A new version of Kali II, the server browsing IRC client, has been released, and is available at the official Kali FTP site (thanks DesktopWatch). This version is beta revision C.

PowerGamerz has posted an interview with Red Storm Entertainment CEO (and personal friend of Tom Clancy) Doug Littlejohns. In this first installment of the interview (part two is expected tomorrow), Doug talks about his general duties at the company, upcoming Red Storm projects, and the military adviser that was brought in to work on Force 21.

Thresh's FiringSquad has posted a hands-on preview of Nocturne, complete with lots of screenshots (including a separate set just for shots that show off the game's lighting). The preview is based on a playable copy of the game, and is quite detailed.

GameSpot has posted part three of their massive Diablo II preview, offering a look at this upcoming isometric action/adventure title. A big thanks goes out to Frans at 3DGamers, who also points out that we never posted part two of this preview (so naturally we're doing it now).

AVault has posted a patch to upgrade the retail English version of X - Beyond the Frontier up to version 1.9, although there's no word on what specifically this patch actually does.

Behind the Scenes of Messiah’s Character Animation System is a Gamasutra feature written by TeamEgo programmer Saxs that discusses the unusual approach to character animation the game is taking. Saxs describes it like this: "This article is not a how-to guide, it’s a brain dump from the perspective of the engine programmer (me) of Shiny’s upcoming title, Messiah." Thanks yet again Frans.

There are some screenshots on Gamecenter, but all have been previously published elsewhere (here included), except this Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 screenshot, which, while it looks familiar, as well, seems to be new. Thanks to the sharp-eyed (and rather hyperactive) Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The official Outcast Support FAQ has been updated with some new information, and a general reorganization to reflect that both the demo and the full version of this third-person action title are now available. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

Gamecenter's Sneak Peek at Star Trek Voyager--Elite Force is online, with a look ahead at Raven's upcoming Quake III-engine shooter set in the Star Trek Voyager universe, kicking off by saying: "Then there's Voyager, the series many feel is the weakest of the four. It's surprising, therefore, that given the lackluster history of Star Trek-based computer games, that one of the most promising in years happens to be based on the Voyager license." Thanks again Frans.

There are five more news screenshots from Thief Gold on Wewp! Entertainment in addition to the five reported earlier (story) with more looks at this upcoming enhanced version of Thief: The Dark project, the sneaky, back stabbing first-person shooter.

Matrox G400 3D Gaming Enhanced Game of the Week focuses on Pandemic Studios' upcoming action/strategy sequel, BattleZone II. The feature, like their previous games of the week, offers screenshots of BZ2 using the environmental bump-mapping features of the G400.

GT Interactive's official Wheel of Time page is online, not to be confused with Legend's official Wheel of Time site. Thanks Frans. In addition to a nifty screenshot dealie, they have links to GT's Wheel of Time Forums, as well, devoted to discussion of Legend's upcoming Unreal-engine fantasy/action game.

Activision's official Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption site has undergone an update, and now features a new "letter", five new screenshots, and information on the Cainites in the characters section. Thanks TheMasquerade.org for the tipoff.

TRIBESPlayers has posted a new map by Dynamix' Mark Frohnmayer for Starsiege: TRIBES titled "Avalanche". The map originally was shown at TRIBESCon '99 a while back, and is client-side (IE: it contains new terrain) so server operators and clients alike need to download it in order to play it (thanks Datumplane::Starsiege).

Gearbox' Randy Pitchford updated his .plan, pointing people towards this preview of Half-Life: Opposing Force, their official Half-Life add on pack. This article is unique, he points out, since the author was actually given a playable version of the game to preview.

This week's Unreal Tournament Level of the Week has been posted at GT's official Unreal Tournament site (thanks Billy "goth" Wilson). This week's level is "Gothic", and it's a sort of gothic palace (complete with carpeting). Naturally, there's screenshots up showing it all off.

Quakeidge Gaming has posted an interview with id Software's Paul Jaquays, talking about that whole map making thing that he does, including some questions about the bots in Quake III: Arena, CTF, and more.

Poisonville.com ("All the filthy ass Kingpin news that's not fit to dump in the ocean") has posted an interview with the artist known as "Corky", a texture artist for Xatrix. Topics discussed include Corky's background in art (his prior work includes penciling jobs for Image and Marvel Comics), the wacky world of skinning, and how to get into the industry.

