AVault has posted a version 1.03 patch for Sierra's Homeworld. Here's what it does for you:

• A problem with auto-detecting firewalls was fixed. Previously it would always detect that you were behind a firewall.
• Previously, OpenGL was not available for any of the Nvidia TNT cards under Windows9x. This was disabled due to driver problems under Win95. OpenGL is now available for Win98 but not Win95.
• The Intel i740 is now more reliable under Direct 3D.
• To fix problems associated with Voodoo2 SLI configurations, gamers need to visit http://www.glsetup.com/where.htm and download version 1.0.0.107 of GLSetup. Homeworld ships with 1.06 but it does not help with SLI users.. 1.07 does.

Despite the fact that they just posted a new preview of the game...well, yesterday, PC.IGN is reporting that ASC Games' planned Unreal-engine title Werewolf: The Apocalypse has been "put on hold indefinitely, due to delays with game pushing it to next march." Expect more to this story soon.

Xatrix' Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin sent along an e-mail letting us know that he's released the version 1.21 patch and SDK for Kingpin (they're available for download at 3DGamers). Here's what he had to say:

The Kingpin v1.21 patch and SDK is now available.

While this is an official patch, it may not work it's way onto the "official" Kingpin page at Interplay, due to circumstances out of my control. So please spread the good word my friends.

Unfortunately my Linux box is unavailable at this time, so the Linux port will be somewhat delayed.

An update to the Unreal Technology Page explains some of the Direct3D anomalies that people have been running into (thanks Unreal Universe). Here's what it says:

We've been looking at the feedback on Direct3D performance and investigating some strange reports. Recently, we've mainly been testing on 96-meg and 128-meg machines (I have a Celeron 400, Jack Porter has a K6-2 450). On these machines, TNT1 performance is good -- average 28 fps at 648x480, 25 fps at 800x600. The TNT2 performance is significantly better.

However, upon removing some RAM and testing Direct3D on a 64-meg K6-2, the "precache" time increased by about 5X, and performance dropped to a few frames per second. These performance drops don't occur in the software renderer, and don't occur in Glide. Something is going wrong between Unreal, Direct3D, and the TNT's Direct3D driver, and we're investigating.

Overall, the feedback indicates a very wide variance in performance among TNT users, much more so than with any other card. Our internal testing has indicated this too; for example, we've found (and worked around) a lot of driver bugs that only happen on one machine, and not others with otherwise similar configurations.

Don't Try This At Home Dept.: Some TNT users have reported that tweaking their BIOS's "AGP Aperture Size" improves performance on 64-meg machines. We have tried this and couldn't find any differences on our 64-meg test machine. Others report that the Creative Labs unified drivers (with TNT Glide support) outperform Direct3D on their cards. If anybody finds definite improvements or workarounds, or has insight into what's happening, please email utbugs@epicgames.com and let us know.

Frans of 3DGamers sends word that the second Tread Marks demo has been released, and is available for download at the official site. This demo (which the site stresses is not a finished demo, but rather a publicly available test) features two maps, and two tank types. 3DGamers has a mirror up if the main download link is too slow for you.

id's David "Zoid" Kirsch made an appearance on IRC this evening to gauge reactions to the announcement earlier that Quake III: Arena CTF wouldn't be shipping with the grappling hook enabled (although again, the code is in there). A full log is up on Elite Strike, and here's a quick explanation of the decision (which wasn't made lightly):

No instant weapon switching--no grapple. Grapple worked in Quake because you could chase--switch, launch, switch fire. You can't in Q2. I didn't like how the grapple turned out in Q2. You couldn't chase grapple monkeys--they were just gone if you didn't kill them immediately.

