id Software's Robert Duffy updated his .plan with word that he's released a new version of the Quake III Arena tools. Here's the scoop:

I have placed a new install for the tools on the ftp site. Our ftp gets hammered but it should show up mirrored pretty quick as well.

ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/tools/Q3ToolSetup_Dec221999.exe

There are quite a few changes, see the readme for a list.

This release contains new content or updates for the following:

-Q3Radiant, this is named 'Q3Radiant_181.exe'. This will allow you to revert to the older version in case there are unforeseen problems.
-Q3Map, some fixes.
-Q3Data, see the Modeling manual which was put together by Paul Steed and Paul Jaquays.
-Model_manual_ps.doc, the above mentioned model manual.
-bspc - see the included text file for changes.
-Museum.map, Museum.shader - A map done by Kenneth Scott to illustrate a wide variety of shader effects. Cool stuff.
-MapMedia.pk3 - additional content required by the museum

The museum takes quite a while to light when running Q3Map on it. Be patient :-)

European players of the Opposing Force expansion pack to Half-Life can now upgrade their version to 1.0.0.1 as well, for Sierra has released German, French and Italian patches for download (685 KB each).

Eidos has released the version 1.1 patch for Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation (426 KB), fixing the same issues for the English edition of the game as the German patch that was released the other day (story). The complete list is available in this text file.

3DNews.net has posted a Q&A with Russell Ritchie, managing director at Promethean Designs, talking about their upcoming game of art thievery, Picassio, a virtually violence free adventure, that forces you to think about how to disable your enemies instead of killing them.

Dynamix' Tim Gift updated his .plan with reflections on the first anniversary of the completion of Starsiege TRIBES, as well as a very lengthy update on the current state of TRIBES 2 development, which I've trimmed a good bit from for space reasons (read the whole .plan for the whole deal, which includes a lot of programming stuff):

Doesn't seem that long ago... Last Friday was the 1 year anniversary of Tribes. We received final Sierra certification for duplication Thursday 12/17/98 at 7:46 PM. By the following Monday the warezers were online, and by the middle of the week there were players who had actually purchased copies!

These days it's all Tribes 2 programming & game design. My role on the project has changed quite a bit over the past few years :) (a long story) Now I'm mostly coding all the "game" part of the Tribes 2 engine.

<snip>

Player class
Been spending a lot of time on this one recently. I had the basic player running around a while ago, but then went off to work on other things. I just finished cleaning up and finalizing all the player movement code, stepping (over things), sliding off corners and along creases, etc. Tribes 1 had a few problems in this area which I never got around to fixing. Tribes 2 is much smoother. The new approach is cleaner, uses less code, and works better :) The player is now almost done, bunch of misc. stuff (including death and celebration animations), but the only big thing left is client side movement prediction, which I should start on this afternoon. He currently moves on other clients, but doesn't interpolate or predict (this is handled differently than your own player).

After player client prediction, some projectile code, then the code I expect to have some fun with: vehicles.

I guess that brings me up to date. Hope I haven't bored anyone... (kind of a long post)

id's John Carmack made a post over at Slashdot clarifying some issues with the GPL license under which the Quake 1 source code has been released (story) and perhaps raising a few as well:

We are the copyright holder of all works, and we can release any part of it under any license we choose.

Completely aside from that, I think it is still unclear exactly where the GPL wants the separation of code and content. Few would argue that every document read by a GPL word processor would be covered by the GPL, and most would place maps entered by Quake into that catagory, but things can quickly get murky.

Quake game mods are written in QC, but turned into data to be processed by the main code. I think the spirit of the GPL would want that code to be released, but it is only a small step from there to saying that every program loaded by a GPL operating system must be GPL, which is clearly not the case.

Hey, it's a slow news day, so here's a new edition of our Mail Bag. In today's action-packed installment: some thoughts on the Quake source code release, questions about id's nicknames, a banner ad review (?) and the secret of Blue's day job revealed! Go check it out.

PC.IGN.com has posted an interview with Rage Software lead programmer Scott Johnson, talking about Incoming Forces. This sequel to Incoming will incorporate a strategy element to the action, even more visual extravaganza (as we are accustomed to with Rage's games), and improved multiplayer capabilities:

There are going to be three different rule-sets. There is going to be Team Play, Body Count -- which is basically deathmatch, and finally one player playing as the aliens and one player playing the humans, with both setting up bases and trying to destroy each other. It's going to be LAN and Internet compatible. We are gonna do a four-way split as well on the PC screen -- that is only the arcade game. On the technical game, we are gonna do a two-way split.

There is a new developer profile on the official Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force site, introducing readers to Raven's lead artist Les Dorscheid, who is responsible for the completion of the game's art and managing the other artists, as well as working as a modeler and artist on the project himself (where does he find the time? :-)

It's been a while, but the latest version 0.3 of ZDoomGL has now been released, bringing the OpenGL port in sync with version 1.22 of ZDoom, adding support for floor mirrors, and fixing several bugs.

GameSpot UK has posted a preview of Evolva, the colorful looking action strategy game by Computer Artworks. While the article is very brief, it does appear to include a couple of new screenshots.

Daily Radar has posted an interview with project leader Garry Gaber on Star Wars: Force Commander, the upcoming 3D real-time strategy game by LucasArts. The talk covers the storyline, the 3D interface, the missions and units in the game (yes, you can play as an AT-AT), and more.

Version 0.5.1 of Q3A-Total Control is now available from Borderfield Software, offering a couple of major bug fixes to this front-end for Quake III Arena that includes such handy doodads as a server starter, an integrated server browser, a config editor, a key binder, a FunName editor, and a dial-up optimizer.

