PC.IGN has posted some comments by 3D Realms' George Broussard, which they spotted over at 3D Realms' message board. There's two quotes where George directly addresses the fan concerns about the game...here's one of them, which explains why the game is taking so dang long:

Today’s games are MUCH more complex. In Duke 3D all the characters were sprites. Today they are polygonal models, have to be skinned, and then animated or motion captured. A VERY long, tedious and complex process. Also games today are "deeper" and require more than key/door stuff. That means more time to develop. Note all the so-so fps games that didn't sell well in the last 2 years and you will see that they were simple compared to more complex efforts like Half-Life. A game like DNF is probably 5-10 times more complex that Duke 3D was.

The Refraction page has a new version 1.2 patch for the Codename: Eagle Demo released last week (story). According to their page, "The patch provides Voodoo1/2/3 support (using Glide), Load/Save function, an all new scoring system, as well as several in game tweaks and fixes." Thanks to the tireless Frans at 3D Action Gamers for that.

ION Storm’s official Deus Ex site has some new character art and a new weapon from Warren Spector’s upcoming Unreal-engine sci-fi action/RPG. "The character art depicts Anne Navarre, an augmented anti-terrorist mercenary and former colonel in the Israeli military who spent 6 years in the Massad. The newly added weapon is the Aerosol Pepper Gun, which 'sprays a high-speed, rapidly-spreading stream of a powdery, pepper-like substance' that disables enemies by blinding them."

The TrickStyle website has the playable demo of the PC version of TrickStyle, Acclaim's arcadey hover board racing game. The download is available as a smaller archive, which is a hair under 30 MB, and a larger one, which is 52 MB. Word is "The bigger one has a sweet non-interactive demo loop but they both have the same gorgeous, ass-kickin' gameplay." Thanks The Adrenaline Vault.

A bunch of screenshot stories, beginning with this: A few days late, but not a dollar short is the new StarLancer Weekly Screenshot on GameRush showing off more gameplay from Starlancer, one of a pair of upcoming games (Freelancer is the other) from Digital Anvil carrying on the space simulator tradition from the Wing Commander/Privateer series'.

There are five new screenshots on Eidos Interactive's Omikron page showing off more of the gameplay from Eidos and Quantic Dreams' upcoming action game that will feature a character based on David Bowie. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The Tomb Raider The Last Revelation site has five new screenshots showing off gameplay from the provocatively-titled next installment in Eidos' third-person cover-girl adventure game. Thanks again Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The Titanium Angels site has posted a bunch of new screenshots of this upcoming 3D strategy game. The shots are also posted here on GA-Source along with a little Q&A with the game's developers. Thanks yet again Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

3DGaming.net's Experience preview offers a look ahead at this upcoming first-person shooter from WXP accompanied by three new screenshots. Thanks, yup, you guessed it... Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

This page on the Irrational Games Inc. website has details on their job hunt, as the developer of System Shock 2 is looking to add members to a team composed of Thief and System Shock 2 veterans. They are looking for level designers, programmers, and a 3D artist. "All applicants should be willing to work in a highly collaborative team environment and be ready to relocate to the Cambridge, MA area."

The Æstats Page has a new version 4.26 of this log parser for 3D shooters. The new version adds support for Heretic II, Sin, Unreal Tournament (3.38 Update), and updated Hexen II support to the wide range of programs already supported by Æstats, which include Action Quake II, CounterStrike for Half-Life, Half-Life, Kingpin, Lithium II for Quake II, Quake II, TeamFortress Quake, Rocket Arena II, TeamFortress Classic, Q3Test 1.08 and more.

id's John Carmack updated his .plan with the latest version of his work log on Quake III: Arena:

* handle window close events properly
* enable r_displayRefresh selection and feedback on mac
* avoid AGEN_IDENTITY when CGEN_DIFFUSE_LIGHTING
* colorized railgun muzzle flash, impact flash, and mark
* exactly synced animating textures with waveforms and collapsed all explosion sequences into single shaders
* removed unneeded black pass on hell skies
* fixed grenades sticking to steep slopes
* scan for next highest fullscreen resolution when exact mode fails (fixes SGI flat panel failing to init)
* all cgame cvars now have a cg_ prefix (crosshair, fov, etc)
* clear clientinfo before parsing configstring
* make all feedback voiceovers share the same channel
* fixed nodraw curves
* fixed obits from shooter entities
* fixed chat char issue
* separate gentity_t fields into sharedEntity_t
* reintegrated q_mathsys with q_math
* cg_forcemodel also forces player sounds
* unknown cmd commands don't chat
* fixed strip order on text quads

The Spookhouse has posted the second Nocturne demo, the one that appears on this month's PC Gamer CD. The demo, like its predecessor, is a big one (80+ MB) but it features a completely new episode of the game (which is expected on store shelves Halloween weekend).

3D Nexus has posted an interview with Raven's Mike Gummelt, talking to the programmer about his duties on Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, their Quake III: Arena engine title currently in development. Also of note is Play Now's Star Trek Smorgasbord, which features a look at ST:V.

The ever popular Slashdot.org is going to be conducting an interview with none other than John Carmack, and they've asked for reader-submitted questions. Questions should be posted in their discussion group, one question per post. There's only room for 10 - 15 questions, so don't be offended if yours isn't picked (thanks to everyone who sent this one in).

