GameWinners.com has posted the cheat codes for System Shock 2, for those of you who want them. It should be pointed out, however, that using these will take a great deal away from the overall experience...use them only if you must (and even then, I urge you to reconsider).

Crushbug sends word of BioWare's plans to show off a demo of their upcoming games MDK2 and Neverwinter Nights on August 21 at Fragapalooza 99. FP99 is described as Canada's largest and longest running LAN party, and is scheduled from Thursday, August 19 through Sunday, August 22 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The Matrox User's Resource Centre has posted a small Windows utility called G400tweak for owners of G400-based accelerators that offers access to several registry settings to tweak the G400's performance. They also have word of benchmarks posted on MGA Optimisation Tools from beta testers of MGATweak which they say "should be out in open beta soon."

Both of these courtesy of Desktop Watch as well, where they've posted word of ICQ version 99b 3.17 (I can't find it, but I never can, it probably is out there), as well as word of the final version 6.4 of the Windows Media Player out of beta on the Media Player Home.

A new version 1.4a of the Bleem (bleem!) PlayStation emulator for the PC is now available (thanks Desktop Watch). The new version is called a "Maintenance update," and includes a workaround for CD-ROM/DVDROM Access (if your drive has problems reading your CD-KEY, try this version), adds a few enhancements and fixes a few bugs, and updates the Internal Compatibility Listings database, so fewer games will show up as "untested."

The Q3TStats Home has a new version 2.0 beta 1 for download offering Q3Test 1.08 support. Word is: "This version concentrates mainly on the parser and leaves much to be desired with the output." They expect Beta 2 within a week with "MUCH improved output."

The Æstats Page has a new version 4.08 of this log file analyzer for most first-person shooters, including the Quake series, Unreal, most Quake/Quake II-engine games, and many mods. The program offers stats and ranking output in HTML. The new version adds a new ranking method, and paves the way for TeamFortress Quake support.

Saw Doomworld that the source code for version 1.18 of ZDoom has been released, offering a look at the code behind this enhanced Win32 version of Doom, based on the also-publicly available source for id Software's classic shooter.

Gaming Age interviews Rod Fung, talking with the producer of Sierra's upcoming SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle. Also, part two of Computer Games Online's SWAT 3 preview is online.

I saw on the Bot Epidemic that version 1.03 of the CronosBots are now available. This mod adds AI bots to Quake, and the new release adds Rocket Arena rules to the bots, and the movement and AI routines have been almost entirely rewritten as well. Also, word on the AI-lovers' homepage is that RiEvEr is seeking beta testers for a new release of the ReDeMpTiOn Bot for Sin. The ReDeMpTiOn is currently being ported to the Sin 1.06 CTF code for the Sin Arcade Machine and word is "it has to be perfect or the machine will crash."

Tribes Universe has a couple of photos up, along with a brief description of the activities at TRIBESCon, currently underway. Also, Planet Tribes has a new TRIBES mod that makes the sniper rifle behave more like the TFC version (firing upon release of the trigger, rather than the pull). Finally, on a semi-related note, Datumplane::Starsiege has word on a forum posting detailing a Starsiege Jailbreak server now online.

The DooM Legacy page has a new version v1.29 beta 4 of this OpenGL port of the Doom source code. Thanks Voodoo Extreme. The new version enhances the FOV command, and fixes a few bugs (like hidden feet of monsters).

Tim Sweeney made an update to the Unreal Technology page outlining Epic's plans to implement DirectX 7 support in Unreal Tournament. Here's the lowdown:

Some people have been asking about our plans for supporting the upcoming DirectX7. Unreal Tournament will ship with DirectX6 support, and will be compatible with (but not optimized for) DirectX7. As soon as Microsoft has released DirectX7 and we've had a chance to optimize the code for DX7 and test it across a wide range of cards, we'll release an Unreal Tournament patch with complete DirectX7 optimizations. This has been the plan all along.

DirectX7 has lots of cool new features. The ones which Unreal Tournament will exploit are:

• Improved texture management.
• Hooks to enable 3D card drivers to perform their own texture management to improve performance.
• Optimized polygon path for significantly faster polygon rates.
• Windows 2000 support.

Exxtreme3D's Fragging While Lagging is an article that tries to give modem players tips on how to try to overcome their disadvantage on Internet Q3Test servers against players with lower pings. Thanks Ant.

The first release of the Weapons of Fury mod for Sin is now available with an update to a mod I recall for Quake, where you start with a single weapon, and get new a weapon for each frag you get without dying. The winner is the first player to get a frag with the final weapon (the Quantum Destabilizer).

The Datumplaners (huh?) over at Datumplane::Starsiege send word that their Tips section is up and running, collecting reader-submitted tips on the games they cover: TRIBES, Starsiege, Cyberstorm2 and Starsiege:Rebellion.