GameFan interviews Mike Leatham, lead texture and concept artist for Digital Extremes, talking with the texture artist from Unreal and Unreal Tournament about his work on those games and about the game industry in general.

• Reverend's The Pulpit has links to a new version 4.06 of the WickedGL super-driver for Voodoo accelerators that fixes the "lost railings" bug in OpFor, the Quake III Arena retail version fan texture bug, and adds support for Windows Millennium. Thanks MajestY.
• A new version 1.0.41 of the WinTune 98 benchmark is now available, offering ways to speed test your CPU, Video, OpenGL, Direct3D, Memory and Disk. Thanks DemoNews.
• 3Dlabs sells $7.5 mln 5-year note to investor Intel. Thanks Haakon Larsen.
• Sharky's Private Eye Volume 6 offers their top ten gifts for last minute shoppers, ABIT & Coppermine Issues, an X-Box update, an interview 3dfx' Scott Sellers, new year's predictions, and more.
• GXS reviews the Diamond Viper II Z200.
• An 800-MHz Match-Up on PC Magazine First Looks offers AMD vs. Intel benchmarks, pitting a Coppermine-based Dell Dimension XPS B800r and a pre-release Athlon 800 MHz Falcon Northwest Mach V.
• There's a Coppermine & Slocket2 Review on HardOCP.
• iXBT reviews the Chaintech 6WEX2 motherboard.

There's a new version 4.1 of the NOP log parser available on the NOP page, offering a whole slew of fixes for bugs in version 4.0. Its authors call NOP the "ultimate logfile parser and stats generating tool," NOP can crunch the numbers in the game logs from Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, and Half-Life (including Counterstrike, TFC & Jailbreak) servers.

Polycount has the debut release of NPherno's MD3 Compiler, a utility that can import md2, md3 and 3DS formatted files and export to Quake III Arena's md3 format. There are plans to offer support for the program there in the future, including a future messageboard.

On the heels of the release of the source code for Quake (story), comes the opening of a SourceForge Quake Project Info page as a way to track revisions, submit bugs and suggestions, and get involved in a team development of the source (thanks prototype). Similarly, the Quake Standards Group, is open, likewise dedicated to sharing information about hacking on the Quake Engine. Obviously there is very little content on either site yet.

Verant Interactive sends word that Tanarus, their massively multiplayer online game featuring futuristic tank combat, will be free to non-subscribers for a week in honor of the holidays. The free week will start this Wednesday at 3:00 PM EST, and run through Monday January 3.

There's a new Battlecruiser Millennium Flash Promo Movie, the first in a planned series of such web cinema presentations to gear up for the release of the game's full demo, slated to be available later next year.

• ACT Labs Gun System on 3D Spotlight.
• Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge on Games Domain Review and Gamecenter.
• Crusaders of Might and Magic on GamesFirst.
• Descent 3 (Mac) on MacGamer.
• Dirt Track Racing on Gamecenter.
• Flanker 2.0 on GamesFirst.
• Gabriel Knight 3 on GamesMania.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force on Gamers Point.
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on GameZilla.
• Interstate '82 on GamePower.
• Panzer Elite on GameProWorld.
• Quake III Arena on 3D Rage, Game Revolution, and Women Gamers.
• Rollercoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies on Game Revolution.
• Railroad Tycoon II: Gold Edition on EuroGamer.
• Rayman 2 on GamesFirst, Gamecenter, and Adrenaline Vault.
• Septerra Core on PC Fan, and PC Gameworld.
• Spec Ops II: Green Berets on Computer Games Online.
• Star Trek: Hidden Evil on GA-Source.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on GamesFirst and Game Forces.
• Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation on Game Over.
• Urban Chaos on Speedy 3D.
• Wheel of Time on Gamers Depot.
• X: Beyond the Frontier on Computer Games Online.

• The 1999 loonygames Awards are now online, offering the loony staff's selections for the best adventure, action, deathmatch, and strategy games of the year, as well as their favorite console games, and their pick for game of the year...
• A report on GamePen says work on the oft-discussed, but so far un-produced Tomb Raider movie may be gearing up, as it's possible that Simon West (Con-Air and General's Daughter) will sign on to direct, though the report on The Adrenaline Vault also says the film's script may be a stumbling block before starting production...
• There are some new Atriarch Screenshots showing off some characters shots from this massively multiplayer, persistent sci-fi rpg and strategy hybrid game currently in development by World Fusion...
• Exxtreme3D.Com interviews Martin Walfisz CEO of Massive Entertainment, talking about Ground Control, their upcoming strategy/tactics game...
• The 42nd Diablo II Screenshot of the Week is mirrored on The Labyrinth. Only ten weeks 'til the screenshot of the year...

As noted on the 3D Realms Entertainment Web Site, yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the debut of Rise of the Triad, their seminal first-person shooter that introduced several features to the genre. The page gives a rundown on just a few of the new wrinkles introduced in ROTT, which are so numerous that when constructing trivia questions asking where given features were first offered, the first thing we need to do is figure out whether or not it is another that was introduced in ROTT (and more than once, features that we thought were not from ROTT turned out to have been first introduced there after all). If this has just whetted your appetite for more on the history of gaming, a post by 3D Realms' Scott Miller to a thread called Duke Nukem History on the 3D Realms Bulletin Board gives a brief history of where Duke got his start, including who came up with his name, which in my opinion, is one of the great all-time game character monikers. Turns out it was yesterday that Mahir was on the Daily Show, DNapalm says dance clubs were on the agenda (and they didn't call me!). Should be at least a couple of repeats today.

Link of the Day: The Online Pregnancy Test. That was a load off my mind! Thanks Steve Strickland.
Image of the Day: Santa Heavy Gear. Apparently a date-related Easter egg (or is that Christmas egg?). Thanks Heavy Gear News Network.