Star Trek: Continuum.

A new update to Sid's Dino Diaries has been posted at Firaxis' web site, and it features a brief update from Sid Meier, as well as a slightly more detailed update by one of the other designers, explaining the current design phase of Sid Meier's Dinosaurs (working title). Along with the update are several new concept art pieces, showing some of the species of dinos that may be in the game.

A new version of GLSetup, the program that checks your PC and automatically installs the right OpenGL drivers for your hardware, has been released and is available for download at its official site. This new version (Beta 1.0.0.113) adds new drivers for 3dfx, Matrox, NVIDIA, ATI and S3 cards, and adds support for the latest chipsets as well.

Direct Rocket Damage is the name of a new mod for QuakeWorld, that divides DM3 into six separate arenas for 1 on 1 matches where the only way to cause damage is via a direct rocket blast. The mod and source code are available for download at the official DRD site.

Westwood has released version 2.02 patches for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, available for direct download or via the auto-update feature in the game (thanks Ant). The list of changes includes improvements to online play, better support for the Firestorm expansion pack, and more, and a complete list is posted on Generation Renegade.

RPG Vault has posted a quick Q&A on the development status of Evil Islands, a 3D role-playing strategy game under construction at Russian company Nival, who recently opened their Evil Islands website for the game, complete with screenshots and several rolling demos.

If you've got questions for BioWare's MDK 2 team, they'll be taking part in an IRC chat tomorrow, so swing by #vault on irc.vaultnetwork.com at 6:00 PM PST and ask away (thanks MDK2.com). MDK, as everyone knows, stands for Meteor Dust Kills.

GameSpot UK has posted a new hands-on preview of ShadowWatch, RedStorm's upcoming strategy/RPG title. The preview is fairly detailed, and features a number of new screenshots.

Strategy First's official O.R.B. site has gone live, featuring lots of info on the gameplay, races and missions from this upcoming RTS game, as well as a downloadable movie, a ship gallery, and plenty of screenshots (thanks GA-Strategy).

AVault fired off some questions to Valve Software's Gabe Newell about their technology plans, after the recent announcement that they had hired Mike Dussault, the former lead programmer on the LithTech engine (story). Here's an excerpt where Gabe directly responds to the question of whether or not they will continue to license an engine, or produce their own from scratch after Team Fortress 2 is completed (which uses id Software's Quake technology):

We are investing a lot in technology, but our strategy is not changing. We are still deciding what we want to achieve in our future games, determining if it stands to reason to license or develop the technology, and going from there. In terms of people, we are always going to try to convince the best people in the industry that Valve is a good place for them to be for the long haul.

Also new at AVault this morning are two new screenshots from SWAT 3: Battle Plan, the upcoming multiplayer add-on for SWAT 3. The add-on will add six new missions and support up to 10 players simultaneously. It is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2000.

A new gameplay movie and trailer from Devil Inside have been posted at GameSpot UK (both in MPEG format), featuring lots of new footage of this scary action/adventure game from the creator of Alone in the Dark. In other DI news, the official English language site for the game has gone live, and features some preliminary info on the game (a full FAQ is coming soon) as well as a rather large screenshots gallery.

PC.IGN.com has posted a preview of Martian Gothic: Unification, a horror adventure game in the vein of Alone in the Dark which puts you into the shoes of polygonal characters moving around 2D pre-rendered backgrounds. A whole bunch of new, thumbnail-free images are available to browse the world Creative Reality and TalonSoft are crafting.

The official Star Trek: Armada site has been updated with a new screenshot of the week, showing off a battle scene in Activision's upcoming space-based RTS that entered closed beta yesterday.

FGNOnline has posted a quote from Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford regarding the control scheme for their upcoming Dreamcast port of Half-Life. As there's no mouse and keyboard available (at least, not for most people, anyway) they've had to be a little creative. Here's what he had to say:

"Control is only a tricky issue for those of us who are used to a keyboard and mouse configuration on the PC," says Pitchford. "Luckily, Dreamcast already has PC like interface available. But, for those that would like to play the game using the Dreamcast controller, it's designed very well to handle this kind of game.

"We've got an analog stick and two analog levers for aiming and movement and plenty of buttons for the digital functions. A default configuration will be provided that should be very good, but I'll also want to see an option to customize the controller should players want to experiment with a more personalized control scheme."

