Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford updated his .plan with a little pre-order sales pitch for Gearbox' upcoming Half-Life add-on Opposing Force. Here's a chunk of the update that talks of the cool in store displays they've got:

Gearbox is within days (hours?) of "Release Candidate 1" for Half-Life: Opposing Force. But, that's not the cool news. The cool news is that Brian's been working with the Sierra marketing and art dudes on a Corporal Adrian Shephard stand-up/cut-out display for the stores.

It's planned to have an animated Pipe Wrench that he brandishes... The whole thing is supposed to run off of solar power. It sounds very cool.

I'm going to try to get a dozen of them or so to set up in the hallway to disturb the neighbors in the building (we're going to need their office space soon). If you're a vendor who's going to get one for your OpFor sales display, don't promise it out to your cousin, I'll buy the damn thing from ya!

As promised earlier (story) The Adrenaline Vault's Descent III Mercenary Interview is now online, getting the dope on this upcoming add-on for Outrage Entertainment's Descent III straight from project leader Christopher Pfeiffer. Here is a bit from the proceedings that gives a feel for what's afoot here:

Will there be any additional weapons, enemies or multiplayer options added?

There will be a new ship for the single-player campaign. The ship is the Mercenary's Black Pyro. It offers new weapon loadouts and has unique physics. The Black Pyro will also be available in multiplayer games. As for robots and enemies, we have around 10 or so new ones. Each level has at least one new and unique robot that has been tailored for it. The new robots have greatly enhanced AI and further our goal of having highly characteristic life forms for the players to battle against.

As for multiplayer, the new B-side multiplayer levels offer gamers a new perspective on online gaming. As an example, one of the B-side levels is actually a pinball table. The multiplayer mayhem is exceptionally fun within the confines of this completely twisted level. The other B-side level themes are being kept secret for the release. These levels are refreshing and very fun to play.

PlanetBattlezone has posted nine new BattleZone II screenshots, showing off the upcoming sequel to Pandemic Studios' strategy title in 1280x1024 resolution in 32-bit color on a TNT2-Ultra.

The Nocturne Home has an updated release version of the Chicago Theater level Nocturne demo that has appeared in an earlier form from a magazine CD. Word from Smitty at Terminal Reality is "It reflects what people will see in the final release version and has the 3Dfx support included. No patch required. (until they update their drivers of course)." The new demo is a whopping 120 MB.

Microsoft & Turbine's online RPG is entering open beta. Here's the word sent along by Microsoft:

Microsoft announced today that a free, downloadable version of Asheron's Call is now available for play in the U.S. and abroad on the MSN Gaming Zone at http://www.zone.com/. Playable for a ten day period, the open trial gives gamers full access to the epic virtual world of Asheron's Call. Participants will be able to interact with thousands of other players and explore the 500 square mile isle of Dereth before the game is commercially released in November. Asheron's Call is an epic, massively multiplayer, role-playing game developed by Turbine Entertainment.

For those who would prefer to forego the download, the Asheron's Call beta is currently available on the demo disc in the November issue of Computer Games magazine (look for the issue with Asheron's Call on the cover). The magazine is available at major bookstores including Barnes & Noble and Borders, large supermarkets, Wal-Mart, CompUSA, Fry's and other stores where magazines are sold.

There's a new 360 degree panoramic screenshot on Sierra's SWAT 3 page. The shots are in QuickTime VR format. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

Another name maker release to report today, as the Game Name Builder Official Homepage has a new version 1.63 of this extended name editor. Among the new features in this release is support for Unreal Tournament and non-Battle.Net StarCraft servers.

GameFan has posted an AVI from ASC Games' Unreal engine title Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of Gaia, showing off the "shadow monster". It's a very small file (under a meg), but still high quality.

TheMasquerade.org has posted an edited chat log from the recent IRC chat with Nihilistic, the developers of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. There's a ton of info in here about the game, and its Nod engine, so if you're at all curious about the game, I'd suggest checking it out.

The first installment to the three-part TRIBES Extreme on-line comic has gone live over at PC.IGN, featuring the thrilling exploits of Rudder and Talitha. The next part will be released by GameSpot, with the final version being contained exclusively on the TRIBES Extreme CD.

GameSpot UK has posted another one of their screenshot heavy previews, this time with more screenshots from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation than is probably legal in some states. There's 93 shots in total: 50 from the PC version, and 43 from the Playstation version, including some screenshots of Lara at the young age of 16, as she appears in the game's training level.