The Shadow Company: Left For Dead demo page has a newer version of the playable demo for Shadow Company than the one previously released. There's no word on what's different in the new version, but its possibly substantial, since the new file, at 39 MB is 7 MB larger than the previous release. Thanks again Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

Frans noticed the UT Demo-Known Bugs list has moved to a separate page on the Epic site, and has had a single item added to it about the server browser flicker:

Networking
* People have noticed that the server browser now flashes the screenshot and the server title every 5 seconds. This is the server being repinged every 5 seconds. The 3dfx version did this as well but it did not cause flicker. It only does this while browser is visible. It is NOT repinging servers once the browser is no longer visible.

The Rogue Spear support page has been updated, and now has three more frequently asked questions (thanks Frans). The questions deal with Riva 128 and Permidia 2 cards, as well as other sound and video issues.

EuroGamer has posted an interview with Ritual Entertainment's Robert Atkins and Tom Mustaine, talking to the art director and level designer for Heavy Metal: FAKK 2 about their Quake III: Arena engine title. The interview also contains three new screenshots from the game.

3DFiles has posted the massive Drakan patch. This patch is jam packed with features, including the new winsock based networking (instead of DirectPlay), and tons of gameplay tweaks and fixes. The full list is posted along with the download.

Okay, so it's a little late, but here's this week's Mail Bag! In this week's thrilling installment are comments about the Unreal Tournament demo, more on consoles vs. PCs, that GeForce 256 card that should be out soon, the cancelled Babylon 5 game, and of course, whole bunches more. Swing over and take a read.

Blizzard has released patches for both StarCraft, and StarCraft: Brood War (Brood War owners need only download the second patch, not both). You can snag them from Blizzard's site, through the Battle.net auto-update, or at AVault, where they have local copies of both files. No details are available, but it's a safe assumption that these patches fix bugs n' stuff.

3D GameForce has posted an entertaining interview with the divine Graeme of id Software, talking about (surprise, surprise) Quake III: Arena (you know, that game they're working on over there instead of sleeping). There's a few goofy answers in here, including this one which gave me a headache trying to figure out (and yes, I've seen Twin Peaks):

Mark: Any specific novel features you can now reveal?, any more details on how the single player side of Q3A will work?

Graeme: The owls are not what they seem.

GameSpot UK has posted their preview of Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, offering a look at this fully 3D adventure game from Sierra, complete with a number of new screenshots.

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with some thoughts on the grappling hook and its relationship to Quake III: Arena CTF as well as word that Jan Paul, author of the Gladiator bot is helping out with the bot code in Q3A. You'll note that he says the code for the grappling hook is in there, but that the levels shipping with the game don't use it. Here's what he had to say:

Ah, grappling hook hoopla – when I read about the hoopla over UT grapple CTF I knew we’d have a similar impact (BTW, believe it or not, there is room for both games in the universe!). The grapple code is still going to be in Q3A (through bot reachability and so forth), it’s just not on the maps we’re shipping with the product. The CTF maps we have in there are designed for non-grapple use. CTF and grapple are not tied implicitly together.

Mr. Elusive (aka Jan Paul) is over here from The Netherlands helping finalize the game. He is of course the famed author of the Gladiator bot for Quake II. As some of you have been guessing he’s been working with John Cash on the bots in Q3A. We’re very pleased to have Jan’s expertise on Q3A.

id's John Carmack updated his .plan with his response to a question posted to a Mac OpenGL programmer's mailing list dealing with "display lists" and how OpenGL handles them. It's very technical in nature, but here's an excerpt that explains a bit of what he's talking about:

In a busy Q3 battle, the triangle count may be split roughly evenly between character models and world geometry. Going from an empty scene to a pitched battle can result in a 50% performance drop if you are triangle limited. Not great, but livable.

If we kept the same ratios and designed for geometry acceleration with all the static world geometry in display lists, then the empty scene could have 4x the geometry and still be running the same speed. However, current OpenGL display lists can't really accelerate high quality skinned characters, so when an equal number of character polygons was in scene and passed through normal direct rendering, the performance would drop to 20% of the original. Unacceptable.

So, either you would have to use significantly different polygon counts in characters and the world, or some new API features would need to be defined. Nvidia has a skinning extension that gives some benefit, but still requires a character to be broken up into one static list per bone pair, instead of a single list for the entire character.

