Now that Summoner has a publisher (see story) they've gone and redesigned their official site, complete with a boatload of new visuals (including new images, concept art, and more) and a message from Mike Kulas, the president of Volition.

Bungie.Net has a new version 1.3 patch for Myth II: Soul Blighter. Thanks Felix. The File is also available on The Adrenaline Vault Downloads and 3DFiles.Com.

The Worldcraft converter and Player Models for Starsiege: TRIBES that I posted earlier (story) that were subsequently yoinked from TRIBESPlayers have been placed back online again for download.

Oh joy! It's time for this week's edition of the Mail Bag. In this week's jam-packed edition: Messiah, Kingpin's lousy ending, id's health insurance policy, the status of the Watchmen movie, the death of the Quake community, and naturally, a whole lot more. Hop over there and read up.

According to Gamer's Voice, Red Storm's 3D strategy game Force 21 has gone gold. Look for it to hit store shelves soon.

The previously announced Worldcraft converter for Starsiege: TRIBES has been released, and is available for download over at TRIBESPlayers. Also of note are the Player Models, which allow mod makers to create their own character models (and are likewise available for download). Update: it would appear that these have been yoinked from the site...we'll let you know when they reappear.

TRIBESPlayers has posted some information about "Grievers", the evil characters in Dynamix' upcoming semi-sequel Starsiege: TRIBES Extreme (thanks Datumplane::Starsiege).

Gamers Extreme has updated their Aliens vs. Predator guide to include a full walkthrough for the Marine levels. Which is great news if you've been too scared to keep playing through them (not that I know anyone who is, or anything).

• Stomped has posted benchmarks comparing the NVIDIA TNT 1.88 and 2.08 drivers.
• Alienware has posted details of their new system that has both a Voodoo3 and a TNT2 card installed.
• The ReviewZone reviews Windows 2000 (what else would they do?). Thanks Chris Norehad.
• Riva3D reviews the Merlin VR Real Time 3D Modeler.
• Dansdata reviews the Jaton Video 107 AGP card.

Jon Peters sends along this press release announcing TRIBESCon '99:

TRIBEScon '99 is here. Scheduled to take place in Seattle from August 14th - August 16th, this event will hopefully bring together 250 people from the TRIBES community for a weekend of fun and games. Tournaments and large quantities of gaming will abound, and there should be some sightings of the dev team and some other really great players and scripters.

Registration is limited so go sign up as quickly as possibly. The cost/person for pre-registration is $21.50, and we are accepting registration by check(mail) or credit card(internet). There will be a $35 cover charge for people just showing up
at the door but dont wait till then or we may fill up. A $20 single day attendence pass will also be availible but again this is based on availibility only.

The web page with all of the information is up and evolving, and we have also set up a page for taking pre-registration. On top of this we have a messageboard availible for people to ask questions and to help each other find rides. Its a bring your own computer event and make sure to read over the entire TRIBEScon site for more detailed information. Also be sure to keep checking back as we get closer to the convention date as more info and news will be appearing as it becomes availible to us.

The actual page for TRIBEScon '99 resides at: http://netheroes.com/tribescon99/
Pre-registration is being done at: http://www.teamfusion.org/tribescon.taf
The Ride/Question board is located at: http://www.gamers.com/messages/overview.asp?board_id=3493

THQ has announced that they have picked up the rights to Volition's 3D RPG Summoner, as detailed in this press release (thanks Scott Blinn). This puts an end to the speculation as to the future of the title once and for all, I'd say.

3DUnlimited has posted a Q&A session with Steve Hornback, talking about his work as Senior Artist on Duke Nukem Forever, as well as his earlier projects (including Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Duke Nukem 2, and ROTT).

Here's this week's screenshot from Slave Zero, Accolade's (see, I learn!) upcoming giant robot action game for both the PC and Dreamcast (where it'll be one of the launch titles, apparently):

HalfLife.Org interviews Randy Pitchford in the final installment in their Shifting Through the Gears series (unless they add an over-drive), which has been talking with various members of the team at Gearbox Software, currently at work on the official Half-Life add-on Opposing Force.

Singularity News has posted the first benchmarks (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) from the retail version of the Canopus Spectra 5400 Premium Edition. The board comes from Singapore, and it has already been reported that this will not be available in the US. In other Canopus news, faz sent along this correct URL for the new Pure3D2 drivers (apparently they're incorrect on the downloads page link that we reported earlier). Here's the link for the release notes as well.

