The Hive interviews Ken Levine in a perfectly rational conversation with the head honcho at Irrational Games about their action/RPG hit, System Shock 2.

Messages from both MacGamer's Ledge and Inside Mac Games clarify that the blurb posted earlier indicating that the Mac version of Rainbow Six is now available (story) was erroneous, and the Mac version is still in beta. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks to both sites for their effort at keeping our facts straight.

There's a new LithTech 2 Engine Interview on PC.IGN.COM talking with Monolith's Paul Butterfield and Mike "Pass" Dussault about LithTech 2, and how it stacks up against the Unreal and Quake family engines, also discussing "The Game Formerly Known as No One Lives Forever," and even a bit on LithTech 3.

Newly launched in time for the wave of downloads following the recent Half-Life patch is HALFLIFEFILES.COM, the latest entry in the popular gamenamefiles.com line.

Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin updated his .plan with word on the unofficial release of the version 1.2 Linux Kingpin client, as well as more on the "bonus" bagman maps in the 1.20 patch:

The linux Kingpin v1.20 port can be downloaded from the following location:

http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kingpin-1.20_glibc-i386-linux2.0.tar.gz

This is an unofficial full client build. I will be putting together a server only official build soon, which will hopefully find it's way onto the official Kingpin page.

Why server only? Because the full client needs a lot more work before it could be considered official. If there are any linux developement houses out there that would like to continue the work, they can contact me and I'll put you in touch with the appropriate Interplay representation.

Also worthy of note, is the v1.20 contains a bonus two maps made specifically for Bagman. I know the Bagman fans have been wanting more maps, now they have them. You can thank KungFu (Dave Ward) for his efforts putting together the new maps.

Thanks to Devistator for sending along an log of tonight's chat with Epic Games with just join and rename messages removed (a slightly more complete log that arrived earlier than the log I posted originally), hosted by The Adrenaline Vault discussing progress on Unreal Tournament. The Burpfish Network has also posted an unedited log, Unreality sends word they've posted a selection of "the coolest questions" on their front page, and Cached.Net had posted their favorite moments as well. Finally, this UT chat log tries to improve the process by properly connecting all the questions and the answers, as does this log on PlanetUnreal.

Interplay Productions sends along word they are looking for play testers for some upcoming focus groups. Here's the deal:

Interplay is looking for more playtesters to participate in some upcoming focus groups. Applicants must live in the LA/Orange County, CA area. If interested, please send a message to betatest@interplay.com with the words "focus group" as the message subject. Participants will receive a free Interplay game of their choice.

GamePen previews FreeSpace 2 looking ahead at Volition's upcoming space epic. Also, Billy at Voodoo Extreme sends word that Freespace2.com has a pair of new ships in the FreeSpace 2 Ship Gallery.

Our monthly friend, the Werewolf The Apocalypse - Heart of Gaia page has again been updated on the occasion of the full moon, having posted Part 10 of their 10-part Prequel Series, and all new Glossary section, and an all new Gameplay section, as well as a log of last month's chat. Cheers again Voodoo Extreme.

Gamecenter's Exclusive Alice Information is short Q&A with Electronic Arts Game Designer American "Tokay" McGee discussing the upcoming Quake III-engine wonderland extravaganza Alice, about which very few details are available. Here's the answer to the question about the storyline, incase you are intrigued by how the Alice thing might work:

You do play the role of Alice. Your ultimate goal is to destroy the Queen of Hearts and return Wonderland to normal.

The list of client variable for Q3Test on The Flagship Engineering Room has now been updated through the current version 1.08.

RainbowSix.Net has word that the Macintosh version of Rainbow Six is now available, bringing RSE's Tom Clancy-inspired game of tactical combat to the Mac. Update: This story seems to be erroneous: please see the follow-up.