This HearMe Press Release announces that Mpath has acquired Resounding Technology, the Massachusetts-based developer of Roger Wilco, the software that can add real-time voice chat to any multiplayer game played over the Internet. In recognition of the impact of the acquisition, Mpath is changing its name to HearMe (www.hearme.com), and this quote from the press release makes it clear that they view this as a move not just aimed at the world of gaming:

The acquisition of Resounding and the accompanying name change from Mpath Interactive to HearMe better position the company to capitalize on significant trends in the Internet industry that are opening the door for mass consumer adoption of live voice. First, HearMe will take advantage of an evolving area of Web usage focused on communications, collaboration, and community that is already being driven by the increasing popularity of e-mail, chat and instant messaging.

There is also word on the Roger Wilco page that a program called Rapman for Roger Wilco is now available, offering buddy lists for RW users. Thanks ripsaw.

There are four new Halo screenshots on Halo.Bungie.Org that seem to be scans of shots that appeared in a print version of Computer Gaming World. Saw that on The Shugashack. Halo is Bungie's upcoming third-person multiplayer action game.

Redwood's Quake 3 Arena Status is a hands-on report after a few more hours playtesting a more recent build of Q3Test than the public version during a visit to id software. The article describes what's new and different, including the newly-added music, though he points out that "Q3Test 1.09 hasn't even been built yet in any form so it's not really close to coming out."

nV News' Tweaking Quake 3 Test Graphics has been updated with info on how changes in version 1.08 of Q3Test impact performance compared to 1.07, along with all the latest intelligence on how to improve your Q3Test framerate.

Thresh's FiringSquad's "What's right with UT" is an editorial talking about what's got them so impressed about Unreal Tournament from playing the demo, examining the demo's strengths, and making some comparisons to Q3Test.

• Sharky Extreme's Scott Sellers Interview talks with 3dfx' CTO. This interview took place before the revelations that the next 3dfx product will not make Q4 1999.
• Beyond 3D visits with S3 with an interview and some hands-on impressions of the Savage2000.
• Reverend's Pulpit sends word that a new version of the WickedGL OpenGL driver for 3dfx cards is now available.
• The Reverend's Pulpit also has a new UT demo for benchmarking.
• Ars Technica's The Simple Guide to Online Shopping.
• Sharky Extreme's 3dfx FXT1 Texture Compression Explored has been updated.
• A post on RIVA 3D says you can get full scene antialiasing on any TNT/TNT2 using ASUS drivers.
• HardwareCentral previews the Intel i820 chipset.
• Ars Technica reviews the Global WIN FEP32 Cooler.

Though not reflected on the Netscape Netcenter as of this writing, this Netscape FTP directory has version 4.7 of Netscape Communicator. Also, while the Winamp.com homepage similarly does not mention it, this NullSoft FTP directory has version 2.5d of the now-freeware Winamp mp3 player. Thanks Mike Rutkas.

Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers:

• Diversions of Technology reviews Rogue Spear.
• Games Domain Review reviews Force 21.
• Voodoo Extreme reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• ActionXtreme.com reviews Outcast.
• Game Revolution reviews Outcast.
• Gamecenter reviews Independence War Deluxe Edition.
• GameZilla reviews C&C: Tiberian Sun.
• Gamers Depot re-views Re-Volt.
• The Adrenaline Vault Reviews MechCommander Gold.
• Computer Games Online reviews Sinistar Unleashed.

• Word on the Qtracker Homepage is that this server-browser is no longer shareware, but has reverted to freeware...
• Act Two - No. 84 is the new Diablo II screenshot of the week showing off a Barbarian, Amazon, and Necromancer fighting over a dozen skeletons in a shot that shows off the lighting effect in the new Town Portal animation...
• GameSpot's Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Game Guide is online to help if you're stuck for S' in this RTS. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers...
• NameMaker offers an on-line resource to create extended ASCII names for games that support them. The website is done up in an amusing news site send-up style...
• There's a new Need for Speed High Stakes car for download. Vroom! Thanks Moondog...

