I received an e-mail from Red Storm's webmistress, Mur Lafferty, that despite earlier reports of a Rogue Spear demo being released sometime in the next three weeks (story) they're working on finishing the game, and therefore haven't set a date for the demo as of yet. There will definitely be a demo released, just not quite as soon as many of us had hoped.

A new version of the Tread level editor (1.11) has been released (thanks Redwood). This version adds support for Kingpin, as well as some other new features. A downloadable, 10 day trial version of the editor is available, but at the end of the trial you are required to pay for it. An earlier version (1.02) is available for free, however you won't get any of the new features.

Leinen Software (the people who brought you the Unreal Launcher and the Battlezone Configuration Utility) have produced an Aliens vs. Predator Launcher, which allows you to easily turn on a whole slew of options. Here's a quick list:

• Display frames/sec. and number of polygons.
• Adjust volume and speed of the motiontracker.
• Adjust time- and leanscale.
• Adjust RGB-coloring of the sky.
• Access cheat codes like GOD and ALLWEAPONS.
• Pre-load additional bots.

Canopus has posted step by step directions for getting Pure3D cards (those being the Pure3D, Pure3D II and II LX cards) working with Q3Test (thanks Vornskr). It contains both directions for installing, as well as uninstalling the new drivers.

Bot Epidemic has posted a Q&A with Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin, talking about the AI and bots (or lack thereof) in Kingpin. There's also this bit that's of note for would-be Kingpin mod authors:

Cube: Is the Kingpin source code going to be appearing soon, or is the intention to have the game patched a couple of times to remove any lingering bugs before a release?

Ridah: That's the intention. I expect to have the code out within a week, but that depends on how things go with the patches.

BE has also posted a new version of Ridah's Eraser Bot (version 1.10). This is the version that appeared in the Quake II add-on Extremities, and features "heavily re-worked CTF and combat AI," as well as a new route-file for Q2CTF2. This is a patch for the Win32 version of the Eraser bot only.

Federation HQ, a Star Trek gaming site has posted an interview with three members of Raven's Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force team: Chris Foster (the lead designer), James Monroe (the lead programmer), and Michael Gummelt (the AI and scripting programmer). It's a nice sized interview, containing lots of little bits of information about Raven's Quake III: Arena engine title. In an oddly related story, The Boomstick Joint has posted a review of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D, a really cool map that recreates the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Version 1.11 of the ReDeMpTiOn bot for Sin has been released. This version tweaks the bot's combat abilities, making him utilize the Rocket Launcher and Quantum Destabilizer more effectively, as well as making them generally tougher opponents.

A non-beta release of Ping Tool 2.5 is out, now adding Q3Test "fun name" support, as well as fixing the game launching errors NT and Roger Wilco users were reporting.

eXplosive 3D has posted a tutorial for all of you would-be programmers, appropriately titled the 3D Programming Guide (A-Z). The topics covered include finding the right compiler, writing your own Keyboard manager, and even drawing polygons on the screen.

PCParadox has posted nine new screenshots from Volition's space sequel, Freespace 2, showing off a variety of different models and ships.

The angelic Billy Wilson spotted this post on the Requiem message boards from 3DO's webmaster, confirming that the Requiem: Avenging Angel editor will not be publicly released. It's short and sweet:

I'm sorry to say that the level editor will not be released.

Guthwulf
Webmaster 3DO

UGN3D has posted some screenshots from the Homeworld intro movie, taken from a beta version of the game that actually contains a single player game (as opposed to most of the betas that are multiplayer only).

GA-RPG has updated their RPG Mythology column, with this week's installment featuring Bio Ware's Greg Zeschuk talking about more of his favorite RPGs, including some forgotten classics: Sierra's The Shadow of Yserbius (part of the failed Sierra Network), and of course, Wasteland (the game Fallout was a pseudo sequel to).

• ComChip has written up a guide to choosing an ISP, with some general tips to picking the right service provider.
• USBWorkshop reviews the ACT Labs Force RS (USB) wheel.
• Overclocker's Workbench has posted a picture of a Celeron 400 that's labeled, "for uniprocessor systems only" adding some proof to the rumors that Intel would be disabling SMP in the Celeron line.
• AMDZone has gotten a confirmation from 3dfx' Brian Burke that their drivers will be supporting the new Athlon instruction set.

Well, I had quite a day yesterday, that's for sure. First things first: I woke up, and discovered, much to my horror, that I was in excruciating pain (I have a lousy back, and yesterday was just one of those days). Then I find out that my ISDN line hadn't been turned on yet, and wouldn't be until Monday morning (aargh). I can live with that, I suppose. Yesterday was a freaky-hot day here in Brooklyn, and my air conditioning just didn't seem to cut it, which wasn't exactly helping. But the topper of course, was when around 8:00 PM the server started going wonky on me, and as I write this (the next morning), it still hasn't been fixed. Aaargh. Sorry for the downtime folks, but if you can read this, I'll assume it's been fixed. :)

Link of the Day: Storytime - Curious George and the High-Tension Power Line. Because on some days, this is the funniest thing in the world.