On the heels of the Homeworld Cataclysm shots GameSpot posted yesterday (story), there's a Q&A with Michael Gyori of Barking Dog on GameSpot talking about Homeworld Cataclysm, Barking Dog's upcoming stand-alone Homeworld follow-up he says offers "new features that push it well past being just an add-on." In addition to the interview, they've posted a preview and more new concept art and screenshots. Thanks Jason Todd and Relic News.

RPOV Interviews Nihilistic Software talking about gameplay in Vampire: The Masquerade--The Redemption, Nihilistic's upcoming third-person Vampire RPG. The Q&A discusses the game's adherence to the plotline of all the vampire games under the White Wolf license, efforts to ensure its appeal to those unfamiliar with the pen-and-paper originals, discussions of multiplayer issues, and more.

There's a 60 shot Evolva gallery on Gamedata.com, the site that declares itself "le nouveau magazine online de jeux videos" (and who are we to argue...since we don't speak French), taking several pages from GameSpot UK (actually their Evolva gallery was a skimpy 30 images by comparison). Evolva is a an upcoming first- and third-person shooter from Computer Artworks.

There is a new The Rift interview on Gamers.de with the English translation of the German version of this Q&A with The Rift developers ThrushWave Technology, whose most noteworthy previous credit is "Disney's Cyberspace Mountain ride, which is now installed at the DisneyQuest amusement centers in Orlando and Chicago." The Rift is an upcoming strategy game hoping to be one of the first to incorporate the challenges of a true 3D environment, and the interview speaks of their efforts to "break away from the stagnation in the RTS genre with all of the games that basically follow the C&C methodology."

The Adrenaline Vault interviews Paul Schuytema and Scott McCabe, talking with both former 3D Realms employees about their work on Second Genesis, an upcoming science-fiction themed cross-genre 3D RPG from Alternate State Entertainment and Magic Lantern Playware. The Q&A discuss the choice of the Unreal Tournament engine, how martial arts fit into their company's stated plan to "turn away from visceral violence," and more about this game that's currently slated for release third quarter 2001.

There's a Blade Feature on Informatica, a Spanish-language site, offering goodies on this upcoming third-person action game from Spanish developer Rebel Act Studios. Included are several screenshots, six RealPlayer movies (a couple of short scenes of gameplay, an intro-type movie, and some developer-speak), and a Q&A with Rebel Act in their and the site's native Spanish, for which we can only offer the usual semi-accurate AltaVista Translations.

The Battlecruiser Online Galcom News Network has a pair of new screenshots from the upcoming Battlecruiser Millennium, one the first shot of the game's "planetary terrain engine" in action, depicting the surface of mars, which will not just be streaming by beneath your ship as you fly about, but also beneath your feet, if you end up down there in first-person shooter mode.

There is a large Earth 2150 preview on PC Paradox based on some hands-on play with an alpha build of Earth 2150, Escape from the Blue Planet, an upcoming 3D science fiction RTS from TopWare interactive.

Daily Radar's Half-Life Interview talks with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford getting more detail on their work on the upcoming Dreamcast port of Half-Life, again stressing their clarification on the potential for multiplayer: "The Half-Life multiplayer game is very important to us, and the modem is a feature of the Dreamcast we'd like to see taken advantage of. But it is still too early to discuss specifically how multiplayer games will be handled." The conversation also covers controller issues, the attractiveness of Half-Life's strong single player play to the console market, as well as some general questions about the futures of console gaming and first-person shooters.

A thread called Release date for PC on the Volition, Inc. message boards gives an updated release date for Summoner, Volition's upcoming fantasy RPG, as Winter 2000/2001, with the PSX2 version planned for Fall 2000, with the delay attributed to their desire "to concentrate on making the PS2 version very strong and then the team will focus our efforts on the PC and Mac versions and multiplayer support, since this will not be included in the PS2 version." A follow-up post from Volition reiterates that the multiplayer element is the strongest factor at work here, saying: "Pushing the release of the PC and Mac versions to winter 00/01, we can pretty much concentrate 100% on multiplayer during that time. (That and working on the kinks on the graphics cards). The extended date will really allow us to deliver a solid multiplayer experience on both of those platforms."