Ooops, another late start, got a little too caught up in playing the new UT demo last night (I should try and cover up, but they have those darn stats online making an alibi difficult to pull off). Fun stuff.

Link of the Day: Nitrous Express 15lb. Bottle Explosion. As John Guajardo, who sent this along, comments: "This guy has Darwin Award written all over him."
Story of the Day: Tobacco giant tells smokers it loves them. Thanks Eric "Rush" Bennett. "The recorded message, while proclaiming its love for B&W consumers, also uses the line to take a swipe at its competitors. 'By the way, the other tobacco companies hate you and think you're ugly,' the voice says. 'They told us so.'"
Bonus Story: (Almost on-topic): Here's Linux for fundamentalists. Yup, Jesux. Thanks AllanOne and marley.

PC.IGN.COM previews Werewolf: The Apocalypse with a hands-off, but very detailed look ahead at ASC Games' upcoming first-person shooter based on the pen-and-paper "world of darkness" role-playing game. The preview is accompanied by a bunch of new screenshots.

Stomped has posted three Q&A sessions with members of Gearbox Software, with Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel and John Faulkenbury talking about their work on Half-Life: Opposing Force. The interviews are illustrated with new screenshots as well.

We received this e-mail from the CPL's head honcho Angel Munoz, letting us know that there will not be any walk-in traffic allowed at The Frag 3, so if you're planning on going, make sure you register:

With almost 700 confirmed registrations and over 30 days still left for FRAG 3, the CPL is urging everyone that is planning to attend the event to register online as soon as possible. The CPL has decided not to allow walk-ins or accept any third party free passes for FRAG 3. The unprecedented number of confirmed registrations has even prompted the CPL to cancel an advertising campaign that was scheduled to launch next week in the Dallas market, which was geared to drive walk-in traffic to the event. Please register today at www.frag3.com/register.shtml

This was just added to the list of issues with the Unreal Tournament demo over at Epic's Unreal Technology site (thanks Frans):

Due to an oversight, the patch does not add the OpenGL or S3 Metal rendering drivers. If you have patched the 3dfx demo and really want to try these drivers, you will need to download the full 55MB demo. You are still best off using Glide for your 3dfx card, or Direct3D for all other cards except S3s.

A list of mirrors is available below if you need to download the full demo.

Thresh's FiringSquad has posted a Q&A with John Carmack, talking about the changes he's implemented into Quake III: Arena as outlined in his .plan update this morning (story). Topics discussed include the new max_fps limit, the new turning delay, and naturally, more.

GamesMania has posted their preview of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, offering a look at an alpha version of the fourth adventure of the fabulous Ms. Lara Croft (thanks Frans).

Themasquerade.org has posted a new exclusive screenshot from Nihilistic's upcoming third-person vampire game, Vampire The Masquerade--Redemption, showing off a cool mirror effect that was mentioned in a recent development update by Rob Huebner.

The GameSpy 3D site now has version 2.16 of the GameSpy3D server browser for download, which adds the ability to find Unreal Tournament Demo servers on the Internet to the list of games the program supports. The new release is for registered users only, a shareware release is expected "in a few days." The new version also adds Deer Hunter 3 support, so you can stop gathering names on that petition.

The folks over at The Adrenaline Vault, who've clearly been dipping into the coffee stash lately, have posted word of delays from Microsoft, saying that "no titles from Digital Anvil will be shipping in 1999. Starlancer, previously a Christmas title, is now slated for an early 2000 launch. After Starlancer, Loose Cannon will ship in the spring or summer, then Conquest: Frontier Wars in the summer or fall, then Freelancer in the fall or winter."

