Human Head's Mike Werckle updated his .plan with a giant update on RUNE, their Unreal 2 engine game of viking glory. There's a whole lot of info in here about their new skeletal technology - here's an excerpt:

I think you all will be very happy with the complexity of enemies that we are adding to RUNE. In the old days we used to make "enemies," or "monsters," and everyone you encountered looked exactly the same. With RUNE'S new skeletal technology we are able to have a huge varitey of meshes deformed by the same bones, and which share the same set of animations. But with the added complexity we have found a need to expand our definition of what an enemy is.

Registration is now open for The Frag 3, this October's CPL event which has a $10,000 purse for the winner of the Q3Test tournament. Even if you're not planning on entering the tournament, you must enter, since there's a limited amount of space at the event.

AVault has posted an interview with David Grenewetzki, president of Sierra On-Line. The interview (which would appear to have been conducted just this afternoon), talks mostly about their "restructuring" announcement, but there's also this bit which appears to confirm that Half-Life 2 is in production (as if there were really any doubts) and even that Homeworld 2 is being considered. Here's an excerpt:

Moving forward, we have Homeworld, which just shipped, and its sequel, Homeworld 2, which we are currently evaluating at this time. Also coming from Valve are Team Fortress 2 as well as Half-Life 2, and Mark’s got an incredible design team in Impressions Games, probably the most successful group within Sierra, which is shipping Pharaoh, an incredible title, this year.

Dynamix' Nels Bruckner updated his .plan with some thoughts on the "restructuring" going on at Sierra/Dynamix, happy news about the recently released TRIBES demo, and word that there should be a new TRIBES patch released for server operators next week. Here's what he had to say:

As many of you have read in the news there are big organizational changes going on at Sierra and therefore here at Dynamix as well. I've been through a lot of these and they are always difficult, even if the reasoning behind it all makes good business sense. It's the kind of thing you just have to figure out how to work through and move on from, for everyone involved.

On a much happier note, our Tribes demo has (finally) seen the light of day. I believe it went live on Thursday and the response so far has been tremendous. Every demo server that we put up gets instantly swamped and there seems to be a pretty consistent 200-300 people on line all the time. It is very cool to see.

Server opperators can expect a new version of Tribes sometime next week. The patch addresses two server-side crash bugs that have come to light. The patch shouldn't effect anything on the client side.

Gamecenter's Sneak Peeks at Omikron The Nomad Soul is a preview of Eidos Interactive and Quantic Dream's unusual-sounding upcoming third person action game, or as they say: "Imagine a game featuring martial arts fighting, gun combat, and David Bowie, and you've got Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a compelling and unique action-adventure title." Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The innovative WONSwap service, that allows easy up and downloading of user-created maps, models, and skins for a few different games, has been updated to add Quake II support. Word is at this point the service does not currently support Quake II models, but they will be added soon, along with support for StarCraft maps.

The Adrenaline Vault Patch Downloads has a new version 1.1 patch for Acclaim's RC racing simulator Re-volt.

The Wheel of Time page has what's described as one of the few remaining updates from Designer/Producer Glen Dahlgren, who is soon to be off to be married (congrats Glen). Thanks BlackWind. Here's a good chunk of the update that describes how the soon-to-be-completed Unreal-engine game is shaping up, as well as Legend's plans to follow-up the release with a high-speed game server:

The end product breaks down into three sections: the single player game, the Arena Game, and the Citadel Game. The SP game is very close. Craig, Grant, and I have all been beating on it now for a while, and bugs are starting to flow in from GT's testing department. This feedback is keeping James and Matt very busy, but they're managing to stay on top of it all, and the SP levels have never been more solid and complete. Warren is finishing up 'Gathering the Seals', the climax level and the last level to be locked. I'll be beating on it today, and we should have a locked level before I leave (we'd better!).

The Arena Game is also pretty solid. We've been playing some of the newer maps when we get a chance (Scott's Hall of the Tower and Warren's huge SL map) and we have one or two more planned if we get the chance. Feedback is starting to trickle in from the press about Arena, and it's universally positive. I'll get to that in a second.

The Citadel Game is where we're focusing the most technical attention right now. It came together the latest of all of the dynamics because of its complexity, so we're bug fixing and play balancing now. There's so much potential there; we're working hard to realize all of it.