Frans (3D Action Gamers) is on fire, catching site of the version 1.2 patch for Kingpin on Interplay's site. Here's a local copy and some mirrors of the 2.12 MB patch. Here's What's new:

Kingpin v1.2 Fixes/Changes:
---------------------------

+ New "g_mapcycle_file" variable, to set the cycle list to something other than "maps.lst" or "teammaps.lst"
+ Added "kickban" command to server (works same as "kick <id>" but also adds the ip to the filter list)
+ Download skins option in Player Setup menu
+ added "time" command to consol
+ fixed server exploit
+ alterations to voting system
+ client model server crash with dm_locational_damage enabled
+ Invisible player models for unknown female skins
+ Chasecam observer mode
+ New "Push Download" tech for faster file transfers
+ Make download system backwards compatible with old servers AND old clients
+ Server's send "deposited" to GameSpy via "deaths" field
+ Disable CD check when enabling CD music in options
+ Add debug info to "FS_Read: 0 bytes read" error
+ Fix scoreboard for realmode (show kills and net score)
+ In Gangbang teamplay, frags go to the wrong team
= Dead bodies of client's that haven't respawned yet block doorways
+ Skins not found, try and keep model, change skins back to 001 001 001 (since this is a safe set for all models)
+ BAN voting system to boot trouble makers
+ Subtract a frag for dying in "real mode". Subtract 2 for suiciding.
+ Weapons reload after firing, if reload is pressed when clip is full
+ Fixed some crashes
+ Downloadable skins/models
+ misc tweaks
+ spectator mode exploit
+ Shooting Flamethrower, switch weapons, flame stays
+ LINUX: crashes during fighting with sewer guy with guns
+ unlimited ammo in single player (DF_INFINITE_AMMO)
+ last player killed when reaching fraglimit gets overflowed (made scoreboard message unreliable)
+ skin: "male thug/sku sup sup" causes Sewer skin in teamplay
+ Player ID always RED
= old chat style option
+ shotgun doesn't always change when out of ammo
+ real-mode option in start server menu

The AMD Professional Gamers' League page has word that due to the way the timing of game releases is working out, they're canceling thee Fall Season to avoid forcing players to try and stay current on older games. Thanks KRayZieDoGG.

Okay it's sports, but it's free. Frans at 3D Action Gamers spotted a Madden NFL™ 2000 demo on EASPORTS.COM for your football (the American kind) enjoyment.

GameSpot UK has posted three new Slave Zero screenshots showing off action from this upcoming giant robot game. They actually promise five shots, but #13, is the title screen (also in the demo), and #14 is also the first shot from when they started their collection (maybe they can trade their doubles with another site). Frans at 3D Action Gamers for helping sort through all this properly.

I keep meaning to mention somewhere along the way here that the link to the violence article that caused a stir yesterday (story) no longer works, searching the site turns up no trace of it, and no explanation for the disappearance of the article is evident. Thanks to the very many who've mailed in about this.

ValveWorld has posted the second of their two shots showing off another scene from Opposing Force, the add-on for Half-Life currently in the works over at Gearbox Software.

David "crt" Wright, famed Rocket Arena programmer and Q3Test champion among the "press" (I'm sure he pressed a shirt once), sends along word that he's started a pair of mailing lists about Quake III coding, one moderated, and one that isn't, with the thinking it's never too early to plan ahead. Here's the word:

Q3Coding is a moderated list for discussion of the actual code, including "how to" questions, the client DLL, porting Quake 2 mods, bugs and fixes, etc. This list probably won't get much traffic until the actual code is released, but you can subscribe now on this page.

A second unmoderated list has been set up for general Quake 3 Coding discussion (e.g. mod ideas, compiling help, general C/coding questions) and can be joined through this page.

Myself along with some other Quake 2 mod authors will serve as moderators for the q3coding list to help maintain focus and keep discussions on topic.

Anachronox.com has an updated version of Tom "Cowboy" Hall's designer diary under "Game Information" (Shockwave required), giving the crezzy designer's latest ramblings about the progress on ION's Quake II-engine RPG in authentic cowboy drawl (as near as I kin reckon).

ION Storm's Daily Informant has news of the arrival of a Sheldon Pacotti, the new writer for Deus Ex. There is more on Sheldon's background and his role with the team creating an action/RPG using the unreal engine on the page.

