Fredrik 'Citizen' Skarstedt of www.kabuto.net sends word that if you live in California and want to check out a beta of Planet Moon's upcoming Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Interplay is holding a focus group on April 8. You must live in Orange County / LA to be eligible, and you should email betatest@interplay.com if you are interested. Also, PC.IGN.COM's Giant's Preview has been updated with ten new screenshots from Giants.

PC.IGN.COM previews Seed, an upcoming first-person action game from Human Soft (thanks Billy at VE). Here's the article's description of Seed:

While these screen shots make Seed look like it's another first person shooter, in fact gameplay more closely resembles a platformer than anything else, although there is combat involved too. In fact, the best analogy is probably to Montezuma's Return, another first-person point of view game done in a 3D engine and with a mix of jumping hazards, environmental puzzles, and combat.

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted a preview of the upcoming sequel to Carmageddon and Carmageddon 2 titled Carmageddon: Death Race 2000.

ION's Harvey "Witchboy" Smith updated his Witchboy's Cauldron with a description of a search for the Unreal CD and a Deus Ex status report. Here's the Deus Ex portion, in original semi-e.e. cummings style:

in other news, Deus Ex is looking like a game. we're a few days away from reaching Alpha. you can play missions 01 & 02, walk around, talk to numerous NPC's. we're trying to create believable NPC's, not just game thugs. it's way fun to listen to them talk and otherwise interact with them. pissing off the hulking, cybernetically freakish Gunther Hermann is actually terrifying.

currently, you can also do things like collect inventory items and use the skills your character has (chosen and advanced by the player from a selection of skills). picking locks and jury-rigging mechanical devices is cool already, though obviously we will be tuning the entire skillset as we go. also, the various in-game nanotech powers (also carefully selected and upgraded by the player) are fun to play with. (no one can have all of them, so the character building choices in some way determine how you play through the missions.)

i think the version we have by E3 will be impressive. i look forward to showing it off. warren, chris norden and i (and maybe others) will be attending the conference. i wish it was back in atlanta...to hell with LA.

In my GDC ramblings I mentioned that with hardware support for environmental bump-mapping (much cooler than embossed bump-mapping) in upcoming accelerators like the Permedia 3 and the Matrox G400 (a feature Matrox is emphasizing in its marketing), the question remained: how many game developers were going to jump in with the game assets to support the feature to make it a factor in the buying process? Matrox has sent along a list of developers who have promised such support so far, along with the titles being supported:

Slave Zero from Accolade Speed Busters from Ubi Soft Descent 3 from Interplay/Outrage Drakan from Psygnosis/Surreal Rally Masters from Gremlin/Digital Illusions Full Auto from Microsoft/Pseudo Interactive Expendable from Rage Software Black & White from EA/Lionhead Populous sequel from EA/Bullfrog AirRage from Infogrames/DID Typhoon from Infogrames/DID Vampire: The Masquerade from Activision/Nihilistic

Team Aligator from Kuju/Simis Messiah from Interplay/Shiny Battlezone 2 from Activision/Pandemic Dark Reign 2 from Activision/Pandemic Incoming Forces from Rage Software Hostile Waters from Rage Software Shadow Man from Acclaim/Iguana Carmageddon 3 from SCi Kick Engine from Kick Final Countdown from Diversal/Sylynium PowerRender from Egerter Software

There's a new Slave Zero Preview on GameSpot UK offering a look ahead at this game of giant robot rampages from Accolade. Here is a bit from the preview on the game on what differentiates it from games like MechWarrior, Heavy Gear, and Shogo:

There's an intriguing twist to the giant robot theme here ­ Slaves are grown, not made. No one pilots a Slave, rather they become one. Through an elaborate process, men are bonded to their Slaves, abandoning their humanity and evolving into something not quite human, not quite machine. It's a twist that actually affects gameplay. Bonded to your Slave, you're not just fighting oppression ­ you're fighting for your life: there's no eject button, no salvaging spare parts, no repair bays, and no commandeering another Slave to save your life. By eliminating the sim-like aspects of MechWarrior-type giant robot games and emphasising this 'kill or be killed' mindset, Slave Zero focuses its gameplay squarely on action.

