3DO's Requiem Support page has a new D3D 1.1 patch for the just-released Requiem: Avenging Angel. The update enables dithering in the Direct3D version of the game (so textures will appear smoother), disables auto-mipmapping (the textures in Requiem were designed to look best without them), and greatly improves visual quality on all 3D-accelerated cards running in D3D mode. Thanks HissyFit, who says the rebate "convergence" on Requiem mentioned earlier (story) won't work, since each rebate requires a UPC symbol.

The AMD Optimized Drivers for Quake II page has the long-awaited 3DNow! optimized drivers for Quake II version 3.20. Also, the 3DNow! Software Developers' Kit has been updated. Thanks Gimpy at the AMD Zone.

SubXero from Requiem-HQ sends along word of a convergence of rebates that results in a nifty bargain on 3DO's just-released Requiem: Avenging Angel. Here's the deal:

You can get Requiem Avenging Angel for only 19 dollars. When you buy Requiem not only do you get a free poster, but also a $20 rebate from 3DO. And if you buy it at Electronic Boutique not only do you get the $20 dollar 3DO rebate, but also a $10 rebate from eb.

A recent audio interview with Epic's Cliff Bleszinski on Washington D.C.'s Tech Radio is online in the Tech Radio Archives as well as on PlanetUnreal in RealPlayer format.

ION Storm's Justin "Logic" Randall is interviewed on the ION Storm Daily Informant where Daikatana’s weapons/deathmatch/network/ client-entity programmer explains his work, which includes efforts to make the weapons responsive, optimizing network traffic, coding Daikatana's CTF, DeathTag, and co-op play, and stuff like that.

Ritual Programmer mark Dochtermann updated his .plan with the announcement that Jack "morbid" Mathews has joined Ritual. Just to be a party pooper, in the name of accuracy, the part about Michael Abrash and Bruce Naylor is an April Fools gag (though my understanding is that the part about Jack is not). Here's the update:

I would like to be the first person to "extend a wreath and hearty handshake" to Jack "Morbid" Mathews for joining the Ritual Tribe. Jack comes to us by way of 3DFX Interactive and is one of the creators of GameSpy.

Although he wasn't born until after Star Wars, he is a very talented 3D game programmer. His knowledge of 3D accelerators and distributed network gaming will be put to good use at Ritual, where he will be working alongside industry greats Michael "Optimize" Abrash and Bruce "BSP" Naylor.

Say hello and drop him an email at jack@ritual.com.

The follow-up on User Friendly is that it was indeed all a joke.

PlanetBlood has the release of a version 2.1 patch for Blood 2. The patch makes a number of fixes and additions since the February patch, but is not required if you've purchased and installed the Blood II: Nightmares add-on.

There's an interview with Rick Overman on Datumplane::Starsiege talking with the Dynamix programmer mostly about the just released Starsiege, with a bit in there about plans for Starsiege 2.

Here's a Register article that seems to be on the User Friendly situation and a Slashdot article that is clearly about the UF dealie that suggest there is indeed a leg being pulled here. If this is indeed a joke, I'm sorry for getting fooled (and, um, haha).

A clarification about Dave's Classics. In my comments about the the site's closing (story), I mentioned the availability of ROMs there as a possible cause, but Mental4 and jelenator point out that the ROMs previously posted there were pulled a few weeks ago (also apparenly under the threat of legal action). With the ROMs gone, and only emulators themselves (so far proven to be legal) posted there, the reasons behind the closing are not very clear at this point.

3DFiles has posted a playable Demo of X, the upcoming space combat action sim. This is the German version of the demo, and an English version is expected within a few days. "Forcefeedback Input devices and 3D positional sound acceleration through Aureal3D and Direct Sound 3D supported."

Word on the User Friendly site is that the popular geek comic strip has been "Shut Down Pending Litigation." I do not believe this is an April Fool, if it is, they've been laying the groundwork for this for a while, since there have been rumors for some time now that one of the targets of some of UF's humor has been in legal mode. As the page goes on to explain, more details should be forthcoming: "Further information regarding this litigation will be made available within the next 72 hours." I'll certainly keep an eye out for any possible ways concerned fans of the strip can help. Similarly, Dave's Classics has posted a notice that they too have been closed, at least temporarily, due to litigation as well (though posting ROMs for emulators certainly makes this a less unexpected move, since the legalities involved have been the subject of considerable debate). According to the site: "Due to recent legal action from a video game hardware manufacturer, UGO must temporarily suspend the service of the Dave's Classics website and FTP server. Unfortunately, until we have resolved this situation we may not be able to comment or update you on the situation." I'll post more on both these situations as information becomes available.

There's an interview with Todd Hollenshead on Ultimate Games talking to the id Software CEO about Quake III Arena.

Billy at Voodoo Extreme has posted a short Q&A with Tim Sweeney after he fired off a few questions to the Epic programmer about video cards, special 3D instruction support, and of course, Monica Lewinski.

GameFan Online's First Look at MDK 2 for PC and Dreamcast offers 10 new screenshots of the upcoming sequel to Shiny's Murder Death Kill (Mediocre points out it's actually "Max, Dr. Fluke Hawkins & Kurt"), and GameCenter's Game Grabs has those shots (on the Dreamcast) as well.

Planet-Tribes - Tactics 101 Index offers a bunch of different TRIBES tutorials that break the game down into different roles for players to assume, with outlines on the best ways to put these roles to use in a team.

