Stormfront Studios has released a new pair of movie trailers for Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, their upcoming 3rd Edition D&D rules role-playing game. While there is some duplication between trailer 1 and 2, both offer a mix of cinematic and in-game footage running for about two minutes in self-executing Bink format.

Russian developers Akella have opened their official site for Sea Dogs II, the working title of their third-person role-playing sequel that is currently scheduled for a Spring 2002 release. The site offers copious amounts of game information, new concept art and static game scenes, and more.

• Red Faction
  eUniverseGames has posted a new Red Faction gallery that mixes new and a few familiar screenshots of Volition's upcoming Geo-Mod powered shooter.
• Warrior Kings
  The official Warrior Kings site has been updated with three new screenshots (the top row) of the 3D RTS under construction at Black Cactus.
• Prisoner of War
  Gaming Age has posted a few new Prisoner of War screenshots along previously released images of the 3D POW-camp game by Wide Games and Codemasters.
• Myth III
  Take 2 has opened a Myth III: the Wolf Age preview page as part of their recent site overhaul which sports three new concept images from the 3D RTS in development at Mumbo Jumbo (thanks MythWolfAge.com for the reminder).
• Startopia
  Eight new Startopia screenshots are up at EuroGamer, offering more scenes in the 3D space station management game by Mucky Foot.
• Alone in the Dark
  Another mix of new and familiar screenshots is online at GameSpot UK today with their Alone in the Dark: the New Nightmare gallery, illustrating the survival horror adventure sequel by Spiral House and DarkWorks.
• Throne of Bhaal
  Three new Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal screenshots accompany the latest item of the week in BioWare's isometric RPG expansion on PC.IGN.com.
• Divinity
  Larian Studios has posted a new Divine Divinity feature entitled "What's in a Character?" that offers a new screenshot and some character animations from their upcoming isometric RPG.
• Dark Age of Camelot
  Three new Dark Age of Camelot screenshots on the official site show off some new spell effects in Mythic's medieval MMORPG.

PC.IGN.com has posted a new Warcraft III preview, looking ahead to the 3D real-time strategy game in the works at Blizzard. The article offers a development update of sorts before discussing several game features, including Mana stones, the Night Elves race and the camera system, all based on a demonstration by producer Rob Pardo. The three accompanying screenshots look familiar though.

ION Storm has released a new multiplayer patch for Deus Ex through PlanetDeusEx, bringing their acclaimed first-person action RPG to version 1.112fm. There is a 35.7 MB full patch and a 4.7 MB patch for those who already have the previous version 1.109fm, and a full list of changes is available on the download pages. Additionally, an updated SDK is available as well.

The Atriarch News page has been updated with six new short QuickTime creature animations, along with updates to the Features and FAQ section, and the combat section of the FAQ for this upcoming MMORPG. In addition, they are running a community contest to come up with sounds to match the currently-silent creature animations.

The official MechWarrior 4: Vengeance developer site offers a new version 1.5 beta patch for download, updating the English edition of this 3D action combat game. The 7.6 MB download can be applied to original game or the previous version 1.4, and addresses the multiplayer warping problem (story) and fixes an FPU exception.

The Lancers Reactor interviews Jorg Neumann talking with the lead designer on Freelancer, the upcoming outer space epic from Digital Anvil and Microsoft. Jorg and the crew are currently working on the E3 demo for the game, but he takes some time out to answer questions about the Freelancer team, the game's setting, what sort of non-linear gameplay experience is offered beyond the storyline, and more. On tap with the interview are a bunch of screenshots, including one brand new one.

Bethesda Softworks sends word that Echelon, the aerial action game from Buka Entertainment, has gone gold. Expect to see the game arriving on store shelves in North America within the next two weeks. For more info about the game, check out Bethesda's official Echelon site.

PC Zone has a new preview of Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive up this afternoon, taking a look at this upcoming strategy game that's set in the wild west. The preview is based on a near-complete version of the game, and contains reams of gameplay details, the author's general impressions and plenty of screenshots.

Following the release of the Linux dedicated server earlier today (story), Sierra has released the version 22460 patch for TRIBES 2 on their FTP site. Sierra's TRIBES 2 patches directory has two versions of the patch, one for those upgrading from version 22337 and one for those upgrading from 21570. Thanks TribalWar, who have posted a complete list of changes on their site. For those using the Linux version, Loki has updated their FTP site with the Linux client upgrade.

A Q&A with Ming-Sheng Lee, the project director at Anagram Entertainment on their upcoming RTS Takeda is up at eUniverseGames this morning. Takeda is a strategy game set in 16th century Japan (the same era that has been the setting for many strategy games in the past), and the questions deal with their internally-developed engine, the overall size of the game, and how it differs from Shogun: Total War among other topics.

