Nihilistic's Ray Gresko is interviewed on GameSpot, talking to Geoff Keighley (well-known for his massive Daikatana article) about the development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, their 3D RPG which is arriving in stores today. The interview is fairly large, and looks at the whole of the game's development (which featured the creation of an original engine, a new company and a massive two-disc RPG in just about two years).

Also new on GameSpot this evening, is a preview of Giants: Citizen Kabuto. The preview is based on their recent trip to the Planet Moon design studio, and features a good rundown of each of the game's three major characters, as well as some new screenshots.

Daily Radar has conducted a new interview with Ellipse Studios' Paul Thibault, talking to him about their upcoming RTS game Submarine Titans. Paul talks about what will separate it from the competition, with some details about resource management and the game's engine amongst other things.

Valve Software sent along word that the eagerly anticipated version 1.1 update for Half-Life will be released tomorrow at 11:00 AM PDT (2:00 PM EDT). There will be new client and server releases to update all previous versions, and naturally we will be hosting local copies with mirrors to help cope with the expected demand. Here is a run-down of the components readied for release (tomorrow's patch will include just Half-Life 1.1.0.0 and Team Fortress 1.5, while the other parts will be released separately), which also hints at another new mod release by Valve:

Half-Life 1.1 is done. It will be available at 11 am PST tomorrow (June 8).

This release includes:
--Team Fortress 1.5
--Half-Life SDK 2.0 (Full and Standard versions)
--Worldcraft 3.3
--Counter-Strike Beta 6.5
--OpFor CTF
--Firearms 2.0

We hope everyone enjoys the upgrade. There will be a number of MODs that are released or updated in the near future. We will be releasing a new MOD ourselves later this month.

• The official Deus Ex site (Flash required) has been updated with six new screenshots from the 3D action RPG by ION Storm.
• AVault has posted two new screenshots of Deep Fighter, as well as some images of the models in this underwater action adventure by Criterion Studios and Ubi Soft.
• A screenshot a day doesn't keep BioWare's doctors away from RPG Vault, where they've posted a new Baldur's Gate II screenshot.
• The Epilogue gallery page has been updated with some images of structures and units (in the right sidebar) of this 3D RTS by Dutch developers Team Sigma.

The official Daikatana site now features the Prima Fast Track Guide for online perusal. The guide contains tips for the single-player game as well as a basic walkthrough for all levels.

A new movie of Icewind Dale shows off more gameplay footage from the chilly parts of the Forgotten Realms in Black Isle's upcoming isometric RPG.

Rebellion has posted a gallery of new Gunlok screenshots (as well as adding a funky cursor dealie to the site), showing off new scenes from their futuristic 3D action role-playing game.

Sierra Studios has released the E3 teaser movie for Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick for download in three different formats: there's a 320 x 240 AVI for those with a fast connection, and you can also opt for the 240 x 180 AVI or 240 x 180 QuickTime versions. The one minute trailer shows cinematic footage from this "steampunk" isometric RPG being crafted by Troika Games.

As was expected by many, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled that Microsoft is a monopoly and that it violated antitrust laws (here's the story on ZDNet). The ruling orders Microsoft to split into two companies, one that sells operating systems and another that sells applications. Naturally the company is appealing, which makes an additional ruling particularly interesting, as it says Microsoft must, "disclose some internal APIs and other technology -- until the appeals process is finished." Analysts are calling this the largest breakup since AT&T, and it could have serious implications for everything from games to web browsers and office software.

The latest vehicle movie clip for Star Trek: New Worlds shows off a Klingon Armed Personnel Carrier in a short, roundabout way, as well as a static screenshot. Star Trek: New Worlds is the 3D real-time strategy game in development at 14 Degrees East and Interplay.

Three new screenshots from Freedom: First Resistance are up at AVault. The shots show off this third person action/adventure from RedStorm, and there are detailed descriptions for each from Jerry Heneghan, the game's producer.