Speedy 3D interviews Mikael Lindgren of Nerve Lab Software talking about Nerve Lab's upcoming first person action game, Reborn, with the final page of the Q&A offering three new screenshots showing the game off. Here's one answer that gives a bit on what the game is about:

Well, it's actually a mix of different game genres but with an emphasis on first person action. The idea is really to liberate the player, giving the possibilities of moving freely in the world of Reborn. So, apart from the traditional walking and running in tunnels or whatever, you'll drive different vehicles, and even do some air combat. You'll take the role as "Jason Black", a guy who's been in the "cryofreezer" for quite some time. You'll get mission briefings throughout the game by different informers and you'll need to solve them as good as you can. That means, using your weapons and brains when needed.

The Sloshy Software page has a new version 2.41 patch for their QuickStart front-end for the Quake II Eraser bot. The new release adds a couple of tweaks, and fixes a single bug, which is ironically with the program's new auto-update function, which can still be used to install the new version, you are just warned to complete the process once you start the auto-updater.

Here is a web-based Quake 3 Arena fun-name maker that can make a wacky colored name to show others your 'leetness on Q3ATest servers.

Billy has posted a pair of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force shots on Voodoo Extreme showing off gameplay from Raven's upcoming Quake III-engine game.

EvilAsh sends word that the new Outcast demo released yesterday (story), is not in English, but in fact, is in German, befitting its origin point (GamesMania Germany). Additionally, he passes along word that the installation still does expect a DirectX folder under the setup folder, so if you downloaded the 3D Gamers' version with that stripped out, then make sure you have a game CD handy with a DirectX setup folder to copy even if you have DirectX installed.

TacticalPlanet has posted their third exclusive screenshot from Spec Ops II, Zombie's upcoming tactical shooter. Today's pic is better-lit than the previous one, thanks to the muzzle-flash of the machine-gun being fired by the soldier in the shot.

Unreal Kingdom has posted a couple of exclusive screenshots showing off the new IRC chat client interface in Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament, part of the game's enhanced online capability.

There's a Rick Johnson Interview on 3D GameGeeks (or as they put it in their own touchingly simple way "Rick Johnson decided to give us at 3DGameGeek a little interview action here, which is great."). The Q&A covers the Raven programmer's history in the business, and talks about progress on Soldier of Fortune, as well as stuff like violence in the media and his regrets about indulging in Daikatana bashing in the past (followed by a sidelong shot at the game).

Before It's Done interviews Sky Kensok from WXP talking about their upcoming shooter, Experience. They have also posted an exclusive music track from the game in .mp3 format. Also, while we're at it, UGN3D previews Experience.

I'll separate these out from the AM bits, since there are so many darned bits today:

• NVIDIA's Software Drivers page now has an official release of those new version 2.08 detonator drivers (story). Thanks [BC]Borg166. As noted in the follow-up (story), these drivers do work with a TNT (the original post says they don't).
• The Pure3D II Software Updates page has new Pure3D II drivers version 1.40.04 for Windows 9x. "This driver release is not beta and will be supported. Included in this release is the new 3.03 version of Glide from 3Dfx." Thanks aliengrey.
• The ATI Technologies Special Drivers page has new RAGE128 Windows 95b-98 Display Drivers and new RAGE128 Windows NT4.0 Display Drivers each described as a "Q3Test Special Purpose Driver." Thanks Apache.

• Sharky Extreme News has a Matrox G400 & G400 MAX Delivery Update that says (in part) "...customers that pre-booked prior to June 11,1999 have begun receiving their board and will continue to do so until the end of July. Those that ordered after June 11, 1999 can expect a delivery time of 5-6 weeks..."
• K7 (Athlon) SMP: What the future holds on CPU Review is a look at AMD's newly announced plans for multiprocessor support, which will support eight-way processing.
• Thresh's FiringSquad's How to Buy Hardware Cheap Guide has been updated.
• The Tech Zone's How to find a tech job is a new article on how you too can become Dilbert.
• Editorial What Is a Seventh-Generation Processor? asks our buddy Chip Analyst (actually that's the name of the site, but from the photo on the byline, I think that's a good name for the author of the article, too). The article discusses AMD's New Athlon (K7) saying it "Attempts to Clear the Bar." Thanks AMD Zone.

The Adrenaline Vault previews MDK2 looking ahead at BioWare's upcoming sequel to their third-person action game. MDK of course stands for Mighty Ducks and something that starts with a "K."

UGN3D's Force 21 Screenshots show off action from Red Storm Entertainment's upcoming tank dealie. Also, the Submarine Titans website has added some new shots to their screenshots section showing off nuclear explosions ("that's pronounced nu-cu-lar"). Thanks PC Paradox.

Thresh's FiringSquad's TrickStyle Preview looks at this upcoming 3D hoverboard game, that is worth a mention, just because they say the game was partially inspired by the Silver Surfer.

Gamer's Voice has posted a follow-up to the LucasArts departures story posted Sunday (story) confirming that project leader Mark Haigh-Hutchinson has indeed left LucasArts. A further follow-up also confirms that while Director of Development Steve Dauterman is still with the company, he has, in fact, tendered his resignation, and will also be departing.