Computer Games Online Terminus interview Part One and Computer Games Online Terminus Interview Part Two are online talking with Karthik Bala, Vicarious Visions' CEO and director of development about Terminus, Vicarious Visions' upcoming space simulator. Among other things, the Q&As discusses what goes into landing a publishing deal, relevant to the recent announcement that Terminus had finally landed a publishing deal with Vatical Entertainment, as well as a great deal about gameplay in Terminus, which will offer a persistent online world, using the "Quake-style client-server model," meaning no subscription fees.

Daily Radar ends their Deus Ex week with a brief interview with Warren Spector, talking to the ION Storm designer about his upcoming 3D action RPG. Here is a quote about the game's inspirations:

But I hope people look a little further back and see Deus Ex as the next logical step in the progression from Underworld 1 and 2 to System Shock to Half Life to Thief to Shock 2... All of these games were, at least in part, designed to make players feel like they're in an alternate world -- a world that responds to their actions in direct, obvious (and very cool) ways. We're trying to take design ideas introduced in those games and take them a step further than those games did. And, of course, we're throwing in some new ideas of our own!

Shogun: Total War is a Japanese combo platter, with rice, Part 1 is a new preview at CGO of this 3D real-time strategy game by Creative Assembly that will have you acting out the ways of a warlord in feudal Japan. A couple of new screenshots and quotes by product manager Jason Fitzgerald are provided.

This post on the official Star Trek: Armada forums announces the single-player closed beta test for Activision's upcoming space-combat RTS. Signups will commence on Monday, February 28 (no time specified) and one hundred testers will be selected from those who apply.

GameSpot has posted four more new screenshots of The World Is Not Enough, mixed in with five others that were released yesterday on the official site (story) and this here news site. The World is Not Enough is the upcoming Quake III Arena engine James Bond title by Electronic Arts.

Also on GameSpot are five new Star Wars: Force Commander screenshots, along with a development update on LucasArts' ground based real-time strategy game, which they say could be released by the end of next month.

Legend's technical lead Mark Poesch updated his .plan (at Legend's own tracker) with a pair of updates about his work on U2Ed, running down the enhancements and changes they made to the editor for developing Unreal II, the sequel to Epic's first-person shooter. Thanks UnrealEngine. Update: Screenshots of the editor can be found in the .plan's of Scott Dalton, Warren Marshall, and James Parkman.

There are a square nine new screenshots of Star Trek: Klingon Academy on the official site, showing off new galactic scenes from Interplay's upcoming space-combat sim, for which the demo is now expected early next week according to this forum post.

Several updates in recent days to the Surreal Artist Loft bring a new look, a finished 3D Modeler Tutorial, the release of the Dragon's textures, and a few other changes.

The Black Knight Productions page has a new beta 2.0 of the Prisoners of War mod for Quake III Arena. This release includes five new maps, several changes related to switching teams, and numerous bug fixes.

Dave "Zoid" Kirsch, contract programmer at id Software and author of Threewave CTF for Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena, has updated his .plan to announce that he will be leaving id to start a new job at Retro Studios, a company developing games for Nintendo’s next generation game console, codenamed Dolphin. Here's the scoop:

In September of 1996, I made a small modification to the popular id Software game Quake and called it ThreeWave Capture the Flag. That simple modification grew into the last three and a half years of working with id Software and the Quake community. The job that id Software gave me over this period has been very rewarding. It has also been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed watching the community grow. I was also overwhelmed at having been able to work on a series of some of the most amazing games ever created. But, like all good things, it must come to an end.

I feel that I have learned a lot in my time with id, but I find myself looking for new challenges. I have decided that in order to pursue them, I must leave my association with id Software. Having done so, I plan on exploring new opportunities.