3D Action Planet has posted an interview with Terminal Reality's Fletcher Dunn, talking to the programmer about his work on Nocturne and the upcoming Blair Witch Project, as well as how he got into the industry, and his thoughts on the eventual apocalypse.

GA-Source's Heavy Metal FAKK2 interview talks with Robert Atkins, Scott Alden, and the Levelord of Ritual Entertainment about progress on Heavy Metal FAKK2, Ritual's upcoming Quake III-engine movie-tie-in action game. In addition to the developer Q&A, which discusses things like the game's third-person viewpoint, its plot, and gameplay, the page also offers up three new FAKK2 screenshots, as well as some familiar shots.

XQ interviews Bob White talking with the leader of the design team at work on Deus Ex, ION Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine action/RPG. The 10 question Q&A covers progress on the game, thankfully not playing up to the question about "problems that the government would have with Deus Ex."

• RIVA 3D has new Win2K drivers for the Canopus Spectra series, and word on new Elsa X2 NT Drivers (direct link).
• Turtle Beach Announces new Santa Cruz Audio Accelerator. Thanks Kevin Parker.
• RivaStation's CeBit 2000 report is online.
• Anand's Intel IDF Report #4 is up with a wrap-up of the event.
• Tech-Review's Weekly CPU Price Chart has been updated.
• How NOT to install Hardware on Hot Hardware.
• There's a new NVIDIA demo on DemoNews.com showing off shadow mapping.
• Matrox G400 MAX video card is reviewed on Snipers Alley.
• There's a VIA Apollo Pro 133/133A Motherboard Roundup on AnandTech. Thanks FinnEire.
• AOpen AX6C i820 Camino motherboard is reviewed on Hardware One.

There's a new Forts screenshot on GA-Strategy showing Magic Lantern Playware's newly-announced upcoming LithTech-engine action/strategy title. Also, there are 20 Rally Championship 200 screenshots on Gamerspoint Network.

There is a Ground Control interview on PC Arena talking with Massive Entertainment about progress on Ground Control, Major Tom's favorite upcoming game. Comparing the game's futuristic tactical gameplay to a cross between the Homeworld and Myth, the Q&A covers how GC stacks up to other RTS titles, design decisions, AI, the game's interface, and more. The Ground Control preview on incite also looks ahead at the game, and offers some new screenshots, as well.

The first beta release of the Pure mod for Quake III Arena is now available. Pure offers several modifications aimed at CTF games, though it's pointed out that it can be used for deathmatch, as well. Pure reintroduces the four techs/runes familiar from Threewave CTF, a grappling hook, the Pure scoring system, Quake 1 underwater lightning gun discharge effect, and more. All the options can be toggled on or off to the server operator's preference.

A new version 2.28 of CTF/e, a capture the flag modification for Unreal Tournament can be found on The House that SiN Built (in spite of the name, this is indeed a UT mod). The new release adds Bonus Pack Support, improves the scoring system, adds random map progression, fixes some minor bugs with bots, and more.

Quake3mods.net has posted an email exchange with id Software's Paul Jaquays on adding lightning to Quake III Arena maps. There's a Tutorial for getting a player model mesh from MAX 2.5 to Q3 on polycount written by Paul Steed. The article is listed as part one of "not sure yet," and should serve as a companion piece to his ongoing series on loonygames.

The Cyberathlete Professional League has announced new qualifying centers in Ontario, Canada, and Bellevue, Washington. Also, Reality @ Recess.com has word of another qualifying even for the upcoming $100,000 Razer CPL tournament that will take place in North Olmsted, Ohio on March 12. Also, The Iron Glove League's new Counter-Strike Division gets underway a week from Wednesday. Finally, Quad Damage-News has word of an upcoming Wages of Sin tournament that offers each player on the winning team a signed copy of Sin and Wages of Sin, with an official Sin T-shirt signed by Levelord for each player going to the second place finishers. Word is the Levelord himself will also be participating in some manner of "Kick the Levelord Around" feature.