The third-person perspective moves the game even further away from the usual robot-sim model ­ the designers felt that an exterior camera, not a first-person perspective, would best serve the game. We were sceptical at first, but quickly came around to their way of thinking after playing an early build.

The Wyrm 2 page has a new beta release of the Wyrm 2 mod for Quake II. Wyrm 2 offers new gameplay (CTF, Custom Classes, a new "Hell" skill level, etc.), new weapons (from the Pistol to the Energy Vortex, with stops along the way for things like BFG grenades), as well as new monsters, AI improvements, and a couple of new variables for building levels.

Kokak's Heretic Page has a new version 0.06 of GLHeretic, an OpenGL compatible version of Heretic based on the recently released source code to Raven's Doom-engine game. Thanks Raven-Games.com and Gamer's Revolt.

The folks at ASC Games have been marking recent full moons with releases of info and other events promoting their upcoming Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Heart of Gaia. For tonight's Blue Moon (the extra-cool second full moon of the month), they have planned a live chat session about the game in their brand-new chat area with Travis Williams, Executive Producer of Werewolf: The yada yada (that's the longest game name I can ever recall seeing). The festivities kick off at 11:00 PM EST, and to participate, you need a chat room username and password (even if you already have a username and password for the ASC BBS), available at www.ascgames.com. Only the first 200 people will be allowed in.

Drakan.Net is reporting that this upcoming third-person game has entered beta testing, and looks to be on-track for a spring/summer release. Additionally, word there is that a demo version of the game has been delivered to an unspecified magazine for inclusion in an upcoming drop CD, possibly to appear on newsstands in May.

3D Spotlight interviews Derek Perez, talking to the Manager of PR for NVIDIA about the upcoming RIVA TNT2. Here are a couple of the Q's with the corresponding A's from this Q&A that tell what's up with the TNT2 and beyond:

Q: How much more time is it going to take to see TNT2 based cards in store shelves?

A: You should see boards on the shelves by May 1st.

Q: What about future products? S3 just released a bit of info on another chip that will be released by end of this year... is NVIDIA planning to release a made in 0.18 micron chip or maybe a chip with embedded memory by the end of the year?

A: We will announce a new architecture that will revolutionize the 3D graphics industry
for the fall of 1999. Unfortunatly, if I gave you any more information about the part
I would have to kill ya!!!!! :)

PC GameFan's Descent 3 preview is up with a look ahead at the game, and several screenshots.

Sharky Extreme's first glimpse at Full Auto offers screenshots of this auto combat game in development by Pseudo Interactive (not to be confused with Pseudo Online).

• Playing DM & Lithium wars & duels with Tourney explains how to use the OSP Tourney mod along with Lithium to govern tournament play.
• The Clan of Pooh has posted some demos of some recent international LMCTF action between the US and Canada.

• GameCenter reviews X-Wing Alliance, scoring it five of five. Also, Diversions of Technology reviews XWA as well.
• Voodoo Extreme reviews South Park, inspiring Billy to propose a possible "VE's steaming pile of crap award."
• Review Zone's Ultra ATA Hard Drive Roundup looks at six IDE drives.

• IE 5.0 suffers privacy bugs is a CNET News.com article with news of what would seem to be the inevitable gaps in the new browser's armor. Also, Microsoft Security Advisor Program has posted a Macro Virus Alert for Joan's daughter Melissa...
• The Thunder Home Page has the lowdown on dmDoom (tentative title), a new Doom source port looking to add Quake-style Internet playability to Doom...
• UF The Search Engine is a new search database, offering "cool, funny and geeky links"...
• Anatomy of a re-marked PII-333 is an Ars Technica article that can help the buyer beware...
• Setting up a Small LAN for Beginners is a do-it-yourself guide on Tweak3D...

