GameProWorld has posted their guide to Ultima IX: Ascension, focusing more on strategies than a real walkthrough, so while there are spoilers in here, they're easily avoided.

A new beta version 5.2 for Counter-Strike has been released, available in both full install and upgrade files for Windows and Linux. Counter-Strike is a popular counter-terrorism mod for Half-Life. This release has a modified chasecam, fixes various crashing bugs including those in the "de_train" level, and fixes scoreboard bugs.

Ozymandias, the first film created with the LithTech Film Producer, has been released, and is available for download at its official site. The LithTech Film Producer is a completely stand-alone run-time product, and no game is required to watch the film (which is a reasonable download at only five and a half megs).

Several readers have sent in this press release regarding Eidos' slow holiday season, pointing out a section that says Daikatana has been delayed to "the quarter ended 31 March 2000." This is not an announcement about further delays for Daikatana, as it had already been announced that the game was going to be released in the first quarter of 2000, and the first quarter ends, on the 31st of March. If the game has suffered another delay, no word of it can be found in this press release.

Nearly a month after the other European patches (story), Sierra Studios has released the Spanish version 1.0.0.1 patch for Half-Life: Opposing Force for download from their ftp site (685 KB).

Insomniax.net has posted a brief multiplayer guide to Battlezone II, featuring some handy hints, as well as some entertaining diagrams for this recently released first-person title.

Steve Pearsall: Live From the Thieves' Guild is an in-depth interview on GamesMania with the project director of Thief II: The Metal Age, the upcoming sneaky action game by Looking Glass. The five-page article covers a lot of ground on the title, including the story (with a separate page containing spoilers), the mechanical technology depicted in the game, the AI, the possibilities of a multiplayer game and another sequel, and much more. There's a bunch of (mostly) new screenshots as well. Here is a bit of speculation on those sequels:

GM: Thief Tournament?

SP: (laughs) Theftmatch? I don't know. We're struggling with the name. We just call it Thief Multiplayer as an in-house title. I'm sure the marketing guys will be able to think up some catchier name than that.

GM: What about a Thief 3 with a single player campaign? I know it's hard to think that far ahead, but should the sales merit, do you have ideas for a third one?

SP: Oh definitely. To tell you the truth the backstory behind Thief was originally conceived as a trilogy. So we actually have design documents and fiction documents already covering Thief 3 that were in part developed both in Thief 1 design phase and in the Thief 2 design phase, and there are elements in Thief 2 to support the continuation of the storyline into Thief 3.

According to this story at ZDNet, Transmeta, the super-secret company that's working on some sort of processor code-named Crusoe, will be announcing details of their technology tomorrow. A statement from the company says that tomorrow will herald, "the introduction of Transmeta and our new Crusoe processors, the world's first family of software-based smart microprocessors." Two Transmeta employees of note are Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, and none other than former id Software designer and Crack.com founder Dave Taylor.

FVFWorld has posted a tutorial by Hap, the lead programmer on the original Future vs. Fantasy mod, as well as FVF: Redemption, and G-Sector. The tutorial deals with compiling the Quake III Arena game source using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, and promises to be the first in a series.

Epic's Erik de Neve has released a new version of the beta Direct3D patch for Unreal Tournament on the Unreal Technology site. Here is the update:

This second incarnation of the beta now draws double sided actor polygons correctly - i.e. fixes the mysterious disappearance of the CTF flags! ;-)

As before, to install you need to backup the d3ddrv.dll that is in your UT system folder and replace it with the new file.

There is a new FreeSpace 2 Guide online at GameFaqs. The comprehensive document provides general tactics, detailed tips on all the missions, and overviews of the weapons and ships in Volition's acclaimed space sim.

Damage Gaming interviews David Msika, talking with the lead level scripter over at Shiny about his work on Messiah, Shiny's upcoming third-person game of possession. Level scripter is not a common job description, which is because of the unusual way events are handled in Messiah. Here's David's description:

Scripting is the link between the programmer's code, the artist's work and the game, which pretty much gives full control on the outcome of Messiah. The scripting language has been developed, and improved constantly, by Messiah's programming team (Michael 'Saxs' Persson, Torgeir Hagland, and Tony Bennet). Every little aspect of the game design has to go through scripting in order to make it into the game. Using C++ functions and visual art (textures and geometry) I can set up special sequences, script complex situations including a lot of character interaction, add impressive visual effects, and design cut scenes between the levels of the game. There are three people on the scripting team; Andrew DeLap, Joe Virskus, and myself. Scripting is specific to each project, but the logic remains the same.