The Unreal Technology page has been updated with a list of known issues with the demo. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. Here's the deal:

Known Issues With The Demo

Direct3D

• You need DirectX7 to use Direct3D. Get it on Microsoft's Download Page.
• Some users of Windows 98 + Sound Blaster live cards + NVidia video cards are finding the demo locks up on exit, sometimes with the music looping. Restarting the computer or killing the TournamentDemo.exe application gets you free.
• In 16-bit color, weapons may interpenetrate walls when you get real close.
• If you have any problems, make sure you have the latest Direct3D drivers for your card.

Networking

• Occasionally when the server switches levels, users with high-ping connections may see the "Connecting..." screen appear twice, and reconnect to the server twice.
• When picking up a weapon, sometimes the animations flicker.
• In 3dfx Glide, if you alt-tab away from Unreal while connected to a server, you will time out and be disconnected. If running a listen server, all other clients will time out.
• We have many reports that internet gameplay performance sucks with all games for users with WebTV installed (particularly the version bundled with the Voodoo3 3500). Uninstall it.

Audio

• A3D support is back. For A3D support to work properly, you need the latest drivers from Aureal.
• EAX support is back.

Cosmetic

• Ping doesn't always align right in the scoreboard.
• Ping doesn't show up in scoreboard if resolution X size is less than 640.

In case the (cough) unlimited bandwidth isn't enough for you, here's a list of mirrors for the Unreal Tournament demo. We'll be updating as more come in, and screening them to make sure they're the right version:

Full Demo:

• FilePlanet
• 3DGamers
• Unreal Universe
• 3DFiles
• BarrysWorld
• AVault

Patch:

• 3DGamers
• Unreal Universe
• FilePlanet
• BarrysWorld
• WON.net
• AVault

The Unreal Tournament site has been updated with news of the release of the eagerly-anticipated full demo for Unreal Tournament. The changelog posted on the Unreal Technology page has word on what's new in the new release, which is 55 MB, and available as a Gigex download here, and as a downloadable installer on this page (again, using that theoretical "unlimited bandwidth"). The 10 MB patch for the Glide version of the demo is available here (Gigex), and here (for download). Here's the word from Mark Rein's update:

The full version of the new demo (55Mb) is now released. Modem users can download it from Gigex here - this is a resumable download so if your modem connection dies during the 55Mb download you can still get the file without starting the whole download over. Those using really fast connections and those behind firewalls should try here which is a more normal FTP-style download.

The patch for the existing 3DFX demo (10Mb) is also available now. Modem users can download it from Gigex at here - this is a resumable download so if your modem connection dies during the 10Mb download you can still get the file without starting the whole download over. Those using really fast connections and those behind firewalls should try here which is a more normal FTP-style download.

Win some UT goodies: If you download either version through Gigex, and provide your email address, you could be one of 50 lucky winners (chosen at random) to receive a long-sleeve, black UT T-shirt or be the one lucky winner to get a very exclusive Unreal Tournament leather jacket! Details appear with the download.

An incorrect version of the patch is floating around. A 7Mb version we distributed earlier for testing purposes only seems to have appeared on some sites - do not download this. It does not contain the new deathmatch map, DM-TempestDEMO. The proper name of the patch is UTDemo338cPatch.exe (note the "c" between 338 and Patch) and it's 10Mb rather than 7Mb.

Updating the story that's dominating today's news, Brandon "RainbowMarine" Reinhart made an update to the Unreal Technology page with the latest status report on the new version of the Unreal Tournament Demo, due today, along with an explanation of all the non-legit versions of the patch being posted by sites with itchy trigger fingers. Here's the deal:

A few versions of the final demo that were not intended for release have been released on various news sites. We made these builds of the demo so that server operators could set up servers. Unfortunately, a few unscrupulous server operators decided to release these builds on webpages. This only causes to create confusion. We have been working with GT on synchronizing a release and have been working on final issues with the demo. Specifically, a test patch for upgrading the 3dfx only version of the demo was made available. This patch worked, but lacked the new DeathMatch map being released with the final demo. We pulled the patch, but various news sites had already made it available without our authorization.

