There's a new Deus Ex screenshot on GameFan showing off ION Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine RPG while simultaneously demonstrating the 4X full-screen anti-aliasing of the upcoming 3dfx Voodoo5. The shot, taken from a beta, is a nifty depiction of a police boat.

Sierra sent along a Ground Control Ships Press Release with word that Ground Control, the new RTS by Swedish-based developer Massive Entertainment, "has shipped worldwide to retail outlets."

Vampire Vault continues to hemorrhage screenshots from the beta of Vampire: The Masquerade-Redemption, now that Nihilistic's upcoming Vampire game based on the pen-and-paper RPG from White Wolf Publishing is gold. Since the last time we've mentioned their New Screenshots Gallery, it has been updated twice, and they've also opened a Music section that's already populated by eight music tracks in .mp3 format.

There's a new NeverWinterNights screenshot on the NeverWinter Vault showing off a first look at the context-sensitive 'radial' menus BioWare's upcoming fantasy/RPG. This is actually a base example, according to the Neverwinter Vault these menus will display differently depending on the character type and their abilities.

With a name like NonStop, it wouldn't seem right if the one bit posted earlier (story) was all we'd here from them today. Well, they didn't stop, so The Adrenaline Vault has posted a follow-up about NonStop's LithTech licensing deal that goes into more detail on the game they planning on making with the license. From the report: "According to NonStop’s Tony Garcia, the LithTech release will be a pint-sized shooter that will appeal to what he claims is the new online consumer, people interested in short-and-fun rather than long-and-deep." The story goes on to say the game will be distributed online thorough Real.com Games.

Those who are now expecting a gallery of snazzy California snapshots, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. Instead, the following posts are a round-up of stuff I found while catching up over the past few days that Blue and Loony didn't get around to mentioning. While some of it may be quite old, dating back to E3, we think they're still worthy of your attention in case you didn't read about them elsewhere already. So, without further ado, here is a round-up of news that just missed its May posting month.

A playable demo for Star Trek: Armada was released on StarTrek.com, offering a chance to play this 3D real-time strategy game set in the Next Generation universe before you buy (it has been out in stores for two months or so).

There is a new movie trailer for Star Trek: New Worlds available, showing off the 3D real-time strategy game by Interplay in a minute and a half of high-res self-running Bink format footage. The page also has several new vehicle trailers, revealing a Klingon Tank, Federation and Klingon Scouts, and a Science Vehicle in a short, roundabout sort of way.

Electronic Arts revamped its The World Is Not Enough site, now offering even more information and screenshots for the shooter that gives you a license to kill (just like any other shooter, then). The site includes sections for all of the four platforms the game will appear on.

Two movies of Aquarius have been released on the official site for this 3D action RTS by Jack in the Box. The first one shows 43 seconds of cutscenes and intro sequences, while the second movie offers about five minutes of in-game footage.

Pterodon issued version 1.10 patches for Flying Heroes, their recently released 3D action flyer. The patches fix a number of game problems, and come in US, UK, German and French editions.

The E3 trailer for Kingdom Under Fire is available from G.o.D. Games ftp server in QuickTime and RealPlayer formats, offering a minute of cutscene and in-game footage demonstrating the isometric role-playing RTS by Phantagram. Also, the official site for the game has the opening cutscene movie available for download, showing nearly three minutes of impressive looking moving images.

The official Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 site by Westwood is open for business, offering more info on this real-time strategy game, such as details on the units and structures of both Allies and Soviets, as well as Q&A's with producers Mark Skaggs and Harvard Bonin.

The newly opened Martian Gothic: Unification site at TalonSoft features a version 1.0 patch for this 3D adventure by Creative Reality, repairing a whole list of problems with the game.

Speaking of, TalonSoft has also opened new pages for the upcoming Mafia, the recently released Codename Eagle, Dogs of War and Flying Heroes, and even for last year's Hidden and Dangerous, offering game information, screenshots, downloads and more.

The revamped site for Pool of Radiance II: Ruins of Myth Drannor went online, offering the usual foray of game information, concept art and screenshots, but also releasing the movie trailer that was shown at E3.