I'll pass along what I learned to lick my sound card woes from last night in case it may help someone else: If you have Norton Antivirus and a Diamond Monster Sound MX300, make sure the line in your autoexec.bat that loads the Norton DOS NAV dealie is before the line that loads the MX300's DOS support program. Thanks Matthew Petrie from Falcon Northwest for the best tech support call I've ever had.

I don't want to seem like an HBO shill after my repeated recommendations for the Sopranos (which just keeps getting better), but Richard Jeni's HBO special is a scream. I had no idea he was so funny.

Yesterday's pop culture quote was from Splash, which also was good for this one, passed along by Floyd Turbo: "No, nobody's around, just me and the moron twins." ... "We're not twins."

Link of the Day: The web's only (known) Duct Tape Art Gallery. Thanks Loping.

GameCenter's Sneak Peek at Descent 3 is up, offering a look ahead at Outrage's upcoming installment in the series. Here's a bit on how one advance in D3 should be a more distinctive feel to locations to break monotony on level design:

Descent 3 will change all that. "Every level takes place in a certain environment," explains Toschlog. "While we had names for the locations in Descent and Descent II, they all kind of looked the same. This time they really don't. We have a level that takes place on a spaceship; we have a level that takes place on a space station; we have levels in research facilities or military facilities; we have a level that takes place in a prison. And they all really look different." According to Toschlog, each level will feature different textures, objects, robots, and even unique characters and mission objectives.

GameSpot's preview of Drakan is online, profiling Psygnosis' upcoming dragon-riding third-person action/adventure. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

Arcadia has posted a new screenshot from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament, available in two different sizes, for use as desktop wallpaper.

3DGN's Trip to Ritual Entertainment recounts their recent road tip to party with the tribe.

3DFiles.com's Requiem Avenging Angel demo page has their download for the demo and a list of mirrors, and the demo is also available on 3D Action Gamers' Archive.

There's a Q&A with Robert Duffy talking with the programmer of QERadiant (and variants), as well as the upcoming Q3Radiant, posted on Rust, the game editing and design site. It's a very short discussion, but editing types are probably interested in even small tidbits on the improvements/enhancements expected in future versions of QERadiant and Q3Radiant.

Dynamix' Scott Youngblood updated his .plan with a bit on the mission builder in the new patch:

Ok, there is a beta patch out that has the new mission editor in it. All of you mission builders out there give it a good pounding and let us know if you find any problems with it. If you do find a problem please send me mail asap and we will try to get it addressed before we release the 1.4 version.

On the new Mission front: The original Broadside is BACK! The 1.3 version has been renamed to BLASTSIDE (Thanks to everyone who submitted a name.)

A new version 0.94 of the Generations Quake II mod that combines the characters, weapons, maps, and enemies from Quake II, Quake, Doom, and Wolfenstein-3D will be released tonight at 11:00 PM EST. To celebrate the release (which still so far entails only Quake and Quake II), the team is holding a small release party. Connect to the IRC server at www.planetquake.com and join the room #Generations "to talk with the team while you download."

Tweak3D has posted more tweaks for the Kingpin demo, including tips on how to cut down on hard drive thrashing while playing.

As promised yesterday, the second playable demo of 3DO's upcoming heavenly (and hellish) shooter, Requiem: Avenging Angel, is now available. Thanks KiRiON|FL|. Here is the demo download page, which offers the demo as one big (approximately 32 MB) zip, or broken up into segments. Here's the info that Phil Co passed along yesterday on what the demo includes:

4 "JAM's" (or sub-levels) that make up the one level
Setting in the Power Plant of New Damascus
Tons of soldiers, Demon Rats, Demon Dogs, and Flying Kynthra
Tons of Angelic Powers including Resurrect, Possess, To Salt, Bloodboil, and Warp Time

Mission Objectives:
Meet with Rebel Soldier, Elijah
Find Cathcart, a Power Plant Exec Sympathetic to the Rebellion
Blow up the Back Up Reactor to set up a diversion

The demo is playable on:

Minimum:
P166
32 Megs of RAM

Software
D3D
3DFX

Spin Pop Life: Gamers offers profiles of the "Avatars of the New Millenium" with part one offering an interview with ION's John Romero (and David Deinstbeir, Game Designer at Acclaim/Iguana) answering the single question, "Which game really got you into videogames?" Thanks Lestat.