GA-Source interviews Russell Ritchie talking with the managing director of Promethean Designs about Picassio, their upcoming game that puts you in the skulky role of an art thief. In an interesting quote, Russell says the game "has a plot with a twist in it that puts 'The Sting' to shame."

• Beyond3D interviews John Brothers talking with S3's VP of Architecture (Mike Brady would be so proud) about what's up over at S3, including details on the Savage2K's bandwidth and T&L support.
• Tweak3D's GeForce 256 Tweak Guide is online and likewise there's a short article on eliminating pauses/stutters in Q3A on a GeForce card on Dayton's Misc. Thanks Ryan Stotts.
• Guillemot 3D Prophet is reviewed on Sharky Extreme and Guru3D.
• Leadtek Winfast GeForce 256 is reviewed on Exxtreme3D.Com and AGN Hardware.
• TerraTec XLerate Pro soundcard is reviewed on BoomGames Interactive.
• Sys Cold-Fusion 1000 is reviewed on CPU Review (still carrying that pop-up ad) with game benchmarks, and part two of the review offers synthetic benchmarks.
• Intel 840 Chipset is reviewed on HardwareCentral.
• Two PPGA Heatsinks are reviewed on DocHardware's.
• Palo Alto ATCX Convertible Case is reviewed on Ars Technica.

If you are one of those experiencing an "Expected { got (B3)" error when trying to play Half-Life or TeamFortress Classic online, this is due to a temporary problem with Sierra/Won.net's network. I.am/Half-Life sends word of a workaround that can overcome this until the problem is fixed, which they say should be within a few days. If you get this error, just delete the Half-Life temp file "favsvrs.dat," and you should be in business. For more details, see the "What's New" section at I.am/Half-Life or I.am/TFC (where there are also nine new maps for download).

The [NME] Homepage has a new quickie Quake III Arena mod that adds an encumbrance system to the game, where carrying a BFG causes you to move at 80% of standard speed, scaling all the way up to the gauntlet which makes you "a veritable human torpedo" moving at 130% of normal speed. The mod is described as a quick hack, but may be the basis for a future class-based system.

DecimalWeb has the first release of the Decimal mod for Quake III Arena, which replaces the standard scoring system with one that rewards you incrementally based on the amount of damage you deal out to your opponents.

Merc's Teamplay Mod is a small beta Quake III Arena modification that adds voting rules to Q3A that govern joining teams, kicking players, and the game's time limit.

There's an article on Unreal Filmmaking on Machinima.com that goes into the basics of making Unreal movies, though some knowledge of UnrealEd (or a willingness to acquire some) is going to be required to put this to use.

The Playing Fields CPL qualifier will fly the winner of this UK tourney to the US to compete in the upcoming $100,000 Razer/CPL tournament in addition to their own £1,000 first prize. Also, the Savage UK Q3ctf league is now accepting clan sign-ups. In addition to the registration, there is a survey to fill out to express preferences as to how the league will be run. Finally, Artificial Intelligence-Bot Challenges will offer weekly challenges in Unreal Tournament offering specified objectives under various scenarios on different game types, with the best time to complete each challenge to win.

• 3M Precise Mousing Surface on G3d.
• BattleZone 2 on Speedy 3D.
• Crusaders of Might and Magic on The Adrenaline Vault and Gamers Central.
• Descent 3 Mercenary on Computer Games Online.
• FreeSpace 2 on GAMEZReviewz.
• Gabriel Knight 3 on Gamelinks.Net.
• HangSim on GamesFirst.
• Microsoft IntelliMouse with IntelliEye on Tech Arena.
• Rayman 2 on PCGameREVIEW.
• Slave Zero on GamesFirst.
• Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin on GameOver.