Stomped has posted an interview with members of the Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos team at Particle Systems. The various members of the team field questions about the dwindling number of space-sims out there, the different ships available in the game, the improved user interface, their plans for multiplayer and more.

Although the Windows patch doesn't seem to be available yet, Loki Software has released a version 22460 patch to update the TRIBES 2 Linux dedicated server on their FTP site. The Linux client patch isn't available yet either, but it and the Windows patch should be available later today through the game's auto-update system.

The official X-COM Enforcer site now sports a third deathmatch map for the just-released third-person shooter by MicroProse. As the site is Flash-only, a direct link isn't possible, but you can find this DM_TrophyRoom map in the Downloads section, and it was apparently created by level designer Brad Hoppenstein.

PC Gameplay has posted the first two in-game screenshots to be released from Civilization III. The shots are reproduced from this month's PC Gameplay magazine, which features a six page preview of the game.

A brief preview of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars is up at 3D Games Zone this morning. The preview is brief but hands-on, and while it lacks any new screenshots, it does have their overall impressions of a limited build of the full game.

GameSpot went on a cinematic shooting spree, and captured one new movie from Human Head's third-person upcoming action expansion Rune: Halls of Valhalla, one from Bitmap Brothers' 3D real-time strategy game Steel Soldiers, one from Troika's isometric RPG Arcanum, and three from Pyro's isometric squad-based combat game Commandos 2. All movies offer a litte over a minute of gameplay footage and on average take 11 MB to download in MPEG format (or you can stream them in a variety of formats). Finally, for something a little different, there are two IL-2 Sturmovik movies on SimHQ, showing off this WWII flight sim by 1C Maddox Games in several minutes of streaming Windows Media Player format.

Verant has opened the official EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin site for business, showcasing the upcoming third expansion pack to their ridiculously popular 3D MMORPG (thanks VoodooExtreme). The site offers an overview of the pack's features, character images, a mix of new and familiar screenshots, a FAQ, and more.

Spanish gaming site areA66 has posted a patch for Blade: The Edge of Chaos, the Spanish edition of the third-person melee combat game by Rebel Act that's known as Severance and Blade of Darkness in other parts of the world. The patch fixes several game crashes, brings sound and multiplayer improvements, and more. The download server is fairly slow, but a mirror with an English list of changes is up at 3D Gamers.

GameSpy.com Interviews John Carmack talking with the lead programmer at id Software about what's what after catching up with him at his Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month (story). The conversation is fairly brief, but covers a reasonable amount of ground, including the ever-hot topic of consoles versus PCs, which inspired the following responses:

GameSpy: What's your take on the PC vs. Console wars?

John Carmack: The PC platform has plenty of ugly warts, but there are enough things that it just does better, like bringing in cutting edge hardware and fostering online communities and modifications, that I really doubt it is going to vanish as a viable platform.

GameSpy: What is your opinion on the Xbox and Microsoft's viability as a console manufacturer?

John Carmack: The hardware is great. I don't pretend to have any insight into how well Microsoft will do in the market.

Gamespot Australia's Planet Moon Interview talking with Tim Williams, the creative director at Planet Moon Studios as well as Planet Moon co-founder Bob Stevenson and Planet Moon president Nick Bruty. The conversation covers what they are currently up to, progress on the PS2 version of Giants: Citizen Kabuto, console development in general, other upcoming games, and more.

BrokenPixel.com's Fighting Legends interview is online, talking with Steve Escalante, who is the co-lead designer for Fighting Legends, the upcoming massively-multiplayer online fighting game from Maximum Charisma. The questions are specifically focused on topics not covered in the Fighting Legends FAQ.

Declaring "Senator Lieberman, eat your heart out," there's a Gore preview on Computer Games Online looking ahead at this upcoming first-person shooter from 4D Rulers. The preview features their impressions of the game after they were willing to journey to Nebraska to check it out first-hand, along with a load of quotes from Joel Huenink offering insights into gameplay and other aspects of Gore, as well as a load of Gore screenshots.

GameSpot has posted a reaction from id Software's Todd Hollenshead on the recently announced lawsuit stemming from the Columbine school shooting (story) which has been revealed to include id among the defendants (story). According to the article:

After reviewing the lawsuit, Hollenshead found that the case is almost identical to the suit filed in 1999 after the Heath High School shooting in Paducah, Ky. All claims in that case were dismissed by a federal judge last April. He added, "As with the Kentucky litigation, their claims are utterly without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves."