Datumplane::Starsiege interviews Dave Meddish from Dynamix about some of what will go into TRIBES 2, the sequel to Starsiege TRIBES. Here's a bit:

Yoshi: Will the maps have more buildings like a city or something?

Dave: I don't know if we're going to have more "urban" maps. We toyed around with it for TRIBES but were having poly count issues, which is why the city maps didn't make the original cut.

Yoshi: Hardware only should help.

Dave: I would think so. We'll know more once we start really cranking out new missions.

Some updated Q&As have been added to GameSpot UK's Black And White interview collection, which is becoming a Library of congress-sized repository of such interviews, now totaling well over a dozen. According to Nicola over at GSUK, "In our second batch of interviews we discover Jean-Claude Cottier's 3D landscapes, why Jamie Durrant likes Baldurs Gate, how Paul Nettleton got to know Peter, and reveal the truth behind Mark Healey."

GA-Source has posted eight Exclusive Slave Zero Screenshots showing off action from Accolade's upcoming giant-sized third-person (or third-robot) action game.

An update to Kevin Bentley's Developer Notes offers a discussion of mouse control issues, and centers around whether Quake-style mouselook (with almost instant turning) will make it into the game, a subject on which the Outrage programmer seeks feedback. The update also discusses the existing Quake-style mouse control that's hacked into the version 1.1 Descent 3 patch, and how to use it, which may be useful to experiment with for those interested in offering feedback.

3DsoundSurge's Vortex 1 Technical Support FAQ and 3DsoundSurge's Vortex 2 Technical Support FAQ are both online offering unofficial resources to answer your questions about both generations of soundcards based on A3D's designs.

Another free-PC deal emerges is a ZDNN article an another free machine to be had in exchange for your loyalty to DirectWeb's Internet service. Thanks Steve Strickland.

GameCenter's Half-Life MP3 Files offers all the music from Valve's much-lauded shooter for download in .mp3 format, including some tracks that can't be accessed as CD audio. The archive is 32 MB, and will be available from Gamecenter only until tomorrow. Thanks Ant.

Mortyr.Net has posted a new set of Mortyr Screenshots, as well as their weapons pages which offer detailed info (some of it previously unrevealed) about the armaments included in this upcoming back to the future World War II shooter.

The screenshot happy gang at GameSpot UK have posted a beefy new 30 image Descent 3 Screenshot Gallery.

PlanetUnreal has conducted an interview with Wesley Davis of Project V1 that they are going to split into a few parts and milk for a couple of days. The first part, which is up now, talks a bit about the project, going into some detail about the drivable vehicles (with mounted weapons) that will be included in this upcoming Unreal-engine game. They have also posted a new screenshot showing off a small PT boat ("The small boat?! Fat Jack!!").

Unreal Mac version 2.2.0b2 is now available on the Westlake Interactive page. Thanks Scandalon. The Mac version numbers have been changed to more closely reflect the PC scheme, and this version is based on the PC version 220. Word is that work on Mac 223 is starting soon, so the next Mac patch should be ready closer to the release of the next PC patch.

MessiahPress has posted a short Q&A with Shiny's Scott Herrington talking about what TeamEgo has been up to lately in developing their upcoming third-person action game starring Bob the Cherub, Messiah. The update offers some new character shots in addition to the new info. Here's a quote:

Tons more character animation is going into the game then we had originally thought of. It just seems to keep piling up. This is the last time we make a game so flexible! Every character has to work in just about every scene/environment in the game - and that means a truckload of animation for each.

Most of the placeholder sfx are in the game, the full list has been turned over to Tommy for the 'official' effects.

AGP code is being worked on so that we don't have to reduce textures at all. People with AGP machines are going to have a truly stunning looking version of the game when the code is complete.