The first part of Blacksway's guide to UnrealEd 2.0 is online (thanks Rust by way of Voodoo Extreme). This installment features a runthrough of the editor's various features, from the toolbox and menubars, to the different view windows.

RPGVault has posted five new screenshots and two new concept art pieces from Morrowind, the upcoming third installment in the Elder Scrolls series (thanks Destination: Morrowind).

As a follow up to the initial rumors yesterday (story), Blizzard's official Diablo II Gold press release has just rolled in the door, announcing the eagerly-anticipated sequel to Blizzard's hit action/RPG. Word is the 3 CD game will hit shelves "by the end of June in Windows.95/98/2000/NT format. A Macintosh version of the game will be available during the third quarter 2000." Here's a bit more from the announcement:

Key features in the game include:

• Five all new character classes -- the Amazon, Paladin, Barbarian, Sorceress and Necromancer -- each with unique skills and abilities. In all, Diablo II offers 150 special abilities as each character can develop 30 unique, class specific skills and spells throughout the game.
• Four expansive towns to explore complete with wilderness areas, dungeons, monasteries, tombs, caverns and crypts.
• A randomly generated world with filled with all-new weapons, armor, monsters, unique items, non-playing characters and more than 20 quests.
• Nearly 25 minutes of motion picture quality cinematics and a 70-minute original score of ambient music.
• Full multiplayer support for up to eight players and expanded Battle.net support with servers on land in North America, Europe and Asia.
• Optional 3Dfx and Direct3D support that offers near-perfect perspective, including scaling and parallax effects, to the game play experience.

Monolith's Craig Hubbard is interviewed on 3D Action Planet, talking about No One Lives Forever, their LithTech 2 game of female espionage (no, not the kind depicted in Porky's). The interview was conducted at E3, and features a good deal of new information about the game, including word that the game will feature a skills system. Here's an excerpt where Craig explains how this works into the gameplay:

3DActionPlanet: So there's stats and abilities in the game?

Hubbard: Yeah, but it's not an RPG. One of the things that makes a game compelling is to allow the character to grow. So one of the things we've done is to identify some abilities it would be cool to get better at over the course of the game . For example, we've got a sniper rifle and as you get better at it it'll get more stable. At first when you're running your accuracy sucks, but throughout the game your accuracy improves. You can run and shoot accurately at the same time. you also get better at sneaking. All these things improve, but it's not like an RPG.

Stomped has learned by way of Red Storm president Doug Littlejohns, that UFS Vanguard, a space-sim that was planned to be released later this summer, has been put on hold. According to Littlejohns, the decision was made so the company could divert its resources towards their next-generation console titles.

Five new screenshots from Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Planet Moon's oddball action strategy game, are up at GameSpot. The shots feature a Meccaryn (alien marine) they say is named "Baz," as well as Delphi the Sea Reaper, and big ol' Kabuto himself.

Voodoo Extreme has posted a new installment of their Rune development diary. This edition has Human Head's Chris Rhinehart examining some of the major design decisions on the game, such as why they chose to make it third person and issues with the weapon design and camera system.

Daily Radar has five new shots from Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor online, featuring a look at three different characters in the game doing three different attacks (including a look at the new version of the Acid Arrow from the old "gold box" games).

Right on time for the game's appearance on store shelves, Activision has opened their Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption support page, offering solutions to a couple of problems you may be experiencing with Nihilistic's blood-sucking 3D RPG.

The second part of GameSpot UK's week-long look at Shogun: Total War is online, featuring another installment of their diary chronicling the story in the game, and nine screenshots of the army and strategy units.

The home movies from E3 just keep rolling in, 3d Retreat's E3 Coverage has been updated with a report on Command & Conquer: Renegade after checking out the upcoming action-oriented installment in Westwood's strategy series at this year's show. The movie is all gameplay, shown in that familiar 'footage of a monitor over someone's shoulder' variety, and while that means the image isn't the same as a first-generation clip, it still does show off how gameplay will unfold, offers a couple of neat effects (like that plane fly-by), and gives a feel for what it's like to check out a game at E3... straining for a view over someone's shoulder, and trying to hear above the crowd. The short clip is under a 6 MB download, and is in Windows Media Player format.

