The Æstats Page has a new version 4.12 of the Æstats log file parser for 3D Shooters with Stats/Ranking output in HTML. The new release offers TeamFortress Quake support, Kingpin support, and updated Counter Strike for Half-Life 2.01 support. Other games supported by Æstats are Q3Test 1.08, Quake II, Half-Life, the OZ Half-Life mod, TeamFortress Classic for Half-Life, Lithium II for Quake II, Rocket Arena II for Quake II, and Unreal. Future support for Action Quake2, TRIBES, Sin and Heretic II are still planned.

Soft Enterprises Skout demo page has been updated with word that the release of the real demo for this German first-person shooter will be on August 25, with the International release to follow a few weeks later. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. Yup that German demo version that just popped up a week or so ago wasn't a real demo release, just a beta leak.

The version of the day of The Jumbot for Half-Life has been released, bringing this simulated deathmatch opponent up to version 0.35. The new version is mostly bug fixes, though it does also have some new features. Thanks DarkLord.

3DFiles has word of a new release of that WickedGL hopped-up mini-OpenGL driver for 3dfx-based accelerators. Word is: "The fixes include lost railings" bug in Half-Life with WickedGL HiRes accelerated version fixed, flashing textures in Q3 with WickedGL HiRes accelerated version fixed, improved WickedGL HiRes accelerated version performance in low resolutions and more." Thanks VE where you can also find The Pulpit taking a hard look at some of this driver's shortcomings, insights from 3dfx' Gary Tarolli (Chief Technical Officer and co-founder).

The Sincest For SiN page has an updated version of SinEd omega, the Sin level editor. The new release offers a small change that will allow users to view the entire texture list at 800x600 resolution (if you don't require that, you don't require the new version).

Doomworld Linux - Unix Source Ports page has a new (as of the 16th) release of XDoom along with source code. This is a Unix port with translucency, CD sound, lasers / forcefields and much more. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski.

Activision has announced Battlezone Gold, an upcoming release (due next month) that will bundle their critically acclaimed action/RTS with other Battlezone goodies including the Red Odyssey mission pack, and a new mission pack, Battlegrounds. Here's what's included:

• Battlezone with version 1.4 patch!
• Two authorized add-on packs: The Red Odyssey (version 1.3) and Battlegrounds, adding a new side, 10 new vehicles, 23 new missions, 45 instant action missions, and over 50 multiplayer maps!
• The BradyGames Official Strategy Guide!
• A demo of Battlezone II!

The ReDeMpTiOn page has word of a new version 1.16 of the ReDeMpTiOn bot for Sin, currently available for download at Ritualistic (as RiEvEr is currently apparently having as much trouble with PQ's FTP as he does with his caps lock key). The new version of this simulated deathmatch opponent for Sin is based on the Sin version 1.06 game .dll source, which has not yet been publicly released.

GameSpot's Preview of FreeSpace 2 is online, offering another look ahead at the story and gameplay from the upcoming sequel to Descent: FreeSpace, providing some exclusive screenshots along the way. Thanks AGN3D.

HQH's Website has an updated version of their unofficial Half-Life FAQ, like the just-updated I.am-Half-Life's Half-Life-Team Fortress Classic FAQ (story), now current through the new Half-Life version 1.0.1.3. They have also posted an updated demo of their own to work with the altered demo playback in the new Half-Life version 1.0.1.3 to allow for comparative benchmarking (again, like the new one on the tweaks page at I.Am-Half-Life (story)). HQH's FAQ, as always, is a zip of a text file, but a new HTML version is promised soon.

Word from PlanetStarSiege is that version 1.1 of the Rabbit mod for Starsiege TRIBES is now available. The file is available on this FilePlanet page. This is actually from yesterday -- I thought PlanetStarSiege was down because of a typo in the URL they sent along. Rabbit is a server-only mod that was described the first time it was sent along as "a classic game of smear the guy with the red triangle on his head."

The first public release of the Lambda Arena modification for Half-Life is out on their newly-relocated homepage. As the name might imply, this is a Half-Life variation on the now-classic Rocket Arena mod for Quake and Quake II that offers last-man-standing gameplay (where players start with all weapons and full ammo, plus extra health and armor) for both one-on-one competitions, as well as teamplay. Like Quake II Rocket Arena, Lambda Arena allows multiple arenas to be simultaneously active on a single map. The mod currently features "beefed-up" Half-Life weapons, but they've tried "to make them more balanced than in the normal game."

We posted earlier about a fun contest on Q3Center (story) looking for the best screenshot showing off persistent RailGun trails using the variable "cg_railtrailtime 999999" (the winner earns a Voodoo3 3500). Cache wrote in to point out that there are obviously a lot of people using this variable on public servers on the internet, which is causing game lag, so the cooperative folks over at Q3Center have amended the rules of their contest to only reward screenshots of games with one player in them, so you can fire off your own server to make with the art, and the deathmatching can go on undisturbed. Further update: Avatar writes in to point out (probably quite correctly) that using this client-side variable will not actually effect the server, but on the other hand, people running around making rail art were probably not helping the quality of the deathmatch, either.