Finally, a version of the demo "338a" has been going around that is also not legitimate. This version was built by the Epic team last night to test for a server map change problem (that was fixed). This version was mistakenly copied to the server operator's ftp, somebody downloaded and put it up for download.

Following me still? Here are the file names of the final demo and the file sizes. Demo version 338a will not work with the final demo. It is not new and you shouldn't download it if you find it.

File: UTDemo338.exe Size: 55,603,712 bytes Description: This is the final demo. Website administrators, please make sure the version you end up mirroring matches this.

File: UTDemo338cPatch.exe Size: 9,892,864 bytes Description: This is the patch to update the 3dfx demo to the final demo.

Please don't mirror anything else. It only serves to confuse the end user. We apologize for the confusion and the difficulty.

Mike Wilson updated his .plan with details on several Gathering of Developers' projects, including word that Nocturne is code-complete and will be in stores on Halloween weekend, and will (finally!) run on Voodoo 3 cards as soon as 3dfx releases their next set of drivers (which he says are expected on October 1st, or so). Here's the scoop:

All that's on my mind right now is how amazing our next two releases are looking... and the fact that they are both on schedule to hit their release dates... whoever heard of that?!

Epic/Triumph's Age of Wonders is slated to be in stores everywhere by the weekend of Nov 12, and if you haven't yet, the demo is available on Gamespot, IGN, and about 8 million other sites. (it's on Gamespot's front page today if you're lazy)

And then there is Nocturne... code complete and in testing. Looking better every day, which is saying alot since it's looked incredible for a long time now. The system requirements are getting lower every day (Mark Randel is the most underrated lead programmer alive, by the way) and I hear that 3DFX will be releasing their new Voodoo 3 drivers on Oct 1 or so, which makes Nocturne run just dandy. (it really was a hardware issue, not a software issue). There will be a new demo on PC Gamer's Nov CD, and that demo will be online about 10 days after that. In stores everywhere for Halloween weekend.

We're planning quite a bit of coolness surrounding these launches, so keep your eyes peeled. If you haven't seen the 2 avi's we've released so far, check them out on www.nocturnegame.com. Just a tease of what is to come.

We contacted Epic's Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart to see if he could clear up the confusion resulting from a version of the patch for the Glide Unreal Tournament that has popped up on a few sites. It turns out this is not the actual patch for the Glide release, word is that while this patch will update the demo to the new version, it does not contain the new map, DM-Tempest. Brandon says Tim is compiling the proper patch right now, so unless something unforeseen occurs, the wait should be pretty short.

John Carmack updated his .plan stating that they're currently working on the single player version of Quake III: Arena, which is why there hasn't been a Q3Test release, as well as a big ol' worklog. Here's the big ol' list, since it's loaded with interesting stuff:

* weapon switch animations at 20hz instead of 15hz cuts switch time from 600 msec to 450 msec
* initial spawn flag for single player
* finished new fog code
* fixed walking underwater friction problems
* autosprite2 now selects the longest axis to pivot on, and allows any texture mapping, not just unity
* fixed autosprite on entities
* fixed lurching during low timescale
* reduced machinegun damage
* set clamp mode on 2D pics
* take hostname off of single player connect
* remvoed dlighting on skies and solid lava
* fixed lower body twitch when copytobodyque with a motion
* always show your score in second box if not in first
* sarge as default model
* com_blood 0 option for no gibs and no blood on hits
* mouse click aborts cinematic
* show tourney scores in all games, add fraglimit
* removed tripple bunny-hop protection, it was too arbitrary and didn't accomplish it's goal
* pump event loop during level loading
* added pass count to shaderlist
* default to CGEN_IDENTITY / CGEN_IDENTITY_LIGHTING based on blendSrc
* optional simplified blendfuncs: blendfunc
* new shader command: deformVertexes normal
* new shader command: tcgen vector ( ) ( )
* fixed fog on alpha tested surfaces
* reduced com_maxfps to 85
* defined shaders for menu and console backgrounds
* reset players on clientinfo transitions
* windows icons
* fixed powerups on spinning barrels
* removed some latency from lightning endpoint
* fixed lightning bolt drawing too far
* removed color clamping from entity lighting
* moved all 2D drawing to shader pipeline
* r_printShaders tool
* moved dlighting into world node descent
* pause when menu is up in single player
* fixed double EV_FIRE_WEAPON
* r_singleShader optimization tool
* some renderer optimizations
* better multitexture collapsing

