The Arena interviews Graeme Devine holding a short Q&A with id software's designer about his role with the company, and some stuff about Quake III Arena, including this answer, that reveals that the game's character classes, the subject of some debate among fans, is also the subject of debate at id:

Q: Is id still determined to go with the character classes?
A: Character classes are still being debated.

Tribes.de has posted version 0.1 of their Starsiege admin tool for download. Like their similar program for TRIBES, this allows control over a Starsiege server via a simple GUI front-end.

Proving dogs have more than one life too, Webdog, the gaming webpage newshound program, has been revived with a new version 1.06, now available for download. The new release has a bunch of new features and enhancements, not the least of which is considerably faster operation. There is a full release available, as well as an upgrade for users of prior versions.

Following up on the recent announcement that the glDoom project was on indefinite hold (story) comes word on the The Official glDoom Homepage that the project is "defunct." The page dispels any notion that the project has been squashed by outside sources, stating the reason as an unfortunate case of simple data loss, where two hard drives and the backup tapes with all the source code for this port of the Doom source were destroyed in the same mishap, with subsequent efforts by data recover houses to salvage the info from the drives unsuccessful. Thanks Bagpuss.

The last couple of pieces of the Starsiege TRIBES Scripting Documentation on the TRIBES Players page have been posted. Thanks PlanetStarSiege.

There are a bunch of new Hostile Waters screenshots on Rage's Hostile Waters page showing off more gameplay from this upcoming 3D action title. Thanks GA-Source.

A new Beta Release 0.13r008 of the Crystal Space 3D Engine offers an update to this cross-platform free 3D engine that supports so many cutting-edge features. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.

• A new version 2.41.06 Beta of the PowerStrip monitor/video card control utility, is now available. Thanks 3DFiles.com.
• Creative Labs Graphics 3D Blaster Savage4 website is now online. Thanks Sharky Extreme.

Bell Kin pages has posted a Linux port of version 1.28 of Doom LEGACY, the enhanced version of the source code from id's classic shooter. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

Next-Generation Online has posted a pair of new previews, a little blip on Kingpin, which is their 3dfx game of the week, and This Is Unreal Tournament, a beefier piece about Epic's upcoming sequel to Unreal, offering loads of quotes from Mark Rein, including the first word I can recall seeing that UT would not be out before E3. Thanks Apache at Computer Gaming Review. Here is a bit from the preview on how bots will be used to balance out multiplayer games:

Rein then pointed out an interesting feature, which is the ability for server operators to specify the number of players desired in a multiplayer game, and that bots can be used to round out the numbers. As players come onto the server, the bots are killed off automatically by the system. Rein claimed the only way he is aware of to determine if players are human or bots is to look at their ping time: "The AI is so good we hope you won't be able to tell the difference otherwise."

PC Paradox previews Hostile Waters, the upcoming 3D action game from Rage Software.

Game-Interviews.com interviews Alex Garden of Relic Entertainment about their outer space action/RTS dealie, Homeworld.

This GA-Source Q&A with Scott Herrington talks about the "mature themes" in Shiny's upcoming third-person action game, Messiah.

On the heels of the first Independent Games Festival at this year's Game Developers Conference, comes word that they are already gearing up for the second edition at next year's show in San Jose. Here's the deal:

As you may know, a highlight of the recent Game Developers Conference was the first ever GDC Independent Games Festival, a venue created to promote interactive entertainment as an artform and provide a forum for independent game developers to show their work, receive recognition, and meet potential publishers. The Festival received nearly one hundred submissions from around the world and presented six awards, including a grand prize of $10,000 and with a possible publishing deal.

Entries for the second annual GDC Independent Games Festival are being solicited by Miller Freeman and are due by Wednesday, September 1, 1999. Games for the Internet, PC, Macintosh, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo and other platforms without current publishing deals are eligible for the Festival. The finalists will be on display and the awards ceremony will take place during the GDC Expo 2000 in San Jose. For detailed information about this year’s winners, as well as the 2000 Festival rules and application procedures, log onto www.indiegames.com. If you have further questions, please contact us at our respective e-mail addresses. Thank you.