A new movie of Gunlok offers the first in-game footage of the upcoming 3D action RPG by Rebellion, running for more than two minutes in your choice of .AVI or RealPlayer formats.

There is a patch for Die Hard Trilogy 2, bringing the US edition of the game to version 1.1 to fix a timing problem, some configuration issues, and other problems in the hybrid shooter by n-Space and Fox.

Interplay has released a Sacrifice movie (29 MB direct link) which at nearly two minutes running time offers half a minute of additional footage over the trailer released earlier when the official site for Shiny's action/strategy hybrid was opened (story).

A new demo of Combat Mission aims to bring to your PC the "ULTIMATE simulation of Squad level WWII combat. There is no wargame in existence that offers the realism and value that this true 3D simulation powerhouse provides" (thanks Avault).

The two minute E3 trailer of Gothic, the 3D action RPG by the German companies Piranha Bytes and Egmont Interactive, has been released in reasonable (12 MB) and large (32 MB) download formats.

Cinematix has released version 1.22 patches for their action RPG Revenant, fixing a "problem in Sabu script in the dungeon," available in your choice of US and UK English, German, French and Italian.

The new Soldier site by Southpeak offers game information, a feature list, and a couple of new screenshots from this third-person shooter under construction at Sinister Games.

A patch for the German edition of Evolva brings co-operative multiplayer and Heat.Net support to the colorful tactical shooter by Computer Artworks. Also, Interplay posted a dozen-or-so short movie clips in the weeks before the game's US release and, look at that, even a pair today.

Infinite Machine opened its official New Legends site, featuring the game's premise, artwork and screenshots from their third-person action game that is powered by the Unreal engine.

The game was released last year, but if you missed it you can at least now look at the intro movies for all four episodes of Outcast in English, German or French by downloading them from Infogrames' ftp server. There are also some additional English trailers for this acclaimed 3D action/adventure by Appeal, as well as the intro movie (34.5 MB direct link) that sets the story for the game.

Action Forms released a version 1.1 patch for Carnivores 2, and while it contains no new fixes, it combines the previous version 1.0 (story) and Direct3D patches (story) into one convenient download.

A round-up wouldn't be complete without a bulleted list, now would it?

• Digital Reality has released two more scenarios for Imperium Galactica II, called Payback and Second Chance.
• Flashpoint 1985: Status Quo, the 3D tactical action wargame by Bohemia, now has its own site, but currently little in the way of new information or imagery.
• The positively massive Thief Gold FAQ/Walkthrough on GameFAQs is now complete, no doubt making this the most comprehensive document to assist you in playing the acclaimed sneak-em-up.
• A new release of HyperSnap-DX brings this screen capture utility up to version 3.61.
• Screenshots? You wanted me to catch up on screenshots as well? I don't think so.

GameSlice has conducted a new interview with Dynamix' Dave Georgeson, talking to him about TRIBES 2, their upcoming multiplayer game of giant landscapes. Dave talks about the new vehicles, their spiffy new engine, the real-time voice communication, and the very cool new rocket launcher they have added to the game amongst other TRIBES 2-related topics.

LithTech, Inc., well known on this page for their much-licensed engine, has announced that NonStop Entertainment, a new company composed of former Microsoft, EA and Cavedog employees, has licensed the LithTech engine for "an upcoming PC title." There are literally zero details on the game in the press release, just the news that the company exists, and that they have licensed the engine. The NonStop web site has a "projects" area that contains links to two projects ("Project X" and "Project X2") both of which have "coming soon" notices up.

Raven's Rick Johnson updated his .plan with word that the version 1.05 patch for Soldier of Fortune will be going into QA testing tomorrow (he says it will be released "shortly") and will contain mostly minor fixes and a "pure server" option (similar to Quake III Arena's). He also hints at something else SoF related that's in the works. Here's the scoop:

SoF V1.05 patch will go into limited QA tomorrow - should be out shortly, but won't give any specific dates. This patch will mainly include a Pure server option and a few other minor fixes (EAX and A3D sound issues). Once the patch is available, the game source code will be made available. Several of us are working on the next thing for SoF, which is why 1.05 didn't have too many major things changed to it. Before you throw a fuss, don't worry...

