I am pleased to announce that Raven Software will be developing a Star Trek: Voyager game for Activision. The title will encompass the attributes of both intense first-person shooter action and team oriented combat, as you play the role of a security officer fighting alongside your fellow security team members. Drawing from the rich Star Trek universe, we will be focusing our efforts into creating the most amazing first-person shooter yet, with new and intriguing gameplay elements. We are developing new AI and Scripting systems so that the NPC's and enemies will intelligently react to their surroundings and situation. At this time we are in the early stages of development and more information will be forthcoming.

Look for us showing this title at E3 in May!

So here is some general info -

Blood 2 source is on the way soon (VERY). With that users will be able to modify the heck out of the game. We will be releasing a Blood 2 patch soon (bugfixes) Users should expect a continued committed support effort from Monolith with regards to mods and level editing. We are still looking into the "High Ping" issue (this only happens on certain modems). We haven't found a way to fix that yet. We won't stop looking until we find and fix it.

The Nightmares Add-On is coming out soon. It is quite p1mp.

The main thing that I'd like to point out to the gamers is that Monolith is always doing the best that it can. Sometimes, that may not be good enough, but rest assured that we are working hard to satisfy. The frustrations that the Blood community has felt, Monolith has felt as well. We want Blood 2 to be as flawless as possible. We care about our game. We are doing the best that we can. That is all we can do. Trust me when I say that Monolith wholeheartedly appreciates the patience that the community has shown us.

According to Trilobyte, its multiplayer 3D action game Extreme Warfare, which was near completion, will not be distributed by them, and may never be released unless it can be completed by another developer.

I forgot to mention something in my last plan update. The evil development weapons are unsupported features. Please do not call or email Activision, Ritual, or us about any crashes or other such nonsence encountered during their use.

Also, no celebrities were harmed in the making of this pack. All voices are impersonated impersonations of someone impersonating the characters being impersonated by the voice of an impersonator impersonating the impersonation of the characters. Or, something like that.

Shhh...the DK M-Player Demo is out the door.

OK, I'm in a nicely evil mood right now, so I thought I'd tell you about the secret "development" weapons that are in WOS. It first started out as a special stinger pack to help speed testing of the boss monsters, but it mutated and kinda grew into something kinda... evil. >)

Hehe, anyway, to get to the point, there are five "evil" versions of some of our new weapons. They are: EvilStingerPack, EvilPlasmaBow, EvilFlamethrower, EvilConcussionGun, and EvilIP36. They can all be given and used just like any other ordinary weapons, but there's also an extra give command, "give evil", that will give you all these as well as arm you to the teeth with a few other usefull... development tools. ;)

Now go fourth, and do evil unto those that would seek to thwart thine destructive Wages of Sin. :)

loonygames yells, "issue twenty eight!!!!"

Ah...be quiet. My head hurts. Giving you migraines this week:

• Adventures in ASCII: Jeff Miller explores the weird world of "Roguelikes" the oddball ASCII RPG games that have inspired countless games, including Diablo. Featuring not one, not two, but *six* full games for your downloading pleasure. [Monday]
• From the Mouth of Madness: Jason "loonyboi" Bergman asks the inevitable question...is Sega screwed? [Monday]
• How'd They Do That?: Yep, it's another HTDT, featuring your questions answered by game developers. In this week's installment, we go to Bungie Software and 3DRealms' Chris Hargrove to answer your questions about 3D engines. [Thursday]
• Thinking Outside the Box: Paul Steed does another animation tutorial, this time using a well known videogame character as his subject...the DOOM guy. If you don't know who that is...well, that's just your problem, isn't it. [Tuesday]
• PLUS: Whole caravans of User Friendly [DAILY], Penny Arcade reveals their secret identities [Wednesday], a new Pixel Obscura [Tuesday], loonyboi does Blood 2 [Thursday], we check out the Microsoft Force Feedback Pro [Thursday] and more! And then some more, because we're louder than you, dammit.

NOTE: This issue of loonygames is respectfully dedicated to the living memory of Stanley Kubrick. (1928-1999)

• FiringSquad.com reviews South Park.
• GA-Source reviews the Hercules Supercharged Terminator Beast.

• These results are from one of those research paper surveys that someone conducted recently on verbal and non-verbal communication in Quake II if you're curious at what sort of results turned up...
• Tweak3D's CPU and Motherboard Tweak Guide has been updated with info on how to tweak your BIOS for performance and compatibility...
• This Download Windows 98 Update page has some of those critical and recommended update files for download so you don't always have to go through the auto updater after a fresh reinstall. Thanks Thorson at Ravengames.com...

Stanley Kubrick 1928-1999 R.I.P.