• More Light, Less Mud is the latest installment in Sharky Extreme's ongoing series of articles about clockspeeds and availability of NVIDIA's upcoming RIVA TNT2, and TNT2-Ultra accelerators. The articles says Guillemot's Ultra TNT2 based Maxi Gamer Xentor 32 MB will be clocked at 150/183 MHz (graphics/memory clock), and is expected on shelves by May 10 (supplied with a a heat sink/cooling fan combo for overclockers), and the TNT2 based Xentor 16MB should be in stores at the very end of this month.
• A new version 1.01 of WinGlide for Glide 3.0 is out, offering the ability to display Voodoo graphics in a window.
• Savage World has posted a new version of S3 Tweak, the program to fine-tune Savage3D accelerators. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.
• Tweak3D has posted some new RIVA TNT2 benchmarks with preliminary scores using the 1/27/99 Detonator drivers.
• The new edition of Extreme Hardware is online, the feature formerly known as Hardware Therapy, taking a look at the hardcore ramblings of the hardware newsgroups.
• Diamond Multimedia's Viper V770 is taking pre-orders for this upcoming TNT2-based accelerator. Thanks DRACOOL.
• My 3DMark score jumped up 100 points after installing this WIN98 patch declares a post on the AnandTech BBS. Sounds scary, but who knows. Thanks Nick Losciuto.

There's an updated .dll on the Terror Quake2 site to fix the weapon dupe bug in the just-released new beta. There is also an updated Linux version now available.

I AM TFC, from the same "I" that brought you similarly humbly named sites for other games, is now up and running, with a map repository that already boasts 18 new maps for the recently released add-on for Half-Life.

Rust, the game editing site, has posted updated versions of the Quake II Design FAQ and the Half-Life Design FAQ.

• NVIDIA's name that chip contest offers "Ultra"-TNT2 accelerators to the five entrants that come up with the best creative names for their upcoming products.
• BattleComm's Banner and Button Contest offers prizes for the best user-submitted advertising materials.
• Updates from the 32 player one-on-one tourney from today's CaRNaGGe LAN event will be posted throughout the day on their site.

• Well Rounded Entertainment reviews EverQuest
• 3DFiles.Com reviews Requiem: Avenging Angel.
• PCVelocity TeamFortress Classic Review.
• Gamers Depot reviews Recoil.
• GameSpot UK reviews the Ultra TNT2 VIP.
• The TechZone reviews the Celeron 466 offering Quake 2 and 3DMark benchmarks at 466 MHz and 525 MHz.
• Computer Games Online reviews the Voodoo3 2000 derisively calling it "the Banshee2 Jr."

• A new version 0.09 alpha of glHeretic is up on Kokak's Heretic Page...
• GameSpot's Guide to EverQuest is online...
• Couple of new software releases from the big guys in Redmond: The beta Media Player Download page has version 6.2 of the Windows media player (featuring MS' new streaming compression scheme), and while we're at it, NetMeeting version 3.0 beta is out. Thanks Randy Perry.
• Get Calls FREE In Britain is a petition to try to change Britain's high local phone call charges, which have a per-minute toll...
• I see on Voodoo Extreme that The Adrenaline Vault Downloads Demo has an updated version of the Myth II playable demo...

We had a double-dose of the pop culture game yesterday, like so many things, it's feast or famine. Tim "The Gunslinger" Gemma managed to submit a return quote for each, from Terminator: "Uzi, nine-millimeter," and a classic from Johnny Dangerously: "You shouldn't hang me on a hook. My father hung me on a hook once... Once." Also, both JazzBone and Puck sent along the same great quote from J.D.: "It's an 88 magnum. It shoots through schools." Ozymandias put the two together by pointing out: "Too bad Arnie didn't ask for an .88 Magnum, eh? 'Shoots Sarah Connor through schools.' :)" Gotta like a guy rooting for the Terminator.