RPOV has posted an interview with Shiny's Dave Perry, talking to the Earthworm Jim co-creator about his upcoming game of toddler carnage, Messiah. As interviews of this type go, it's very good, with a lot of gameplay specific questions, and not much in the way of background-information filler.

IMG Magazine has posted an article chronicling the author's trip to MacSoft's headquarters. MacSoft, in case you weren't aware, are the fine people behind the ports of Age of Empires and Rainbow Six amongst others. There's also a Quicktime movie of tour footage for those of you wanting the full multimedia experience.

Hot on the heels of his .plan update debunking the NiN rumor, id's Todd Hollenshead has conducted a brief interview with World Gamer's Front, discussing his background and what it's like to work at id (thanks Dan Gibson).

id's Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan, debunking the reports that have been flying around regarding possible Nine Inch Nails music in Quake III: Arena. Here's the cold, hard, truth:

To put this rumor quickly to rest, we don't have any tracks from Nine Inch Nails in the current Q3A soundtrack. Trent spent most of his time this year completing his latest album (you can still call them that, right?), and is now preparing for touring, if he's not already doing it.

As far as what is really in the soundtrack, I'm going to wait until it's finalized to go into details, but we have some great music from names many people will recognize.

3DGaming.Net's MDK 2 Preview is online, looking ahead at BioWare's upcoming sequel to MDK, Shiny's nutty third and first-person shooter. The preview is supplemented with answers from BioWare's Greg Zeschuk, and additionally, the entirety of their Q&A with Greg is posted separately here. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. MDK, of course, stands for Marlene Dietrich's Keister.

Kokak's Doom Page has a new alpha version 1.18b gl(0.01) of ZDoomGL, an OpenGL compatible version of ZDoom. ZDoom supports the shareware Doom, and the registered Doom & Doom II. The page warns that "ZDoomGL is at an early stage of development, so a lot of bugs may occur." Thanks, yet again, to the tireless Frans.

Slashdot Interviews John Carmack is the end result of the questions they solicited the other day (story) for the id Software lead programmer. Thanks BlackWind. This is a great interview, with detailed answers to the great reader-submitted questions. Here's John's answer to a question about attempts to create a metaverse, something he's discussed in the past:

Making Snow Crash into a reality feels like a sort of moral imperative to a lot of programmers, but the efforts that have been made so far leave a lot to be desired.

It is almost painful for me to watch some of the VRML initiatives. It just seems so obviously the wrong way to do something. All of this debating, committee forming, and spec writing, and in the end, there isn't anything to show for it. Make something really cool first, and worry about the spec after you are sure it's worth it!

I do think it is finally the right time for this to start happening for real. While a lot of people could envision the possibilities after seeing DOOM or Quake, it is really only now that we have general purpose hardware acceleration that things are actually flexible enough to be used as a creative medium without constantly being conscious of the technical limitations.

Two weeks ago, I pitched a proposal to develop some technology along these lines to the rest of the company. I may wind up working on some things like that in parallel with the next game project.

Here's an update on the status of someone whose name has appeared here often enough: Scott Herrington sends along word that he's left his position as PR/Marketing director for Shiny Entertainment to motor over to Turbine Entertainment Software, the developers of Asheron's Call, the upcoming multiplayer online RPG. Here's what Scott had to say about the move, which was based on a desire to get into the production side of things: "I had a great time at Shiny and left there with nothing but good feelings, but production is where I felt the most comfortable and useful, and this opportunity was something that was too good to pass up."

SeemsLikeSalvation, a Nine Inch Nails news site, has posted a report from "a source inside id Software" claiming that Trent Reznor has contributed three tracks for the Quake III: Area soundtrack. Word of this was also hinted at in this month's edition of PC Accelerator, although neither report is 100% official yet, so don't be too disappointed if it doesn't pan out (thanks everyone who sent that in, Tom Cornille being the first of many).

There are eight new Descent III Mercenary Screenshots on The Adrenaline Vault offering the first screenshots of this upcoming add-on for Outrage Entertainment's flying shooter. Word from the adrenaline junkies is to expect an upcoming interview with Descent III Mercenary project lead Christopher Pfeiffer with some details on this project.