My contract with id terminates at the end of this month (Feb). My zoid@idsoftware.com address will probably stop forwarding to my permanent address shortly after that. My permanent address is zoid@threewave.com for people that wish to reach me.

I would like to thank id Software (and especially John Carmack) for giving me such great opportunities, and allowing me to work with all the talented people there. I am going to miss it.

In March, I will begin a new position at Retro Studios, http://www.retrostudios.com/. I look forward to joining the team there and working on some exciting new projects.

So long and thanks for all the captures.

Here are a few tips for the just-released Unreal Tournament Bonus pack for you this morning: a GameSpy filter tab for the pack is available at PlanetUnreal, which filters only servers running the new maps or Relic mutators. Also, Epic's Alan Willard updated his .plan with word that if you rename the map DM-Cybrosis][ to DOM-Cybrosis][, it will act as a Domination map, complete with all the control points in place. Lastly, here's a tip if you're having troubles installing the Pack, care of the Unreal Technology page:

To install the Bonus Pack, just double click the .umod file and it should begin installing. If you are having trouble, extract the ZIP file to a temporary folder such as C:\Temp, and then use Start | Run to run the following command:

C:\UnrealTournament\System\Setup.exe install C:\temp\UTBonusPack.umod

A new installment in their Baldur's Gate II journal is up at PC.IGN. This week's edition is by lead programmer Mark Darrah, and details some of the decisions he has to make during the design process. There are also four new screenshots from the game alongside the article.

Also new at PC.IGN this morning is a new preview of Blizzard's Warcraft III, based on a demonstration of the game the author was given by producer Rob Pardo. The preview is chock full of gameplay details, and worth a read if you're a fan of the series.

A brief preview of Crimson Skies, the upcoming air-combat game from Zipper Interactive (the developers of Mechwarrior 3) and Microsoft is up at GameRush, complete with familiar screenshots, new concept art, and what they describe as "1937-styled pics of the game's characters."

Raven Software has posted some preview images from the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force comic book that's coming soon from DC Comics. Raven is "working closely" with the team on the comic, which will be loosely based on the story from the game, and may also include a game tips and strategies section in the back.

Rick Jones 2, a new Quake II demo movie has been released, and is available for download at Machinima.com in both its original Quake II demo format, and as a Real Video file. The movie is described as, "Rick Jones clears foos, hos and p1mps out of his way as he goes after the Highly Organized Crime Syndicate" and as the description would suggest, it is tongue-in-cheek. It is also quite well-made, as the authors have paintstakingly lip-synched the film frame-by-frame.

A new version of the ultra-violent Quake III Arena deathmatch mod Excessive has been released, and is available for download on its official site. This new release adds new excessive versions of the BFG and Lightning Gun, plus a "Quad surprise."

• ATI has announced their S1-370 TL a low-cost chipset that features hardware Transform & Lighting and 32-bit color support (thanks Jeff Magill).
• The Microsoft Sidewinder Dual Strike is reviewed at GameFan Online.
• The ABIT BP6 Dual-370 motherboard is reviewed at 3DAG.
• Tweak3D ("Your Freakin' Tweakin' Source!") has posted their CPU/Motherboard and BIOS Tweak Guide.
• The PC Power & Cooling Personal Mid-Tower case is reviewed at Ars Technica.

A Talent for War has posted four screenshots from the upcoming Parsec self-running demo. Parsec is a multi-platform, freeware multiplayer space sim. According to the developer's site, the demo is set to be released in the next week or so.

Vigz of Clan Suspicious Minds has released the TFC Logbot, a Perl program that broadcasts Team Fortress Classic games over IRC.

• PureDM is holding a "Dead Simple" deathmatch level design contest, with a new Diamond Multimedia graphics card, or a custom ATX case as prizes.
• The Razer CPL event site has gotten an overhaul to "match the look and feel" of the event's sponsor, Razer.
• Speaking of which, SystemLogic is holding a contest to win a Razer Boomslang mouse.