Brandon "Burnt SiennaMarine" Reinhart updated his .plan with more on getting the Unreal Tournament Demo Linux dedicated server running properly:

Update:

It is not necessary to run the Linux dedicated server as root and you should not do this.
If you have difficulty starting remote web administration, edit the UnrealTournament.ini
and change the UT Web Server's ServerPort to something other than 80. For example you
might change it to ServerPort=8080 and then connect in Netscape using this URL:
http://127.0.0.1:8080/ServerAdmin/

Activision's FTP site has a new movie showing off cinematics from Interstate '82, the big A's upcoming sequel to the funky driving and shooting game, Interstate '76. The avi-format movies each show the same movie, but one is 7.5 MB and the other 5.9 MB (using a more aggressive form of compression). Thanks Frans, who has mirrored the larger movie (though zipped to a smaller size than the unzipped larger one) on 3D Action Gamers.

A significant update to the frequently-updated Outcast FAQ & Walkthrough brings it up to version 1.0. The Outcast walkthrough is now complete, to help those stuck in Appeal and Infrogrames' third-person action title. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The King of the Server page has a new version 4.1 of the King of the Server modification for Quake II. The new release adds a bunch of features and changes prompted by the recent KOTS chat session which provided the KOTS team with feedback on the mod. There is also a newer version already in the works with even more changes.

Looking for a demo to play while waiting for the updated Unreal Tourney Demo? There's a Rally 2000 demo on 3DFiles.com which offers racing action for rally enthusiasts, all for the cost of a 19 MB download.

The official Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation site has added five new images to their screenshots section. Thanks to Frans for the tip, although he points out that two of the shots appear to be duplicates.

A report on The Adrenaline Vault has word that the eagerly-anticipated full version of the Unreal Tournament demo is being uploaded to GT's servers even as I write these words. Word is that there should be no problems with downloading this because there will be "unlimited bandwidth" for downloads. No, really...

The Rogue Squadron Update page has an updated version 1.2 patch for this Star Wars space shooter. Confusingly, the patch name hasn't been changed, and the filesize has not been updated, but the always sharp-eyed Frans at 3D Action Gamers points out that the new file is double the size of the previous version 1.2 patch, up to about 2.5 MB from about 1.25 MB. There is no word on what's different in the new version of the patch.

AVault has posted fifteen more screenshots from The Collective's third person Unreal engine title Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen (including some shots of the station itself), as well as the news that they will be releasing a single player demo sometime in November. There is also news there that a second DS9 game is in development at Simon & Schuster (the game's publisher) which will be released in late 2000, and will be able to import ships from Starship Creator Deluxe.

Epic's Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart updated his .plan with an explanation for a common problem with the recently released Linux Unreal Tournament demo server:

If you run the Linux server and get an immediate segmentation fault, it probably means your machine is using libc5. The Linux server requires glibc. I have no plans to make a libc5 version. Upgrade!

The Lanapalooza Rogue Spear Server List is now online with a live list of active Rogue Spear servers on the Internet. The web-based list can be sorted, and you can join the server you want simply by double-clicking on it. It should be pointed out I had trouble browsing this site, but it seemed to be an ActiveX security issue on my browser, rather than a problem with the site.

A post on NovaCentral details the multiplayer game types that will be included in the full release of NovaLogic's upcoming sequel to Delta Force, their voxel-powered tactical first-person shooter. In addition to traditional DM, teamplay and CTF options, there are also King of the Hill variants, a game called "search and destroy," and makes mention of four team colors (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Violet).