IGN has posted a chat log from last night's chat with Summoner lead programmer James Hague. While the chat emphasizes the Playstation 2 version of the game, there are a number of general questions which apply to the PC version as well.

If it seems like this is all people are talking about today, it's because...that's all they're talking about. Stomped has polled a number of industry folk, including Gathering of Developers head Mike Wilson, Raven cofounder Brian Raffel, Epic president Mark Rein and even The Levelord, asking them for their thoughts on this morning's earth shattering announcement that id was starting work on a brand new Doom game (story). The comments range from the remarkably short to the incredibly long, and many of them are quite entertaining.

With all this buzz about Doom today, Third Law's Sverre Kvernmo made a post to our message board with word that a full client/server port of Doom is now available. Version 0.43 of csDoom was released earlier in the week, and as its name would suggest, it does use a client/server architecture. This version is more stable than prior releases, and features map cycling in addition to other changes.

According to this news story at Well-Rounded Entertainment, Sony has acquired Verant interactive, the company behind the online RPG EverQuest, and the upcoming titles Sovereign and Star Wars Online. They speculate that this is an attempt by Sony to position itself better against stiff competition in the online gaming arena (most notably against Microsoft's Gaming Zone).

The third in The Citidel.net's series of MPEG movies from their E3 Black & White demonstration has been released. Today's edition features Black & White designer Peter Molyneux explaining the engine's limitations, as well as a discussion about challenges and in-game activities.

Human Head's Jeff DeWitt is interviewed on RuneNews, talking about his work on their upcoming Unreal-engine title Rune. Jeff is their lead animator, and he is personally responsible for all those impressive swipes, chops, slashes, and chugs of grog that Ragnar makes throughout the game.

GameSpot UK has posted nine new screenshots from Homeworld: Cataclysm, along with word that after the game ships, Sierra will be releasing an expansion pack. According to their news story, the add-on will feature a storyline that takes place 15 years after the original game, and you will play as an entirely new faction, with new ships and technology.

RPG Vault's Icewind Dale week continues with today's batch of new media from this upcoming RPG from Black Isle. Today's handful is composed of three new screenshots from the game, along with a new downloadable MPEG movie (which features more combat footage) and a new character portrait.

Italian games site Multiplayer.it has written up a brief preview of Raven's Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, based on a demonstration of the game they received at E3. The preview features some screenshots and two downloadable movies in MPEG format, one featuring the setup of the game, and another with in-game footage. The preview is entirely in Italian, so to translate, be sure to jam a Babel Fish in your ear.

Former id Software designer (and CTF author) David "Zoid" Kirsch made a post to Slashdot.org with his thoughts on the announcement that development was beginning on a brand new Doom game (story). Here's what he has to say:

One thing I learned about JohnC with my three and a half years with id--he's extremely to the point.

Well, I'm not surprised that he (and others there) would like to make another DOOM. DOOM was a very successful product and an incredible game. Capturing its spirit will be a challenge since a lot of DOOM's factors were in its ability to give you such an impending sense of danger and power:

DOOM featured rooms of dozens upon dozens of enemies. This was something that just wasn't feasible in Quake or Quake2 with the limitations of the number of polygons on screen. I hope that JohnC has some solutions to achieving this.

• DOOM had one of the best musical scores of any video game.
• The monster design was amazing. I remember screaming when I first encountered the Cyberdemon and the fear he instilled into me.
• DOOM only had LAN based play (and modem one vs one). A proper client and server arcitecture for DOOM based deathmatch would just simply rock.
• DOOM had insane player speeds. The DOOM guy ran almost twice as fast as the Quake guy did in relation to the world. Such speeds aren't really condusive to internet play since it makes prediction harder. However, I hope those insane speeds make it into the new DOOM.

But there are some issues--when DOOM came out, people were new to the first person shooter genre and one of the reasons DOOM was such a fun game was as you learned how to play you started being able to kill monsters better. These days I (and most experienced players) can run rings around a Cyberdemon and toy with him. DOOM taught me how to strafe, dammit. :)

It's a shame to see Paul let go. He was certainly one who didn't have any problem expressing his opinions. But he could sure pound out some amazing 3D models. His work in Quake2 and Quake3 was outstanding--it's sad to see his art won't be in the new DOOM.