Thresh's FiringSquad interviews former Rebel Boat Rocker Landon Montgomery of Gearbox Software about Gearbox' first project, Opposing Force, the official Half-Life add-on. The interview includes a bunch of screenshots (and pages).

Stuart Denman from Surreal Software sent along a follow-up to the beta-testing request posted earlier (story), saying that because it turns out they will be providing updates using "alternate methods," applicants are no longer required to be able to receive large email attachments, so I amended the post to reflect this.

GameSpot's Final Hours of Tiberian Sun has an account of crunch time on the RTS sequel has finally been released. WomenGamers' Shadow Company Preview takes a look at this upcoming squad-based 3D real-time strategy game after a recent foray to Sinister Games to check it out. The preview includes a load of screenshots (thanks Novice). Finally, for the hardcore RTS fan, the German site GameGuides has posted some Exklusiv: Thandor - Die Invasion Screenshots, which has some screenshots of this upcoming RTS, which of course work with in any language, while the text can always be fed to BabelFish if you're curious.

Surreal Software's Stuart Denman sent along an e-mail with word that they're accepting applications for beta testers on the first Drakan patch. Here are the details:

Surreal is now accepting applications for beta testers for the Drakan Winsock Patch. The patch improves the multiplayer experience considerably by replacing DirectPlay with Winsock and reworks the network code to improve bandwidth and stability. The patch also allows the dedicated server to run under Windows NT.

You must have purchased a full retail CD of Drakan and previous beta-testing experience on other games is a bonus. The beta testing period will last no more than 1 week starting on Friday Aug 27. To apply, send the following information to beta@surreal.com:

* Full name
* Player Name (nick name) you will be using while beta-testing the patch
* E-mail address
* ICQ # (if available)
* Telephone number where you will be playing Drakan
* City, State, Country
* Machine specification, including CPU, memory, 3D video card,sound card
* Network connection (Modem speed or Cable/DSL/T1, etc.)
* Number of hours you are willing to spend per day testing.
* Previous games you have beta tested (or none)
* The last word on page 32 of the Drakan manual.
* Tell us about your previous experiences with Drakan multiplayer.

Applicants will be selected starting Saturday, Aug 28, so submissions must be received before Monday Aug 30. You will only receive a reply if you have been accepted for the beta.

GameFan interviews Vito Miliano, the developer of one of the more unusual upcoming Unreal-engine products, a 3D virtual real-estate walkthrough called Unrealty that will enable architects to present virtual renderings of physical structures using the Unreal engine.

Sorry... server's being wonky again today... we're beating it (as well as anyone who wanders into range) with bats as we speak (one of the most advanced repair techniques of our time).

The Lambda Arena page has a new version 1.09 beta of this deathmatch Half-Life modification that offers the last-man-standing teamplay of Rocket Arena for both one-on-one, and team matches. The new release offers heavily altered weapons ("more realistic...the 'beefed-up' stuff didn't really work)," a "unique weapons system" (you now choose one weapon from each of four categories--handguns, assault, experimental, explosive), along with fixes for what are described as "huge" bugs.

Also new on the Half-Life DM mod scene, is version 2.5 of Deathmatch Plus for Half-Life is now available that in addition to it's original (as the name suggests) enhanced DM, now offers beta bot support.

Dynamix' Dave Meddish updated his cunning .plan with a bunch of stuff on TRIBES Extreme mission types, and sticking his head on the chopping block as the new guru of knowledge on TRIBES Mission Building

Don't worry, m'lord, I have a cunning plan...
Or something like that (can you tell PBS is showing old Blackadder episodes again? Can you also tell I have nothing better to do on Friday nights? Oh, the pain, the shame...)
Where was I? Oh yeah, TRIBES Extreme. Everyone's favorite mission designer/builder has been working hard on cranking out muy missions. We have a new category called "Balanced Online." Meaning, you know those OGL games where you fight over which side of Snowblind your team gets to play? No more. This particular class is perfectly balanced in environmental and physical features. Both sides are dead even. So you can't whine about losing to skiing heavies on Raindance anymore...

