PC.IGN has posted a bunch of new screenshots and a giant (56 meg!) MPEG movie from Interstate '82, the sequel to Interstate '76.The movie appears to be the same thing as the ones previously released, but of a higher quality. Thanks Billy "pass the dutchie" Wilson for the tip.

Red Orb's Prince of Persia 3D page has the release of the promised patch for their just-released 3D sequel to the side-scrolling Prince of Persia series. Thanks Billy "Iran" Wilson. Here's word on what the patch fixes:

Among the items that are improved with this patch: load/save, collision and force issues (swimming in currents or being pushed by objects), combat and AI, and a faster look cam. Also, this patch will auto-save your game at the start of every level. You may load the auto-saved game as you would any other game - press ESC, then select load game. You will see the auto-saved game among the list of games you have saved.

If you are experiencing problems running the game with an SLI configuration (two linked Voodoo cards), please check the ReadMe.txt file, after you have installed Patch 1.0, for the fix. The ReadMe.txt file is updated by the Patch and can be found in the directory that you previously installed Prince of Persia 3D to.

The DiabloII.Net Network passes along word they've received from Blizzard Entertainment clarifying the current state of Diablo II development, and the status of a beta test:

"We are working very diligently to get the game out this year, and by shifting the beta date until the end of October, we hope to be able to finish the game before year's end. I can assure you that there will be a beta, and by finishing Act II, Act III and the finale sooner rather than later, we will be better positioned to implement user suggestions."

Tom Clancy On Games, Rogue Spear And Terrorism on CheckOut Games discussing Red Storm Entertainment, and their tactical shooters Rainbow Six, and the upcoming Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear.

GodLike: The Q3A Strategy Guide for Quad Gods offers you the chance to achieve deity status in a few easy lessons, breaking down their Q3Test tips into beginner, intermediate, and advanced tips, so you can learn at your own pace (student loans available for those who qualify).

Interplay has been e-mailing Freespace fans with word that Freespace 2 has gone gold and will be shipping "soon" (thanks Justin Kehoe). There have been a number of "Freespace 2 gold" stories flying around for several days now, but this is the first to come directly from Interplay, so I'd assume it's true. Here's an excerpt from the letter:

Freespace 2 has now gone gold!! That's right, the game that took the space-combat market by storm last year is back and better than ever. Freespace 2, developed by Volition and published by Tantrum, is the sequel to the Descent: Freespace series. It has gone gold and will be shipping soon... so order your copy now! Many people may be waiting for other high-profile games to come out, and we all know that those games will probably be delayed... but Freespace 2 is definitely shipping soon!

• AMDZone is reporting that AMD is going to be cutting prices on their current Athlon chips when they introduce their new 700 Mhz version early next month.
• In other AMD news, the company has announced their new mobile processors, which boast a 100 Mhz bus speed, and processor speeds of up to 475 Mhz (thanks again to AMDZone).
• CombatSim.com has posted an interview with 3dfx' Scott Sellers, talking about upcoming technologies, what he thinks of the competition, and of course, fill rate, fill rate and more fill rate (thanks *Extreme).
• Creative Labs has posted new drivers for their 3D Blaster TNT2 card (thanks 3DFiles.com).

PlanetUnreal has a post up from Epic's Mark Rein giving the "final" word on the idea of adding a grappling hook to Unreal CTF, which sounds like it just isn't going to happen. Here's part of the post that further outlines their reasoning:

First of all we're NOT doing a grappling hook. Period. We've discussed it to death and decided it's not our thing. We like the translocator and we think you'll learn to like it too. We've got lots of heavy-duty CTF players at Epic and DE and we've played and played and played and played UT's CTF to ensure it's right. You guys are going to love some of the other CTF maps. But remember we're trying to do things our way not copy someone else's game. If you really love games you'll learn to appreciate the variety available to you not chastise it.

As for a grappling hook for UT - we'll leave that to the mod-makers if they feel it's necessary. I personally think you guys will get more than used the Translocator and it's particular uses and quirks. You love it or hate it the same way you love or hate the grappling hook in other games. You'll learn it's ins and outs the same way you learned the other tools in the other games.