Conspiracy theorists rejoice...the official Deus Ex site has gone live. The site features a bunch of screenshots, some production art, and even a designer's diary by Warren Spector. Run over and check it out.

Brandon "BlueMarine" Reinhart updated his .plan with a good post to finish off a week, or perhaps even better to save for Monday. Sorry, wanted to note this just for fun, we've all had one of those days:

WAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

CRUSH CRUSH!!!!!

SMASH!!! SMASH!!!! CRUSH!!!!

CRUSH STOMP STOMP SMASH CRUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!



WAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!


CRUSH SMASH SMASH CRUSH!!!!

Raven's Kenn Hoekstra sends word that the official Star Trek Voyager Elite Force website is online, here's what Brian Pelletier has to say about it:

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force now has an official website! It is loaded with content ranging from screenshots, concept art, in-game models and all kinds of game information. We, the development team, have been extremely busy developing the game...now we want everyone to see a little more of what this project is about. We will be updating the site constantly so visit often, see what we're up to and join in on the message board. Thanks for your interest in Elite Force and we promise to have a fun, informative website monitored by the development team. We will continue creating a kick ass action game and now you know where to go for the latest information. Check it out...

The Quake 3 Road Tour page has been updated, and now features an in-game screenshot of the new Orbb model that's being shown at the tour stops (scroll all the way down). Unlike the images posted here during my bus extravaganza, this is an in-game shot, not a picture of the monitor. Thanks to Russ McDaniel for the tip.

The official Unreal Tournament page has an update from Epic's Mark Rein on the next Unreal Tournament demo, which will add D3D support among other things. Thanks Unreal Universe. Word is not to expect the new demo sooner than Monday. Here's the scoop:

Microsoft has released DirectX7. You can read about it and download it from Microsoft's DirectX Page and download it on their Download Page. Now that DirectX7 is available, we're doing final testing and tweaking on the upcoming Unreal Tournament demo with Direct3D and OpenGL support. We don't expect it to be released any earlier than Monday because we want to do a little more internal testing of some additional improvements and fixes we're making over the weekend. The next version will not be network play compatible with the current 3DFX-only version but we do plan to offer both a full download and a patch to update the existing 3DFX-only demo to the new version.

Speaking of testing, We'd like to thank GT lead tester Tim Hess and the entire GT test crew. They continue to do an outstanding job helping us make UT a better tested game than any we've made before. You folks out there are definitely doing your part too and we appreciate all the bug reports you've been sending to utbugs@epicgames.com - keep 'em coming, especially when the new version arrives.

Word from Gone Gold is that Shadow Company, UbiSoft's upcoming 3D squad-based tactical sim is gold, and off to manufacture. They also have word that Seven Kingdoms 2 has apparently been gold for some time now (double-secret probation gold, perhaps?), so that should be in stores soon, as well.

S3 And Diamond Multimedia Announce Shareholder Approval of Merger is the announcement that the merger that fell short of the votes required for approval recently (story), has been approved. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski. Word is "Under the terms of the merger, shareholders of Diamond Multimedia will receive .52 of a share of S3 stock for each share of Diamond Multimedia stock held."

AVault has posted five new screenshots from Thief Gold, the special edition of Thief: The Dark Project that should be hitting stores soon. The shots are new, however some of them are strikingly similar to previously released images.

PC Zone's Omikron: Nomad Soul preview is online with a look ahead at this unusual-sounding upcoming 3D action game from Eidos Interactive and Quantic Dream that stars, as they put it, "David Bowie and a cast of 'ladies of the night'." The preview features words straight from the mouths of the game's developers, as well as several new screenshots.

NovaLogic has posted a set of Delta Force 2 Design Notes that features a rundown of all the features in the demo, and a list of some features that will be in the retail version that were not included in the demo. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. Perhaps the most interesting addition in the full release will be a feature I've heard people joke about in the past as an impossibility, 3D accelerated voxels! Well, at least 3D accelerator support. Here's the scoop:

3D Card Support - Finally, a Voxel Space game with support for 3D accelerators. This is a work in progress, so you may see some texture warping and/or sorting problems (particularly ground showing through the floor inside a building) depending on what kind of 3D card you're using. The final product will use Direct3D to support AGP accelerators with 32-bit color.

