Today is the third day of Daily Radar's Klingon Academy week, and to celebrate, they've conducted a new interview with Raphael Hernandez, the producer on this upcoming Star Trek themed space-sim. Raphael talks about several different aspects of the game, from a rundown of the plotline, to the number of cut-scenes (the six CD game will have 90 minutes of live-action and 30 minutes of CGI sequences) and even a description of some of the missions.

The last installment of PC.IGN's Allegiance designer diary has been posted. Since the game is on store shelves, this edition (written by designer David Pugh) features some general tips and strategies for surviving the game.

Also new on PC.IGN this evening are some new screenshots from Starlancer, Digital Anvil's soon-to-be-released space-sim. The shots are from the game's deathmatch mode, and feature two members of the PC.IGN staff blowing each other to pieces.

Interplay has opened their Messiah Support page, offering installation instructions, troubleshooting tips and more on Shiny's just-released possess-em-up. Also released, hot on the heels of the European patch earlier today, is a patch for the Asian and Australian versions of the game.

More imagery of Ground Control, the 3D action RTS under construction at Massive Entertainment, has surfaced this evening. Controlling Forces has posted four new screenshots, and GameSpot tops that by one in their set of five screenshots.

A large update on the official Neverwinter Nights site gives insight into progress on the 3D role-playing game by BioWare. Producer Trent Oster describes the changes in programming, art and design, ending in the upbeat note that, "Things are good."

• Following up on the news on Well Rounded that LucasArts will be developing a fourth game in the long-running Monkey Island series, GameSpot has a tiny image presumably from this adventure that, unlike its predecessors, will use a full 3D engine.
• There is a single, dark screenshot of RUNE on In the Trenches, showing off a new scene from the third-person Viking action game by Human Head.
• GA-RPG has posted the first half-dozen screenshots from The Crest of Dharim, a role-playing game being developed by OMG-Games using the Twilight3D engine.
• The daily update to the official Dogs of War site brings four new images from cutscenes depicting "The Mantai" in this imminent 3D action RTS.
• The Daily Telefrag has posted a gallery of new Carnivores: the Ice Age screenshots, revealing more from this hunting shooter set in a time when shotguns were not yet available in reality (but they are in the game).

Gone Gold reports that Imperium Galactica 2 has been sent off to manufacturing and will ship on April 18. Imperium Galactica II: Alliances, to give it its full title, is a strategic space-combat sim developed by Digital Reality and published by GT Interactive.

• Several changes to the official Summoner FAQ provide updated information and new sections to "include information about how summoning works, examples of creatures Joseph will be able to summon, and an overview of gameplay locations."
• The Half-Life: Opposing Force Semi-Official FAQ has been updated with new and corrected information on the expansion pack by Gearbox.
• PC.IGN.com has posted a new Crusaders of Might and Magic guide (free registration required) that offers walkthroughs, lists of monsters, spells, and equipment, and some tips and a FAQ.
• There were several minor updates to the Aliens vs. Predator FAQ on GameFAQs, bringing this comprehensive document to version 3.08.

Activision's official Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption site has been updated with another one of their bizarre letters, as well as a handful of screenshots and a rather disturbing MP3 file (download it for yourself if you want to know what I mean).

The official Wizardry 8 site has posted a Q&A with Linda Currie, the project lead on the game. The interview serves as a general introduction to the game's features, and was conducted for an article in the May issue of PC Gamer, although it was never used.

incite serves up some new media from Aliens versus Predator Gold Edition, the imminent upgrade/expansion pack to the three-species shooter. There are new screenshots, as well as a one minute movie showing in-game footage mixed with a few cinematic clips.

While it's by no means any sort of official announcement, Epic Games recently registered several domain names of note that may shed some light on their future projects. Amongst the new domains acquired were unrealwarfare.com, .net and .org, as well as ascension.org, and ascensionengine.com. These may be working titles for projects getting under way, or nothing at all...but it is interesting nonetheless. Thanks to the ever vigilant Joost Schuur and some of the folks at PlanetUnreal for the tip.