A part of me is upset with my own disassocation with id. I would have loved working on DOOM CTF levels. :)

In any case, I can't wait to see what id can come up with in a new DOOM. I want to be scared all over again.

/// Zoid.

German games site Gamesweb.de has posted a new movie in Windows Media ASF format featuring footage from Blizzard's Warcraft III. The movie was taped at this year's E3 Expo, and features gameplay taped with a camcorder from the show floor.

Well, this may tide you over until the next Doom game is released (see below!): Kokak's Doom Page has released version 0.4b of ZDoomGL, an OpenGL port of the Doom source code. Also available is a new MD2 pack that includes all the models released so far.

A new Q&A with Rick Goodman, a designer at Stainless Steel studios on Empire Earth, is up at Empire Earth NetCenter. The questions deal with some general gameplay issues, as well as how the game's multiplayer will separate itself from the other RTS games out there.

Five new screenshots from Iron Strategy, an upcoming first and third person action/strategy game from Russian developer Nikita, are up at Daily Telefrag.

id Software's John Carmack updated his .plan with the major announcement that id's next game will be a remake of their classic Doom, saying "We are working on a new DOOM game, focusing on the single player game experience, and using brand new technology in almost every aspect of it. That is all we are prepared to say about the game for quite some time, so don't push for interviews." In an interesting bit of public disclosure, (John starts off by saying: "Most of this is not really public business, but if some things aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone"), the update also includes word that this was only after an ultimatum was presented to Adrian (no relation) Carmack and Kevin Cloud (who, between the two of them own more than half of id) that "We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us," which is followed by "the other shoe" in this political struggle, as John goes on to announce: "Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition." That's a summary of the surprising update, which is reproduced below in its entirety:

Well, this is going to be an interesting .plan update.

Most of this is not really public business, but if some things aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone.

As many people have heard discussed, there was quite a desire to remake DOOM as our next project after Q3. Discussing it brought an almost palpable thrill to most of the employees, but Adrian had a strong enough dislike for the idea that it was shot down over and over again.

Design work on an alternate game has been going on in parallel with the mission pack development and my research work.

Several factors, including a general lack of enthusiasm for the proposed plan, the warmth that Wolfenstien was met with at E3, and excitement about what we can do with the latest rendering technology were making it seem more and more like we weren't going down the right path.

I discussed it with some of the other guys, and we decided that it was important enough to drag the company through an unpleasant fight over it.

An ultimatum was issued to Kevin and Adrian(who control >50% of the company): We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us.

Obviously no fun for anyone involved, but the project direction was changed, new hires have been expedited, and the design work has begun.

It wasn't planned to announce this soon, but here it is: We are working on a new DOOM game, focusing on the single player game experience, and using brand new technology in almost every aspect of it. That is all we are prepared to say about the game for quite some time, so don't push for interviews. We will talk about it when things are actually built, to avoid giving misleading comments.

It went smoother than expected, but the other shoe dropped yesterday.

Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition.

Paul has certainly done things in the past that could be grounds for dismissal, but this was retaliatory for him being among the "conspirators".

I happen to think Paul was damn good at his job, and that he was going to be one of the most valuable contributors to DOOM.

We need to hire two new modeler/animator/cinematic director types. If you have a significant commercial track record in all three areas, and consider yourself at the top of your field, send your resume to Kevin Cloud.

GED Interviews Gabe Newell talking with the Managing Director at Valve Software primarily about PowerPlay, the upcoming system to reduce online latency in games, as well as touching on some general issues of concern to the Half-Life/TFC community as work continues on TeamFortress2.

Three Giant Days of Giants on PC.IGN.Com kicks off this half-week's worth of exposure of Giants: Citizen Kabuto, the upcoming action/strategy game from Planet Moon Studios. Their coverage of the game begins with a Q&A with Planet Moon VP Bob Stevenson after a visit to sunny Saulsalito to check out progress on Giants.

There's a new Deus Ex Preview on Well Rounded Entertainment based on some hands-on play with a "truncated beta" of ION Storm's upcoming conspiracy-heavy action/RPG that will use the Unreal engine to enroll you as an agent in the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition. The preview is illustrated with 32 new screenshots.