• 10Six on 10Six Headquarters.
• 1602 A.D. on GamePower.
• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on GameStats.
• Blaze & Blade: Eternal Quest on RPG Vault.
• Final Fantasy VIII on Adrenaline Vault.
• Hangsim on GameWire.Org.
• Hidden & Dangerous: Devil's Bridge on Computer Games Online.
• Interstate '82 on GameStats.
• Microsoft IntelliMice on Cached.Net.
• Microsoft SideWinder Dual Strike on GameSpot AU.
• Nocturne on Ars Technica.
• Nox on GameSpy.com and Old Man Murray.
• Razer Boomslang mouse on Hardware Masters.
• Rising Sun on Games Domain Review.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on PlayNOW.
• System Shock 2 on Xroads Gaming.
• The Sims on PlayNOW and 3DAccelerated.

• In the vein of yesterday's blurb on the Webpuppy release (story), this webpage has the release of a Blue's News headlines ticker program that uses the shareware coolticker to update you with the latest headlines here (though I can't figure out how to display them myself)...
• Painful Detail has posted six new UT voice packs and two new player models...
• There is an ICQ sound scheme on Wantree GamesWorld that changes the annoying default ICQ sounds to a Q3A sound-scheme, which I imagine might get a bit annoying itself after a while, but your mileage may vary...
• Starting today, the Gamestock 2000 website will be host to updates on MS' gaming extravaganza, just getting underway. There will be a Gamestock-oriented MSN Gaming Zone Chat starting today at 8:00 PM EST (5:00 PM PST)...
• The new list of top selling PC entertainment software is up on GameDAILY with Q3A re-entering the chart at #7 (ever wonder if they do this stuff with a dartboard?), UT dropping to #12, and Nox entering at #4. The new Mac chart is up as well with Alpha Centauri entering at #5...

Happy leap day, or whatever it is you call this extra day every four years (this really seems like a kludgy patch... I think it's time for calendar 2.0). David Chase points out we are around the one-year anniversary of the leak of the IHV test of Q3A (now that seems like some time that flew!). To continue (and/or flog) the recent television theme: There is a new public service announcement that runs occasionally in these parts to promote the upcoming US Census. The spot features kids running around to the strains of the bugged-out electronic version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony from A Clockwork Orange. Needless to say, it is just about impossible to make any association with this music other than the film's ultra-violence, which of course is actually a twist on a major point in the plot (how's that for life imitating art?). It seems a bit pointless to ask "what were they thinking" when discussing the actions of a government, but this one really does make one wonder.

Link of the Day: The Tesla Coil Page. Thanks Freek aka Maniac. Filled with AVI-format movies of these ultra-cool "toys" in action.
Story of the Day: Scientists Create Half-Human, Half-Silicon Chip. Thanks EvilToast.

A pair of articles on today's news regarding formation of Big Huge Games (story) have popped up online...Gamecenter has posted an article that features quotes from Firaxis' Kathy Gilmore and BHG's Brian Reynolds, with Reynolds saying that they haven't decided as of yet whether to do a historical or sci-fi based game. Another piece with quotes from both Gilmore and Reynolds is up at GameSpy.com, with more details on the company's future from Reynolds, including why they plan to make a real-time, not turn-based strategy game.

Monolith sends along this press release formally announcing that Zombie Studios and Ripcord Games have joined the ever-growing list of LithTech engine licensees, having "secured six LithTech licenses for multiple platforms." Some of this was previously known, as SpecOps III has already been confirmed as a LithTech engine title, but the press release contains quotes from the companies regarding their love of the engine. Monolith will also have a major presence at this year's Game Developer's Conference, as shown in this press release. They will be showcasing their engine as well as conducting a presentation that covers their Playstation 2 and LithTech Online plans in addition to their regular package.

Just when you thought the LithTech announcements had quieted down, along comes this one. According to AVault, Magic Lantern, the company where former Prey lead designer Paul Schuytema resides these days, has licensed the LithTech engine for FORTS, their 3D puzzle/strategy game. Schuytema is quoted as saying the game is, "born in the military minds of the Han Dynasty and nurtured in the fertile loam of today’s cutting-edge technology."

SOF Center has posted a brief interview on Soldier of Fortune, chatting to Raven's programmer Gil Gribb about his work on their mercenary shooter. The game is getting close to completion, as Jake Simpson's .plan details the QA process they are going through (among a couple other topics).

Sierra Studios has opened a page for SWAT 3: Multiplayer Upgrade, featuring three new screenshots of this free download, as well as a page with some concept art for their expansion pack SWAT 3: Battle Plan, both of which should be released around August 2000.