The Neverwinter Nights website has been updated with a healthy update with the latest word on development of this upcoming D&D adventure RPG recapping their plans for E3 milestones, and seeing how well they hit them. Additionally, their gallery section has been updated with five new screenshots and nine new portraits.

RPG Vault's Baldur's Gate II Chat Log recounts the results of last night's moderated chat with the developers of the upcoming sequel to Baldur's Gate, the AD&D fantasy/RPG, including several members of the developer (BioWare) and the publisher (Black Isle Studios). In addition to the edited log of the moderated chat, there is also a raw log to allow you to experience the chaos as it happens.

• GamePen's Echelon Preview offers four new exclusive screenshots of Echelon, the upcoming flying/action shooter from Bethesda Softworks, along with a short interview with their marketing guru Pete Hines.
• There are some new The Rift screenshots on GA-Strategy showing off more environmental bump-mapping in this upcoming space combat game with more of a strategic bent.
• GA-Source's Inertia on RC Simulator, New Screenshots offers a write-up and screenshots of an upcoming flight sim that will recreate the art of flying remote controlled aircraft.
• GA-RPG interviews Click Entertainment on Throne of Darkness talking about Throne of Darkness, which isn't a toilet simulator, but rather "an action-RPG set in feudal Japan, pitting the Player's seven heroes against an evil that has swept the land." Seven Samurai, anyone?
• There's a Republic preview on CTNews with new screenshots from this upcoming political strategy game.

A post to the Halo.Bungi.Org messageboards gives the full quote in context of the news from yesterday (story) that there is a possibility that Halo, Bungie's upcoming squad-based multiplayer combat game, will be switching from primarily using third-person perspective to become a first-person title. Here is the quote from Bungie's Jason Jones that's reproduced from the current print issue of PC Gamer UK (thanks Shugashack):

"One fundamental change from the game's initial announcement concerns its viewpoint. While originally it was promised to be a third-person game, now a more hybrid approach has been chosen. The exact ration of the two modes hasn't been finalised - clearly, without using Delta Force's window approach, it's impossible to use a sniper rifle in third-person, while driving the bouncing jeeps without the peripheral vision allowed by third-person makes things less enjoyable - but Jason believes that the balance is moving increasingly towards the first-person model"

Our spate of follow-ups this morning continues, the next comes from the folks who posted that Final Unreal Patch Petition yesterday (story), who point out that Epic's Tim Sweeney himself has made a post to the PlanetCrap messageboards praising the petition, and giving good news for those eager for the patch it is asking for:

Some of these petitions are really good ideas.

A bunch of gamers saying "we are your customers, and we believe you should do the following to support your product..." is way more effective than randomly slamming companies and products on message boards. When looking at flames, it can be hard to distinguish good ideas from maniacal rants. But a petition shows well-thought-out, widespread public support for a cause.

Game developers who ignore this kind of thing do so at great risk.

The Unreal patch petition is certainly the #1 issue on our radar screen at Epic right now.

No, we're not issuing a response to the petition...after all, the petition wasn't asking us to put out a press release talking about what we're going to do, it's asking us to FINISH AND RELEASE THE DAMN PATCH, so...

-Tim

The announcement of the new Doom game (story) has inspired a lot of commentary, an editorial against it (story), an editorial in favor of it (story), and reader comments, but no word on what Geoff Keighly thinks. Until now, as The Doom Dichotomy on GameSlice offers another editorial on the subject, this one less black-and-white that the other two, going into Geoff's mixed feelings about the announcement.