Image of the Day: License to Phear. Thanks Disruptor.

The latest update over on ION's Daily Informant page has a big ol' update on the status of Deus Ex, Warren Spector's first person RPG (thanks Billy "latin-boy" Wilson). There are a bunch of really interesting quotes from various members of the team...here's a sample:

The design, code, and art are, at last, coming together, giving the team their first real taste of gameplay. As programmer Scott Martin remarked in a recent .plan update: "Deus Ex is no longer a glorified technology demo; now it's beginning to look like a game..."

Designer Steve Powers agrees. "After spending a couple of days playing missions one and two (over and over), I am very pleased to see how our game is shaping up," he said. "I mean, here we are in April and I am already playing Deus Ex!"

After several months of waiting, Quake 2 Late Nite episode two has been released. If you missed the first one (still available from the Late Nite page) the whole idea is that Late Nite is a talk show, complete with zany hosts, and special guest. In this episode, David "crt" Wright of KeyGrip, Rocket Arena 2, and more recently, MP3Spy fame sits in the virtual couch. This episode was actually edited by StarFury, of the well known Clan Phantasm (those guys behind such Quake 1 classics as "The Artifact" and "Devil's Covenant") and is, as to be expected, well worth the 8 MB download.

Tonight on Lilith & Eve, "the world's only weekly show covering the gaming industry from a uniquely female attitude and perspective," the ladies are joined by Gabe Newell and Robin Walker (neither of which are women, you'll note) from Valve Software. The kids will be talking about Team Fortress Classic, and other girly things. Like giant rocket launchers and beer. Listen in at 7:00pm EST (Real or compatible player required) and go to effnet channel #allgames.com to suggest questions.

Two signups to watch out for...tonight's the rescheduled sign up for QuakeCon at 9:00 PM EST...that'll be over at the QuakeCon site...also, show up tonight at 5:00 pacific time in mp3spy, channel bastard's beatdown for their "Phat Online Party" followed by registration at 6:00 on their site. While i'm on the subject of Bastard's Beatdown, I just have to point out the hilarious intro to their web page...if you've got Shockwave and a decent connection, be sure to check it out. It's a scream. Of course, for all your LAN party needs, point your browser to our LAN parties page, which has tons of these from all reaches of the globe.

UnrealTournament.Net has been updated with this week's new weapons, the Pulse Gun and the Flak Cannon. In addition to the normal shots, there are now zips of the original, hi-res screens from each weapon on display ("Just what you see, pal") for wallpaper, etc.

PC Zone's Kingpin Life of Crime preview is up, offering a look ahead at Xatrix' upcoming Quake II-engine game that puts you in the role of a hood trying to claw your way over a bunch of icehole gangsters ("now I'm really angry.... this is fargin' war!") to become the crime boss. The piece offers interviews with the team, and a bunch of exclusive screenshots. To prevent registration problems that popped up on their Q3A preview, that URL has a generic login built in to assure access.

GA-Source interviews Tim Williams talking to the Creative Director of Giants about Planet Moon Studios' upcoming action/adventure game.

Hidden and Dangerous preview on CombatSim.com offering a look ahead at this realism-oriented World War II shooter in the works from the Czech-based Illusion Softworks, offering new screenshots, as well as exclusive Q&A with Petr Vochozka, the game's producer.

The Adrenaline Vault News has a follow up on reports yesterday that some stores (Best Buy is offered as an example) will not be carrying Interactive Magic's upcoming back-to-the-future WWII shooter, Mortyr (story). The story confirms the report, but says the decision was based on the game, rather than the content:

However, according to Best Buy’s corporate public relations representative Joy Harris, the retailer, which carries several games containing equally visceral content, this is not the case. Harris said the company, which does not offer a comprehensive selection of titles, has decided not to sell it because they feel the game falls into an overcrowded genre and is not representative of the best selections.