GameProWorld has posted a brief but hands-on preview of Thief II: the Metal Age, the first-person action game by Looking Glass that should sneak its way into stores next month. There are a bunch of screenshots of some areas of the game we haven't seen yet sofar.

This week's feature at loonygames is an interview with Digital Extremes, chatting to Dave Ewing and Pancho Eekels about their work on Unreal Tournament, and of course their upcoming massively multiplayer action game Dark Sector. There are two new pieces of concept art, and lots of new information on the game's design and development. Here is a quote on their design process:

Ewing: If there’s one thing we found from development of both UT and Unreal, things change. When you’re designing a game, especially with the open concept that we have, things change so often, not drastically, but there’s so many changes and shifts, minor shifts, and even some major shifts in direction that go on. Having a hugely detailed design doc before you even start is sometimes a waste of time. That’s how a game gets to be, and it really helps the game to be able to change with the times.

Another month has gone by, so tonight brings a new Deus Ex developers chat, and to participate you can hop over to the ION Chat Lobby, or point your IRC browser to www.ionstorm.com channel #ion. The festivities kick off at 9:00 PM EST (8:00 PM CST).

Here are two minor 3dfx driver updates for you this evening...a new version of their Voodoo 3 drivers for Windows 2000 have been released, with the changes listed as "Repackaged kit with new inf" and "Velocity 100/200 support." Also new are these beta Windows 9x Voodoo 3 2000/3000 drivers. These are beta drivers, and have a really scary warning, so download at your own risk.

There is a new preview of MDK2 online at GA-Source, putting a recent beta copy of BioWare's upcoming third-person action sequel through its paces, complete with ten new screenshots. MDK, of course, stands for Mannequins Dig Kelp.

Stomped has posted a brief Q&A with Raven Software's Brian Pelletier, talking to him about the recently announced Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force comic book from DC Comics/Wildstorm Entertainment, including details about how they are attempting to work game "clues" into the comic's storyline to help you find secrets within the game itself.

Continuing their daily barrage of Soldier of Fortune media (they took a short break for the weekend), incitegames has posted eight new bloody screenshots from the game, showing off a snow-themed level.

In preparation for the upcoming multiplayer-enabled Battlecruiser Millennium demo, the official Battlecruiser 3000 AD site has posted a multiplayer play guide. It's very detailed, and like the original game, extremely complex, so study it now so you're ready when the demo is released.

Bethesda Softworks has officially announced The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, the 3D turn-based strategic combat game formerly known as just Dreamland, and opened a teaser page with three new screenshots. Thanks FileClicks for the tip. The game is being developed by Mythos Games, creators of the first few titles in the X-COM series, and should be released by the end of the year.

AVault is reporting that Brian Reynolds, who recently left Firaxis studios, has formed Big Huge Games with several other former Firaxis employees. AVault quotes Reynolds as saying, "Big Huge Games will emphasize excellence in all aspects of development, including design, art, technology, and production values," as well as reporting that the company will focus on, "cutting-edge technology." This would seem to be a different vision than that of Firaxis, where the emphasis has always been on gameplay, with technology trailing behind as an afterthought.

Version 1.0 of SpeedQuake for Quake III Arena has been released, and is available for download at its official site. SpeedQuake, as its name would suggest, greatly increases your movement speed, and features a "Crack Syringe" powerup to make you even faster as a replacement for the regular Haste powerup.

Extreme Overload 1.0 Beta 4 has been released at its official site. This Quake III Arena mod features a wealth of customizable options, including the ability to customize skins, weapons, maps, and grappling hook options.

Beta version 0.5 FreeCam, a new Quake III Arena camera mod from Strange Company has been released, and is available for download at Machinima.com. FreeCam allows you to view demos using a free-floating camera or by affixing it to any entity within the game.

Five new screenshots from Simon & Schuster Interactive's third person Unreal-engine title Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen have been posted at FederationHQ. These shots are the first to show gameplay with Worf, everyone's favorite ponytailed Klingon.

As shown by this press release, 10SIX, SegaSoft's million-player action/strategy game, has been released (thanks GA-Source). The game should be available for download at HEAT.net (it doesn't seem to be there yet), and downloading it entitles you to a seven-day free trial, after which you'll be charged $9.95 for one month, $25.95 for three months or $49.95 for six months of gameplay.

