• Postal 2
  There's a Postal 2 Q&A on PC.IGN.Com where Vince Desi of Running With Scissors discusses their upcoming unreal-engine follow-up to Postal. They discuss the constitution, whether they have any mail-carrying experience, the Unreal and Karma engines, changes from the first game, the whole Gary Coleman thing, and more. Accompanying the article is a new gameplay movie.
• HomePlanet
  The HomePlanet Q&A on Gamersclick chats with Michael Rakhaev, scriptwriter on HomePlanet, Revolt Games' upcoming space combat game. They discuss his role in production, the idea behind the game, the engine, the player's influence on the world, units and ships, the lack of planet-based activities, missions, testing, and more.
• Oz Music
  There's an American McGee Q&A on Music 4 Games talking with the Carbon6 Entertainment cofounder about the music in American McGee's Oz.
• The Witch's Wake
  The Witch's Wake Q&A on PC.IGN.Com talks with BioWare's Rob Bartel about their upcoming Neverwinter Nights Module. They discuss the new module's production, setting, story, supported gameplay modes, changes, the inclusion of fan-created tools, the reasoning behind releasing such free content, and more.

Citing a miscommunication, Activision sends word that the Win32 Return to Castle Wolfenstein source code released for mod authors along with last night's version 1.41 RtCW patch (story) has been pulled from distribution. They are working at getting the proper mod source files ready for release, and request that the mistaken release be pulled from mirrors, saying: "it's just not going to be useful to anyone and will likely confuse people who try to use it."

A post on Unreality offers details on the additions and changes planned for the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2003 patch, which is currently undergoing beta testing. The extensive list includes changes to gameplay, the HUD and menus, AI, networking, mod support, the engine, D3D/OpenGL, audio, and the oft-discussed demo feature.

A post on Warcry's Crossroads of Dereth offers some information found in an article in the current print issue of Computer Games Magazine that reveals the developer on the planned upcoming Middle Earth Online game (story) based on the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, saying the game is being created by Asheron's Call developer Turbine Entertainment. They also offer a bit on what gameplay will entail, here's some of that: "Middle-Earth Online sets itself during the fellowship's conflict with Sauron, and will entail Men, Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits working together in small and large groups, where they will explore the world, build homes and craft Mithril Swords, or just get drunk and sing. A large number of resources will enable you to create more powerful weapons and armors, and even food or decorative items. High-end crafters can create the most interesting items in the game."

• American McGee's Oz
  The American McGee's Oz Q&A on Gamer's Hell talks with American McGee about Carbon6's upcoming Oz game. This conversation covers a bit of his history at id and then developing Alice before going on to what little about the Oz project he's willing to discuss.
• Peter Molyneux
  The Peter Molyneux Q&A on Krawall Gaming Network discusses Black & White 2 with the Lionhead head. The conversation is in German, so you may want to enlist the semi-reliable services of Babel Fish to translate.
• Purge
  HomeLan Fed' Purge Q&A chats with Freeform Interactive's Richard "Hap" Cheung about progress on Purge, their upcoming LithTech engine online RPG/FPS game. They discuss how beta testing is progressing, and what's new about development since their previous chat.
• NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
  The NASCAR Racing 2003 Season Q&A on Worthplaying talks with Steve Myers about Papyrus' upcoming stock car racing game.
• Chariots: The First Olympics
  HomeLan Fed's Chariots: The First Olympics Q&A talks with Candella Software's Ajith Ram about their upcoming game of old school Olympic competition.

• Call of Cthulhu on the Official Website.
• Harbinger on RPG Vault.
• Lethal Dreams on RPG Vault.
• March! Offworld Recon on Action Vault.
• NASCAR Racing 2003 Season on Blackhole Motorsports.
• Sim City 4 on Krawall Gaming Network.

Microsoft vows more cash for Xbox (thanks Mike Martinez) reports: "Microsoft on Wednesday said it would pour more resources into its efforts to carve out a position in the $10 billion video game market rather than cutting its losses and exiting from the venture." Also, turning back the clock, Gigex is offering downloads of a two level PC demo of Panzer Dragoon (originally for the Sega Saturn), to promote the release of Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox. The file is mirrored on FileShack.com (registration required), Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying.

• Age of Mythology on Ferrago.co.uk.
• AquaNox 2: Revelation (in German) on GBase.ch.
• Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings on GameSpot.
• Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf on GameZone, Games Domain, and Game Chronicles.
• Hegemonia: Legions of Iron on GameZone.
• James Bond 007: NightFire on GameSpy.com.
• K. Hawk: Survival Instinct on ToTheGame.
• Knight Rider: the Game on Elite Bastards.
• MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries on Strategy Informer.
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on Khabal Gaming.
• Real War: Rogue States on Adrenaline Vault.
• Stronghold: Crusader on GamersClick.
• The Elder Scrolls: Tribunal on AllOutGames.
• Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon on GameZone.
• Unreal Tournament 2003 on The Gamers Temple.

• AMS G-Mono Mid Tower Case (in video) on 3dGameMan.com.
• Asus A7N8X Deluxe Socket A Motherboard on Techseekers.net.
• Dell Dimension 8250 System on Gamers Depot.
• Fanner Group Spire Coolcat Cooler on PC Tech Zone.
• IDE RAID round-up on The Tech Report.
• Intel Celeron 2 GHz CPU on OCAddiction.com.
• Iwill P4HT-S i845PE Motherboard on PCStats.com.
• MSI MS-8348A DragonWriter 48/16/48 CD-RW on CDRLabs.com.
• NexLand Wavebase 802.11b WAP on BurnOutPc.com.

• The Q2Models Java Quake2 Model Viewer is a utility that allows you to view Quake II models online...
• MP3.com's Zdim Page now offers "The Plasmaworm Collection" with "twelve sound collages in this set represent half of the background music tracks from Plasmaworm."...

Looks like we're in for some snow around these parts. I actually thought it had started sleeting yesterday late in the afternoon, as I could hear it beating down on the back deck when trying to let the dog out. I still didn't put two-and two together later as I tried to investigate why the water pressure seemed low and there was the ongoing sound of pipes running in the house (but thankfully no accompanying flood to be found). Turns out a hose had burst in the backyard, and was spraying for hours before I realized it, so it had the net effect of sleet, as the back deck is now a skating rink.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts expressed about Willie the cat's surgery. He came through it great, and now we'll just have to see how things progress from here. He's quite the little survivor, so I have high hopes that he's surprise us with how well he recovers from all this.

Links of the Day:	HTTP 404 Porn Not Found. Thanks RedAnt and Tim Tibbetts. The $977 Mouse. Thanks Joe Sabatini.
Stories of the Day:	Feds' Spying Plan Fades to Black. Thanks Mike Martinez. Improper Use of Tape to Fix Wings May Lead to FAA Fine for United. Thanks Greg Gerke. The great TV shows that nobody watched. Thanks Mike Martinez.
Wild Science:	Novel fridge cools with sound. Thanks sock. Cool!
Weird Science:	Mathematics unravels optimum way of shoe lacing. Thanks David Webber. Knot cool!
Auction of the Day:	PIC OF ME MAD AT EMINEM HOUSE FREELOADERS!!. Thanks Jon.
Media of the Day:	A Stoner's Life. Thanks David Webber.