Remember to have your morning coffee before trying to wrap your mind around your morning technology:

• There's a new version of WCPUID. Thanks BetaNews.
• Extreme Hardware's 3dfx T-Buffer Interview is up talking to 3dfx' Brian Burke about their newly announced technology.
• Update 1 for version 4.5 of BeOS is on the BeOS Software Updates page (as of a few days ago). Thanks Jason Boles.
• There's a 3D Top update on 3DFiles with a new version of this enhanced desktop dealie.
• Glide Underground reviews the Ultra Thin Exhauster.
• Tweak3D's 3DCool Super Duper Slot Fan review.

There's a new Slave Zero screenshot on ActionXtreme.com. There are some new Age Of Empires II Screenshots at Gamers Depot. There are some WarTorn Shots on The Technocracy.

• Matrix Quake is a project on the Clan Gargoyle page that adds an OpenGL proxy to create a nauseous Matrix (the movie) effect on all the surfaces in any Quake II map (it uses the proxy instead of a pak file to make the textures move)...
• Dukeworld interviews Eurocom Entertainment talking about the upcoming Duke console game, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour for the N64...
• Speaking of Duke, planetNUKEM's Features That Made Duke 3D an Instant Classic talk of the classic features of the most recent installment in the Duke series...
• And speaking of the N64, there's a Quake II Secrets FAQ on GameFAQs with the secrets from the N64 version of Quake II. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme...

loony's weekly stint at the morning update interrupted the flow of the edition of the pop culture game I posted Friday. For fans of the quote game, the asterisk and footnote format will probably be the new way this will go (the quotes won't be labeled like the one on Friday, but obviously they will stand out more nonetheless). Anyway, Friday's quote was from The Big Lebowski (thanks LURKER for the correction on the original quote), and the favorite quote from the film supplied in return was Sean McCann's offering (which I've corrected myself for accuracy) "You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me." Honorable mention is Stephen Toulouse's and Eric Calkins: "That rug really tied the room together, did it not?" And I leave you with a thought from Sam Elliot that Moogle (who has to be one of the very first to send news into this site way back when) sent along: "The dude abides."

Link of the Day: Business News from Wired News reports on DUI. Yup, Driving Using Internet. Thanks Ant.

Saw on Voodoo Extreme that Tactical Planet has posted five new screenshots from NovaLogic's upcoming voxel-powered sequel, Delta Force 2 at the bottom of their Delta Force 2 Overview.

There's an Exclusive Experience Screenshot on GA-RPG showing off Experience, WXP's upcoming shooter (they refer to it as an FPS/RPG, a distinction I wasn't aware of). It's a neat shot featuring a fearsome monster, and a cool tree (seriously -- 3D rendered trees rarely look so... tree-like).

GameSpot's GameGuides has posted their complete guide to Mechwarrior 3, which is available in an online version, or as a downloadable PDF file (thanks AGN3D).

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted a few pieces of concept art from Rogue & EA's upcoming Quake III-engine game, Alice (at least one of which is new), revealing at least a bit about the game (as EA promised to do in launching the Alice website yesterday, but that was a bit of an anticlimax).

Saw on RainbowSix.Net that there's an interview with Carl Schnurr on SimHQ.com talking with this producer for Red Storm Entertainment about progress on Rogue Spear, RSE's upcoming sequel to their Tom Clancy game, Rainbow Six. There's also a team two-part interview with RSE's Greg Stelmack talking about Rogue Spear, you can find half here at Rainbow Recon, and the other half here at the KillingHouse.

The OpenGL DooM Legacy page has an updated version of the recent beta 3 release that has a fixed version of the r_glide.dll file which was corrupted in the original. If you had problems with the recent beta 3 release, you probably want to grab the updated version. Saw that on Doom Nation.

3D Action Planet Previews Slave Zero in a look ahead at this giant robot game with a preview that includes comments from Accolade's Matt Powers, the game's producer, as well as some brand-new screenshots.

Whoops, meant to post this yesterday: There are four new screenshots on TacticalPlanet showing off gameplay from SWAT 3 Close Quarters Battle (forgot until I saw it on AGN3D).

The Assimilation Page has a new version 2.6 of the Assimilation mod for Quake II. Major changes in the new release include new rocket modes, a new structured elimination mode, and a new map pack that offers 13 new assimilation maps. For more info on what the mod is all about, check out their info section.

Thresh's FiringSquad has posted an interview with Zono's designer Jason Hough, talking about their battlin' robots RTS Metal Fatigue. The piece is illustrated with a number of screenshots, so if this is your first exposure to MF, you'll have no problem understanding what he's talking about.

High Tech at High Noon:

• CPU Review's Athlon/Pentium3 Price Comparison v2 is online for the savvy shopper.
• EnTech Taiwan's PowerStrip page has a new version 2.51.07 of this uber-control utility for most monitors and video cards. Thanks Gamedev.net.
• Version 4.09 of Motherboard Monitor is now available, updating this utility for monitoring system temperatures and voltages. New to this version are BP6 support and adjustable core voltage for each core port. Thanks Tweak3D.
• Speedy 3D reviews the King Kong HD cooler.