The UK multiplayer online service Wireplay has announced that they are going the route of some other such services before them by dispensing with connection or subscription fees, other than local phone charges.

• RIVA3D's RIVA 3D TNT-2 Review offers benchmarks run on a K6-2 450 versus a K6-3 450, with both a V3 and TNT-2.
• TennMax Announces Stealth V3 Fighter for Voodoo3 Chipset.
• If you're an Abit BX6 rev. 2 motherboard owner, and feeling a bit daring, Billy at VE sends word that there's a new BIOS update on Abit's Asian FTP server.

Tactic sends along word that the official Aliens vs. Predator page has gone live (Shockwave Flash required). Kicking it off, is an interview with David Stalker, Fox Interactive's AvP Project Manager, although half the interview seems to be David interviewing LoPin, his interviewer about the new site.

Here's a bunch of news for you on those uber-powerful consoles coming your way...FGN is reporting that the Dreamcast will hit European shores on September 23rd, going for the slightly more expensive price of £199 (US$320)...Dreamfiles.com, possibly the first of many such sites, has opened its doors, allowing you to download saves, and even entire games onto your VMS device...Ken Kutaragi, the new CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment has given an interesting interview where he talks about their plans for the PSX2...here's what he had to say regarding the frightening power of their new system:

The next PlayStation's power to depict images will take it out of the realm of simple gaming machines. Current gaming machines can only show prepared things which, to the user, only seem to be created when he or she is playing. It's a distorted world -- not real at all. With the next-generation machine that "world" will be created there and then, as the user plays. People will look like real people, cats will look like real cats, and smoke will look like real smoke.

Okay, so maybe not that...I think I'd settle for Andromeda Quake. Jurassic Park Author to Create Video Games is a PR Newswire piece that reveals that Michael Crichton will be making "next generation computer games" via his new company Timeline Studios (thanks Lorne Beaton for the tip-off). Long time Crichton fans will note that his 1969 novel, The Andromeda Strain featured a strangely named program called "deathmatch" which searched a global database of well...corpses. Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Version 1.0 of Real CTF, the cleverly named Unreal CTF mod, has been released. In order to play, you'll need to download both the map pack and the client, making this a big ol' 23 meg. Also available on the page is a GameSpy custom tab, and links to two 24/7 dedicated servers.

There's a new Slave Zero preview on Computer Games Online with an extensive look at this upcoming third-person game where you can live large as a giant cyborg. Thanks Apache at Computer Gaming Review. Here is a bit from the piece about the game, and its Ecstasy engine:

To match its dark, foreboding story, the environments of the Megacity are vast, dark, highly populated and incredibly violent. As Slave Zero, you'll be put through firefight after firefight and if the action shown off in the pre-alpha is any indication, then saying this game will have wall-to-wall action is something of an understatement. The power behind all this mass carnage is the game's 3D engine, dubbed the Ecstasy Engine, which does a lot more then just make pretty lighting.

The Ecstasy Engine was made specifically for Slave Zero, but one of Accolade's big goals for the engine was to create a technology that could be used for future products. "The main features of the engine are its ability to animate many objects in the world, provide a lot of interactivity in the world, no restriction (from a technical sense) on size of the world or world layout, and a tools chain that allows designers and artists to create and modify the game easily," Matt Powers, Slave Zero's Producer, explains. "The goal of Slave Zero and the Ecstasy Engine was to create a large, populated and animated interactive environment, and to have a lot of action on screen at the same time."

The bleem! page has a new version of the demo of this PlayStation emulator that is due for a full release soon, now that they have staved off an attempt by Sony to get a temporary restraining order preventing the program's distribution (story). Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme. The updated demo fixes a couple of things, and "by popular demand," fixes support for Castlevania, Tomb Raider II, and the Street Fighter Collection.