PC.IGN.com's Splinter Interview (splinterview?) talks about Splinter, a just-announced flying shooter in the works from Stromlo. The Q&A is with the game's producer Tony Shiff "to see if Splinter will get under our skin" (you gotta love that). Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers. The game is due in the Asia-Pacific territory by spring 2000 under a co-publishing agreement with EA, and word is "EA Europe and North America are similarly considering publishing the title in their respective territories." The following answer gives their take on how the game will appeal to veteran Quake and Unreal players, as well as newbies:

As for new people, the game is easily acceptable. You can get into the gameplay and understand what you're supposed to be doing relatively quickly, and yet at the same time there's an element of adventure to unfold. It's not a case of playing the first five minutes and you've got the entire game down. You have to play through the whole thing and new things happen all the time. That's important to new gamers.

In terms of appealing to experienced gamers however, Splinter has a really good engine, it's got some really original content, and I think the people who are into those kinds of games will appreciate something different in the flying-shooter category.

The Adrenaline Vault previews Interstate '82 looking ahead at the driving and shooting game that's going to cut its hair and get some shoulder pads, as it moves from the 70s inspired I'76 to the new wave 80s. Here's a bit from the hands-on preview that gives a feel for how the plot in this mad maxian series is going to unfold six years later:

The heart of the game is its action, but what a story! As with so many sequels, lead designer Zack Norman's script is as much a spirited facsimile of the original as a continuation. With an unapologetically oddball plot strung across more than 40 minutes of first class full motion video, and missions set up in game-engine cinematics, this title pushes the narrative standard. Groove Champion, the original’s protagonist and the spiritual core of the series, finds himself knee-deep in Creepers and a government conspiracy moments into the opening movie. Before momentarily disappearing from the plot's radar, he manages to send a distress call to his sister, Skye, a mowhawked biker hottie who adopts the auto-vigilante selfhood of her dead sister, Jade, and becomes the new Vixen. She enlists the reluctant help of Groove’s one-time partner, Taurus, an African-American, jerri-curled car warrior with a bitchin’ wardrobe who is haunted by visions of a dying Jade. His flashbacks give the proceedings an emotional resonance sorely missing in this genre, but there is little time for tears as Taurus, Skye and, yes, Skeeter rip through wave after wave of pernicious enemies that make the denizens of the Mad Max movies seem like Polyannas.

An article titled TalonSoft's Winter Lineup on GameSpot talks of the crop of upcoming TalonSoft titles, and offers three new screenshots from Codename Eagle and three more new shots of Hidden & Dangerous: Devil's Bridge. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

There are five new Revenant screenshots on The Adrenaline Vault giving more of a look ahead at this upcoming Diablo-style action game from Eidos Interactive. Word is the game is close to going gold.

Voodoo Extreme has a new screenshot up from Giants, PlanetMoon Studios' upcoming third-person action-fest, along with an update from PlanetMoon's Tim Williams discussing the art of balancing gameplay in a game where there are three distinctive character classes.

TeamAbuses's Q3Tourney guide has been updated with even more tips on how to stay on top of the frag heap in Q3Test's designated tournament map, although it does warn: "Do not make the mistake in thinking that strategy wins on this map, it doesn't. If your opponent has great aim and can dodge reasonably well, it is going to be a one tough match no matter how good the strategy."

An update to Team Ego's Messiah FAQ adds new info on the decision not to use bump-mapping in this upcoming third-person action title from Shiny entertainment, as well as more about the game's optional support for the 16:9 screen ratio, and an explanation of why the demo, originally expected to be released about now, is now expected in early November. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

• There are the first benchmarks of a TNT2 running on a Mac on MacGamer's Ledge.
• There's an article on Transform & Lighting vs. Anti-Aliasing on Xtreme Insight Online.
• RIVA3D Reviews the GeForce DDR DVD looking at DVD playback on the new cards.
• iXBT Mainboards Manufacturers Interview talks with folks from the industry about CPUs and chipsets and stuff.
• Chip TestersWeekly Hardware Price Guide has been updated.
• 3DRage's Peltier Cooling Guide is the fourth installment in their ongoing cooling guide.
• HardOCP's First Impressions of the K7-650 Athlon are online.
  3DsoundSurge reviews Creative Lab's Sound Blaster Live Platinum.
• Sharky Extreme reviews the Transcend TS-UWH31 i810 Mainboard.
• Tech-Review.com reviews the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 6800 27.2 GB Hard Drive.

GameStone Interviews Sergey Zabaryansky, talking with the project leader on the Vital Engine about the project, and Venom, the upcoming first-person shooter based on the engine.

