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).