PC Gamer Online has posted the official Delta Force 2 demo for download. There are no details on the download page about the demo, except that it's 31 MB, and requires DirectX 6.1. DF2 is NovaLogic's upcoming sequel to Delta Force their Voxel-powered, tactical first-person shooter.

Captured.Com's Quick & Dirty Guide to UTDemo CTF offers tips to help you get up to speed with the version of CTF included in the Unreal Tournament demo, describing how to properly set yourself up, and giving general gameplay strategies for commanding bot teammates, and a short guide to the use of that tricky Translocator.

The much-lauded Dteam 3d Design Guild has released a new deathmatch map for the Zaero Quake II mission pack said to be optimal for 2-4 player play.

Saw on Gone Gold that a new patch is now available for Talonsoft's Jagged Alliance 2 on their JA2 Downloads page. The patch brings this action/strategy RPG up to version 1.05r, and seems to be all bug fixes.

Apache sends word he's posted some new Omikron screenshots on GameFan showing off action from a preview build of this upcoming action/RPG from Eidos that will feature David Bowie. Word is to expect a full hands-on preview this week.

The newly-opened PlanetBattlezone (indeed brought to you by the PlanetPlanet gang) sends word that their grand opening extravaganza includes a new Battlezone FAQ and a new Battlezone 2 FAQ, as well as some new screenshots from BattleZone2, Pandemic Studios' upcoming sequel to the cult-favorite action/strategy hybrid. In addition, they are also holding a BattleZone Gold Contest giving away five copies of the just-released enhanced version of the original BattleZone for the PC (not to be confused with the original arcade game).

This teaser page on the Cyberathlete site is where you can go tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM CDT (7:00 PM EDT) and register for the event. Registration does not have a cut-off date, but, if you plan on bringing your own computer, or enter the $10,000 Q3Test tournament, you will probably want to get there early on, because those both will be accepting only a limited number of registrants. The FRAG3, will be held in Dallas, TX October 29-31, 1999.

Gone Gold previews SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle taking a hands-on look at the upcoming installment in the tactical police operations series that began with the PoliceQuest games. An interesting twist to this preview is that Gone Gold's Rich, who wrote it, is actually a police officer himself, which certainly adds an interesting perspective, though clearly the game is being discussed on its merits as a game, rather than just its accuracy as a simulation. The game ends up getting high marks for both, however, as this quote demonstrates:

The Artificial Intelligence of your team members is outstanding even in this early build of the game. I ordered my Element to clear a room (It was a bar in the hotel our mission took place.) and the men moved in cautiously. They moved in quite professionally and used excellent tactics to clear the room. As I stood there and watched them do their job, they actually leaned around corners protecting themselves from exposing a full body shot. Once they were sure the room was cleared, they message you with an "All Clear" communication.

The way it was handled really brought a smile to my face because these on screen Police Officers were doing the job correctly. Outstanding.

The Adrenaline Vault X Downloads Page has posted a bunch of 1.9 patches to update the retail German version of X: Beyond the Frontier. The have no information to offer on what the patch does.

• The Matrox Graphics Latest Drivers Home has new NT drivers for the G400 that adds Powerdesk version 4.22.081. Thanks BetaNews.
• Also from BetaNews, the Sybergen Networks Web Site has a new build 535 of SyGate version 3.1. SyGate allows you to easily share a single Internet connection between multiple PCs on a LAN (highly recommended).
• The FIC Technical Support - BIOS Update Locator has a new BIOS for download that allows overclocking the front-side bus speed as high as 133 MHz. Thanks B-Boy.

GameSlice's "The Gist List", A.K.A. The Big Eight: Hot Fall Games, is online after a considerable gap between updates (once weekly. the last editorial prior to this is from January). The update, as the title suggests, takes a look at eight titles author Geoff Keighley views as hot items for the fall season, covering Soldier of Fortune, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Gabriel Knight III, Unreal Tournament, Homeworld, Quake III Arena, Half-Life: Opposing Force, and Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. The blurb on each game includes some screenshots, and I believe the three shots with the Soldier of Fortune piece are brand-new.