• NVIDIA Price Cuts
  Nvidia drops price of graphics chips (CNET). Thanks Colin.
• New VDMSound
  There's a new VDMSound 2.0 Alpha 3 on NT Compatible, which offers DOS compatible sound under Windows NT 4.0.
• Vulpine Interview
  AcidHardware interviews Interview with Mr. Tran Trung Hiep talking about his work on the Vulpine 3D benchmark utility.

The fifth edition of the Morrowind Diary on Voodoo Extreme is online, offering thoughts from Mike Lipari of Bethesda Softworks about progress on the upcoming Elder Scrolls RPG. The diary features Mike's history in the game business along with a description of one of his roles in development of the game, which was giving the editing program the capability to edit landscapes without an intervening export to 3D Studio Max. Also included are a bunch of Morrowind screenshots.

A new version 0.51 of T2Serverstat is now available, which is a set of Perl scripts that will show your TRIBES 2 server status on a web page. The program offers a customizable HTML template and can run under a variety of configurations. Additionally, QStat 2.4c is required for any version of T2ServerStat later than 0.5.

Neurodancer's Mod Studio now offers beta 1 of the Bouncy modification for Quake III Arena for download. Bouncy offers comical sounding non-lethal gameplay with weapons that do things like pushing, pulling, or freezing (among other things) your opponent.

Rocky returns to video games on Gamespot saying "Rage Software will revive a classic license with new Rocky games for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox." There are some Star Trek Voyager Elite Force PS2 screenshots on GameSpot. Saying the cuts will not effect their online games, Sega.com Cuts Staff reports MCV USA, offering vague details about an unspecified number of lay-offs. Finally, PS2.IGN.com reports that GT3 Goes Platinum in Famitsu describing the high level of award the racer has received in Japan.

There's a CPL Counter-Strike UK Qualifier (Holland) Event Write Up on The Playing Fields with details on all the action. Also, a new BarrysWorld Unreal Fortress League and a new BarrysWorld Tribes 2 League are both underway.

There's a new Linux TRIBES 2 voice over IP how-to on Linux Games. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski. Also, true to their name, CS Advantage has posted some new advanced strategies for Counter-Strike players, hoping to help them gain an advantage over those who aren't familiar with these tactics.

ClanBase interviews Martin Otten talking with the author of the new observer mode utility for Counter-Strike and Half-Life.

The chUmbaLum sOft website now has a new version 1.5.5 of the MilkShape 3D modeling program. Thanks File Flash.

• Black & White on Electric Playground.
• Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul on Daily Radar.
• Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel on PC Arena and Game Industry.
• Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns on 3D Gaming Daily.
• Search and Rescue 2 on GameGenie.
• SimCoaster on Computer Games Online.
• Summoner on Computer Games Online.
• TRIBES 2 (in German) on GameSurf.de.
• Tropico on GamePower.
• Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle on The Entertainment Depot.
• WWII Normandy on GameSpot.
• X-COM Enforcer on Games Domain.

• Asus A7M266 DDR SocketA motherboard on OcPrices.
• ASUS CUV266 Apollo Pro 266 motherboard on Got Apex?.
• Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz CPU on GamePC.
• Leadtek GeForce2 Ultra video card on AMDZone.
• OCZ Performance Series PC-166 RAM on Jsi Hardware.
• Que! Fire External 16x10x40 CD-R/W on NeoSeeker.
• Seagate Barracuda 180 ST1181677LWV hard drive on StorageReview.com.
• ThermalPhobia Copper Shims on Extreme Overclocking.

• RPGDot's Armalion Interview is online, talking about this upcoming strategy/RPG hybrid...
• The Mimesis Online Interview #2 on RPG Vault talks with a few folks from the team at work on developing Mimesis Online, an upcoming persistent world game...
• As mentioned in his .plan, 3D Realms web guru Joe Siegler is interviewed on eUniverse Live (not to be confused with the Daily Dementia) in a streaming audio interview that, among other things, discusses the state of gaming web sites, and how this impacts 3D Realms...
• The Dark Galaxy Signup page is offering the opportunity to beta test this upcoming multiplayer free online space strategy game currently in development. In a related note, there are four new Dark Galaxy screenshots on Beta Bites...

Where does the time go -- running a little late, so I'll skip rambling this morning. A suggestion for those who miss the after-effects of the usual Out of the Blue is skipping your morning coffee and hitting yourself in the head with a heavy object, though I won't be responsible if it still doesn't cause the expected headache.

Link of the Day: Do The Dew Shotgun. Thanks Chris Johnson.
Bonus Link: The Popcorn Fork. Thanks Medic. What's next, the peanut spoon?
Story of the Day: No offence, officer (BBC). Thanks Chris Jones.
Weird Science: Teen charged with hacking into Air Force system (CNN). Thanks mankale.
Media of the Day: Monkey versus Robot. Thanks Mark.