Vortex of Sound has posted their writeup of the Aureal retail launch party in San Francisco that was held last night, and according to them, Quake III: Arena is going to be supporting A3D with full wavetracing. They've also posted a Q&A with Jake Simpson, who seems to confirm this. Here's a quote:

Maybe I'm letting the cat out of the bag here, but I know that Quake 3 WILL be supporting at least A3D 2.0. They have an OEM deal going there, and I know that the programmer I deal with at Aureal ... is going to insert the code appropriate into the Quake 3 codebase. So we'll automatically get that into Voyager. As for EAX 2.0- well, lets put it this way, if Id doesn't, we will.

Thanks to Frans for sending word that the Outcast FAQ/Walkthrough at GameFaqs has been updated to version 0.3, and now includes walkthroughs for the bonus quests.

TheMasquerade.org has posted a news bit that Nihilistic is currently looking into releasing a soundtrack CD from their title Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, which will be free when you pre-order the game. Also, word is that the game's soundtrack is 80 minutes long (pretty impressive for a game).

Epic's Jack "Mek" Porter updated the Unreal Technology page with word that they've created a change log detailing what improvements are being made over the Glide version of the Unreal Tournament demo for inclusion in the upcoming full release of the demo. Here are the changes to network and gameplay issues:

Network issues
- fixed inventory popping on network clients
- fixed replication of owners of unseen weapons making ambient firing sound
- fixed plasma bolt occasionally sticking around on client after you die
- improved client-side movement prediction near other players
- improved client side weapon animation (RL and shockrifle)
- added packet loss readout to the scoreboard.
- display network disconnection icon when server doesn't send updates frequently enough

Gameplay
- player no longer hear own footsteps walking
- reduce falling damage w/ jumpboots
- fixed problem with instant hit weapons at point blank range
- louder pain sounds
- startup message fades faster
- fixed difficulty level displayed on scoreboard
- translocator target no longer bounces off triggers and control points
- players drop flag if feign death
- Fixed some sudden death overtime problems (fraglimit + timelimit, tied player suicides, etc.)
- included nopowerups mutator in botpack.int
- Added frags per hour readout to the scoreboard.
- Added various stats features to the game. Game now tracks "Frags per Hour" and the top 3 deathmatchers on a server.

On the heels of the launch of the Origin-Ultima Online 2 site yesterday (story), The Adrenaline Vault News has posted a summary of most of what's known about the upcoming sequel to Origin's hugely-profitable persistent online RPG. Among the details they've dug up are the names of the designers of the project, a list that doesn't include Richard "Lord British" Garriott, as word is: "The Adrenaline Vault has learned that Garriott, who is currently finishing Ultima IX for the fall, will not be directly involved with the project; instead, he will be focusing his talents on another Origin offering." Also, there is a new Stratics UO2 General Forum, and a new UO2 board on the Vault Network, as well as a Vault Network UO2 Developer Message Board, and a Stratics UO2 Development Forum.

FirstOnes.com is holding an IRC chat session on Sunday with some of the developers of the now-cancelled Babylon 5 space simulator (story), including Lead Programmer Dan Foy, Art Director Marc Hudgins, 3D Artist Stuart Compton, Programmer Jeff Reitman, and AI Software Engineer John Walker. The chat will be Sunday, September 26 at Noon PDT, 3:00 PM EDT in EFnet #Babylon5 (the main moderated channel) and #Babylon4 (the unmoderated public discussion and questions channel).

A question for Max Schaefer... is a post on the Battle.net forums with more details on the upcoming beta test for Diablo II, including word that there are 1000 beta spots, and that signing up when the registration is announced is the only way to get in. I will explain is a follow-up post that explains why delaying the beta test will help the game come out sooner. Also, the DiabloII.Net Network has summarized a total of seven more message board posts by Blizzard outlining details about gameplay in the upcoming sequel to Diablo.