• Delta Force 2 on Electric Playground.
• Final Fantasy VIII on Gamers Central.
• Grand Theft Auto 2 on GameSurge.
• Nox on GameSpot UK, Game Revolution, and (quick take) on Gone Gold.
• Rising Sun on GameSpot.
• The Sims on Clan Nexus.
• Ultima IX: Ascension on Thresh's Firingsquad and Gamer's Press.

• The second part of game designer Rich Wyckoff's article on designing outdoor levels is up at loonygames.
• The Unreal Technology Page has word of a Hungarian translation of Unreal Tournament, complete with player and narrator voices.
• QuakeRally.com has posted some MakeFiles for Quake III Arena, said to speed up recompiling of the game source code.

I'm a big fan of Dennis Miller Live, and while it's pretty much always wacky and a little bizarre, last night's edition was nothing short of insane. The guest was Tom Green, and some of the highlights included Tom giving out his cellphone number (and having it ring incessantly for the duration of the show), and of course, Dennis and Tom giving a senseless beating to a sleeping bag while threatening to kill some guy in Wisconsin. It will be re-airing for the next week or so, and if you're a fan of the show (and get HBO, of course) be sure to watch it. It's strange stuff indeed. One last TV note: Sunday's episode of the X-Files is titled "First Person Shooter" and is co-written by sci-fi author William Gibson. Should be interesting.

Link of the Day: The Quake Speed Tester (thanks Gregory Bloom).

GameSpy's Dave "Fargo" Kosak made a trip to Shiny's offices, and he's filed a brief report on Sacrifice, their upcoming 3D strategy game. As they aren't revealing much about the game at this time, the report is brief, but it does hint at what we can expect from the game's world, which sounds huge, to say the least.

There is an interview with Raven's programmer Bob Love on incitegames, discussing the two most recent titles he worked on, Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. In related SoF news, incitegames has also compiled yet another movie from their beta build, showing close to two minutes of footage that definitely carries a parental warning for graphic violence.

Gamecenter has posted a new interview with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, talking to him about the upcoming Dreamcast version of Half-Life. Randy confirms that they will be supporting the Dreamcast's VGA box (an adaptor that lets you hook the console up to a standard VGA monitor) and talks a bit about the changes they're making from the PC version. Here's an excerpt:

The technology team doing the porting (Captivation) is planning lots of goodies. These include content upgrades (such as higher polygon models) and feature upgrades (such as special effects and lighting). The primary advantage of the Dreamcast is that it's a consistent platform, so the game will look as good as it possibly can without concern for low-end systems (there are no low-end systems!). This means that the Dreamcast version is likely going to be much more impressive than the PC version. You'll see for yourself in a few months or so when the game is ready for us to start showing more of it.

GameProWorld has posted a brief preview of Evolva, and while offering little in the way of new information, it does provide a handful of new screenshots from the organic looking world in Computer Artworks' upcoming action game.

A new preview of Rogue Spear: Urban Operations, the upcoming add-on pack for Rogue Spear, is online at Gamecenter. The preview features 10 new screenshots from the pack, which brings Rogue Spear to an urban environment.

4DRulers have posted three new screenshots from Gore, their upcoming first person shooter. The game uses AMP 3D engine by Slam Software, and they've posted a brief development update on the status of the engine as well on their news page.

3dfxgamers has released their Voodoo2 Windows 2000 Drivers - Version Beta 1.00.00. This is the first release, so if you don't like beta drivers you may want to hang back a bit. Thanks NT Compatible.

After apparently skipping the January shot, the official Parsec site has posted a new screenshot of the month, showing off a new ship, the Hurricane. Parsec is a non-commercial space-shooter, and word is a self-running demo should be released in a few days. Thanks ATFW.

incitegames has posted a movie of Deus Ex, showing off a minute of footage from a recent build of ION Storm's upcoming 3D action role-playing game.

Electronic Arts sent along seven images from The World is Not Enough, their upcoming Quake III Arena engine James Bond title for the PC and Playstation 2. There are two in-game shots, two shots of early maps in Q3Radiant, two composite shots with a mixture of in-game and concept renders, and of course, that spiffy logo. Several of these appeared in Next-Generation Magazine, although these are the first time they're appearing in high-resolution form online. Check 'em all out.