PlanetMoonCentral, newly arisen from the ashes of Kabuto.net, has posted two new comics by Planet Moon artist Shawn Nelson, offering a little Giants-related humor.

Derek Smart has posted 16 new shots from the Battlecruiser 3020 AD Strike Pak (a first person add-on for the space sim) on the official BC3K page.

We've just posted an update on Terminal Reality's upcoming spooky 3D adventure game Nocturne. The game is set to go gold, and this update (more are promised soon) features a rundown of the technical aspects of the game's formidable engine. Hop over and check it out.

There was an embargo on these until 9:00 AM, so there's just been an instant flood of GeForce 256 DDR reviews. Here are a bunch of them (and one standard review as well):

• GASouce has posted a very good in-depth review of Guillemot's 3D Prophet, a 32 MB (standard RAM) GeForce 256 card.
• 3DGPU has posted a review of NVIDIA's GeForce 256 with DDR RAM reference board, complete with screenshots and benchmarks.
• Thresh's Firing Squad has posted their look at a DDR reference board, with their usual level of detail and insane benchmarking.
• RIVA3D has also posted their review of the DDR reference card, featuring screenshots from some GeForce enhanced games.

PlanetBattlezone has the initial release of a program called BZ Secure that attempts to address what's referred to as rampant BattleZone hacking that affects multiplayer play. Each player is required to run the program for it to work.

Half-Life Express is planning on hitting Valve's Erik Johnson with a bunch of questions about Valve's upcoming shooter TeamFortress2, and are soliciting questions from readers. If you've got a burning TF2 query that topical ointments can't relieve, fire it off to them, and maybe they can get it answered.

Today is another one of those days as an NDA on GeForce 256 DDR reviews expires this morning... just preparing you for the flood that will come shortly:

• There are a bunch of benchmarks on ShugaShack on a PII-300, PIII-450, an Athlon 600 using a Voodoo3 3500, a Hercules TNT2Ultra, an NVIDIA GeForce256 (SDRAM, 120/166mhz) at the following resolutions: 512x384, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1600x1200, and this ShugaShack article by Jack "Morbid" Mathews talks about Quake III's use of T&L.
• The AMD Athlon(TM) Technical Documentation has been updated. Thanks AMD Zone.
• 'Errata' delay 500-MHz G4s on MacWEEK reports "errata" that affect Motorola's new G4 processor when run at speeds of 500 MHz or higher. And according to Motorola's own schedule, a fix isn't due until December. 500 MHz G4s are scheduled to ship this month. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski...
• Computer Games Online previews the GeForce 256.
• Fast Graphics reviews the Guillemot 3D Prophet GeForce 256-based accelerator.
• Speedy 3D reviews the 3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV.
• Tweak3D reviews the 3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV.
• iXBT reviews the AMD Athlon 600.
• Glide Underground reviews the Card Cooler.

Mod Central Mutators is a listing of all the mutators available for the Unreal Tournament Demo. Detailed info on each of these modifications to gameplay in the demo include links to read mes, FAQs, etc. Saw that on PlanetUnreal.

There first release of the Armageddon Device for Quake II is available on The Roseville website featuring eight new maps, new monsters, and new weapons. the plot features a race against time to find the deactivation code for a power shield on an asteroid heading for Earth. Where's Bruce Willis when you need him?

The Gunslinger Quake 2 page has a new version 1.0 of this mod for Quake II that allows you to enjoy the action of the American wild west without the necessity of a Will Smith soundtrack (oh don't worry, I love that nutty French Prince, or whatever country he's the prince of). The new release adds two new play modes, bullet holes, bot detection, and much more.

And without any help from Frans this morning! It would probably be easier just to point out the rare occasion when that happens:

• The Adrenaline Vault reviews Sinistar Unleashed.
• Gamers Depot reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• 3D-Unlimited reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• Diversions of Technology reviews FreeSpace2.
• ActiveWindows reviews Age Of Empires 2: Age Of Kings.

• The PlanetQuake Mod Expo 99 is up celebrating PQ's Quake II mod lineup...
• There's an interview with Roberta Williams on GamersDepot talking with the legendary adventure game producer about what she's been up to since parting ways with Sierra...
• Sgt. Hulka's Bootcamp has a 3 MB Unreal Tournament screensaver for download...
• The folks at Unreal Nation send word that rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated, as a couple of sites have posted news that this old school Unreal site is going away. While they are reorganizing over there, they are not shutting down at this time by any stretch...

I knew that yesterday's date of October 10 rang a bell, but didn't make the connection until Ant pointed out a post on Doomworld recalling it as the anniversary of the release of Doom II, marking no less than the game's fifth(!) birthday. In celebration, if a you share your home, school, or workplace with a Revenant, please take them to lunch today. Oh yeah, I'll point out I misspelled Teletubby yesterday, it was Mynx that pointed out the gaffe, which she doesn't need to be ashamed of, since I know she's a mom. Just didn't want to let a day pass by with out a reference to toddler television. What will it be tomorrow? Barney? Tickle me Elmo? Ack! Shoot me now!

Link of the Day: Arrak Anagrams. This is a web-based version of those old desktop anagram generator. Blue's News makes a lot of bad anagrams, including the dopey news blues, but also can translate to "web lens us." Thanks MAVERICK.
Image of the Day: Quake3 bus only here for one day? Ha, we'll see about that! Thanks DarkNova.