• In the latest installment of GA-RPG Mythology with BioWare Corp., Designer Brent Knowles talks about the skills needed in becoming a game designer...
• PC Top Games now has over 500 game-related desktop wallpapers for download and The MeBot Pages has got seven Unreal Tournament wallpapers and three more from Half-Life, all in various resolutions. While we're at it, oGL rules has a Quake screensaver with the Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena logos...
• ThrushWave Technology sends word The Rift, their 3D RTS, is a first round winner of the Game Developers Conference's Independent Game Awards. They expect the game to be available "early this summer," and a playable demo "featuring several missions and many of the novel units from the finished game" on February 9...

Wow, it's so cold up here in the northeast US that folks are walking around with witch's breasts in their pockets to keep their hands warm. A Sopranos anecdote to share before the subject of the show gets a well-deserved rest here, my sister-in-law has been telling my wife and I for a while that her friend (who was at our wedding) would be appearing in a few of this season's episodes, but this did not prepare us for the premiere where it turns out she plays Tony's sister Barbara, which means we had one of the Sopranos sitting at our table at our wedding(!). Just a good thing it wasn't Anthony Jr., since we didn't serve ziti.

Link of the Day: YourMom! Yo' mama jokes in the style of Yahoo! Thanks Tymetodie. There doesn't seem to be a customizable portal yet... too bad, I like the sound of my.yourmom.
Story of the Day: Microsoft certificate bug crashes Netscape browser. Thanks Rabbi Bob by way of PC911.
Bonus Story: Spanish town abandons annual goat-toss. Basically we'll post any story that touches on the subject of goat-tossing. Thanks JLF.

Vault Network has posted an interview on Soulbringer, talking to producer Don Kirkland about this upcoming 3D role-playing game currently under construction at Gremlin and Infogrames. The detailed article covers the game's concept and engine, the magic and combat systems, and the proverbial more. Here is a taste:

Jonric: What will make Soulbringer stand out from the other current and soon to be released games? What kind of gamer do you feel it will appeal to most?

Don Kirkland: Soulbringer is an RPG that focuses very heavily on the story and character interaction. In today’s market of merging different game types together to make RPG/platform or RPG/FPS games, Soulbringer remains a pure CRPG - you do not need to be a twitch player to enjoy Soulbringer. However, Soulbringer is still real-time, giving the game a lot more flow than a game that breaks to turn-based combat.

Following in id's footsteps, Bungie Software has released the Marathon 2: Durandal source code for Macintosh, as reported by MacGamer's Ledge. Marathon 2: Durandal was Bungie's first-person shooter released in 1995, and the source, which is released under the terms of the GNU public license, requires the Macintosh Programmers Workshop and can be downloaded in two different formats.

The official Quake III Arena FAQ has been updated to version 0.41, adding the known issues with A3D, and the new features and fixed bug lists. This is the same document that came included with the point release (story). Elsewhere, the unofficial Unreal Tournament FAQ by Droogie was updated to version 1.6, mainly to fix some previously incorrect information.

There is a brief interview on Rune online at GameFan, talking to Mike Werckle about Human Head's upcoming third-person Viking action game. As the game is still quite some time away from its intended Summer release, the article does not contain much in the way of new information, but the bit about skeletal animation is illustrated by three screenshots from the animation editor.

Tsnoi's Transcripts (try saying that three times fast) has posted an interview with Trent Oster, producer on the 3D role-playing game Neverwinter Nights which is currently in development at BioWare. Thanks Vault Network. The talk covers a variety of grounds, including the progress of development, adherence to the AD&D rules, interaction with fans, and more.

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan on the just released editing docs, as well as id's stance on the DLL vs. Virtual Machine debate for game mods. Here's the deal:

Mr Elusive just put together some bot editing documents, the file is available on our ftp server:

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/tools/Q3ABotEdit.zip

We've been following the whole DLL vs. VM debates, and id is firmly on the side of using VMs for game mods. We will be addressing the "auto swap" VM depending on which server you go to quickly (this was a bug) but I think we will be strict on saying that people should use VMs over DLL files. The next executable release will probably have a warning screen come up that you will need to agree to and click through if the game is about to load a DLL.

Programmer Robert Duffy simultaneously updated his .plan on the same issue, as well as on the fs_game bug (for which they will be issuing another point release patch within a week) and the possibilities of auto-downloading mods. Here's the scoop:

We will be releasing a point release within a week that addresses the fs_game problem that exists in the current executable. This problem forces clients to start with the same fs_game parameter as the server. It does not affect normal game play but keeps the server from specifying which "game" directory to use. This is a bug. Mod authors do not have to wait for the fs_game patch to get started as the code will be the same either way on their end.

