Redwood's Q3Atest Preview is online, offering some hands-on feedback about playing a very recent build of the test release. The write-up offers the news that id will be putting out revisions of the test. According to Red, "The first version won't have any bots but by ship time it will likely have bots and be more like a demo than a test." Here's another quote that talks about what weapons and levels are likely to be included in the test release:

Some of the items that will definitely be in the test are the chainsaw, machine gun, shotgun, plasma gun, and rocket launcher. There is a possibility of a railgun getting in there if one of the levels they are considering goes into the test. The one being looked at is a fun level that is a newer play style than most are used to. I don't want to spoil it so that's all I'll say. They said there will be more than one level in the test. I'm guessing that means two but a max of 3 could happen. I am really happy about their being more than one level since I imagine we'd get sick of that one level by ship time. :) The machine gun and plasma gun are perfect and I don't think any of us would change anything about them. The plasma gun had changed slightly since I was last there. Even though I had a blast playing and there were quite a few things that were perfect, doesn't mean we didn't have quite a number of suggestions. We are picky types though. :)

There's an interview with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead on gamers.de - die Computerspieleszene in Deutschland (Gamer's Alliance Germany) in both an English version and a German version. The conversation discussed the upcoming Quake III Arena, as well as the famed German "index."

The CTF Survival Guide is now offering strategy tips for Starsiege TRIBES among their CTF tips with map specific strategies for Raindance, Rollercoaster, Desert of Death, and Dangerous Crossing, with guides for the remaining maps to be posted next week sometime.

An update to the Starsiege TRIBES-Status Update Page adds the news that the version 1.3.11 patch is moving along, with 98% of the development, and 80% of the testing on the project complete. Thanks Timm at Metropolis.

Part two of the Planet Kingpin Walkthrough of the Kingpin demo is online, as is i.am.Kingpin's walkthrough.

The Coven's Disposable Heroes Downloads page has a demo release of the ArmourBack Quake II mod from their Disposable Heroes pack for Quake II. The demo features two of the six battle suits from the full version of the mod.

Logitech Mouse Software Downloads page has new version 8.32 drivers of the Logitech mouse drivers. These drivers work with any Logitech pointing device(s) operating under Windows 95/98, and Windows 3.1x. Under Windows NT 4.0, only PS/2 and Serial pointing devices are supported. Windows 98 is required for USB mice. Thanks SailorScout, who points out : "This release resolves some issues with Win98 and conflicting serial devices. In any case, the drivers seem 'smoother' and more stable."

id Software's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with news on the plans for releasing the test version of Quake III Arena, which will still not be for a few weeks:

I know a lot of you are looking at the end of the month as a fixed date for q3test, but we're probably looking to be within a few weeks of that date rather than exactly on it. We're working on it; I just want to keep expectations in line with reality.

This is a test of Quake 3:Arena, not the demo. With this test we're looking to see how well the brand new networking and graphics code works, and while we've run this through a QA process here and at Activision, this is not code that is of release quality in speed or gameplay. Please do not look upon this as the "demo" of Q3A.

Thanks. I now return you to your regular programming.

Planet Half-Life has posted a couple of tips on how to play the TeamFortress Classic LAN release over the Internet. I've also received the tip from a couple of sources that point out that TFC works fine out of the box with Kali, since Kali's original function is to allow IPX games to be played over the Internet. Here's the lowdown on the other workarounds from PH-L for those too eager to wait for this Friday's release of the full 'net version (though if you try this, I would suggest it's only fair to hold off judgement about Internet playability, considering the nature of this tip):

It appears that you can play the LAN Team Fortress Classic version over the 'net. Doom writes in and reports: First off we launched the dedicated server with "hl -game tfc -console" then pulled down the console and typed "connect ipaddress:27015."

He's another way as sent in by xp3rt:

I got it to work, but I do this: e:\sierra\half-life\hl.exe -console -toconsole +connect (ip adress)

I've been playin quite a while. And for a dedicated server, I've used this:

e:\sierra\half-life\hlds.exe -game tfc +map 2fort -port 27016

I know for a fact that works, cuz I've been playing w/ several other people.

A new version 1.1 of the HLFE Half-Life Front-end is out on Atomic Half-Life offering a MOD Dir option (for Half-Life v1.0.0.9 and above). There's also a partial fix for the "Dir not found!" error that a few people get, and a few other minor changes.

The Entech page has a new version of their PowerStrip monitor/video card control utility that offers support for the Rage 128 from ATI. Thanks Voodoo Extreme, where I also see that a new version 4.0.2a of BGR Software's TweakIt software for tweaking 3Dfx accelerators is now out.

