It's that time of the week kids...it's a Sunday, so here's your Mailbag. In this week's zany collection of letters: more on the lawsuit, the whereabouts of the Unreal shareware, Balls of Steel, Daikatana, mice, brain plugs, and of course the inevitable more. Swing on over there and take a look at what your fellow readers are saying.

GA-Source has posted eight exclusive Giants screenshots offering a look ahead at PlanetMoon's upcoming Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Also, Sharky Extreme's First Glimpse at BattleZone 2 is up offering a teensy look ahead at the upcoming action/strategy sequel from Pandemic Studios with a few screenshots. Finally, Lorien at GA-Source sends word that the Illusion Softworks website has been updated with some more new screenshots from their upcoming WWII action/strategy offering, Hidden & Dangerous.

Not "PM" bits, we hedge and leave that available in case more bits pop through the wire this evening:

• Tweak3D reviews the UltraTNT2 and there's a Voodoo 3 2000 Review @ BXBoards.
• Still more follow up on the Win98 VXD patch dealie (story and original follow-up). I received the following from someone I consider a credible source. There is also a post up there by Mr.N Natural, creator of the patch to answer questions and concerns, but to give an example of what they are, I'll pass the email I received along (don't be offended by the bit about "non-advanced users" he's referring to someone other than you specifically):

VMM32.VXD is a file built during Windows Setup. All of the VXD's people say Microsoft forgot are actually rolled up into this file. VMM32 is a required file to boot Windows. Why roll them up into one big file? Boot performance. It's better to load one VXD at boot time than load 30. There are reports on Anandtech of people not booting after installing the "patch" or coming up with viruses. Other people have run dedicated system benchmarks and seen no performance gains. Others have said they see gains but have not posted anything but a timedemo score or, in one case, a 3d benchmark score. As to why anyone would get a performance gain from this, I don't know. But messing with the system VXD's (you know, the ones that load Ebios, Vcache, Vfat, Vcomm, and so forth) is not a wise thing to do for anyone but an advanced user. And a lot of non-advanced users read your page.

Here is a post from someone on Anandtechs BBS (called Cyprus) who contacted Microsoft about the "patch":

"there is no reason to put these files into your windows\system directory. win98 did NOT forget to put them there, and vmm32.vxd is not some generic replacement for all the other files. This vmm32.vxd file isn't even one file, it is all the other files specific to your machine grouped together into one file to speed up load times. This file is built at setup time. If you manually copy all the files into windows\system, you're not helping anything, and unnecessarily causing load/boot times to increase..."

GA's Lorien sends word that registration has begun for SegaSoft's massively multiplayer title, 10six. They're looking for all of 1,000 people this time around, so if you want in, run over there now. If you don't know anything about the game, it's a combination action/strategy title, played from a number of different perspectives, including first person, third person, and top-down. Note: GoNINzo points out that you must be a premium member of HEAT.net to register.

The Rocket Arena website has a new version 2.5 of Rocket Arena 2. The new release has no programming changes, but adds a new map pak compiled by Multi-Arena HeadQuarters with nine new maps containing a total of 57 new arenas, bringing the total number of maps in RA2 to 28, with an impressive 172 total arenas. The full version is now a robust 41.3 MB and the upgrade for previous versions is 14 MB, and both are available on the RA2 downloads page.

Ear On Games interviews Kevin Schilder and Chia Chin Lee of Raven Software, turning a keen eye, or ear, rather, towards the sound effects in the recently released Heretic II, and the upcoming Soldier of Fortune.

SubXero at Requiem-HQ sends word of a new "top secret level" they've made available for download. Here's the deal on this:

I just got my hands on a top secret level for Requiem: Avenging Angel. The file weighs in at a little less than 400kbs. The secret level reveals credits for people who worked on the game including people who left the project early and were unable to get in the official credits.