There are two other basic issues for mods that have come up:

1. DLL use for mods
Our position on DLL use for mods is that it is a bad thing. DLL's are not multi-os compatible and they pose a much greater security risk than qvm's. Note, I did not say that qvm's are totally secure, they are not, but they are definately more secure than DLL's. DLL's are for debugging only and qvm's are the only official supported way to produce and distribute a mod. Period.

2. Auto-downloading
We are currently exploring several options for auto-downloading. There will support at some level for mod surfing and downloading. This support is geared towards the "mod" type of add-on as opposed to downloading maps or models ( or skins ). The goal is to not consume server bandwidth for downloads but push the bandwidth use to some sort of a dedicated "mod" server or something.

id Software has released a set of editing documents for the bots in Quake III Arena. Written by id's Mr Elusive, the HTML docs come as a 19 KB zip-file for download from their ftp server, and include information on bot characteristics, the chat system, item and weapon specs, the creation of new arenas and bot characters, and more. Here is a local copy with a couple of mirrors.

More screenshots than you'd need to redecorate your wall:

• PsychoNews has received the ten screenshots of KISS Psycho Circus: the Nightmare Child that were previously featured in the Psycho Circus preview in the February issue of Incite Games magazine, though some look familiar from previous galleries. They have also posted character shots of the four Elders, the main characters in the game.
• 3D-Unlimited has posted a new Soldier of Fortune image depicting another quintet of characters from the upcoming mercenary shooter by Raven, this bunch being called the "Ministry of Sin." The page also links to 3D-Unlimited's audio preview at Gamer's Playground.
• GameFan has posted a pair of new Daikatana screenshots, along with the rumor that the game should go gold next month (but with Daikatana, I'm afraid that's as good as any other rumor).

A new version 2.09 demo for BattleCruiser 3000 is now available at BattleCruiser Online's Galcom News Network. This brings the demo in line with the retail v2.09 patch released early this year (story), and while offering the same content as the v2.0 demo, this release "uses the advanced 2.09 kernel, has several surface mission zones, supports more graphics cards etc." The GNN update also includes more information on the multiplayer features in the BattleCruiser Millennium edition of this space sim series.

A new Eurogamer.net feature on licenses offers a look at what they feel is a resurgence in the development of games based on established licenses from movies, novels, and comic books. The article discusses Ritual's FAKK 2 (loosely based on an animated movie based on a feature from Heavy Metal magazine), Third Law Interactive's KISS: Psycho Circus-The Nightmare Child (based on a comic book, which is itself, of course, based on the rock band), Star Trek: Voyager-Elite Force (based on a TV series, which itself was a spin-off of several prior series), Alice (loosely based on Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Wheel of Time (based on the series of Robert Jordan Books), and Soldier of Fortune (loosely based on the mercenary magazine of the same name). The article features exclusive new screenshots of Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek: Voyager--Elite Force, and comments from members of Raven, Ritual, Legend, Third Law, and Electronic Arts' American McGee.

Another new Messiah screenshot is up on incite games as part of their ongoing contest that offers the chance to win some shiny Shiny swag while viewing new shots of Shiny's upcoming diaper-clad third-person action game. Also, there are four new Tread Marks Screen Shots on the official site for Longbow Digital Arts' tank racing/combat game that is now available via mail order. The new shots highlight some of the special effects of the game's 3D engine, including some tanks kicking up large clouds of dust, and the bright green and white explosion of a mass driver seen at close range.

There is a new version of JHexen, the OpenGL port of Raven's venerable Hexen. Thanks Phoebus. This release features new beta network code using a simulated client/server system, allowing TCP/IP games over the Internet (a first as far as Hexen ports go), and the beta testing page has detailed information on the features and use of the beta test.