The planned inter-operability of future versions of Unreal with Epic's upcoming sequel, Unreal Tournament, has been mentioned often, since the two programs will share a similar code-base. PlanetUnreal has reproduced a Mark Rein newsgroup post that clarifies how interchangeable maps from the two games will be:

UT will run most Unreal DM maps but probably not run single player maps.

For multiplayer UT can serve most Unreal DM maps (provided you have the texture sets etc.) with any problems but only UT users can play on a UT server even if it's playing an Unreal map. I.e. you can't connect to a UT server with Unreal or an Unreal server with UT.

Canopus' Japanese website has new new drivers for Canopus' TNT-based Spectra 2500 graphics cards based on the v2.25 reference drivers from NVIDIA. Thanks BetaNews.

An update to the Speed Run Training Demos on I.Am-Half-Life offers new routes and flag-running techniques from a first-person viewpoint (or, the third-person perspective if you enter chase_active 1 at the console before playing the demo). These demos can help you understand how some TFC players seem to be able capture the flag twice in 45 seconds or less, showing off the blast-jumps, clever routes, and excellent timing the best flag-runners use to turn captures faster than many think is possible.

This week's Unreal Tournament Level of the Week is up on GT's official UT site (thanks Billy "weakly" Wilson). This week's level is the oddly named DM Stalwart, described as an 'old mechanic's garage that's been converted into a battle arena'. The usual batch of dramatic screenshots help explain what that means.

The Black & White Stronghold has posted two new screenshots from Peter Molyneux' latest creation, Black & White. The images depict, "a tortoise with a funny look on his face and the other of a fight between a tiger and ape" so you just know you're in for something odd.

3D Unlimited has posted a Q&A with Bobby Duncanson, 3D artist on Raven Software's Soldier of Fortune, talking about his background, and the animation system in the game.

Loki's Missions has released Escape, a new mod for Quake II. It's described as a "mini mission pack" and contains new monsters, weapons, levels, sounds, textures and cinematics.

GASource is reporting that Infogrames is shipping Independence War Deluxe, a "special edition" of their shooter, that contains 18 new missions (in addition to the ones already in the game), in-mission save points, new weapons, ships, and more.

Runner's Delight is the name of a new six level map pack for Classic Quake designed by Jesse van Dijk of Quake Done Quick fame. While the maps will work in single player, co-op and deathmatch, they are optimized for speed-running, meaning you can attempt astounding feats of speed the likes of which haven't been seen since the Flash TV show was cancelled.

• 3DAlpha reviews the EPoX EP-MVP3G-2 motherboard.
• Tom's Hardware reviews the KryoTech Cooll Athlon 800MHz setup.
• 3DHardware reviews Labtec's ATX-5820 speakers.
• Thresh's Firingsquad has posted new BIOS software for the ABIT BP6 and BE6 motherboards.
• Matrox and Zen Tao Interactive have announced that the Unreal engine title Wing Chun VR will support dual displays by utilizing Matrox' G400 technology.

• Sharky Extreme reviews Dungeon Keeper 2.
• Monolithic Illusions reviews System Shock 2.
• BarrysWorld reviews Braveheart.
• PC.IGN reviews Darkstone.

• The stats from the "push the AMD" server at QuakeCon are online, showing the full stats from this 100+ player server (take a look at those pings!).
• According to BetaNews, there's an AOL bot that's kicking MSN Messenger users off of its service (thanks ewid).
• IGN Sci-Fi is reporting that the much talked about Doom movie is finally dead (thanks neko, and everyone else who sent that in).
• Bungie is considering porting their titles Halo and Oni to both the Dreamcast and Playstation 2 consoles, but not the current crop of systems, according to Next-Generation Online.
• Impressions Games is looking for beta testers for their strategy game Pharoah. They'll be accepting applications next week, with winners to be notified on the 23rd.

In my continuing quest to play every game that's not EverQuest, I've been playing quite a bit of System Shock 2, and as Blue accurately predicted, I'm hooked. Boy am I ever hooked. I haven't enjoyed a single player game this much since Half-Life, and I can't recommend the game any more highly. Of course, it should be pointed out that the game is certainly not for everyone. It's definitely more RPG than action...there's quite a bit of action in it, but if you aren't willing to put up with the skills and inventory system you ain't going to get far. If you can make it past that, you'll find yourself totally addicted, much like I am right now. Oh, and one other thing - make sure you've got a great sound setup for this one. The positional audio is some of the best I've ever heard. Really creepy stuff.

Link of the Day: iPic: The Match Head Sized Web Server (thanks to whoever sent that in first...I think it was Brian Grivna).