An idea that had been brewing around here for a while has suddenly become reality: after we release WoT, we will be hosting a high-speed game server, and it's my intention to keep WoT.com as your one-stop-shop for information about this server, competitions, special events, etc. In fact, once we're done with the development (as long as I'm not sucked into something else immediately), I'll have more bandwidth to spend on adding content to the page. So look forward to playing WoT on the Legend server, and screaming obscenities at the development team--as I know at least I'll be dropping in from time to time.

The ION Storm Daily Informant has a Deus Ex update (an actual update, not some weird X-Files website publicity stunt) from about the entire team, getting feedback from Designer Warren Spector, Lead Programmer Chris Norden, Design Team Leader Harvey "Witchboy" Smith, Design Team Leader Bob White, Programmer Scott Martin, Designer Steve Powers, Artist Russ Hughes, and Writer Sheldon Pacotti. Here's Scott Martin's update on progress on the game's AI, including the coveted sit in couch AI (now if only NPC's could operate the TV remote):

I'm still chugging along on the AI. I recently made some optimizations to decrease the AI's load on the CPU. Combat is getting more interesting as the NPCs get smarter. NPCs can now break glass, shoot through crates that enemies are hiding behind, react to loud noises (including footsteps), defend areas, run to alarms and trigger them to call reinforcements, sit in chairs or couches, and inconspicuously tail the player. And there's even more cool stuff on the way...

Word from the gold-diggers at Gone Gold is that Armored Fist 3, NovaLogic's game of tank combat, and Links LS 2000, Microsoft's upcoming outdoor aggravation (golf) game, have both gone gold, and off to manufacture. Also, they reiterate the expectation that Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, the sequel to RSE's tactical shooter Rainbow Six, should be appearing on store shelves tomorrow.

The official Prince of Persia 3D site has posted a patch to upgrade the retail version of the game to version 1.1, as well as a post saying that the previous patch (version 1.0) had "some problems" so if you've got that patch, be sure to download this new one. Thanks to Frans at 3DGamers for the tip.

Aureal's driver download page has posted new drivers for Vortex 2 based cards. The drivers are available as a standalone download, or as a beefy version which contains the Vortex demos, applications, and the Aureal GM MIDI set. Thanks Vortex of Sound, who sends word that new A3D drivers should be released later this afternoon.

AussieGamer has posted 33 (!) new screenshots and production drawings from Fox Interactive's Planet of the Apes game that's currently in development. No word if Charlton Heston's in the game, but hey...a guy can hope, can't he? And if not? Well, damn you Fox! Damn you all to hell!

A thread on the offical Babylon 5 message board (started by members of the development team) appears to confirm that Babylon 5, a game in development by Sierra Studios has been cancelled (thanks BrainDamag3). AVault is also reporting that in addition to B5, Sierra has cancelled Orcs: Revenge of the Ancient, and two Dynamix titles: Desert Fighters and Pro Pilot Paradise. Update: Sierra has issued this press release which makes the news official.

The Rogue Spear Retreat has posted plugins for Photoshop 5 that allow you to use Rogue Spear's RSB texture format in the program. Rogue Spear is set to appear on store shelves tomorrow, the 22nd.

EuroGamer has posted a preview of Pandemic and Activision's Battlezone II, based on a hands-on experience with the game. They've also posted a handful of screenshots, which would seem to be the ones Activision released at ECTS...so if you haven't seen them yet, they're new to you.

Longbow Digital Arts' Seumas McNally sends word of some new screenshots of Tread Marks on the Tread Marks website showing off the new Plasma Gun effects in this upcoming tank racing/combat game. There is also word there that the follow-up Tread Marks test is taking longer than expected, but when available, will offer "full Internet multi-player support, with Master Servers to list the currently running game servers, and a chat interface similar to IRC where you'll be able to get together with other players before and after the games."

Epic's Mark Rein has conducted a brief Q&A with FGNOnline, where he talks about the success of the Unreal Tournament demo. Here's what he had to say:

"Hundreds of people have been playing the demo constantly," explained the vice president of Epic Games. "The success of the demo is surprising because some of the maps in my opinion aren't the best the game features and there's also a limited amount of weapons in the demo."