Pa-Hom.Com interviews Mike Harrington in an English translation of their Spanish language interview, actually Mike's an English-speaking type, so the Spanish version is probably the translation. In any event, the conversation with the Valve co-founder discusses Team Fortress 2, specifically discussing modifications to the engine, the voice communication system, and even mentioning the possibility of a Half-Life movie.

EuroGamer has posted their coverage of the UKPCGC, a massive competition that took place last weekend, where gamers competed in eight (!!) games spread across four categories: action, strategy, driving and sports. Some of the games played were Unreal Tournament (a beta version, of course), Q3Test, Age of Empires II (beta), and Total Annihiliation: Kingdoms.

UnrealTournament.co.uk has posted a really wacky article that doesn't provide strategy for the weapons in the UT demo, but rather explains the principles behind how they work (thanks UnrealNation). If you've ever wondered how the Bio Rifle works, or considered making your own (not a good idea, you'd probably be killed the second it started up) you should probably read this article. For the record, Blue's News doesn't condone making your own weapons...unless of course they're uber-powered potato guns.

"Sony goes on a Rampage" is the name of a story on Variety's web site (and in today's edition of the paper), which goes into detail about the Redneck Rampage movie (yes, you read that correctly). According to the story, Tall Trees Productions plans to make the movie, with Betty Thomas (Private Parts) directing. The film is to be a comedy, but will, "not be any more violent than Men in Black". No script has been written as of yet, so the film may never happen...but it's still a strange turn of events. Redneck Rampage, of course, is a build-engine series of games by Xatrix (the people behind Kingpin).

A post to the GT Forum by Epic's Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart (spotted by Unreal Universe, thanks Billy) goes into detail on why there is no grappling hook in Unreal Tournament CTF, here's a portion of the post:

There will not be a grapple in UT. There are a few reasons why.

The first is that while grappling hooks give a player a lot of manouverability, they detract from gameplay. When you give the flag runner a grapple, he becomes a one man army. You might as well throw team tactics out the window. Instead of requiring the aid of your teammates to blow through a hallway blockade, you can just swing past. In Q2CTF or LMCTF, its easy for a single individual to grapple into even a heavily defended enemy base, hit the flag, and grapple out. I know because I've done it.

We feel that removes a lot of the teamplay element from CTF. Heroism is a nice thing, but should never be the focus of a team oriented game.

The translocator allows players to move into good sniping positions and to quickly get to areas they couldn't on foot. At the same time, it restricts players from quickly escaping the enemy base with the flag.

There's a new Nocturne Preview on Well Rounded Entertainment with a hands-on look at a preview version of this upcoming third-person action horror thriller set in the Lovecraftian '30s (or, as they put it, "when pulp fiction was still read by flashlight and there was a menace around every corner"). The preview includes a bunch of in-game screenshots.

The Adrenaline Vault Previews The Wheel of Time looking ahead at Legend's upcoming Unreal-engine action/strategy/adventure game. The detailed preview is capped off by a page of 3dfx screenshots.

CTNews interviews Joel Huenick of 4DRulers about their upcoming first-person shooter, Gore. Here's a little clip asking the musical question, why Gore?

Q. Why the title "Gore"? Kinda a stupid question, but will there be lots of err.. "Gore" in the game?

A. We named the game Gore because we wanted something catchy and easy to remember that we could fit into our existing story, which was a "Galactic blood bath battle over a new energy source known as ore", thus the war was dubbed Gore. It all made sense, and will be explained more in detail when we release the official story of the game. The game will also be pretty gory, but in more subtle ways, like pain face expressions on characters, twitching, convulsions and painful shouts of dying monsters, etc.

The Adrenaline Vault Editorials asks "What's in the Water?," discussing a possibly alarming trend in gaming websites, expressing concern that a growing number of sites are owned behind the scenes by ecommerce-based businesses, which can be viewed as a potential conflict of interest. The article raises what I would call some valid concerns, some that I can certainly say I share myself, and suggests that sites make a declaration of their ties to commerce: For the record, there are no "silent partners" here at Blue's News, which is 100% owned by me. There's an advertisement for an ecommerce site, here, but it's just that -- an ad.