The Shugashack has posted a new interview with Matt Hooper of Third Law Interactive, talking to him about their upcoming LithTech engine title KISS: Psycho Circus, as well as ION Storm (where Matt, like many others at Third Law got his start in the industry) and his thoughs on the various engines out there.

GA-RPG has posted a new installment of their ongoing Baldur's Gate II design diary. This edition has Kevin Martens, one of the lead designers, talking about the game's story. As a result, the article is spoiler-ridden, so don't read it unless you want to know some of the game's major plot points.

Station Terminus has posted a new installment of their Terminus Developer Journal, in which Vicarious Visions director of development Karthik Bala talks about the recent motion capture shoot they did for their upcoming role-playing space-combat title. A couple of photos give a look behind the scenes at the blue screen set (a different blue screen from the one most Windows users are familiar with).

The Telepunt page (captioned "walking sucks") has word on an unusual Unreal Tournament strategy in the vein of serendipitous classics from prior shooters like strafe-running, rocket-jumping, and bunny-hopping, describing how to "telepunt," which involves dropping your translocator dealie and "punting" it to a distant location with the impact hammer, which can make impossible locations easily (with a bit of practice) reachable (the things some people figure out!). Also, Eavy's Unreal Tournament Mods has a new advanced Assault guide, giving power strategy tips for this Unreal Tournament game-type. Eavy, who is currently ranked #1 in UT ngWorldStats for Assault, also has a guide up with tips on enhancing your own ngWorldStats Assault ranking. Finally, UT World's UT Newbie Guide offers beginner help for UT for anyone willing to fess up to the newbie label, featuring "detailed help on setting up your game, playing online, using new map files and UMODs with the game, and much more."

Thresh's FiringSquad previews the Microprose 2000 Games Lineup after attending a gamer's day showing off the upcoming lineup from this developer that's now a division of Hasbro. Included is a hands-on peek at X-Com Alliance, the upcoming Unreal-engine action-tinged installment in the strategic X-Com series. There are also looks ahead at Advanced Squad Leader, B-17, and the just-gold (story) Majesty.

There's a Soldier of Fortune gallery on Computer Games Online offering nine new shots from Raven Software's upcoming Quake II-engine shooter that puts you in the role of a gun-toting, magazine-reading mercenary. There are eight action shots, including a couple of zoomed in sniper shots, and one showing off an inventory screen.

Thief 2 The Metal Age Preview on GameLinks.Net offers a look ahead at the stealthy sequel to Thief: The Dark Project along with a load of screenshots, some of which are new (as well as some familiar shots and shots from the demo), as well as all the recently released Thief 2 concept art and wallpapers. Also, the Starbase Armada News Network has posted two new screenshots from Star Trek Armada, as well as a report on the Borg race from the beta.

There's a new version 1.03 of The Ultima IX FAQ on GameFAQs, and a brand-new Half-Life CounterStrike strategy guide there as well. Also, the Official Home of HQH's Stuff has a new version of HQH's Unofficial Half-Life FAQ, offering some minor updates related to the release of the most recent version, and his updated Unofficial Soldier of Fortune Demo FAQ, again, updated upon the release of the demo patch.

• Evergreen Performa 500 Celeron CPU upgrade kit is reviewed on The Tech Zone
• VisionTek GeForce SDR DVI video card on Gamers Depot.
• Asus K7M SlotA motherboard iz reviewed on Power Gamerz.
• Chaintech 6ATA4 motherboard is reviewed on iXBT.
• Colorcase Yuri case is reviewed on SystemLogic.
• The Plycon Gold Orb Celeron cooler is reviewed on HardOCP.

"The Right Stuff." by Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart kicks off GameSpy.com's Mod Developer Week with the Epic Games programmer talking about the mod development scene, describing some of the steps to follow to be a successful mod developer, discussing the possibility of becoming a professional developer as a result, pointing out that like Brandon himself, "Epic employees, for example, are almost entirely pulled from the mod development scene." GreenMarine also updated his .plan with a good luck message to Zoid, another prominent example of a professional developer who came from the mod community.

Team Orbit UMods downloads page has the debut release of Phantasm for Unreal Tournament. In Phantasm all players start a match basically transparent, and players with higher frag counts become progressively more visible, while those lower in the standings become even harder to see, clearly offering an interesting approach to game balance.