PCZone has posted a preview of MDK 2, Bioware's sequel to Shiny's surreal third person action game, complete with screenshots galore. MDK, as everyone knows, stands for More Donkey Kong.

This GameSpot Nocturne Download page has the second part of the four part movie showing off Nocturne, the upcoming horror thriller from Gathering of Developers and Terminal Reality. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. Word on the two parts of the movie now available is they "mix black & white and color character portrayals and news-like footage with shots of actual gameplay cut in between. Fairly scary stuff, makes it look like the perfect release for Halloween." I'm going to go put on my Count Floyd costume.

The Unreal Tournament website has an update from Epic's Mark Rein giving the lowdown on plans for the next version of the Unreal Tournament demo (thanks Unreal Universe). The update goes on to describe the method for getting the software renderer to run (story) and gives the lowdown on plans for Mac and Linux releases coming down the road, with a Mac release around a month away, and plans for a server only Linux demo followed by a client release. Here's the portion on what to expect from the next PC demo release:

We're working hard on getting the next version of the demo finished. It will feature support for D3D, OpenGL, Metal, Glide and software rendering. It will include another map but we haven't decided conclusively which map it will be. To use our D3D code will require DirectX Version 7 which Microsoft expects to release on their web site on Wednesday. We'll keep you posted on their progress. We definitely will not ship the demo before Microsoft releases Dx7 for downloading so don't expect the new demo any sooner than Wednesday or more likely Thursday or later. If you see Microsoft release Dx7 and you intend to run UT under D3D please go download and install Dx7. Please also make sure you have the absolute latest drivers for your video card. You may find your video card vendor issues new drivers around the same time as Dx7 ships. If you use a 3DFX card you want to use the Glide API and if you use a Savage4 card you want to use Metal. We believe Direct3D is the right API for those running Windows 95 or Windows 98 with the following cards: Nvidia Riva TNT, Nvidia Riva TNT2, Nvidia GeForce256, ATI Rage 128, Matrox G200, Matrox G400, Permedia Create3, and PowerVR 250. Apologies to any vendor we forgot here! If you're running Windows NT4 and you don't have a Glide-compatible card OpenGL may work for you. We have not had time to work on our OpenGL drivers beyond what shipped in Unreal version 225 but we do expect to improve them before the final version of UT ships.

CitizenKabuto.com interviews Shawn Nelson in a short Q&A about his career singing with his brother Gunnar, and his more recent work with PlanetMoon Studios as the lead animator on Giants: Citizen Kabuto, PMS' upcoming third-person action game.

There are some photos of a prototype Quake III Action Figure on GA-Source. There is also a post on the ReSaurus - Quake page saying they are gauging interest in creating a Quake II (not III) marine medic, but want to see how many pre-orders it generates (pre-ordering apparently does not obligate you to buy it).

Red Orb Presents Prince of Persia 3D downloads page now says the patch for the game is "coming soon," even though I can say almost positively that it was there when the story of its release was posted yesterday (story), so it looks like the page has been edited (it still says "Simply click on the link below to download the patch"). Thanks Mark Allman. No word on why the patch was pulled.

• If you thought RAM prices were bad already (they've doubled around here in the past few weeks), Taiwan Quake Seen Shaking World Chip Prices gives the news that beyond whatever other tragedies the recent quake in Taiwan has caused, it will also cause further spikes in RAM costs (it's been a while since one of these--it used to seem like the natural disasters that impact RAM prices were happening according to a schedule). Thanks Ant.
• Tweaking Your PC: Getting the Last Mile Out of Your Hardware Part 1 of 4 on Tweak3D was originally printed in PC Gamer's Ultimate Hardware Bible (reprinted with permission).
• Diamond says needs more votes for S3 buyout is the latest on this attempt at a merger.
• AMD announces the introduction of new speed grades for both the Mobile AMD-K6-2-P and the Mobile AMD-K6-III-P processor families. Thanks AMD Zone, where they are also speculating on more Athlon price cuts soon (they say Oct. 4).
• Dungeon Keeper 2 shots on Matrox G400 3D Gaming Enhanced Games showing off environmental bump-mapping in the upcoming EMBM patch.
• Asus 3800 NVIDIA TNT Overclocking Guide by The Tech Zone.
• 3DHardware.net reviews the Soyo Sy-6BA+III Motherboard.
• BoomGames reviews the CardCooler.