• Gamecenter's NVIDIA Interview, Part Two is up talking with NVIDIA's David Kirk about the GeForce 256. Part one can be read right here.
• Speaking of NVIDIA, Shadow Man Transform and Lighting Shots on RIVA 3D show off Acclaim's oogie voodoo (magic not video) game on a GeForce 256. Also, there are a pair of Need for Speed shots on Voodoo Extreme showing off the 3dfx T-Buffer.
• The Desktop Manager page has a new version of G400 Tweak, which allows G400 owners control over registry settings and other spooky stuff. Thanks Demo News.
• Creative Labs Products Online Specials Voodoo2 has refurbished 8 MB V2's for $19.99 and 12 MB cards for $29.99. Was it really that long ago that I paid over $300 for a 12 MB card?? Thanks BC.

Hey look, a GeForce 256 review! Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers for some of these.

• Games Domain Review reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• GameSpot reviews Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
• 3DGaming reviews C&C: Tiberian Sun.
• GibWorld reviews C&C: Tiberian Sun.
• MPOG reviews the Unreal Tournament Demo.
• 3DHardware.net reviews the Creative Labs GeForce 256 Annihilator.

• Slashdot Articles Microsoft Plays Linux Games at Work is the man bites dog story of the day. Thanks Ant...
• The G-Sector page has new shots of this upcoming 3D freeware game, along with word that its release is delayed until October 30...
• Hype: The Time Quest game demo on PC Gameworld is a demo of a game they compare to Legend of Zelda...

So I'm watching this oddball mystery movie on Showtime called Stranger in the House (sounds like one of those bad Lifetime network movies about someone who finds out their husband is a murderer-Update: Shane points out I found the wrong title in TV Guide, and the move was actually The Happy Face Murders), and at one point a detective is talking to this really tweaky woman in an office who can barely pay attention because she's absorbed playing a computer game, which turns out to be Unreal. At one point she screams "die, you motherf*ckers!" at the screen, so they had authenticity going for them. Speaking of movies, in watching the Matrix DVD, I see the line from Prizzi's Honor that was recently in the pop culture game is not the same in the Matrix, where it's "Take a cookie," not "Have a cookie." There, never let it be said that an issue need be important to prompt us setting the record straight.

Link of the Day: asdf. Thanks Paul Baucom. The scary thing is, someone tried to send this in yesterday, and mis-typed the URL (no kidding).

A new version of Mesa, the 3D graphics API for Linux that acts as sort of an alternative to GL (it's not GL, but most applications can use it without any code rewrites - including the Quake titles) has been released. This version is 3.1 beta 3, and is available for download at the official FTP site (thanks Eric Jensema).

Jonric of the Vault Network sends word that Origin has officially announced Ultima Online 2, a 3D sequel to the phenomenally popular Ultima Online. This sequel features a 3D engine, "communication software" (no word as of yet if this is some kind of speech software), tutorials, and monsters and characters designed by comics guru Todd McFarlane. You can check out the official site at http://www.UO2.com.

GameSpot has posted a six page preview of Zombie's SpecOps 2: Green Berets, offering a look at this tactical shooter. The preview is chock full of screenshots as well. Thanks to Frans at 3DGamers for the tip.

Big Daikatana doings: Daikatana.com has posted a couple of brand new screenshots showing off visuals from Daikatana, along with descriptions from John Romero on the shots. The big news, however, is over on the ION Storm Daily Informant, where they have word from ION’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Mike Breslin that ION's long awaited shooter will be on shelves in time for Christmas. Here's the word on the releases of all the upcoming Daikatana variations:

Of the recent spate of misinformation on the release date, Breslin says: "Now that there are three Daikatana products in development, it’s easy to get the release dates mixed up. Daikatana's PC and Nintendo 64 versions will be on store shelves for Christmas 1999. In the New Year, we will be anxiously awaiting Daikatana's Color GameBoy version as well as the PC releases of Anachronox and Deus Ex."

Planet Tribes has posted three nifty new screenshots showing off gameplay from TRIBES Extreme, the upcoming follow-up to Starsiege TRIBES that will add single-player play to the game's multiplayer capabilities. Thanks CiKoTiC. In addition to the shots, they have word from the TRIBES team about the stories circulating (story) that the Dynamix brand (under which TRIBES was published) would be another casualty of the recent reorganizations at Sierra (story), quoting both Nels "Nailz" Bruckner and Scott "Captain America" Rudi on the subject, with Nels saying "To the best of my knowledge any rumors of 'Dynamix being dissolved' are unfounded."