The story about Scott Rice's departure yesterday, I had the proper headline, but in the body of the article accidentally said the person departing was John Scott (story). sorry about the error, though it turned out the Raven guys had some fun kidding John about his "departure." Amusingly, the error also served as fresh snowfall to show the footprints of a fellow webmaster making off with the story, as he coincidentally committed the same error (tsk, tsk).

A new version 2.24 of the Winamp .mp3 player is up on the Winamp.com Home. Thanks Syco. Winamp now consists of two different programs, Winamp Basic, which plays all formats except WMA and ASFS, and Winamp Complete, which includes support for WMA and ASFS.

• BeatDown XIX HUGE!!! screams the titlebar of the sign-up sheet for a competition looking for the best top 10 list of why you deserve to go to BeatDown XIX (19 for those who don't speak Super-Bowl), GameSpy industries next LAN party. One winner will get their choice of being flown out to the extravaganza, or $300 cash (if the winner is outside the US, they just get the cash).
• The Panther XL website has a follow-up on that joystick giveaway posted yesterday that says they "made the 100 [winners] in about 75 seconds!" Thanks Ryan. Here's the list of winners, and they promise more giveaways in the future.
• Having finally knocked off the never-ending previous contest, we can move on to the new test your knowledge contest, again sure to tax even the most tax-exempt brain.

If a normal story on this page is coffee, then the reviews section is a double espresso. Get ready to pound down some reviews. ("Would you like a lemon twist?")

• GameFan Online reviews N64 Quake II.
• Computer Gaming Review reviews Kingpin Life of Crime.
• ActiveWindows reviews Hidden and Dangerous.
• PC Paradox reviews Descent 3.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews Warzone 2100.
• Gamer's Depot reviews the Matrox G400.
• SystemLogic reviews the ASUS AGP-V3800 TVR Deluxe.
• HardOCP reviews the Elsa Erazor III (TNT2).
• Sharky Extreme reviews the AOpen AX6BC Pro Gold 440BX Mainboard.
• Planet Hardware reviews the Logitech SoundMan X2 (I've been avoiding speaker reviews, but there's no good reason for that, so they'll be here from now on).
• 3drage.com reviews the Benwin BW2000 flat panel speakers.
• Tweak3D reviews the Super Cooler System Monitor.
• FPS3D.COM's Monitor Cooler review is probably proof that the "cooling" craze has gone too far. Next up? The Mouse cooler!

• The ARMAGEDDON page on the Xtreme Games LLC Web Site has word on ARMAGEDDON 1999, a Mini Game Developer Conference (XGDC) to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center October 2nd and 3rd...
• Tweak3D has posted a photo of the Logitech Wingman Force Feedback Mouse...
• The Mod Squad's Wacky Sensibilities is an article in the LA Times about those nutty Quake mod authors, that basically gives a plug to Mod Central, and a link to the KROQ site that has a mod "where players chase each other around a futuristic station and try to save supermodel Tyra Banks." Thanks Kyle Graehl. Only in America, or only in L.A., for that matter....
• This webpage offers basic tips on how to get the best connection for either QuakeWorld, Quake II, or Q3ATest (not tweaking tips, just simple, common sense stuff), offering examples of each, including some sample .cfg files for Quake II...

A couple of weeks ago, we found what we believe is a Mourning Dove in a flower pot out on the fire-escape here at the Blue Tower, and after some time it became obvious that it was nesting. While this may be pretty mundane for those of you who live in less urban environments than we do, contact with any form of wild animal other than a squirrel, rat, or pigeon (who I believe are actually some form of hard-boiled dove themselves), is quite unusual, and has had me excited to a level of childish glee even beyond my norm, much to the amusement of my friends and family. The two baby doves have been hatched for over a week now, and today after momma dove had been away for an unusually long time, I found them out of their makeshift nest for the first time ever. A little research reveals that Mourning Doves are excessively common in the US, as is this form of nesting behavior (but it's just as exciting to me nonetheless), and apparently the babies are no more than a week off from leaving the nest for good.

The reason I share this story, is that my ongoing angst over the fledgling doves has caused about all those aware of it to kid me that I'm in the midst of a Tony Soprano-type breakdown (when the ducks departed from his pool). Since I've spoken in the past about the Sopranos here, and know there are even some of you watching the HBO series as a result, I thought you might find amusement at my plight. Just don't be too concerned about my potential breakdown, I think I'm really okay with it (on the other hand, if I have a dream that one of the doves flies off with my privates in his pecker, it might be Prozac time for the Bluester).

Link of the Day: The Call In Sick Home Page. Thanks Bradley Ouimette. A day of deathmatch is just a faked phone call away