Raven's Rick Johnson updated his .plan with more details about the apparently imminent Soldier of Fortune demo, as well as some questions for mod authors and model makers about model support. Here goes:

With the demo being extremely close to being released, followed by the full game, I'm looking for feedback in this area. Currently, you need to have a copy of 3DS MAX 2.0 in order to create GHOUL models.
This may be of inconvience to some people, so I've left in support for Quake2 models. This code hasn't been used in well over a 16 months, and may not even work with all of our networking changes.
Should I leave in Quake2 model support? Is that worth-while for MOD makers? Or should I remove it and go on with life? Or if someone has done a Quake3 model viewer for the Quake1 source code, should that be placed in? (given the author gives me permission, as I just can't plop in Q3A source code into our project). Send me an email with your thoughts. Please put a subject of "Q2M", so that my filter will move it into a folder for me.

Revelations as Freeware on GA-Source gives the follow-up on a previous report there about plans for an authorized Blood2 add-on called Revelations by Tequila Software (story). The update announces that rather than being a retail product as originally planned, the add-on (or at least portions of it) will now be released as freeware, apparently contradicting some prior reports that this would not happen. The article includes screenshots from some of the levels to be included in the release, for which no specific date is set.

There is some concept art from the upcoming Blair Witch Project games on GameDaily showing off some oogie sketches to inspire the games inspired by the homemade horror breakthrough hit movie. As described there, the plan is to create "three interwoven titles, each exploring a different era along the timeline of the Blair Witch mythology. Each of the titles will revolve around the 'Stranger' character featured in the previously released Nocturne." Word is more Blair Witch Project game details will be in the upcoming January 31 issue of GameWEEK.

A bit confused by the article about the OEM demo for Soldier of Fortune mentioned earlier (story), I wrote Raven's Kenn Hoekstra to ask him to explain the difference between the OEM single player demo, the OEM multiplayer demo, and most importantly, how they relate to any plans for a publicly distributed demo for the world at large. Here's the rundown on the situation straight from Kenn:

1. Single Player Only OEM was released with the Razer mouse and a few other miscellaneous bits of hardware.
2. Multiplayer Only OEM was released (and is currently available) with the 3com gaming modem. (This is the version that Thresh's FiringSquad is reviewing)
3. The public demo is going to be released soon and freely available for download. This demo will include support for single player and multiplayer, weighing in with a tutorial, two single player levels, a cinematic level and two multiplayer levels. Download size could be approaching 90 - 100 MB.

The OEM versions are illegal to download (although people have been doing so) but the demo will be freeware. As far as knowing whether or not the 100MB will be worth the download, I guess research and reviews of the OEM versions and all of the previews of the game will have to suffice. There is certainly no shortage of Soldier of Fortune information on the Internet. =) In Europe, the game will be distributed on several magazine cover demo disks and I'm sure the same will be true in the U.S. If people are interested and don't want to risk the download, I'm sure plenty of magazines will carry it. How's that for an answer? Does that clear things up or make them worse? =)

That cleared things up for me. Thanks Kenn!

• S.A.S's Guide to Quake III Arena on BarrysWorld offers an update to this Quake III Arena tips and strategy guide. Changes in the guide include tips on advance .cfg handling, and info on using their mega-multiplayer demo to stress test your system.
• Q3Center's Q3A CTF guide is online offering tips on capturing and defending in Quake III Arena, though it admits to possible inaccuracies.
• Also there's a Quake III Arena Map Strategy guide on Mac Gamer's Ledge with Q3 DM1 (Arena Gate) tips and strategies.
• Finally, the Allegiance Zone's Advanced Commanding Guide gives a key to being an effective commander in Microsoft's new space combat game (if it were Star Trek, step one would probably be to lose your mind, as half the flag officers in the original series seemed to run amok at some point).

A new version 1.3 of Savage UKs' QuakeTV program is now available (thanks Voodoo Extreme). This program can allow multiple viewers to watch a live Quake II or Quake III Arena matches over the Internet via a QuakeTV server, ideally set up on a high-speed connection.

The debut release of the Ultima Ascension Diary Reader is now available, offering a handy way to review, print, and even search your journal to keep track of what's what in Origin's latest installment in their fantasy RPG series. The utility will even highlight key items in your journal like City names, Dungeons, and Sigils with colored text.