Valve has announced that version 1.0 of Counter-Strike, the remarkably popular anti-terrorist mod, will be included a future official Half-Life patch (thanks Stomped). This is in fact the second time a mod has crept its way into Half-Life (Team Fortress being the first). Here's an excerpt from the full press release:

Kirkland, WA (April 12, 2000) -The Counter-Strike development team and Valve today announced Valve's support for on-going development of Counter-Strike, the popular multiplayer modification (MOD) for Valve's awarding winning debut title Half-Life.

"The financial and technical support from Valve is a big help in continuing to evolve Counter-Strike. It lets us focus on making Counter-Strike a better game and respond to gamers requests for features and fine-tuning," said Minh Le, Project Leader of Counter-Strike development. "Distributing Counter-Strike 1.0 as a free upgrade to the two million Half-Life players will grow the Counter-Strike community enormously."

"We made a major investment in the MOD community early on with activities like the MOD Expo and the release of tools and source code," said Gabe Newell, Managing Director of Valve. "With Half-Life still a top seller at retail, and generating over 350 million player-minutes per month on the Internet, a lot of the credit for that goes to the MOD community's support of Half-Life. Working with Minh and Cliffe is one way of showing our on-going commitment to them and all the gamers that make Half-Life the most popular game on the Internet."

Interplay has released a European edition of the Messiah version 0.1 patch for download (3.6 MB). As with the US patch released last week (story), it fixes a variety of problems as listed on the Messiah site.

Fusion has written up three Q3Radiant tutorials. The first one deals with mastering the various settings in the editor, the second serves as an introduction to working with it, and the third walks you through the creation of a simple room. Naturally, more are promised, including specific tutorials for texture, shader, and sound editing.

An update to the official Flying Heroes site brings a batch of new screenshots and descriptions of the locations that this fantasy action flyer by Pterodon and Illusion Softworks takes place in. There are three images for each of the ten locations, so do the math.

The newly redesigned 3D Action Planet has conducted an interview with Robert Atkins, art manager at Ritual on their upcoming Quake III Arena engine title, Heavy Metal: FAKK2. Robert talks about the game, model/actress Julie Strain (whom the main character in the game is based on), his obsession with hard core pornography, and lots more. Alongside the interview there are also two new screenshots from the game.

Red Storm has announced that Zombie (whose SpecOps series is a direct competitor to their own Rainbow Six) will be producing special Rainbow Six levels to be included with their upcoming title Rainbow Six: Covert Operations Essentials. Here's a description of the previously announced Covert Ops (story) from the full press release that sheds some light on Zombie's involvement:

Covert Ops is an extension of the popular Rainbow Six franchise, in which players will not only get to play new and exciting levels, but will also get an insider’s look at the world of covert operations. Red Storm recently announced the deal with developer Magic Lantern Playware to create the informational content for this project, within their proprietary ShowTech application environment. Now, both Zombie and Red Storm will be creating various game levels for this product as well.

Bridging the gap between fiction and real-world special operations, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Covert Operations Essentials is an exciting overview covering the subject of counter-terrorism from 1970 until the present. Covert Ops will contain video interviews with top experts in the field, as well as photos and video footage of weapons and equipment, along with a description of situations where they are typically used. A special “Making of Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear” section is an added bonus. Players will also be able to test their skills and knowledge through interactive “Officer Candidate School” testing, as well as by playing the specially created game levels.

Gaming magazine Spank! has posted a new interview with Peter Molyneux, the madman behind Black & White, as well as the classic games Populous and Dungeon Keeper (amongst others). The interview is all over the place, with Peter talking about the genesis of Black & White, his thoughts on the upcoming next-generation console systems, his beloved Tamagotchi(which was drowned in a cup of coffee during Dungeon Keeper's crunch time), his thoughts on Pokemon, and if you can believe it, other topics as well.

WON.net has announced that starting tomorrow night at 8:00 PDT, those interested can sign up to beta test Ground Control, an upcoming 3D RTS game from Sierra and Massive Entertainment. Only 1,000 people will be chosen, and you must be available to play 10 hours per week, and be willing to participate in semi-weekly "stress tests." Details on both the game and beta program, are available at WON.net's Ground Control page.

Voodoo Extreme has posted two high-resolution screenshots from Sacrifice, Shiny's upcoming 3D strategy game. The shots are in 1600x1200 resolution (!) and each shot is available as both small or large download. Unlike some recent shots, these are from the most recent build of the game.