A new version 1.23 of Q3Post is now available at its new home. Q3Post is a utility that posts a server's IP address and description to IRC when you jump into a Quake III Arena game, and the new version offers additional customization features and fixes a couple of bugs.

AVault has received this strange image, which reports that T. Elliot Cannon, best known to readers as "Myscha the Sled Dog" has left The Collective (where he was working on their Unreal-engine title Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen) for Cyan, the creators of Myst and Riven. The image has a yellow Post It™ note that reads, "Myscha is here. We're changing our worlds. Love, Cyan."

As promised, Epic has released the Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack for download at Gamecenter. It comes in PC and Mac versions as a 13.8 MB download (that are actually the same file though, so no need to get them both), and contains 11 new multiplayer levels, 3 new character meshes, and the Relics, special items that imbue a player with certain powers. Update: Epic has posted the Bonus Pack README page on the official Unreal Tournament site.

Blade Universe has added a new screenshot from Blade, Rebel Act Studios' third person action game, to their screenshots section. They plan to release a new screenshot every Friday from now until the game is released.

Unreal Center has posted an interview with 3D Realms level designer John Anderson, talking to him about his work on Duke Nukem Forever, and level design in general (thanks to the Shugashack for the tip). As there's a press blackout on DNF, there aren't any new details about the game, but he does talk about his influences, and a little about working with DukeEd.

Version 4.0 of QstatList, a collection of UNIX scripts to make game server lists and statistics, has been released, and is available for download at its official site. Version 2.3g of QStat is required, so be sure to have that installed prior to downloading QstatList.

PC.IGN has updated their Diablo II preview with a hands-on playtesting report, complete with gameplay details galore. While there are plenty of screenshots posted alongside the report, they are the same ones from their original preview of the game.

Another preview of Soldier of Fortune is up, this time at Computer Games Online. There aren't any new revelations about the game (not shocking, considering how late in development the game is) but there are some new screenshots.

Matrox has released new NT 4 drivers for their G400, G200 and G100 based cards (except for the Marvel and MMS lines). These are different from the Windows 2000 drivers released yesterday, and are only for NT 4.

Electronic Arts' official site for their PC/Playstation 2 Quake III Arena engine title The World is Not Enough has gone live. The site features the first batch of screenshots from four (unpopulated) levels in the game. In addition, they've posted the Meatpak and StompQ3A deathmatch maps, which were created by members of the TWINE development team.

GA-Source has posted a new MPEG movie of game footage from the spooky adventure game Alone in the Dark 4. There are also a number of new screenshots from the Playstation version of the game.

There are four new Homeworld Cataclysm Screenshots on GameSpot showing some exclusive looks at the upcoming stand-alone sequel that takes place 15 years after the original Homeworld. Word on the follow-up is: "You will play an entirely new faction, with new ships and technology, and will fight a new enemy, a techno-organic entity called The Beast."

There are another pair of new Sacrifice screenshots on nonstuff, a German gaming site, showing off more of Shiny's upcoming 3D action/RTS. Speaking of Shiny, BioWare's sequel to their quirky action title MDK ("Men Don't Know") is shown in HavenGames' MDK2 Preview which offers three new MDK2 shots. There are some new Dawn of War screenshots on Strategy Planet, illustrating Illusion Machine and Southpeak Interactive's upcoming "prehistoric RTS." There's a new screenshot on the highly intrusive Sudden Strike site with more from this "Real-time strategy & tactical war game." There are shots of the Allegiance Limited Edition Trading Cards on the Allegiance Zone displaying the swag you get for pre-ordering the game at some stores. Finally, there are some Last Call screenshots on GameDaily showing off this (no kidding) bartender sim.