But, fear not, we'll still have plenty of the good old "unbalanced" mission type for those who like'em.

Tinman has got me designing a mission or two for his addictively enjoyable "Hunters" deathmatch variant. Those howls of anguish you hear through the offices late at night are from those of us who got disked at the last second while carrying about a gajillion flags. Hopefully have that done in the next few days. And while I must say Tinman has done a very nice job converting existing missions to Hunters, his naming conventions lack that certain je ne se quois, that special "smacks of Meddish" sense of hyperbole. "TheOtherWhiteMeat"? Perhaps, under my tutelage, we can help Tinman make that a little more catchy. It might be that Canadian upbringing or something along those lines.

Speaking of naming conventions, we've been getting a nice steady flow of user-created missions for the Extreme Open Call. By and large, good stuff. Picking winners isn't going to be easy. Just remember, the deadline is rapidly approaching, so if you've been waiting to send it in, 'twould be advised that you not wait much longer.

Being the Mission Building Guru of TRIBES (well, at least since Scott Youngblood left--his office, curiously enough, has not yet been thoroughly looted of its treasures--it's like a holy shrine or something), I would normally say that anyone who has any questions regarding mission building can give me an e-holler at dave.meddish@dynamix.com, however, being as we're approaching the crunch for TX, I can't promise anyone when I can get back to them. But feel free to say hi anyway...it gets very lonely over in this part of the building :-(

We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast of "The Adventures of Analog Kid and Ban-Me Boy," same Ban-Me time, same Ban-Me station... 6.24.99 Since everybody else is going on vacation, I figgered I might as well take a few days off as well. Celebrate my last pre-millenial birthday (31? How in the name of all that is holy can I be 31? Criminy, I'm gettin' old...check me into the home...). The days drag on but the years fly by...

Spiffcat/Hexabolic/Whatever He's Calling Himself These Days and I will be pumping out tons of new TRIBES material for all you would-be writers. Question: who out there would be interested in seeing a TRIBES RPG made? Starsiege had Rebellion, maybe we can do a roleplayer version of TRIBES. If enough people make noise, maybe we can make it happen.

Okay, that's the news, and I am outta here. See you on the flip side.

TigerInvestor interviews Greg Ballard and Jim Hopkins talking with 3dfx' CEO and their senior vice president of finance and strategic planning about the business side of their business.

id's Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan with a link to this Salon article that analyzes retired Army psychologist Dave Grossman's information that caused all kinds of chaos in yesterday's Ottawa Sun article. Here's the scoop:

In the aftermath of the Ottawa Sun article, I was forwarded the link below by Bernd Kreimeier:

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/05/06/game_violence/index.html

This is an excellent article that addresses how Grossman misrepresents the scientific data. It's not a new article, but it's worth a read if the subject interests you.

A blurb on Next-Generation Online give what they call a "Good for Street Date" of November 17 for Quantic Dreams' upcoming action/adventure "genre-buster," Omikron, confirming that the game is on schedule to be available by then. According to the story, "the recent shelving of the game's PlayStation version appears to have been a temporary measure to ensure Eidos is able to release the PC outing at its full potential before the madness of the holiday season."

GA-RPG interviews Jeff Connelly talking with the co-owner of WXP, as well as the modeler and animator on WXP's upcoming first-person shooter/RPG, Experience, which uses their own proprietary 3D engine.

AGN3D interviews Barry Drew from Dynamix, who is the lead 3D artist on the TRIBES2 project, asking about his role on the team, his history in the business, and more. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

Wewp! Entertainment has posted their remaining pair of TRIBES Extreme screenshots showing off gameplay from Dynamix' upcoming single-player-enhanced version of the multiplayer teamplay shooter Starsiege TRIBES.

TheMasquerade.org has posted an interview with Ray Gresko, tossing reader-submitted questions at Nihilistic about Vampire The Masquerade - Redemption, their upcoming third-person vampire RPG. They've also posted a pair of new Vampire screenshots on their main page.