A couple of new releases aimed at curtailing those nasty client-side auto-aim bots. Version 1.66 of BW-Admin, a "transparent" .dll that adds ZBot detection and kicking (with logging to file) to any existing Quake II modification, along with rate and 'cl_maxfps' capping, IP and name banning, MOTD and other admin options. Also, the Q2Admin Workbench has version 1.1 of Q2Admin, which likewise can equip any Quake II mod with ZBot detection and banning (multiple ways to detect Zbot users, including those using common hacks) along with their own advanced banning and logging features, and other administrative functions. Thanks Baygon®.

• Gamecenter previews the GeForce 256, complete with benchmarks.
• 3DHardware.net's Creative Labs GeForce 256 Annihilator review Part II is up with more of an early peek at NVIDIA's latest. Thanks CiKoTiC.
• Creative announces the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum.
• Cooling Guide by 3D Rage. Just chill baby.
• A pair of Ars Technica guides to paring down the extra stuff in NT: Disabling Extra Subsystems, and Disable Paging of the NT Executive.
• Sharky Extreme reviews the Intel Pentium III 533B and 600B.
• GamersDepot reviews the GVC-FIC Athlon Board.
• The Tech Zone reviews the Tech ZoneAMK-SECC80+ heatsink.

A new version of the Quake III Arena Server Snooper is now available, updating this Q3Test server browser for Mac OS X. The new release fixes the windows dragging code, and includes the program's long-promised source code.

the Weapons Factory page has a new version 4.25 of the Weapons Factory mod for Quake II that adds TeamFortress-inspired class-based teamplay to Quake II. The client files on the new release are divided into an essential portion that's required to use the mod, and an optional portion that adds scripts, sounds, and other nonessential, but recommended portions of the mod.

Part three of PC.IGN.COM's Planescape: Torment interview is online offering more conversation with the team working on Planescape Torment, the upcoming fantasy game that uses the Baldur's Gate engine.

There are a half-dozen new Gabriel Knight 3 Screenshots on The Adrenaline Vault where they're reporting plans for the game to go gold on October 15 (I didn't know you could plan these things). In addition to the shots and the gold date prediction, the story also offers a load of detail on what's planned for the game.

The Official Heavy Gear II Tournament offers a pretty nifty $5,000 in prizes. Thanks Cataclysm. Also, Clan World Ladder is sporting a brand-new upgraded high-tech ladder system to all 80+ of their ladders. The new system is meant to be more balanced, and offers a revised system for presenting challenges.

Voodoo Extreme's Shiny/Messiah Contest offers the chance to win a signed copy of Shiny's Messiah when it's available by unscrambling a sentence made up of letters hidden is Messiah screenshots that will be posted over the next couple of months.

Thanks as usual to Frans for reviewing so many of these reviews:

• The Adrenaline Vault reviews Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear.
• GamesMania reviews Shadow Man.
• GamePower reviews Prince of Persia 3D.
• GamePrix.com reviews Rogue Spear.
• Gamers Central reviews Braveheart.
• Speedy 3D reviews Homeworld.
• Well Rounded Entertainment reviews Jagged Alliance 2.
• 24 Hour Gamer reviews Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

• This page on PC Zone has the playable demo of Pharaoh, a strategy game that sounds like SimCity Egypt...
• PlanetRainbowSix is live. Nuff said...
• The newly-opened SlaveZeroNews.com has posted some new concept art from Slave Zero, Accolade's upcoming game of giant robot combat...
• This page has some new Q3Tour photos...

Well, no updated Unreal Tournament demo yesterday, but it sounds like it's coming today. I'm really looking forward to the return of the statistical rankings, I'm very curious to see what kind of results they will show after a few days of play (I was a terribly avid baseball fan back in the past, and love statistics. Anybody else play SSI Computer Baseball way back when?).

Link of the Day: Grit's Ninja Rap, Vanilla Ice Page. Yes, it seems sincere. Proof there's a fan page for everything on the Internet (and worth the visit just to check out the logo). Thanks Aslan.