GameSpot's Obi-Wan Sneak Peak is online, offering a whopping 32 screenshots showing off action from LucasArts' upcoming first- and third-person follow-up to Jedi Knight. This is apparently just the next appetizer course, as they promise "two new behind-the-scenes looks at the game" will come out today and tomorrow. Thanks Ant.

• There are new Dark Reign 2 screenshots on Gamecenter and GA-Strategy showing off gameplay from this upcoming 3D RTS sequel from Pandemic Studios.
• There some B-17 Flying Fortress 2 screenshots on GameSpy and some new Ground Control screenshots on GameSpy, so they are just some Sub Titans shots short of being able to do a land, sea, and air theme.
• There's a Project Entropia interview on The Adrenaline Vault with an interview and the first screenshots showing off this upcoming MMORPG.

A newly-expanded Dogs of War website is now online, offering all sorts of goodies for Silicon Dreams' upcoming real-time 3D action/tactics game, including movies, story background, mixes of music from the game.

• There are new version 4.22a Via 4 in 1 drivers (direct link). Thanks AMDZone.
• There's a new GeForce 256 Overclocking Guide on TweakTown.

The official Star Trek Klingon Academy page has a new update describing the Quality Assurance process that Klingon Academy is enduring to ensure Interplay's upcoming game of flying for the bad guys comes out right. The game is now feature frozen and fully in the throes of testing. Also, for those who dig this sort of thing (and you know who you are), Qo'noS QonoS vagh is a Klingon Academy report written in, you guessed it, Klingon!

Bata 0.01 of Pac-Man Arena is now available, offering one of those 'I didn't know you could do that' kind of projects for the Quake III engine. As it's classic arcade namesake suggests, this is a top down game, with mazes and everything, though no sign of Inky, Blinky, Clyde, et al.

There's an MDK 2 Guide on PC.IGN.Com offering a complete guide to the newly-released MDK sequel, free for those willing to sign up as a registered user.

The final Q3Center coding tutorial has been posted giving a "Final Main Menu Coding Tutorial," a guide to help take the goo out of your GUI, offering code examples to work with.

There's an interview with defcon-x talking with the head coder on the Navy Seals project for Quake III Arena. Also, 3D-Shooters.ComEagle Force Mod interview talks with Punk_Kid, the creator of this upcoming mod for Half-Life.

• Allegiance on FiringSquad.
• Colin McRae Rally on Adrenaline Vault.
• Daikatana on Gamecenter.
• Flying Heroes on GameSpy.com.
• Imperium Galactica II: Alliances on GamePower.
• MDK2 on Daily Radar.
• Rogue Spear: Urban Operations on GamesMania.
• Star Trek: Armada on Electric Games and Outer-Edge Gaming.
• The Longest Journey on Adrenaline Vault.
• Thief Gold on GamesMania.
• Thief II: The Metal Age on Well Rounded Entertainment.

• PelTEC 55 Watt Peltier cooler kit on G3d Gaming In 3d!
• Plextor Plexwriter 12-4-32 SCSI CDRW on BXBoards.

• Elite Force Hazard Team, Part 1 on PC.IGN.Com has posted the biographies of the characters that will populate Raven's upcoming Star Trek Voyager-Elite Force...
• Counter-Strike.net has word they are seeking mirrors for the upcoming release of version 6.5 of this popular Half-Life mod...

Wow a new Doom game? Steed fired? I can't even really absorb it all until I get this news posted, but it's pretty safe to say that it's already impossible for today to be a slow news day...

Oh yeah, I'm getting questions about the "Link Windows" checkbox dealie in the menu... we need to figure out a self-explanatory way to label it, since it's obviously not clear, but by checking that box, external links you click here should open in a new window, one of the most oft-requested enhancements here. Please lemme know if it causes you any problems, otherwise, enjoy!

Link of the Day: New Scientist Feedback 3 June 2000. There's enough there for a couple of links of the day. Thanks Anvil.
Story of the Day: Bandleader Tito Puente Dies. All I can think of is Stripes, but the joke loses it's fun now that he's really dead. Thanks Azraelot.