• The Hercules site has new version 3.75 NT drivers for the 3D Prophet DDR and version 3.78 Win2K drivers. Thanks Peter DenAdel.
• Also, Diamond has posted Windows 2000 beta drivers for Diamond Stealth III S540 (direct link). Thanks NT Compatible.
• Intel Developer Forum 2000 report Part 2 on Thresh's FiringSquad.
• Ars Technica's Joshua report details their attendance of the announcement of Cyrix' upcoming "Joshua" processor and CPU Review's VIA's Joshua: Born Again Cyrix III asks some questions Donald Eubank of VIA about the reception the announcement has received.
• Version of the day of the Motherboard Monitor is version 4.16.
• Thermo material may replace heat sinks, fans in electronic gear reports the EETimes. Thanks AMDZone.
• This article on Sparkling Catastrophe tells how to remove the heatsink/fan combo from a Pentium III processor (without a hammer).
• Athlon vs. P3 at 700 MHz on Game Forces.
• ATi Rage Fury MAXX video card is reviewed on GameSpot UK.
• Millennium G400 video card is reviewed Extreme Hardware.
• Guillemot's Maxi Sound Fortissimo sound card is reviewed on 3DsoundSurge.
• ActionTec USB Call Waiting Modem is reviewed on BoomGames Interactive.
• ABIT VA6 motherboard is reviewed on HardOCP.Com.
• Thin HD cooler is reviewed on Speedy 3D.
• AMK OCD-3333 24 Full Tower ATX case is reviewed on The Tech Zone.

A reminder that sign-ups end today for the WONnet Vampire beta to test Nihilistic's upcoming blood-sucking third-person action/RPG, so head on over fast if you are interested.

If you are the type that likes to shake gifts to guess at their contents before opening, you may be interested in the list of fixes included in the upcoming Unreal Tournament version 406 patch on Unreal Universe sent along by Epic's Steve Polge. The list finally includes a fix for the obscure GeForce startup problem that a few folks experience (that included me until I got a new machine, which is an awfully expensive solution to the problem).

Random Software has the release of version 1.0 of the Comm Center software, a new real-time game communication program that "uses Microsoft DirectSound to mix their speech with your video games' sound effects, so you hear both at the same time." There's no word on how well this is suited to dial-up connections, but the program is apparently firewall friendly for those of you allowed to play at work (or those who can get away with it).

A few bits about Atriarch, the upcoming "3-D massively-multiplayer, online, persistent rpg/strategy game depicting life on the alien and organic world of Atriana." Atriarch Stratics has posted an IRC log with the game's Chief Architect Arc answering questions about Atriarch's physics engine. Also, Lead Game Designer Serafina, updated her Development Journal on GameSpy.Com. There are also new Atriarch messageboards on the Vault Network.

A new version 1.5.0 of the Q_Check mIRC auto-away plug-in-Script for GameSpy. "The script now features a snazzy GUI and has many new features, a number of which are the result of user requests."

A new version of /\/\atchMod for Quake II is now available. This is a server-only mod that boasts "the most advanced, multi-optioned, -=Bot Crusher=- mod ever made in multiple flavors all over the Internet without having to download or configure a thing." The features page offers a full rundown on the mod, which, in addition to the anti-cheating functions, adds saved player info that restores your frags and other stats upon reconnecting after a disconnect, and a load of configurable options, including a default mode that supports standard OGL rules.

A new version 1.02 of Assimilation 2 is out, hot on the heels of version 1.01 (story). The new release fixes a bug in the scoreboard that caused players to lag out when checking it as well as adding some improved server functionality.

The OpenGL DooM Legacy page has word of a new version 1.2 Launcher for DooM Legacy 1.29 pre-release 3. The new release fixes a bug in the dedicated server and improves the program's GUI.

There's a new small freeware program on Wolf's Unreal called Ulight that helps take the "guess work" out of picking the right numbers for colored lights in Unreal/Unreal Tournament maps by allowing you to open the Windows Color Common Dialog Box and pick the color you want and find the approximate Hue, Saturation and Brightness values to achieve that light color.