More GeForce 256 screenshots in the bits this morning.

• There are more The Whole Experience Dragoth Moor Zoological Gardens Screenshots on RIVA3D showing off the flora and fauna of this GeForce 256 demo.
• Tweak3D.net's System Startup Tweak Guide has been updated to help punch up your boot sequence. If you're still feeling frisky after that, their Midtown Madness Tweak Guide has been updated, as well.
• There's a list of Direct X 7.0 Features on GA-Source. Thanks Ant.
• Site Sieve's The Need for Antialiasing discusses the benefits of losing those jaggies.
• Zanshin's GLDojo discusses the benefits of T&L.
• FPS3D.COM asks: Is Intel Dragging us Down?.

CliffyB made a post to the GT Unreal Forum for those failing to grasp the impact of the Impact Hammer, which is clearly more useful than most melee weapons in these types of games (I got three frags in a row with it the first time I figured it out). Thanks Firehawke at Unreal Universe. Here's the post, which should help if you're having problems with this beast:

Okay, I go onto a lot of servers and I see people not knowing how to use this gun. It is covered in the tutorial that ships with UT, which we did not include in the demo, so you get to hear it straight from me on how to use it.

1. Press fire.
2. Hold fire. (KEEP IT HELD! NEVER LET GO!)
3. Walk up to and touch someone.
4. POP!

There.

Now, the alt fire can deflect projectiles, but it is extremely hard to do. If you're starting off I'd suggest using the regular fire for offense.

You can charge the regular fire of the hammer and look down, release, and jump to get a nice impact jump. This is how you get the Damage Amp in Turbine.

5thD team homepage has the first release of their new Quake II mod that unashamedly tries to recreate the class-based gameplay of Team Fortress Quake (and QuakeWorld).

The just-announced Legacy Explorer is a new program that offers an interesting concept, allowing the management and manipulation of saved game files to allow for the use of more saves than save slots in the game, as well as other stuff like downloading and exchanging save game files. The initial version of the program supports about 20 games.

The results of the TotalMayhem Q3test tournament are online, offering results of one of the first online Q3Test tourneys. The Stickmen defeated Kiss My Ass in the finals.

Including some cool cases (literally and figuratively):

• The Adrenaline Vault Re-views Re-Volt.
• Computer Games Online reviews Braveheart calling it "A disappointing look under the kilt."
• Computer Games Online's Quick Take of Sinistar Unleashed is now up.
• 3D Rage reviews Darkstone.
• Sharky Extreme reviews the Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla.
• AMK 810 Overclocker's Case Review By The Tech Zone looks at this six fan case that move over 800 cubic feet of air per minute (you have to open the windows when it's on to keep your ears from popping).
• 3aG reviews the Mushkin ATX Case, a black case that features a hydraulic door.
• Speedy 3D reviews the 3dfxcool hddHO hard disk cooler.

• A short post on Unrealtournament.co.uk gives the UT Demo equivalents of a few useful QuakeWorld console commands, as sort of a quick guide to help Quake players adjust...
• Undulation has word of a variation on a chain-mapping project, where artists each add a texture to a texture file...
• There's a big ole rant on the Glide Underground complaining about Microsoft's (semi-)secret upcoming console project. Thanks SailorScout...
• I'm sad to report that Wadasia, home to game servers with that attracted some high quality players, seems to have shut down. Thanks Wicked Lester. It's possible there's some confusion here, but as of now their website just says "Play Nintendo" before forwarding to the Nintendo homepage. Too bad, this was a favorite place to play the Quake series, as well as TRIBES, and others (I even saw they had been running a UT demo server)...

Looking forward to getting back in the swing of things this week after disrupting myself pretty badly all last week playing around with hardware. The good news is, everything is running great here again, the bad (or at least odd) news, after all this trouble, is I still don't have NT installed(!). Oh well, I think I'll leave well enough alone at the moment and not break anything else for now (sometimes the technical difficulties just beat you into submission).

Link of the Day: Lip Balm Anonymous Home Page. Thanks Dan and Miller.