Planet Kingpin's Deathmatch Guide is underway, offering DM tips for Xatrix' life of crime shooter, with plans on expanding the guide to offer user submitted tips as they arrive.

3DO's Erik Robson dropped a line to mention the release of the first shots from their upcoming third-person action RPG game set in the Might and Magic universe. Shot one, shot two, and shot three are all 1280x1024 D3D shots taken on a TNT2, and the corresponding thumbnail one, thumbnail two, and thumbnail three will let you check them out first.

The Blast Chamber website has the first public beta of the Blast Chamber modification for Quake II. The mod's twist is that players are attempting to activate a nuclear device, and then race to safety before being caught in the explosion, which history has proven, can turn you into The Incredible Hulk, create Godzilla, or possibly even worse. Blast Chamber offers DM and teamplay, and there are plans to add CTF support to a future version.

WAD 99 is now accepting registrations for this big ole LAN party upcoming in Louisiana. Also, this Quake 3 Survey from Jevity Entertainment Inc. is gauging interest in a Quake III-oriented LAN even on the west coast in the beginning of 2000.

GameSpot UK's Tiberian Sun Competition offers the chance to win all manner of C&C swag.

Oops, made a boo-boo yesterday in talking about GameSlice, turns out there's a list of editorials down the right side of this page listing the stories that have indeed been going up there on a weekly basis, there has not actually been the lengthy gap between them like I said (though Geoff admits most of the places listing the stories do indicate such a lapse had occurred). Sorry to have implied Geoff was slacking, as he takes pride in keeping up with his updates.

Okay, I surrender. Though I think it's only fair to download a free demo to judge it, starting tomorrow, we'll start posting demo reviews too. Thanks Frans for a bunch of these:

• Gamers Depot reviews System Shock 2.
• Reviews R Us reviews Quake II Colossus for Linux. Thanks Stefan Folkerts.
• GamesMania reviews Outcast. Thanks Nigel.
• Sharky Extreme reviews C&C: Tiberian Sun.
• GamePower reviews Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver.
• GamePrix reviews Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
• Gamers Central reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• PC Arena reviews Drakan: Order of the Flame.
• The Wargamer reviews Force 21.
• 3D Spotlight reviews the Matrox Millennium G400.

• Vortex of Sound is reporting that the PlayStation II will be supporting the yet-unannounced A3D 3.0 spec...
• Enslaved by Games' TRIBES Renegades Guide gives some tips on playing this Starsiege TRIBES mod...
• CNN - New Word virus hits Net. It was more fun when they were all "good times"-style hoaxes. Thanks Phil "Cain" Hall...
• Mushroom: Gamer Mad At Blue For Stealing His DC. Oops!...
• Yesterday's Foxtrot mentions Quake. I believe it will show up in a month or so in a link that will work if I post it, in the meantime, all the links to various syndicated versions folks send in will not actually work if posted here...

Yesterday was the third anniversary of the QuakeWorld launch event in NYC (which didn't actually mark the debut of QW) will always remain my most memorable such event. Wow, I just realized that was the first time I met Fargo, as well. I can't figure out if three years seems like a long or short time ago. Seems a bit of both. Speaking of which, today is the third anniversary of the first beta release of the Worldcraft level editor. Another blast from the past, apparently in the credits of the new NiN album, released today, id Software is among those thanked (thanks Stephen Payne and [FUN]Merlin). NiN's Trent Reznor, if you don't recall, did music and sounds for the original Quake.

I drifted off on the couch watching TV last evening and awoke a short time ago to find an infomercial for that nutty juiceman playing. I'm a little worried about the effect of this kind of thing on the subconscious, I noticed him shouting something about needing to eat living things to sustain life (being quite carnivorous, this is an eerie thought). I guess it could be worse, it could have been that Tae-Bo dude (not to mention how I used to hit the snooze bar in the mornings while Howard Stern's subliminal influence worked its subtle magic). Now you see the need for the anti-sleep policy here... it's a jungle out there.

Link of the Day: The Alibi Agency. Thanks Lori. For amusement purposes only, Blue's News does not condone infidelity.