• There are new Win2K beta Voodoo Banshee AGP/PCI drivers on 3dfx Gamers. Thanks NT Compatible.
• Guillemot Corporation has released a new version 0300 BIOS for all 3D Prophet accelerators except the 3D Prophet SE. Thanks Bob James.
• A new version 1.21 of the V3Tweaks Voodoo3 tweaker is now available. Thanks Tweak Files.
• This 10 Question Interview with 3dfx's Andrew Humber @ the Guru of 3D looks to find out more about 3dfx' current and future plans.
• A new version 1.1.3 of the Simple DirectMedia Layer has been released. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski.
• More Computex, as Sharky Extreme's Computex Taipei 2000 Show Coverage day one is up, and there are 50 picture+descriptions direct from Computex on the Overclockers' Workbench BBS.
• The Kyro 3D graphics card preview on Eurogamer.net offers impressions after a visit to Imagination Technology's HQ.
• There are some Willamette CPU photos on Insane Hardware showing Intel's new CPU from Computex.
• There's a new VilliageMark benchmark on Beyond 3D to put your video card and system through its paces.

A follow-up on The Adrenaline Vault gives a statement from Infogrames on the report from yesterday that New-Legend's, IM's upcoming Unreal-engine game, no longer has a publisher (story), saying they have "given Infinite Machine the go-ahead to find a new publisher," the decision apparently based on the non-cross-platform nature of New Legends. Also, there's a note on New-Legends.Net pointing out that a Bethesda Softworks rep mentions their interest in picking up the game. Finally, there's a statement from Infinite Machine's Justin Chin in this messageboard thread on New-Legends.Net on the announcement (thanks Speak):

Yes, we are no longer with GT/Infogrames. This happened before E3. Since then we have been talking to publishers. It’s a long process and we’ve been working hard to make both the game and find a publisher. We did not announce it because we wanted to make our rounds with as little fanfare as possible. Sometimes that kind of publicity can get in the way.

We had also thought Infogrames wouldn’t really announce it, but then again, New Legends made such a press splash that how could they avoid it, huh?

I have to keep the details to a minimum at this point, but I’ll update you guys as soon as anything significant happens.

The Oni Bot homepage has a new version 0.20 of the Oni Bot, an artificial intelligence add-on for Quake III Arena. the main new feature of the new release is improved map navigation, which the page points out is "one of the most important aspect of a bot." From now on the bot's version number is an approximation of how complete the project is, so the current estimate is the project is 20% complete.

A new version 1.3a of 007 For Quake2 is now available, updating this Quake II mod that give you a license to kill with the best of them. To create the world of Bond, the mod offers new maps, new gameplay, and a bunch of new weapons (though none of them the familiar Walther PPK).

Cached.net interviews a|citizen talking to this Team Abuse member about Q3A, comparing it to Q2 and more. Meanwhile the first two parts of a multi-part documentary called Quakers covering the recent $100,000 Razer-CPL tournament is up on Pringo Video. The new episode features interviews with D16-Makaveli, Kornelia, Phong, sCarey-r3v, "and some prophetic words from Angel Munoz of the CPL concerning the future of professional gaming." Each episode is in QuickTime format, available in smaller and larger sizes.

Quake3World is holding a Father's day scavenger hunt, the first clue is already online. Also, Xtreme CTF is holding a mapping competition to inspire submissions of maps for their Q3A CTF variant. Finally, word is registration for the FRAG 4 will begin on Monday, June 12. This LAN event/tournament will take place in Dallas from Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 (no Halloween FRAGging this year), and if you are looking to nail down a room, the Hyatt Regency is ready to take reservations. To receive the discounted group rate you must mention the FRAG 4 CPL event. The international toll-free number is (800) 233-1234.

Jay "Shade" Wilson, formerly of Monolith and now with the EA Bond Team at work on The World is Not Enough, their upcoming Q3-engine Bond game, sends word that they are looking to recruit an agent with the coveted license to map:

EA is currently looking to fill a level design position, here are the details:

EA is currently looking for level designers to join the PC version of "The World is Not Enough". If you've always wanted to be an international spy, then, well, we can't help you, but if you'd like to make some kickass levels for a James Bond game, than contact me: Jay Wilson (jwilson@ea.com). Please send a resume, but no map files unless I specifically request them. If you have something up online please point me to it.