• Microsoft has newer version 1.15 WHCL Certified RIVA TNT Detonator reference drivers (direct external link) for any TNT board running under Win98. These drivers are from March 12, 1999, but apparently slipped by until noticed by Tweak3D.
• I've received enough commentary on the report of the My 3DMark score jumped up 100 points after installing this WIN98 patch thread on the AnandTech BBS (story) to believe there is something to it. Like much of the feedback on the BBS, several emails describe this patch as being effective at improving performance on some people's systems. The patch's contents seem to be widely accepted as files that Win98 has on the CD, but often fails to install on your system. For more info, check out Mr. Natural's Hardware, home of the patch, where a new version is now available.

A new version 1.2 of the Quake 2 2 mod that allows two players to have a Quake II deathmatch on the same computer is out on the Blackmoon development site. The new release offers a brand-new interface, and as a result, old versions of the mod must be removed before installing the new one.

A new version 2.3 of Demoplay, is out, the first shareware release of this formerly freeware utility that allows you to easily play back demos recorded in Quake and Quake II under Windows 95/98 using nifty VCR-like functionality without having to contend with that nasty 12:00 (this joke is Netscape enhanced).

More coffee anyone? The Q2Java site has relocated, and to commemorate the occasion, they have released a new version 0.9.3 of this program that allows the creation of Quake II mods coded in Java. There is also a new Q2Java mailing list for those interested in detailed discussion of the project.

Two new ones: Version 1.10 of the Quake II Console Parser is now available. This program can use either log files or demo files produced by Quake II as input, and can output analysis in a few forms, including HTML formatted tables. New features in the new release include chat logging, and support for the PureDM, Lithium, and Battleground Quake II mods. Also, the Console Stats Webpage has version 1.1 preview 2.21 of Console Stats offering some bug fixes and tweaks for this feature rich Quake II stat analysis program. Future versions will support QuakeWorld, and Loki's Minions CTF.

Giles' Quake Tinkertoys has a new version 1.12 of the meQanno Quake modeling utility for the Macintosh, and a new version 1.30 of MacQFE, the MacQuake front-end. According to the accompanying update, these releases mark the end of the current cycle of development as the author considers more advanced modeling tools and Quake II and Quake III support. Thanks Scandalon.

• As mentioned in the follow-up below, word was posted here yesterday of a level design contest that has actually already ended. As if to balance the books, the deadline in the SP3D Quake II Level Design Contest, originally last night, has been extended to next Saturday.
• 3D Rant is holding a "name the Rant Chic" contest, offering a PII-450 CPU for the winner.

• GA-Source reviews Starsiege.
• MeccaWorld reviews Team Fortress Classic.
• Tweak3D reviews Expendable (the OEM version packed with the TNT2).
• Beyond 3D reviews Tank Racer.

I posted mention of PCXL's Ultimate Ultra Hyper Excellently Stoopid Design Contest, but it turns out this has already ended, sorry about that. Here's hoping they come up with another contest soon, considering how cool the name of that one was.

• The results of the 3rd Methos Ultimate Quake Poll have been posted...
• The Q2PMP has posted a new plugin for 3D Studio MAX and Character Studio 2.1 that allows modelers to adjust and modify their work on Quake II models "and specifically Half-Life models which currently require the use of MAX/CS..."
• The Terror Quake2 site has posted a new online manual for this Quake II mod...
• d-TOP has posted a new Rainbow Six wallpaper from Steve Reid, creative director at Red Storm Interactive...
• The Sonique Downloads has a new version .95c of this .mp3 player with the unique interface, which includes plug-in support for the new Microsoft Audio 4.0 thingy. Thanks Manpreet Jagpal...

I'm worn out... something suddenly got terribly unhappy on my machine, and it froze up about 20 times while making this morning's update, requiring a hard reboot each time. The crashes came more and more frequently, thwarting any attempt at addressing the problem until I finally resorted to a full checkup from the old Norton Disk Doctor, which gave the disk a clean bill of health, saying it found no problems to repair. Of course, the system has been perfectly happy since then. I learned long ago the term for such occurrences is F.M., with the "M" standing for magic... As always, I feel better for sharing, thanks for your time. The answer to the contest and winners, along with a brand-spankin' new contest (wheee!) will go up tomorrow.

Link of the Day: Lumpynet - Teletubby Execution Chamber. Thanks devilbunny.