IMG Magazine has conducted an interview with Mark Allender, the lead programmer on Summoner, Volition's upcoming 3D RPG game. The interview deals with the recently announced Mac port of the game, with Mark talking about their decision to support both OpenGL and Glide, as well as the system requirements and other issues of note for Mac gamers.

Soldier-of-Fortune.com has two helpful guides up for those of you stuck in the Soldier of Fortune...first is their QuickFAQ, which features some answers to common questions, but they've also posted a still-in-progress walkthrough guide, which features a run-through of the first two levels (with the rest promised soon). Lastly, Planet Soldier's walkthrough has been updated, and now covers the Siberian missions in the game.

Bad Karma has posted the third and fourth in their series of Mechwarrior 4 interviews. The third interview features lead designer TJ Wagner talking about various gameplay issues (including the different multiplayer features, the environmental effects, and more), and the fourth one has artist Heinz Shuller explaining the look and feel of the game, from how they've tried to make the environment more realistic to the new technologies used by their engine.

Belgian site De Spelletjesgarnaal has posted a movie featuring co-op gameplay from Daikatana. The movie is in Real Video format, and features running commentary from the players (although it's not in English, so don't expect to understand it unless you speak Dutch).

A new preview of MechCommander 2 is up at GameSpot UK, featuring an early look at this upcoming 3D strategy game of Mech on Mech action. Alongside the preview are some screenshots, showing off the spiffy new engine.

GameSpot has conducted an interview on Sovereign, the persistent online RTS in development at Verant. Producer/designer Clint Worley is grilled on the gameplay, persistent characters, vehicles and other features of the game, and there are some images illustrating the modern era military setting. Here is Clint's description of the gameplay they are aiming for:

Sovereign is best described as a combination of Command & Conquer, Civilization, and Diplomacy. It is an RTS game that features persistent gameplay. There are six classes available to the user when creating a character: soldier, diplomat, scientist, economist, theologian, and spy. Each class has its own unique technology tree that features specialized skills and technologies that are tied to that character. Characters can also cross over [to other] technology trees to gain access to otherwise unobtainable skills.

More Q&A news, as there is an Allegiance interview on Games Domain talking to several members of the development team on Microsoft Research' space combat title. With the game just released, the interview looks back at the game's development and its inspirations, as well as to its current player community, what's next for them, and more.

Third time's a charm, as Exxtreme3D has posted an interview with Larian Studios' Swen Vincke about their isometric role-playing game Divinity: The Sword of Lies (thanks RPGVault). The article covers a full range of topics, so it's a good place to read up on what the game is about.

The Station@sony.com's EverQuest site has word from yesterday that shipments of the EverQuest expansion pack were being delayed until today, so if that is accurate, the pack is winging its way to store shelves even as you read these words. Also, word on the AIWars website is that this game of computer hacking and cracking set at least eight months in the future (the 21st century) is now shipping to those who have pre-ordered. AIWars is only available by ordering directly through the toll-free number on the site.

As can often be the case with "level-based" games, it's not apparent which of the maps in Thief II (and the original Thief for that matter) were designed by which designer or designers, so if you are curious, this Thief and Thief 2 level design credits page gives the lowdown on who did what.

• The Wicked3D WickedGL page has an updated version of the WickedGL driver for Voodoo-based accelerators that is hopped-up for gamers to give less of the stuff you don't want (like stuff you don't look at) and more of the stuff you do want (like frames), albeit at the possible loss of other stuff you may really want (like stuff you really did want to look at).
• Though you have to dig in the driver history to learn of the release, the Razerzone Drivers page has a new version 2.01 of the drivers for the Razer Boomslang mouse. Included in the new drivers is fifth button support. Thanks braeden.
• Digital Media Leaders Join to Deliver Integrated Programming Interface reports that: "3dfx, 3Dlabs, ATI, Compaq, Discreet, Evans & Sutherland, IBM, Intel, S3, and SGI Announce Founding of Khronos Group SIG." Thanks Planet GeForce.
• SystemLogic's In-Depth Voodoo4-5 And VSA-100 Preview is up after a visit to 3dfx's facility in Richardson, TX.