The Adrenaline Vault News reports: "New Publisher for Babylon 5 Possible," giving hope to all the B5 and space sim fans unhappy with the games recent cancellation (story). Here's a small clip from the report:

Now Babylon 5 programmer Dan Foy has told the Adrenaline Vault that the design team has been getting inquiries from publishers considering obtaining the title. “I obviously hope it will be possible to finish the game with another publisher. We have a strong, committed team who believes in the game and has already gone through a lot to see it through,” he wrote in an e-mail to us. While inquiries are encouraging, there would still be little hope unless Sierra relinquished the completed materials. Which it might.

Foy also told us Sierra has indicated a willingness to sell the project materials. “I believe Sierra will not be renewing their exclusive license with Warner. It is set to expire soon, so it will be available.

Mark Rein made a post to GT's Unreal Tournament forum with a brief update as to the status of the D3D version of the Unreal Tournament demo (thanks evilash):

We're probably looking at some time over the week or perhaps Monday. There are few little bugs (from the earlier demo) still left to fix and test.

GamePen has posted their preview of Nocturne, Terminal Reality's spook-fest that should be arriving around Halloween (coincidence? Of course not). Thanks Billy "spooky" Wilson.

A Linux port of CounterStrike, the popular anti-terrorist mod for Half-Life has been released, and is available for download on its official site. This file is for server admins only, as there is no Linux client for Half-Life.

3DColony has posted a brief Q&A with Epic's Tim Sweeney and Carlo Vogelsang, talking about the 3D sound API support that's in Unreal Tournament. Here's a snippit:

3DC: How well is the A3D & EAX support implemented in UT?

Carlo: We support A3D 1.x just 3d positioning, EAX 1.x support hasn't changed much from Unreal. But we now support EAX 2.x enhanced environments, using more of the newly exposed EAX 2.x parameters. We're still looking into occlusion and obstruction, not sure if that will make the box version. And finally A3D 2.x is fully supported as well, Aureal did all of this code themselves and it's sounds very good indeeed.

Tim: They'll be in the full game and the next public demo. They're not in the 3dfx demo we released recently.

Silicon Secrets: Playing 20 Questions with Transmeta is an article on Pathfinder that attempts to figure out what's going on behind the veil of secrecy at Transmeta, the company where Linux creator Linus Torvalds is currently at, and which boasts funding from Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and even employs former id and Crack.com guru Dave Taylor (thanks John Nevaquaya). So what are they working on? Nobody has any clue (an announcement isnt expected until Comdex in November), but here's what the article speculates (and remember, there has been no announcement, so this really is pure speculation):

Most evidence suggests Transmeta is inventing a new kind of microprocessor so fast that it'll make a Pentium III feel like an abacus soaked in Jell-O. The chip, it's rumored, is built around a wholly new architecture, supposedly fast enough to run software emulating a standard PC's Intel x86 chip faster than any x86 chip could run itself. John Dvorak, a respected columnist for PC Magazine, stated confidently in February that the chip would be a "generic processor engine" that can run code for any kind of microprocessor -- Pentium, PowerPC, SPARC, you name it -- and translate it on the fly to its own native instruction set.

Duke Nukem (or at least someone who looks like him, anyway) is making some in store appearances at Toys R Us and Blockbuster Video locations throughout the Toronto area. If you've ever wanted to meet the big lug (who now endorses Monster Cable) you might want to check out this list of locations.

AmigaExtreme has posted an interview with an unnamed representative for Hyperion Software, talking about their Amiga port of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (thanks PlanetShogo). In addition to Shogo, Hyperion is also working on an Amiga port of Raven's Heretic II.

sCary's Shack has posted a 3 question Q&A with id's Graeme Devine, talking about the changes planned in the next version of Q3Test, 1.09. Here's an excerpt:

Steve: What are the new teamplay enhancements planned for v1.09? (hud, location tags, etc)

Graeme: There's a bunch of new stuff for teamplay. The HUD is perhaps the most changed with teamplay locations and information. The triangle above people's bodies is now for friends, not foes, since it was felt it was too easy to locate foes with the target looming over their heads!