The Gamelink Homepage has the first release of Gamelink, a program which allows you to connect to a multiplayer game without the use of a server browser, provided you know the server address in advance or by clicking on an "Active Gamelink" from a webpage. While this sounds no more sophisticated than entering an IP address into the game to join a server, the program does offer some advantages, like remembering the last IP address you entered, allowing easy configuration to connect to passworded servers (provided you have the password, of course), it can connect to servers via web links ("Active Gamelink"), server administrators can set match times embedded in Active Gamelinks, and more. The program offers support for Quake, Quake II, Q3Test, Half-Life, TRIBES, and Unreal.

Having arrived safely in Houston, our man (or boi) on the scene, loonyboi, has filed a short initial report, basically introducing his upcoming four-day jaunt with the road tour on the Quake III Arena bus, starting in Houston, and leading up to their big arrival in Austin. Here's loonyboi's Day 0 Q3A Bus Tour Report, which mentions that his next installment may very well be providing some new screenshots of some of the stuff being shown on the tour that has not yet been shown off publicly anywhere else. Whee!

Speedy 3D interviews Lisa Bucek of Volition discussing FreeSpace 2, their upcoming sequel to Descent: FreeSpace, as well as the original FreeSpace, the inspiration Star Wars has on the space sim franchise, and more.

As promised, Part two of Computer Games Online's Q&A With Sierra's Rod Fung is up, discussing Multiplayer and AI issues in Sierra's upcoming SWAT 3, which simulates tactical police operations.

Ten Four interviews Neil Manke talking to reputable level author Neil Manke, most recently praised for his fine work on the USS Darkstar for Half-Life. This second Q&A (the first one is here) mostly discusses the response to Darkstar.

I.am-Half-Life's Half-Life-Team Fortress Classic FAQ has been updated on the occasion of the release of Half-Life 1.0.1.3. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.

Thresh's FiringSquad previews Mortyr, looking at what's up with the back-to-the-future game of World War II combat (still no word on who will be publishing this one in the US), examining gameplay based on playing the demo.

Saw on The Descent Chronicles that ZappaFan's Descent Hangout has worked up plans for a "Descent 3 Fan Appreciation Chat" AKA "The Descent 3 Love Fest" this Wednesday at 10:00 PM EDT in channel #300baud on any EFnet IRC server. They point out "this is NOT a bug report chat, this is a feedback only chat session, so there shouldn't be any kind of "why won't descent 3 run on my graphics card?" type of questions."

A headline titled "Interplay Prod Slate" on Cinescape Online has word of a bunch of Interplay game-related movie projects apparently in the works according to a report they found on movie trade Variety (thanks Descent4.net):

Interplay Films, a division of Interplay Entertainment, is developing seven of the company’s most popular video game titles. Beyond that, they are working on a number of other non-game related productions for TV and and the big screen, according to Variety. Among the known video game oriented projects are:

Redneck Rampage
A violent video game with title Rednecks chasing after and taking on hideous aliens who have stolen their prize pig. Plans are for the film to emphasize those the game's comedic elements. At one time, Robert Rodriguez was set to direct the feature film for release by Dimension Films. When the option lapsed, Rodriguez moved on to another project. Sony is now said to be interested in taking it on.

Fallout
A Post-apocalyptic action game. Interplay is said to be partnering with Dark Horse Entertainment on the project on the project. The trade reports that Brent Freeman (Dark Skies, Mortal Kombat II) wrote the script.

Descent
Based on the combat flight simulator game. The film was originally developed as a two-hour TV movie for the NBC TV network. Now planned for a theatrical release, the film has a script by Steven DeSouza.

Other projects that were mentioned include feature film versions of Carmaggedon and Earthworm Jim.

Q3Center's Q3Test Rail Trails Contest offers a Voodoo3 3500 for the most compelling screenshot shooting rail trails after using the variable "cg_railtrailtime 999999"

• Here's an Unreal tweaks and troubleshooting guide that offers tips that can also be used on the Unreal mission pack. Thanks Voodoo Extreme...
• Half-Life Express' Ultimate Clan Reference is online shooting to be the definitive resource for clan info in Half-Life, TeamFortress Classic, and ultimately TeamFortress2...
• Silex Particle System Explorer is an interactive demo where users can modify particle elements (fire for example) in predefined scenes...
• For the second time in a short span, some sad news from the community to report. Remembering Evilchild is a memorial to Eric Sunde, founder of the Department of Engineering, devoted to Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic, and Team Fortress 2 level editing. We can again only offer our deepest condolences and sympathies to his friends and family...

It was a day of mixed joy and sorrow for our little family of Mourning Doves that's adopted our fire escape as their home this summer. We awoke to find that one of the fledglings did not survive the night. There's been rain, but it didn't seem wet enough for it to drown, so the cause is hard to pin down, but clearly it was a bit behind its surviving sibling in development. That sibling, on the other hand, is quite the intrepid youngster, and took off for the final time to live on its own before our eyes as we were first mourning (no pun intended) the loss, seemingly to underscore nature's balance. I wonder if it's possible the parents will still return for a third brood this summer?

Link of the Day: iBrator.com. Thanks Mars. Parental Discretion advised (in other words, be discreet with this around your parents). Sorry for the adult-oriented link on a Sunday and all, but the iBrator QuickTime Movie made me laugh out loud.
Bonus Link: iMaul. Not quite as good, but cleaner, and it follows the theme. Thanks Ant.