The Reactive Software page has version 1.1 of their server-side competition mod for Kingpin: Life of Crime, Xatrix' first-person shooter that uses the Quake II engine to create a world where you do bad things to bad people. The new release adds a HUD clock, countdown starts, and a Message of the Day.

The GTIS Driver Downloads page has patches for the various non-US and Canadian versions of Driver. Thanks CuTThroaT JaKe.

The Adrenaline Vault News is reporting that Eidos has extended its publishing deal with Squaresoft to include Final Fantasy VIII on the PC throughout Europe and Australia, so expect one of loonyboi's (and many other folks') favorite console offerings to come to the PC down the road. There's a copy of the press release on this, along with about 30 FF8 screenshots on BigKid games news & reviews, though I imagine the shots are from the PlayStation version.

InsideMacGames' Sneak Preview of Rainbow Six looks ahead at the upcoming Mac version of Red Storm Entertainment's first-person shooter of tactical anti-terrorist action.

A post on TiberiumSun.com gives some interesting news on what info is passed along to Westwood when registering Tiberian Sun online. Apparently in addition to sending the serial number of your C&C Windows 95 edition (it's not clear if this is just a Win95 thing), it also sends your network adaptor's MAC address.

The LxDoom Homepage has a new version 1.4.0 of this Linux port of the Doom source code, now a GPL release, reflecting the source code's new status. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The Name Maker Studio homepage has a new version G2 4.00 of this editor to create fun and colored names for games that support them. The new release adds the ability to edit your name in a fully WYSIWYG environment.

In referring to a review I called the Gigabyte GA-660 Plus a motherboard yesterday (story), when it is , in fact, a video card based on the TNT2A. sorry about causing any confusion. Also, that Last Revelation Training Level Unveiled on The Adrenaline Vault mentioned yesterday is back online. If you looked for it after our story on it was posted it may have been missing, since it turns out that it was posted a bit early. Finally, a post on BetaNews says that Win2K shipping in February 2000 does not actually represent a delay, as that has been planned for some time.

As always, the daily dose comes hard and fast. Thanks, as usual, to Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

• GameSpot UK reviews Rogue Spear.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews Rogue Spear.
• PlanetRainbowSix reviews Rogue Spear looking at the action aspects of the game.
• PlanetRainbowSix reviews Rogue Spear looking at the strategy aspects of the game.
• EuroGamer reviews FreeSpace2.
• Gaming Age reviews Sinistar Unleashed.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
• Game Revolution reviews Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
• Gamecenter reviews Silver.
• Gaming Age reviews Homeworld.
• GameSpy.com reviews Cutthroats.
• Gamecenter reviews Flight Unlimited III.
• Gamecenter reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.
• 3DGaming.Net reviews the Thief Gold Demo.
• Glide Underground reviews the second Treadmarks demo.

• Microsoft's Motocross Madness 2 site is now online...
• Fortress2.com is offering hosting for TeamFortress2-oriented sites...
• An update to the Refraction website adds workarounds for a couple of minor glitches with the recently released Codename Eagle demo. Thanks 3DFiles.
• Urban Chaos at MeccaWorld has a new pair of gameplay movies from this upcoming action game, as both small and a large version....
• NWGN Forums is an unofficial messageboard for the now-deposed members of the TEN online service, which shut down yesterday...
• A thread titled This party is over on the Nachos BBS gives the sad news that as a result of attempts at cracking their server, this long-time cornerstone of the CTF community (in particular LMCTF), is closing down. Thanks Grey...

A bunch of readers wrote in about my mini-review (or as one referred to it, a "MiniMe" review) of the EverGlide mousepad yesterday (story) either asking, or telling about the new Microsoft mouse with the optical guts. Rest assured, this is definitely on the agenda as the next rodent to get into the BlueLabs for testing. It shouldn't take that long to get a hold of one to get that going, so I'll even risk my superstition about predicting such things and say it will actually be soon (daring, huh?).

Link of the Day: TurdWear. No, different than the kind my little brother used to wear. Thanks STELTH.
Story of the Day: Wheel Falls Off Airliner, Hits Car In Chicago Thanks Tom McMullen.
Bonus Story: Caffeine Causes Changes In Brain Cells on PlanetRx. Thanks Portax. Hey, PlanetRX??...Nah.
Image of the Day: A "portion" of a Duke Nukem Forever screenshot on the 3D Realms Bulletin Board. Warning, it's just a joke, Dopefish acting as Dr. Evil responding to requests for a shot from the upcoming print PC Gamer.