Computer and Videogames News has posted some news on Sierra's SWAT 3, including word that the game will not be shipping with multiplayer capability (thanks news hoes). That's expected to be released to retail in the first quarter of 2000. Even with that snafu, CVG has posted some positive things about the game based on a new build they received, as well as this quote from Koren Buckner, the game's product manager, who is confident that the game will hold its own against Red Storm's Rogue Spear:

“Rogue Spear is strategic, whereas SWAT3 is far more tactical,” Buckner informed. “You’re not necessarily going in to kill. There are many different missions, and you’re rewarded for acting as closely to real SWAT officers as possible – that means using as little force as possible. But yes, SWAT3 is definitely a competitive product to Rogue Spear.”

PC.IGN has posted two MP3 files showing off the music from Nihilistic's Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, which they describe as "one part Eric Satie and one part Eazy-E". If that means anything to you, go check 'em out (just don't call it the "Symphony of the Night").

Easy has posted a massive guide to the Unreal Tournament demo on his site, Ez Unreal. The guide features an in-depth guide to all of the weapons, an introduction to CTF, and even a complete list of aliases (thanks Preacher).

Korean hardware site Korea Bench has posted benchmarks from a Creative Labs GeForce 256 card, pitting it up against a TNT2 Ultra board in Quake II, Q3Test, and Kingpin. These are real benchmarks, not speculation based on press release claims (thanks Russell Schultz for the tip).

GameSpot has posted an excellent article by Geoff Keighley which takes a look back at Trilobyte, Graeme Devine's old company, and the creators of 7th Guest and the 11th Hour (thanks to former T-Byter Sherman Archibald for the tip). The piece chronicles the whole saga from the company's inception all the way up through Extreme Warfare, their planned multiplayer first person shooter.

Croation developer CroTeam has announced a new FPS titled Serious Sam, which makes extensive use of portal technology. The official site has posted a slew of screenshots, and a new MPEG movie from the game as well. The game is set for a second quarter 2000 release, and has an impressive feature list that includes such things as bump-mapping, LOD, 100 square mile levels, and of course, a full multiplayer game.

FGNOnline has posted word from an "ION Storm representative" who responds to the rumors flying around that the GameBoy Color version of Daikatana would be shipping before the PC game. Here's the quote:

"We definitely do not want people thinking that the Game Boy will precede the PC version" an Ion Storm representative said. "As we understand it, the Game Boy version will not be available until March 2000, which will be decidedly after the PC release."

Tim Sweeney made a massive update to the Unreal Technology Page with word that the Direct3D version of the UT demo is in final testing now, some thoughts on OpenGL support (it's still in the works), and some advice for Voodoo 3 3500 TV users who are experiencing Internet problems (thanks Frans). Here's the status on the demo:

Now that DirectX7 is available, we're doing final testing and tweaking on the upcoming Unreal Tournament demo with Direct3D and OpenGL support, coming in the next few days.

One thing we've found on DirectX7 is that NVidia TNT2 performance is not fill-rate limited until you get to very high resolutions. During testing, performance at 640x480 seemed a bit slow, but as we increased the resolution, the frame rate was hardly impacted at all. So 1024x768 seems to yield the best overall experience on this card.

I've enabled support for 32-bit color textures under Direct3D, which significantly improve the graphical quality, with a 10-15% frame rate impact.

The Direct3D code now uses vertex buffers, which speeds up mesh and text drawing a bit.

GASource has posted an interview with Craig Sparks, the President and CEO of NetGames USA, talking about their uber-cool ngWorldStats system that's been implemented into Unreal Tournament. It's a good interview, and Craig discusses NetGames' creation, the services they offer to developers, and their future plans as well.

GSC GameWorld has posted a large AVI from their Vital-engine powered title Venom. It's available directly from their FTP site, or as a ZIP archive from 3D Action Gamers. Frans at 3DGamers also sends word that he's had an e-mail exchange with GSC's Sergey Zabaryansky, and that the demo that was supposed to be released on September 1st has been delayed to October/November so they can implement changes based on feedback from ECTS.