M.O.B.S. Review Crew Showcase gives the hot word on The Meat Pack, a new Quake III Arena map pack by Pete Parisi, currently at work at EA on The World is Not Enough, the upcoming James Bond game for the PSX2 "using the Quake3 engine to build most of the game." The three level pack receives high marks. UK Gamer DM Pack 1 offers nine Q3A maps designed by independent map makers carefully chosen from a field of 173 candidates. Finally, word is that QuartzCTF has also received kudos for its Q3A CTF gameplay.

Reel Time Challenge on Machinima.Com has the first round of qualifiers for the entries for its first game movie competition, "Bullet Time," for which reader voting is underway. Also, there's a Razer Boomslang Giveaway on SystemLogic.net giving away some Razer swag.

• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on PlayNOW and CombatWorld.
• Braveheart on The Wargamer.
• Everglide Giganta mouse pad versus the Ratpad mouse pad on Dan's Data.
• Gabriel Knight III on Damage Gaming.
• Heavy Gear II on Insane Gamer.
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on Insane Gamer.
• Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus on Gamecenter.
• MiG Alley on GameProWorld.
• Mortyr: 2093 - 1944 on Electric Playground.
• Revenant on EuroGamer.
• Rising Sun on Gamecenter.
• Star Trek: Hidden Evil on Electric Games.
• The Sims on PC Gameworld.
• Tzar: The Burden Of The Crown on Gamers Central.
• X: Beyond The Frontier on Electric Playground.

• John Carmack Enforcing the GPL on Quake Source is the SlashDot story on the GPL controversy (story and follow-up) in case you are interested in any of the 700+ (and counting) comments on the subject...
• Almost forgot the new GameDAILY top 20 best-selling PC Entertainment Software list is online, with Q3A dropping from the top 20 altogether, while UT re-enters the top 10, and The Sims retaining the top spot. Also, GameDAILY's top 10 best-selling Mac Entertainment Software list is up as well, with UT falling from the tops spot in favor of Monopoly, but hanging in at #3 with Q3A at #5...
• Gamecenter's Strategy Guide for The Sims is up, as is GPN Gamerspoint Network's Sim City 3000 strategy guide...
• There's a release party for a Quake II movie titled Rick Jones II tonight in the Enter The Game IRC Network in the channel #machinima tonight starting about 7:00 to 8:00 PM EST. Also, word from The ILL Clan is that you should contact them if you are interested in acting in the follow-up to their award-winning flick "Apartment Huntin'"...
• The MSN Gaming Zone sends word they've unveiled a new alien race in the open beta of Allegiance. Also, there's a new article on Flanking Tactics in Allegiance on the Allegiance Vault...
• In hockey it would be a third man in penalty, but the update to Derek Smart's Soapbox on the subject of the recent "engine wars" between Monolith and Epic shouldn't surprise those familiar with Derek's outspoken nature (as he says himself "I like controversy damn it.")...

For a time yesterday, the headline on each story was a hyperlink to the individual story to ease in making links to stories, however it turns out that this made the font used in the headlines a shade darker under Netscape (which prompting the usual small flood of "you changed something" complaints). We'll figure out how to re-add the function without affecting the headlines. I've also got a de-uglified check box for the focus dealie... I'll try and add that in today. Finally we have definitely got some sort of DNS glitch here--if you are not reading the words (huh?) that's the cause. Hopefully we can wipe this one out real soon.

Link of the Day: Power Ranger Theater. Thanks Steve Strickland. Current production: The Great Gatsby (performed by Power Rangers).
Bonus Link: Molecule of the Month. Thanks Arthur Kreklau. There's still a chance to vote for March. Younger readers, please don't view the centerfolds.
Story of the Day: The Quest To Make Game Players Cry. Thanks Ant. This quotes several developers, including ION's Warren Spector and Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios on efforts to add emotional impact to games (I don't know... I think I must have shed a tear at one wingman's funeral in Wing Commander, but that's probably just me).
.plan of the Day: Raven's Dan Kramer, in which we learn that the word "crap" appears as many times (40) as the word "please" in the source code for Soldier of Fortune.