The Qtracker Homepage has a new version 2.3 public beta 1 of the Qtracker server browser program. The new release adds the ability to play X-Wing Alliance without using the Zone, and also can find streaming audio content on the Internet.

Ion Brew is a set of features on ION Storm posted on GameSpot UK offering a Daikatana Hands On preview, as well as a Deus Ex Preview and an Anachronox Preview.

SWAT3.com has posted three exclusive new screenshots from Sierra's upcoming SWAT 3.

A new beta 4 of Terror Quake II is now available adding the Beretta handgun and a silenced MP/5 and killing a few bugs. There is also a new Terror Q2 map there for download.

Gimpy from the AMD Zone points out that a set of updated AMD-K6(R) Technical Documentation has been posted by AMD as well as an updated list of AMD-K6®-2 with 3DNow!(TM) Optimized Products.

A Tribute To Zdim on StormTroopers offers a farewell to Rich "Zdim" Carlson, who has left his post as a level designer at ION Storm. As the title says, the article is a tribute to Zdim, but does not go into the reasons behind his departure.

There are new Quake III Arena inspired wallpapers posted on d-TOP - Desktop Wallpapers and The artist currently known as Chris Connelly's page.

Locke's Domain is holding sign-ups for a TRIBES competition called the TRIBES Special Olympics that will have bracketed competitions between 32 TRIBES tribes, or even 64 if that many apply.

• Silent Serpent Decoupler Review on GameWire looking at this unusual device that promises to improve performance by reducing CPU noise.
• There's a Team Fortress Classic Review on 3DGaming.Net.

• There is a map poll on the Rocket Arena site to determine the most popular non-pickup arenas in each RA2 map (with pictures to help decide). The results of the poll will be used in an upcoming "secret project"...
• I missed it when it came out a couple of weeks ago, but a beta 3 version 1.60 of SoftFSB, the front-side bus overclocking utility is now available. Thanks Jonathan...
• There's now a French translation of the Weapons Factory Handbook...
• Mitnick admits guilt, cuts a deal is a ZDNN article with more on the Mitnick settlement. Thanks Tahldain...

Okay, I think the search engine is back on track now, which was the most problematic bug from the recent Blammo glitches, so everything is pretty well back on track again. The vague word I promised on the return of the overhauled LAN Parties and Want Ads section is that it sounds like there's good reason to be optimistic that it will be pretty darn soon, but you never know about these things, so I'll post an update about that as I know more.

The Good Old Days of Quake is an interview on Andrew Smith's the beauty of madness. Here's Andrew's concise rundown on what the hefty (100 KB of text and 2.5 MB of images) piece covers:

I've posted a new interview on my web site. It's a double one this time with Matt Sefton and Bill "crash" McClendon, taking a look back at the "good old days" of Quake level editing, discussing their thoughts on the old community, the way it has changed over the years, and what the future may hold.

They discuss loads of stuff, including their most memorable levels, Bill's unreleased editing efforts, rivalry between fans of different games and their thoughts on id Software and PlanetQuake.

There's also a competition where you can win yourself a copy of the "Complete Quake" collection of classic levels and conversions, as given away by PC Zone magazine in December of 1997.

Anyware passes along a warning about the updated Diamond drivers released this week (story). It turns out the drivers for the V550 that were originally posted had a Word macro virus (W97M.Class) in the included .doc file. The V550 drivers currently there are no longer infected, but it seems wise to pass this along in case it's not too late to save someone from a problem if they've downloaded the drivers but haven't installed them yet. I only have a copy of the original V550 drivers, and can't say whether or not the Voodoo2 and Banshee drivers posted at the same time were infected, but caution is probably a good idea with copies of those files downloaded shortly after they were posted (I was able to detect the virus with Norton Antivirus and the latest definitions).

The Wanted homepage has the demo of the Wanted add-on for Quake II available for download. The .zip is 65 MB (expands to 125 MB), and requires registered Quake II and a 3D accelerator. Here's what's included in the demo:

• All Weapons, All Pick-Ups, All Textures, All Sounds (not Music),
• 5 active models in the Single Player maps.
• 2 Single Player levels (not in the final commercial version), 5 Deathmatch Levels....DM mode is fully functional and superb fun.
• Q2 3-20 upgrade file.
• Demo Story, Full Version story, Manual text.
• Wanted Poster, Sample of Music, Pictures of all Models, Windows Background BMP, Web Site Banner.