Saw on Descent3D that the Outrage Technology page has been updated with a new zip to aid in the creation of rooms and models for Descent 3. The zip includes a Descent format exporter plug-in for 3D Studio Max and a utility to convert .p3d files into .oof format.

The Surreal Tech Page has been updated with word from Stu on the next patch. Thanks Apache. It's pretty short, so here's the whole deal:

Patch Changes Update

The patch is now going through Quality Assurance testing at Psygnosis, so because it will be available soon, I have updated the Patch Changes List with a ton of new fixes and additions to the Drakan patch. Waste no time and check it out! New additions since the last update are marked with new.

Server Rules Format Updated

Added Surreal's "open standard" for server rules to the Server Rules File Format document. This additional information will help players contact server administrators and to obtain URLs for downloading levels and MODs.

Volition, Inc.'s FreeSpace2 Page has a few bits related to the completion of the game, including a rundown on the final stages of development, and photos of their going gold party. There are also two more new ships in their "ship of the week" dealie, as well as a new music .mp3.

On the heels of their initial release, the Blast Chamber page has a new 16 player DM map for Quake II, and the release of Extreme!PAK for Quake II, which adds new weapons, items, power-ups, armor, HUD, sounds, and more, all for the price of a 12 MB download.

New 3D Hitchhiker's Game Announced is a Next-Generation Online story with a bit more detail about something mentioned last week, a new upcoming game based on the famed Douglas Adams Novel. On a related note, though unrelated to gaming, Excite UK reports "The Hitchikers Guide is real" with word that advances in technology have brought us to the point that an actual guide will be available soon, complete with "Don't Panic" cover, and all.

Wally's Home has a new version 1.42 of the Wally texture tool. Among the changes in the new release is the addition of Sin support to the program's Quake II support, which uses Q2's native .wal format.

The 2015 Jobs page has details of job openings at 2015 for a level designer, and for a 3D engine programmer.

The Friday Knights Network Gaming Group have started registration for Octoberfest, a limited seating (50) LAN party slated for October 22-23. There will be a Q3Test one-on-one tournament and the prize will be a Q3A jersey, with other tournaments to be announced.

Thanks Frans for pointing out the European Outcast patches mentioned yesterday (story) are far from new. Also, the Windows security dealie posted yesterday (story), is for WinNT only, the Win95/98 patches will be released soon (thanks Gary).

As usual, thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers for many of these:

• GamesMania reviews Rogue Spear.
• PC.IGN.COM reviews Sinistar: Unleashed.
• Game Revolution reviews DarkStone.
• Game Re-volution re-views Re-Volt. I'll keep re-peating that re-mark until you re-gurgitate.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews the Driver Demo.
• Speedy 3D reviews the Delta Force 2 Demo.
• Well Rounded Entertainment reviews Force 21.

• PlanetStarSiege has reproduced an article from a local Eugene Oregon newspaper with the news that yet another sad outgrowth of the recent restructuring at Sierra that caused the elimination of a few games and a load of jobs, will also result in the elimination of the Dynamix brand...
• Part two of Computer Games Online's Drakan: Order of the Flame tips are online...

Whee! I'm back on my "normal" (read terribly abnormal) hours, so until I manage to screw my body clock up again, the first update of the evening should be in it's intended time again (not too long after midnight). Boy, the Unreal Tournament demo is fun to play. I gotta say, though, the auto-taunt is one innovation I personally could do without, MrCoffee and I have taken to calling it the Auto-Jerk, because that's what it seems like, a way of automating the process of being a jerk, which is enough of a problem when it requires manual methods.

I mentioned last week that Jeremy from AGN was in the hospital, and that it sounded serious. To follow-up on that, Jeremy posted this update on his situation, which certainly confirms just how serious it may be. Again, I urge any who are so inclined to send along some words of encouragement, jokes, or whatever, to the email address in the update (jeremy@agn3d.com), as I imagine it will be especially helpful now that he has Internet access in the hospital. On another serious note, Taiwan Earthquake Relief on Sharky's is a page listing info for parties interested in helping after the recent quake in Taiwan.

Link of the Day: Gallery of Obscure Patents. That's right, from the Gravity Powered Shoe Air Conditioner to the Flushable Vehicle Spittoon, science marches on.