Version 0.91 of Q3Log is now available, offering the ability to parse logs from Quake III Arena matches and extract results. The difference between Q3Log and other log parsers is that rather than simply generating pages of HTML statistics, Q3Log is a full windows application that allows users to graph all their player data. The program also has an integrated console command list editor with descriptions of every variable and command (courtesy of I-Am Q3A) as well as game-by-game information provided with the inclusion of Q3LA by Fabian Huester.

As can often be the case, there's a brand new version 1.5.3 of the NewMod utility hot on the heels of the previous release (story). In an unusual twist, however, the new release is not a quick bug fix of any kind, but rather adds a couple of new features to this mod compiling utility meant to make life easier for mod developers. The new features include the option to force the overwrite of an existing mod, and the option to have the include files automatically patched with your mod's directory. In the process of the update, the entire codebase has been converted from C++ into ANSI C, cutting the already modest download almost in half, to a measly 28 KB.

There's a new version 0.5i of the SpoonBot on www.playspoon.com. The new version of this AI playmate for Starsiege TRIBES doesn't really offer any new features, just fixes for problems with version 0.5h, including the "energy" and "runaway" bugs.

24 Hour Gamer interviews SouthEnd Interactive talking with the Swedish developer about progress on their upcoming action title, Blitz: Disc Arena. The Q&A goes into the technology and gameplay behind this action/bloodsport game that 24HG chooses to describe as being "a cross between NHL '99, Half-Life and Tron."

Thresh's FiringSquad Soldier of Fortune Multiplayer Demo Review is called a review, but since it is based on the still-to-be-released Multiplayer Demo to be included as an OEM bundle, offering new screenshots and all sorts of details, highlighting it as a hands-on preview seems just as appropriate. There's no word on what hardware the demo will be offered with, but in spite of the article referring to cluing modem users in on whether it will be worth a download, it seems safe to assume an OEM demo will not be available for download legally, though you never know (a multiplayer demo with a limited distribution might make it hard to find games).

A report on The Adrenaline Vault announces GT Interactive's plan to release the original Unreal bundled with Legend Entertainment's add-on, Return to Na Pali, along with the official Unreal strategy guide. According to the update, the whole shebang is going to be called Unreal Gold, and will be on store shelves as soon as February 15, although they point out "Epic was unable to comment on what version Unreal Gold will be since it is 'very much a future product.'"

An update to the Unreal Technology page gives word from Erik de Neve of an experimental D3D patch for Unreal Tournament (thanks Creeker). Here's the deal:

We are testing a new beta of UT's DirectX7 D3D rendering interface DLL. People experiencing problems in D3D mode may want to help test it, keep in mind this is an unsupported, largely untested beta. In particular, this should allow you to run UT on certain combinations of GeForce-based cards and drivers for which the original DLL crashes shortly after 'precaching'. To install, backup the d3ddrv.dll that's in your UT system folder and replace it with this file. Feedback welcome at utbugs405@epicgames.com.

The QER News page has release 6 of Phoenix Quake, using access to the Quake source code to add Quake III Arena-style shader functions to the original Quake. While the included shaders for 500 or so current Quake 1 textures don't exploit the potential of shaders, the new version opens the door to artists looking to get creative with 32-bit texture maps and other Quake III-engine effects. Thanks Tom Cleghorn.

BarrysWorld has posted some Windows game .dlls for Quake III Arena optimized for speed on Pentium II+ processors they say can provide a significant framerate boost (though of course, this may prevent you from being able to play on a pure server).

• There are some TNT Benchmarks on HardOCP showing how an older accelerator can still get okay performance, provided you throw enough horsepower at it (in this case 807 MHz of overclocked coppermine worth).
• You want to tweak? RIVA3D's Tweaks-Hints-Fixes-Cheats Database has over 350 of them on file.
• Now that Adrian's Rojak Pot is back online, so is their Video RAM Caching guide.
• There's a Tech Help page on Vortex of Sound to help get S/PDIF working under Windows 9x on an MX300 with the 204x drivers.
• Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer is reviewed on 3d Retreat.
• 3DCool.com UT Exhauster is reviewed on BoomGames Interactive.

A new utility for mod authors called NewMod for Quake III Arena is designed to take some of the hassle out of working with the Quake III Arena game source by making it so that new projects will automatically compile into their proper directories under your Q3A directory, and the program also serves as what is described as a powerful source code backup tool. Version 1.0.0 is an under 40 KB download that includes the source code, and the author describes it as allowing mod developers "to add their own custom files into NewMod's archival routines and to allow for future Q3A source updates without having to touch the executable code."