GA-Source interviews conceptual artist Jim Daly, formerly of ION Storm, talking about his work on Daikatana, and the reasons behind his recent departure (which involve none of the negativity of some other recent ION departures).

Understanding the K7: Slot A, RAM, and Cache is an article on Ace's Hardware that discusses some of the workings of AMD's upcoming K7 CPU, including what kind of RAM will be required to operate at the K7's reported bus speed of 200 MHz.

PlanetFortress has posted the release of Team Fortress Classic that will work at LAN parties (I'll be honest that the TFC release schedule has me confused, I thought this was not a public release). This is for LAN parties, not the version that will work over the Internet, which is still slated for release next Friday.

Billy sends along an email from Voodoo Magazine explaining that the specs reported yesterday (story) from their recent article, were speculative at best. Here's the lowdown from Voodoo Magazine editor Cris Krameron what turns out to be a session at the guess the features dartboard, rather than actual hot scoop:

Okay, let me clear this up for you. These specs were printed in a sidebar to Michael Flemming's Voodoo 3 piece that appears in the Spring issue of Voodoo (on sale now at finer newsstands near you). Michael basically thunked up what he thought would be the most likely progression for 3dfx's next level of technology. Several times in his sidebar, Michael included disclaimers like, "I will have to resort to a mixture of conjecture and deduction..." and "Please bear in mind that all of this is conjecture and does not represent any kind of official statement or release from 3dfx Interactive."

3dfx is hard at work on the imminent release of Voodoo 3 and certainly doesn't need any (more) headaches caused by me. Can you please whack something up on the site that indicates that these specs were nothing more than blue-sky ideals by one of Voodoo's freelancers? Before Greg Ballard or Michael Howse find out and put a hit out on me? Feel free to quote this email in part or in full. Thanks, man.

Xatrix CEO Drew Markham made a post to the Gangland.org forums talking about the player models in Kingpin, announcing that there will only be one additional model in the final game, and that plans for an extra female model have been scrapped.

Sharky Extreme has posted some benchmarks running Kingpin on a TNT2 experimenting with the performance fall-off when switching between 16-bit and 32-bit color (which was insignificant).

GameCenter's sneak peek at Sanity is up looking at Monolith's upcoming LithTech-powered action/RPG.

Version 1.38 of Quake 2 Battleground, a teamplay/tourney mod for Quake II, is now available fixing an item spawning bug and a number of smaller bugs.

A new version 2.5 R1 of the Assimilation mod for Quake II is available. The server-only release offers random weapon spawning.

The RIVA 3D TNT2 Review is up offering some benchmarks.

• The Online Gaming League has had a glitch and lost all their ladder rankings, so if you were in a ladder there you must contact them. Thanks [BC]darkstar. The OGL leagues are unaffected by the problem. Also, they are now running a TRIBES ladder over there.
• The Professional 3 on 3 Half-Life League is full, and matches will get underway Mid-April.
• This Heretic II Skinning Contest offers a grand prize that features (drumroll) Heretic II!!

Yesterday I referred to Loki's Minions CTF as a modification of Quake II CTF, when, in fact, LMCTF is actually all-original code, released prior to Q2CTF (apologies to Loki and all his minions). Thanks Anil Madhavapeddy. Also, I posted a link to a negative article about Everquest, which I was told by one reader represented a look at the older game, and sure enough in contrast, today here's a really positive Everquest review from PCBlitZ.

• A change in plans from Digital Paint has them planning on releasing a final version of PaintBall for Quake II and then moving on to another project, rather than perusing Q3A PaintBall, as they had recently announced was their plan...
• If you've been having trouble getting your hands on the recently released Square Bot files, the downloading problem should be fixed now...
• Gamer's Alliance Strategy has posted a trailer showing off gameplay from Activision's upcoming Dark Reign II...

Furn is back in his digs in the UK, so we will either wipe out some of the Blammo bugs that have been buzzing about over the past week or more, or wipe out the database trying. My guess that the headlines atop the page would work again after I started working around the problem proved correct (whee!), so that's (sorta) fixed already. Once we get the database stabilized, I hope to get a handle on a timeframe for getting the departments that are to be overhauled with programming (though given long-standing superstition about these things, will probably only vaguely share them). Real quickly, here are a couple of follow-ups on misquoted follow-up quotes from yesterday: "It's a chopper baby," (thanks larry), and apparently the "Zed's dead" in Pulp Fiction is actually an homage to Easy Rider (thanks Warren) which is one of those weird "you mean you haven't seen that?" movies for me.