A reminder that the once-cancelled, and now rescheduled AVault Unreal Tournament Development Team Chat is slated for this evening at 7:30 PM EDT. Users can connect via their new web-based IRC interface, located at irc.avault.com (Java-enabled browser required), and other users can use an IRC client to connect to irc.avault.com, port: 6667, and join the channel #chatroom. The first portion of the chat will be moderated.

id Software Lead Programmer John Carmack updated his .plan with word on .plans for another Q3Test targeted for mid-September, and plenty more. The lengthy portion not quoted here discusses confusing memory usage with network problems, a change in how .pk3 file management works, as well as an updated worklog. Without further ado:

8/26/99
-------
The current plan is that we will have another test release around the middle of next month. This version will be running game/cgame/ui with the virtual machine, and will include single player play against bots. No new maps.

I will be releasing the source for all the VM modules with it, and setting the executable up so that it will allow modified modules to be used.

The modified LCC and q3asm will be available both in source form and precompiled, so a professional development environment will not be requried. Using MSDEV to debug binary dll's does make exploration a lot easier than adding prints to interpreted code...

Some minor porting work on the tools will be necessary to do development under linux. The effort would be greater for mac development, because the tools are inherently command line based.

The map editor and tools will not be released until after the game hits store shelves. To be completely clear: you are not legally licensed to create or use addon maps with the test.

I am hoping that this public review will turn up bugs before we complete the game. 50k lines of code is quite a bit to go over, but people familiar with previous games will have a good head start in the game module.

The best possible situation would be if exploration of the code evolves into a tier system, with either moderated or limited access lists that I can follow without being swamped. I can't afford to be too involved in helping everyone figure out the basics. I have plenty of confidence in the mod communities ability to work that out. :-)

The Crystal Space page has the official release of version 0.14 of this free 3D engine, now out of beta. Here's the rundown on C.S. from the page: "Crystal Space is a free (LGPL) and portable 3D engine written in C++. It supports true 6DOF, colored lights, mipmapping, portals, mirrors, alpha transparency, reflecting surfaces, 3D sprites, scripting, 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit display support, Direct3D hardware acceleration on Windows, Glide and OpenGL hardware acceleration on Windows, Linux, OS/2, Macintosh, BeOS, ... See the extensive list of features for more details. Crystal Space currently compiles and runs on Linux, general Unix, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2, BeOS, NextStep, OpenStep, Rhapsody, DOS, Amiga, and Macintosh. It can optionally use Direct3D (Windows), GGI (Linux), Allegro (DOS), X11 (Unix/Linux) and SVGALIB (Linux). It can also optionally use assembler routines (GCC/DJGPP, Visual C++ and Intel only currently) and MMX if the processor supports it." Whew! Thanks Buzzy.

The Action Half-Life site has a version 2.1 update that contains two new .dlls for Action Half-Life. In addition to the patch, they have a tip for server operators having trouble getting teamplay to work ("You need to run your server config file BEFORE the map loads"), as well as a request that players stop using non-Action Half-Life player models when playing AH-L, since they do not have the right animations, which causes 'funky' stuff like dead bodies that remain standing up.

The DEMISE page has a new version of the full install of this online RPG, currently in public beta testing. This was literally just posted this minute, so mind the timestamp on this story and this request from the page: "PLEASE only download the test full install if you have a T1 speed or faster line since I need feedback within the next 12-18 hours." Never fear the rest of you, though: "If all goes well, this file will become 'public' tomorrow." Thanks dragor.

Computer Games Online's Die Hard Trilogy 2 preview looks at this game, licensed, as you can imagine from the three Bruce Willis as John McClane movies. According to the article, "Die Hard Trilogy 2 represents a monumental leap of faith by providing a new and original story… that is split into a third-person action/adventure, a first-person rail shooter, and a driving game. All right, perhaps the game represents more of a stumble of faith than a leap, but at least they are trying." Apparently the game will support every form of digital and analog game controller, light gun, and steering wheel made. Yipeekaya, motherf...