The Alliance Games website has posted some new Alliance CTF for Q3A screenshots. A messageboard post called Assault Bonuspack Resumed gives word of just that: the resumption of development of Eavy's bonus pack for the UT Assault gameplay type. PlanetQuake previews their hosted Urban Terror mod that looks like a Q3A homage to ActionQuake.

• Colin McRae Rally on Neoseeker.
• Daikatana on GamePower, The Game Den, and Ars Technica.
• Earthworm Jim 3D on GameSpy.com.
• Flying Heroes on Games Domain.
• Gromada on Gamecenter.
• Gunship! on Adrenaline Vault.
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death on Outer-Edge.
• Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack on 3dfx Gamers.
• MDK2 on Speedy3D, VRMagazine, and InsideGaming.net.
• Messiah on Game Industry and PC Gameworld.
• Metal Fatigue on XtremeNetwork and Gamerush.
• Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer on MPOG.
• Motocross Madness 2 on 3DGN and PC Gameworld.
• Rogue Spear: Urban Operations on Gaming Age.
• Shogun: Total War on Gamecenter.
• SimCity 3000 Unlimited on Gamecenter.
• Soulbringer on GameOver.
• StarLancer on GameProWorld.
• Tachyon: The Fringe on Sci Fi Weekly (thanks ATFW).
• Ultima Online: Renaissance on Happy Puppy.

• Absolute Multimedia Outrageous 3D GeForce 256 DDR video card on SystemLogic.net.
• Guillemot 3D Prophet II DDR video card on GameFan.
• Kenwood 72x TrueX CD-ROM on 3d Accelerated.com.
• Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 120u 21" monitor on Gamers Depot.
• Vortex SQ1500 sound card on PCGN.

• The Flash-y PlayOnline.com website is up, the bi-lingual homepage for SquareSoft's online service, which will be used to power Final Fantasy XI, a massively multiplayer title for PS2 and PC. It's also got an interview with FF creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, conducted by superstar Japanese artist Yoshitika Amano (the character designer for FF 1-IV, IX, X, and XI). The Q&A is in the "Final Fantasy" section, under "talk"...
• This Microsoft Security Bulletin has released an IE patch that eliminates two security vulnerabilities involving how IE handles digital certificates that could allow a malicious website to pose as a trusted site. Thanks NT Compatible...
• Logitech has posted a new version 3.6 of their Wingman software for Win2K for a variety of languages. there are also new ACT LABS - Force RS drivers for Win2K. Thanks NT Compatible...

Hey, want to share your opinion on webpage color schemes? The subject came up when Lawgiver sent along a link about Computer Eyestrain, which specifically mentions white text on black as a culprit. I responded with my theory, which is that the white on black text rule was created for paper printouts, and that I believe the opposite seems true of monitors, which, to my understanding, create colors additively by combining colors of light, as opposed to paper printouts, which absorb light to create reflected colors through a subtractive method. I'm not sure if that's the reason I find white on black more appealing, but I do know that when faced with a large group of black text on a white page, I highlight it to reverse the colors. Anyway, I thought this was an interesting question to ask in case there were more facts or theories to cover this. Of course, along the way I'm fully prepared to be corrected in detail for all the faulty pseudo-science I spewed above, following the theme of the follow-up below.

After I commented on Saving Private Ryan yesterday, Kestral made an informative messageboard post offering an education on the subject. The post basically explains that any absence of Brits or Canadians among the invaders that the Pvt. Ryan search party encountered is actually historical accuracy, rather than a re-write of history. Go figure! Thanks Kestral.

Link of the Day: Jugglemaster Java Simulator. Thanks Christopher Pereda.