• 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.

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...

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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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...

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.