This FilePlanet page has 79 pieces of concept art posted by Planet DAIKATANA from the early days of development of Daikatana, ION Storm's upcoming Quake II-engine shooter. As their accompanying post describes, "These shots show how creatures and elements have changed, and also show some items that didn't make the final version."

Version 1.3 of the Advanced UI mod for Quake III Arena is now available from Spine Design. As the name suggests, this is a beefed-up version of the game's user interface, adding new map, addbot and model screens, Maplist editing functionality, Load/Save configuration options and more.

Version 1.7 of the Q3IDE is the release of the day of this integrated development environment for those who would modify Quake III Arena. The new release fixes some bugs in the shareware version and adds a more robust string search option for registered users.

Citing popular demand, The Online Gaming League has announced the formation of no less than eight new ladders, which are now accepting signups: Q3F Open, Q3 Alliance Open, UT 2vs2 Team DM, UT 1vs1 DM Modem, UT CTF Team Modem, UT Instagib 1vs1 DM Open, UT Instagib CTF Open, and CounterStrike Team Modem (whew!). Also, True Gamers Razer CPL coverage and Eurogamer.Net's RazerCPL coverage are both getting underway, preparing for the big tournament, which takes place this weekend. Also scores and stats and such should be appearing live all weekend on NetGames USA's page.

• Codename Eagle on Old Man Murray.
• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun: Firestorm on PC.IGN.com, GameProWorld, and MPOG.
• Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas on GameSpot UK.
• Evolva (second opinion) on Games Domain.
• Final Fantasy VIII on Intelligamer.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force on PlayDevil.
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3: The Shadow of Death on Games Weekly and GameZone.
• Invictus: In The Shadow of Olympus on Gone Gold, EuroGamer, and (second opinion) on Games Domain.
• Majesty on Adrenaline Vault and (quick take) on Gone Gold.
• Messiah on Damage Gaming.
• Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer on GameSpy.com and (second opinion) on Games Domain.
• NASCAR 2000 on Gamecenter.
• Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed on GameSpot.
• Planescape: Torment on Neoseeker.
• Rollcage Stage II on Games Domain and GibWorld.
• Septerra Core: The Legacy of the Creator on Stratos Group.
• Shadow Watch on Gamecenter.
• Soldier of Fortune on Games Domain, Gamepig, and (in German) on Gamesurf.De.
• Star Trek: Armada on bloodshot and Games Weekly.
• Star Wars: Force Commander on Gone Gold, Gamecenter, and Glide Underground.
• Superbike 2000 on Electric Games.
• Thief II: the Metal Age on GamePower.
• Total Annihilation Kingdoms: The Iron Plague on GameZone.

• 3Com Internet Gaming modem on GA-Hardware.
• ABIT VT6X4 VIA 133A motherboard on Hardware One.
• Aopen AK 72 Motherboard on Gamers Depot.
• Asus K7V motherboard on got apex?.
• Card Cooler on Damage Gaming.
• EverGlide mouse pad on TECH-REVIEW.com.
• GlobalWin VOS32+ CPU cooler on UK Gamer.
• Net Server case on PC Stats.
• Plextor 12x4x32 SCSI CD-RW on BoomGames Interactive.
• Videologic Sirocco Pro sound card on 3DsoundSurge.

• Calling him "an inspiration to his peers," GDC Independent Games Festival Renames Grand Prize in Memory of Seumas McNally is a press release announcing this kind gesture in the memory of the late programmer. Thanks The Adrenaline Vault...
• There's a CounterStike history article on games xtreme detailing the past of this enormously popular Half-Life modification...

It's been an odd climb, but I'm getting back into a more normal schedule and getting this update posted more on time, so I'll just get on with it... here are a full compliment of links though:

Link of the Day: The Acronym Interaction, Expansion and Extrapolation Engine (AIEEE). Thanks Zdim.
Story of the Day: Hampsterdance.com gets new gig, address (USA Today). The article mentioned yesterday blaming us for the Hampster Dance.
Bonus Story: Fine for drunken plane couple (BBC News UK). Thanks nickf.
.plan of the Day: Sean Reardon of Gearbox. "Please release "Kentucky Fried Movie" on DVD." Word. Groove Tube too, while you're at it.