The Assimilation 2 Home has a new version 1.03 of the Assimilation 2 mod for Quake III Arena. The new release adds a g_countTime cvar that modifies the length of the countdown and a g_respawnAfterCount cvar which can respawn everyone once the countdown is over (useful for one-on-ones). The time between rounds has been slightly reduced, as well.

The El Niño Quake Extensions has an updated version 1.5.0 of the Viz mod for Quake III Arena, which adds player classes to Q3A as well as gameplay tweaks like bleeding from wounds (including blood trails) and more. The new release "fixes a few minor annoyances/inconsistencies in some of the server-side and client-side game code."

Version 2.5 of the Q1Q3 Pak is now available, providing a way to add a bit of a "Quake1 flavor" to Quake III Arena, though it's become a bit of a multi-flavor add-on, as in addition to providing some Quake sound and vision, it also makes the railgun behave more like the Quake II rail, and offers the chance to play as the Doom Marine, as well as the Quake Ranger.

A new version 1.21 of Licensed To Kill Quake II mod that adds bots to the Action Quake2 Quake II mod is now available. The new version adds "greatly improved jump code."

Version 0.2 of the NetDoom deathmatch-oriented port of the Doom source code is now available. Described as "still an early version," and therefore not as "smooth" as Legacy or ZDoom, the second release adds some speed optimizations. NetDoom supports Client/Server Internet play via DirectPlay (using the jHexen jtNet dll), BOOM/ZDoom support, OpenGL and D3D Rendering, and integrated IRC support.

Shadow Realm Games sends word of the release of the commercial Shadow Realm Model Animator, "a specialized utility designed to animate and export animated game models. Import a 3d mesh, create a skeletal structure, animate the skeleton, and export the animated model." There's a shareware version to check it out before shelling out your $55.00. GreenEggsandSpam has several Quake III Arena mapping/modeling/coding tutorials done by the founder of Urban Terror. There's a new tutorial on adding player classes to Quake III Arena on Quake3mods.net. The Rogue Spear Retreat's RSB-BMP Converter offers a way to edit images from Rogue Spear without owning Photoshop by converting the files to .bmp format, which is digestible by a wider range of programs.

Registrations are now being accepted for the next BadLAN Rising (BadLAN Rising VI "Firing For Effect") in North-Northeast England this May. The two-on-two ladder of the international MoM - Man or Mouse Tournaments for Q3A are underway. Also, the Bannockburn CTF League has rolled out their Q3A CTF league, and are willing to accept applications for future membership.

There's a chance to win one of ten copies of Planescape: Torment on this games xtreme contest.

• Asheron's Call on FullOn3D.
• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on 5 Games and 3DGameGear.
• Logitech Wingman Force Feedback mouse on BoomGames Interactive.
• The Sims on GamesFirst.
• Tread Marks on Games Domain Review and Cosmo3D.
• Unreal Tournament on Digital Clips.

• The Webdog page has a new version 2.5.1097 of the Webdog website monitoring utility, as well as version 1.01 of the Webpuppy plug-in for Webdog that will bring headlines from this very site to your desktop. The new version adds bug fixes, some Win2K fixes, and full Webpuppy integration, and the new Webpuppy has bug fixes, adds mousewheel doohickey support. Both program's auto-updaters should be working in addition to the downloads...
• Rob Huebner's .plan gives a rundown on what the Nihilistic programmer ('why should I program when we're all going to die?') feels will be highlights of this year's Game Developers Conference...
• Pushing the Right Buttons on codebloat.com offers: "A look at how something as silly as a video game sometimes gets the best of us--and our emotions."...
• Gender Bending in Games-Part II on WomenGamers.Com offers more on the effects of online play "in drag" from a clinical psychologist...

Today marks three years to the day of the installation of my ISDN connection (anyone familiar with this process knows this means it's probably also the fourth anniversary of having placed the order for the service). I was originally going to write in that first sentence as this being the third anniversary of my being an LPB (low-ping bastard), but over the course of that time the proliferation of cable modems and xDSL connections, ISDN now seems to fall somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as connections go... sort of an MPB.

Link of the Day: Hecklers.com Enabler 2000, "The World's First Nonviolent First Person Shooter" (Flash required). Thanks Dan Leadbetter.
Bonus Link: The Proof is in the Pudding. Thanks Dave.