With the recent news of Worldcraft Pro being cancelled, a concerned Andy Basler wrote Valve's Harry Teasley asking what the future holds for the official Half-Life editor, and here is Harry's response:

We're working all of our Worldcraft issues out right now. We'll have something to say on the matter soon. Rest assured that we haven't abandoned Worldcraft, and there will be updates.

The RIVA 3D TNT-2 Review has been updated with more visual examples of the TNT2/Voodoo3 comparison, and similarly, Planet RIVA's 16-bit versus 32-bit color article has been updated with new info and comparison shots.

Get a load of this load of competitions and such. Get your scorecard ready:

• The second annual Quake Easter Egg Hunt will take place this (Easter) Sunday, offering a teamplay Quake II egg hunt with $100 in cash prizes.
• Rioport.com is giving away two Force Feedback Kits, featuring Microsoft's Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel and a Sidewinder Force Feedback Joystick along with two games with support for Force Feedback: Microsoft's Motocross Madness and LucasArts' Rogue Squadron.
• This GA-Source Contest offers full iRiS AntiVirus packages to 30 winners.
• The Mplayer Daikatana Deathmatch page has info on Phillip 'R-Gauss' Marcus, winner of the first week's competition, the first of four contestants who will journey to Dallas to battle in a final showdown.
• Thousands die on screen - at PC party is a BBC article on what's described as the UK's biggest ever LAN party this past weekend.
• It's never too early, so the World Deathmatch Tournament homepage is already online. The WDT is a Quake III Arena tourney planned for the first quarter of 2000 to be held in the Palexpo exhibition center in Geneva, Switzerland (which can hold up to 1,500 contenders).
• Finally, here's the scoop on this weekend's festivities at The Bay Area Network Gaming Group:

The Bay Area Network Gaming Group is gearing up. only 6 days left 'til the Big BANGG, a 200 person LAN Fiesta in San Jose, CA. Held at the Santa Clara Convention center April 2-4th, it's gearing up to be one hell of a party! Nearly 150 sign-ups so far, and over 200 expected!

Sponsors have lined up left and right, including 3dfx, nVidia, S3, AMD, Logitech, Mad Catz, and more! There will be many great prizes to be given out, including coupons for a free TNT2 when they come out retail! S3 will be demonstrating their Savage4 chipset with Unreal Tournament and the Quake3 Demoloop. AMD will be sending a team with their K6-3 computers (equipped with Voodoo3s and TNT2s) to show off, and maybe give away! Logitech will be premiering their Wingman Gamers' Mouse, and giving away 6 of their Wingman Formula Force steering wheels in a Need for Speed III race-off! Sponsors are still lining up, even in this, the week of the event!

• PC Gamer UK reviews X-Wing Alliance. Also, Pete's Hardware Domain reviews XWA.
• 3DGaming.Net reviews Recoil.
• ATI All-In-Wonder 128 review at the GamersDepot.
• Sharky Extreme reviews the Intel Pentium III/500Mhz CPU.
• Ace's Hardware reviews the AMD K6-III/400.
• Gigabyte GA-BX2000 Review @ bxboards.com is the MoBo review of the day. Rather than a single BIOS chip, this board has two, a Primary and Secondary BIOS.

• The new issue of the Voodoo Review is online...
• ZDNN Melissa mutates: Virus variants detected, the latest on the 'Melissa' virus...
• ZDNN Relief, anger greet Mitnick plea...
• The final round of voting in The Quake Movie Library's Quake Oscars is underway (with $500 in prizes at stake)...

Nothing like a middle of the night troubleshooting session to get the adrenaline flowing, I rebooted after playing some TRIBES, and proceeded to repeatedly lock-up. A couple of hours ago I pulled my soundcard, and my machine suddenly booted again, whee! Yesterday's Pop Culture quote was from Steve Martin's The Jerk. Randalls offers a quote in return that echoes a popular response: "These cans are defective - they're springing leaks! Come over here and look at this!" I'll confess right now that today's quote (yes, there's already one up there somewhere) is paraphrased.

Link of the Day: Bunny survival Tests (reminiscent of some classic peep experiments)... with Easter coming, science marches on. Thanks Ultraboy.It really is me.