The grabby gamers over at Gamecenter have snagged some Game Grabs of Interstate '82 (also known as screenshots). The shots show off action from Activision's formerly-funky game of driving and shooting.

While they were grabbing, GC also got a hold of some Game Grabs of Dark Reign 2, the upcoming prequel to Activision's futuristic real-time strategy game. Also, Thresh's FiringSquad Weekly Metal Fatigue Screenshots is underway with 17 shots to kick off this weekly deal (the game better come out soon or this could be some flood).

NGNetwork interviews Michael Raymond-Judy getting nostalgic with the Raven Software designer over the Heretic and Hexen series, looking at what went into those games. Along the way, Michael doesn't rule out the possibility of a Heretic III, or even a Hexen III.

A post on TacticalPlanet inspired by a conversation with Red Storm Entertainment's Jeff "MadSamoan" Wand indicates that RSE's Rogue Spear is probably within days of going gold, and it will not be long after that that a demo will be available.

The Stratos Group's System Shock 2 guide is online, now over 100 pages long. The guide contains character info, statistics, skill/upgrade/psi power info, items, weapons, bestiary, a complete walkthrough, cheats, easter eggs, hints, "and even a spiffy little comic." Available in a printer-friendly PDF version and an online HTML version. Hey, did they say bestiality?

The GlobalSCAPE page has the full version 3.0 release of CuteFTP, formerly my favorite FTP client (until they went with those clunky banners...I know ironic for a webmaster to complain about them: now I use LeapFTP from LeapWare, which is fast like a little sports car). Also, AOL sends a new message with AIM 3.0 announces the latest release of AOL's other messaging program (besides ICQ). Thanks Eric Rose.

• According to Culture News from Wired News, Game company iEntertainment Network has started a legal battle against an unauthorized version of WarBirds, the company's flagship product. Thanks devilbunny...
• Poison Ivy's website is offering to create custom skins for TeamFortress Classic clans...
• The King of the Server page details their plight that has them swimming in registered users (over 2500), but short of servers. Head over if you have a server and want to help...
• Trendkill.net's Clan Database now allows clans to enter their own info to be updated live...
• SOV Stratics Sovereign Chat Log is online with the results of the recent IRC session...

First: The server seemed to suddenly start generating a lot of SQL errors late yesterday, I'm not sure what's up with that (being a monkey, and all), but am hopeful someone less simian than me can shed some light on this later today. Sorry for problems this may be causing in the meantime with messageboards, .plan files, etc. (I feel your pain, it makes it hard to update the site as well, it took me well over an hour of trying on this first update of the day today).

Second, as Charlie Wiederhold's .plan says: "I encourage and look forward to articles that discuss the violence issue with solid information and a good understanding of both sides of the issue. However..." So anyway, Book Reviews - On Killing, looks at a previous work by Lt. Col. David Grossman (thanks GameTraveler), who was quoted in the Ottawa Sun article yesterday (story). While Lt. Col. Grossman currently seems to be laying ground for his upcoming book, Teaching Kids to Kill : A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence, this is not new territory for him. Here's an excerpt from the review of On Killing: "Sure, soldiers are trained and ordered to shoot and kill, but only on orders, and punishments for firing without orders are harsh and immediate. Which brings us to Grossman's punch line: When kids play video games like Doom or Mortal Kombat, they are learning the same hair-trigger behaviors and us/them attitudes with none of the context of obedience to command and none of the special circumstances that war creates." I think I'll have to side with the reviewer Caitlin Burke, who says in her conclusion: "But while Grossman has made a fascinating contribution to military psychology and an interesting suggestion about society in general, his comments about America's children are not nearly as pointed or careful as his theses about soldiers..." But of course that's just my (and her) opinion... I could be wrong.

Link of the Day: Crime Awareness Activist Gets Mugged. Thanks DNapalm. It's okay, it's not like a man bit a dog, no one was hurt...