The Just The Movies page has the release of Road to Coma, a new Quake II movie, which, fitting the general state of the art, is pretty bizarre. The movie features some non-sequitur channel switching followed by an action sequence. The juxtaposition seemed a bit odd to me, but then again, there's The Thin Red Line.

Fuzzy's Logic has posted a new quake3data.gsl as a tiny 3 KB download to enable full Quake III Arena support in the GibStats Quake and Quake II log analyzer, which still only offers support for Q3Test/Demo. The unofficial Q3A support is fairly complete, with proper support for colored names the only feature with known problems.

Rob Wiltbank sent along the following for folks having problems connecting to the Microsoft Gaming Zone to play Allegiance (or presumably other games) because they are behind a Linux masq server. Here's the deal:

Don't know if ya've tried the demo, but in the Zone lobby for Allegiance, it directs you to a webpage if you get the message, "Can't Connect to Lobby." That webpage is research.microsoft.com/joeld/allnetwork.htm and basically states some s__t that ya can't play Allegiance through internet connection sharing, along with some proxies and firewalls without some tweaks, which they give examples of for MS OS's...

Well, being the linux guy I am, this left me s__t out of luck, so for all of those folks out there who are behind a linux masq server, here's how to play Allegiance:

Step 1: You need to have root or su access.
Step 2: Find the ipmasqadm rpm for ipchains or the ipautofw rpm if you're using ipfwadm and install the RPM (if not already installed... can be found at rpmfind.net)
Step 3: For IP Chains use this command set:

ipmasqadm autofw -A -v -r udp 2300 2400 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipmasqadm autofw -A -v -r tcp 2300 2400 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipmasqadm autofw -A -v -r tcp 47624 47624 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipmasqadm autofw -A -v -r udp 47624 47624 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipmasqadm autofw -A -v -r udp 28800 28900 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz

Where www.xxx.yyy.zzz is the IP address in the internal network that you want to play on. For ipfwadm:

ipautofw -A -v -r udp 2300 2400 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipautofw -A -v -r tcp 2300 2400 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipautofw -A -v -r tcp 47624 47624 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipautofw -A -v -r udp 47624 47624 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz
ipautofw -A -v -r udp 28800 28900 -h www.xxx.yyy.zzz

Where www.xxx.yyy.zzz is the IP address in the internal network that you want to play on.

Also, this should work for all DirectX variant games. Thought this may be of some help to other folks out there.

• Age of Empires II: Age of Kings on Gamershome.com.
• Everglide Large Attack Pad Mousing Surface on Power Gamerz.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force on Jsi Hardware.
• Homeworld on Maximum3D.
• Hype: The Time Quest on Computer Games Online.
• Imperium Galactica II on Federation HQ.
• Rollercoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies on Maximum3D.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on Abnormality.
• Unreal Tournament on 3D Rage.

• Painful Detail has a pair of new player models for Unreal Tournament, as well as a tutorial on converting Quake II skins to Unreal Tournament...
• Bill Brown's Music Samples Page includes streaming music samples of the game work of Bill Brown (of Rainbow Six fame) including Quake III Arena end credits music, music from Anachronox, and more...
• WasteLAN now hosting clan and player profiles where you can upload a bio and even a photograph...
• There's a preview of Metal Fatigue on Gamer's Alliance Strategy giving some hands-on impressions of this upcoming anime-inspired RTS from Psygnosis...

Pretty darn quiet around here this weekend, for those outside the US who may not be aware, things are likely to be slow for a lot of the US-based scene today as well, since it's the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Speaking of outside the US, I heard from someone in Ireland that the new season of the Sopranos won't be seen over there for months yet, so apologies to anyone similarly deprived for rubbing last night's premiere in their faces. Not to worry, I certainly won't post any spoilers here.

Link of the Day: Thumb.com. Thanks Lord J.
Image of the Day: This Quake III Arena Wallpaper by Eric Cherry.
Bonus Image: Another new Q3A wallpaper on www.q3a.de, this one another of the Doom Marine, this time depicting old green and pissed in an action shot.