N64.IGN.COM has posted some info on Redstorm Studios' upcoming Nintendo 64 version of their tactical combat shooter, Rainbow Six. According to the article, rather than a straight port, the N64 release will contain "levels from the original version of Rainbow Six with a mission or two from the recently released add-on pack Eagle Watch for a 'best of' compilation of sorts." Thanks The Rainbow Six Retreat.

I was asked why the Hardware Bits weren't bulleted. Truth is, it's because I'm not crazy about the bulleted lists, and was hesitant to add another, but I guess fighting what's been proven a practical approach to group postings is counterproductive, so as of this morning, I'll bite the bullet:

• A new version 2.41.04 beta of the PowerStrip monitor/video card control utility is now available. Thanks Tweak3D.
• Merger Declared Effective is a 3dfx Interactive press release announcing that the 3dfx/STB merger is now official. Thanks Sharky Extreme.
• Overclocker's Workbench pushes a PIII 500 to PIII 620.
• 3D Rant overclocks a 143 MHz Voodoo3 2000 to 175 MHz.
• The brouhaha of the day yesterday: This Web and File Server Comparison sponsored by Microsoft shows NT outperforming Linux as a web server, while this article in the Register takes a skeptical look at the results. Thanks Lost Clusters (who I'm considering fixing up with my friend chkdsk).

The Lithium II Mod for Quake II page has the new version 1.24 of this Quake II mod. The new release is "finally" based on the Quake II 3.20 game source, and fixes some bugs, including one that caused version 1.23 server to crash. Lithium is one of my favorite Quake II mods, offering a bunch of features that can be toggled on or off, including: strength, resist, regen, haste, and vampire Runes, and an improved HUD offering info like your frags/hr.

The Blackmoon development page has word of an unusual Quake II modification called Quake 2 2, which allows you to play a two player Quake II deathmatch on one computer using a windowed mode for each player, somewhat like the split screen deathmatch offered by some console shooters. The newly-released version 1.1 offers support for Catch the Chicken and Quake 2 Basketball, and other mod authors that want the mod to support their work should email kingblake@x-stream.co.uk.

Just a final clarification about the Mortyr movie and preview from yesterday (story, and original follow-up): Neither the preview, nor the movies were new, the confusion was on our end. Sorry about that.

• GA-Source Contests gives away 10 copies of Starsiege.
• Cybernetic Productions League declares: "Four-man teams from banks (yes, banks) in London will fight to the death in Quake II. Once a London champion is found, they will head to New York and Tokyo, striving for global domination."
• Gamezone DUEL is a big Quake II tourney in South Africa holding their finals today. Results and demos are available at the site.
• Quake 2 Fragfest Interview celebrates the first anniversary of the fest (which I'll mention is located here, since I read in the article we were down here for a chunk of the day they were mentioned here previously).

• PC Paradox' X-Wing Alliance review.
• Fresh 3d reviews the Dreamcode motherboard, featuring on-board RIVA TNT and Yamaha Sensaura 3D Sound.
• Overclocker's Workbench reviews the ATI Rage Fury 128.

• The recently announced lawsuit against several game and media companies was a subject discussed on Politically Incorrect. Here's a URL to the transcript of that show...
• Black&White Wire has posted some new info about the engine from Black & White, talking with Lionhead Programmer Scawen Roberts about KNI support and more...
• The redesigned Shotgun Messiah's Homepage has a re-worked version of their extensive skin tutorial...
• .txtGen is a site for level designers that automates the process of creating a readme.txt to include with their levels...

Most folks with mailing lists seem to have caught up with the change, but I wanted to post one more reminder that news items submitted here would be better addressed to news@bluesnews.com, rather than blue@..., which of course, still works, but loony won't see it (useful for talking behind his back).

Image of the Day: This swanky Quake III Arena desktop wallpaper sent along by Chris "DaFragsta" Sparks.