Sharky Extreme has posted an email from NVIDIA's Derek Perez on TNT2 clock speeds:

"The ultimate frequency achieved in end user systems depends on the chip cooling strategy, board design and the system environment that the board runs in. Each board vendor will make design and cooling decisions, and environmental assumptions and spec the part according to these choices.

The RIVA TNT2 chips were designed to operate at extremely high frequencies. The Diamond V770 that you reviewed demonstrated that. With the right combination of advanced board design, intelligent cooling strategies and high quality manufacturing, I fully expect to see end users running TNT2 based cards at frequencies that meet or exceed the ones you saw in your testing."

Version 0.75 of the Dirty mod for Quake II is now available, described as "Action Quake2 meets BraZen," trying to add realism "that doesn't compromise gameplay." The mod allows you to climb up onto ledges, and do lots of other useful things with your bare hands, like break necks. The mod also adds teamplay enhancements, radio communication, and more. Work continues on a Linux port, and they are desperately seeking servers.

A new version 1.1.1 of the Fast Card TNT & 3dfx Overclocking Utility from PMS is now available, offering three new Matrox settings (AGP on/off, AGP 1x/2x toggle and hidden settings enable), and a couple of bugfixes, as well as better support for the Diamond and Creative TNT driver sets. Thanks DemoNews.

The QuakeFinder/UnrealFinder page has a new version 1.0.2 of the UnrealFinder Unreal server browser program for the Macintosh. The new release adds Unreal 220 compatibility.

Remember, any port in a storm: The Coven Disposable Heroes Downloads page has Solaris x86 and Sparc ports of all of the latest version of the Quake II mods released from the Disposable Heroes Quake II add-on.

I received a warning from Geburah that the MechWarrior demo seems to suffer from the same serious uninstaller glitch as a couple of other recent releases (the subsequently patched first version of Half-Life and the subsequently recalled first version of Myth II). The problem occurs when you install the demo to a directory other than the default, and then uninstall it, it wipes the entire directory structure you installed to (e.g., c:\games).

Three sets of matched twins:

• GameSpot UK's South Park Review is up. Also, Ripside reviews South Park.
• Gamers Central reviews Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. Also, U-Games reviews Turok 2, as well.
• Wages of Sin is reviewed at MeccaWorld. Also, GamePower's Wages Of Sin Mission Pack review is up.

• Tweak3D's Windows 9x System Cleanup Tweak Guide is up offering a chance to give your OS that "just showered" feeling...
• S.A.S's Guide to CTF has been updated with more advanced tactics, info on Quake II CTF clans & leagues, and S.A.S's own eraser route files...
• While on the subjects of guides and CTF, 3 - Tech Corner has posted a guide to making Quake II CTF maps.
• I should have just named the etc. section "guides" today: Thresh's FiringSquad's OverClocking Guide is up.

April Fools' day is a dangerous minefield when you run a news site. Like last year, I'll try to avoid fostering genuine confusion by not posting any gags among the news (though I guess I'll reserve the right, should something too tempting come along, and of course, if I fall for the joke myself, all bets are off). However, in the name of fun, like last year, I'll keep a running tally of the jokes I do come across today below this post. 3DRealms' Chris Johnson sent a more accurate version of the Splash quote that looks pretty damn verbatim (this is an all time favorite bit of mine): Hanks: "Where are you going Mister Fat Jack?" Fat Jack: "Back to the pier. It's only a couple of miles, I can swim it. I'll be back with the little boat." Hanks: "The LITTLE boat?!" Seen in Robert Love's .plan, yesterday was Christopher Walken's birthday: many happy returns Chris, you da man (okay, I know he's not reading). After reading that .plan I sit here trying to picture how different the Star Wars series would have turned out if Walken had gotten to play Han Solo. I'm having trouble conjuring the image.

Updated throughout the day: Rick Johnson offers a mind-plook in his .plan on the morbid news (like the UF gag, the straight-out humorless lies as gags mystify me). Surprise Next Gen PlayStation Launch in Japan reports NGO (thanks ACiDTRiP). The EQVault reports all the EverQuest servers are moving to Tunisia to save costs (thanks Korac). Firearms is now for Trespasser announces the Firearms mod for Half-Life (thanks Pels Interactive). Tom Clancy's Nuclear Weasel, the announced sequel to Rainbow Six. loonygames' Thinking About Boxes by Saul Peed. Planet RIVA has word of the 3dfx/NVIDIA merger (thanks Chris Slatt). Here's Sluggo's Cooking Central, formerly Mod Central. BSP Headquarters announces BSP to replace Q3Radiant as the bundled Q3A editor (thanks Zedek). John Carmack is quoted on FPS Spectator saying the frag in Q3A will be replaced by the more newbie-friendly "tone-of-death." Frozen Yak Entertainment, the company formerly known as CaveDog (thanks Chris Rhoton and AGN3D). The Adrenaline Vault previews the force feedback mousepad (thanks JetLag). PlanetQuake for sale (farfetched?), thanks Psycho. Sgt. Hulka changes his site to.... PlanetTubby!!! (thanks DeadMeat). Tidal Wave Communications presents: Think your mail! (thanks B K Ridgway). CliffyB announces in his .plan that he and others are leaving Epic to develop "GIRLZ N GUNZ" on the Colour Gameboy. Epic releases the Unreal demo (yeah sure). Plans for BattleZone 8X8, or Planet Half-Life's First Look at Half-Life 2 for that matter (Phat Rips Entertainment?). How about the Grey Panthers Quake and Quake II Clan? That's not as wild as the PC Computing Online Bombshell about IT eavesdropping on the mic in your computer (thanks armyant).

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.