HD Interactive, the European publisher of Mortyr, has opened their website today (Flash required) and posted a small patch (no Flash) for Mirage's first-person shooter, to fix problems with several Pioneer CD/DVD drives.

Gamecenter has a new movie of Thief II: the Metal Age available for download, showing off a minute of new gameplay and rendered footage (but some of it familiar from this movie) from Looking Glass' upcoming sneaky action game.

Also up at Gamecenter tonight are a dozen new Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer screenshots, the latest first-person installment in the long-running role-playing series by 3DO.

incitegames has posted ten new screenshots of Soldier of Fortune, the mercenary first-person shooter that is in the final stages of development at Raven Software.

EuroGamer has posted a brief preview of Ground Control which, while not based on a playable version, does include a couple of new screenshots of Massive's upcoming 3D RTS. In similar vein, but using a pre-beta build, is Happy Puppy's preview of Earth 2150: Escape from the Blue Planet, the real-time strategy offering by TopWare and SSI.

Digital Anvil's official Loose Cannon site (Flash required) has been updated with a new design journal (no Flash). Andrew Sega gives a rundown of the state of development of their upcoming game of car combat and on-foot action, which is apparently going to be demonstrated at Microsoft's "Gamestock" event in early March.

TRIBES Players has posted a fix for a problem with the Diamond Sword base turret on the "Raindance" mission that was introduced with the 1.10 patch. The fix is all of 5k, and according to their downloads page, is "more fun than a barrel of fun things."

3dfx has released new drivers for their Voodoo 3 3500 TV video card (thanks [Montella] Dennis Claesson). These drivers fix a ton of issues related to the card's video capture features, and there are now localized versions for each region.

GameSpot's GameGuides has posted their guide to Battlezone II, featuring general strategies as well as full walkthroughs for both singleplayer campaigns, multiplayer strategies and even cheat codes.

AVault is reporting that Invictus, Interplay and 14 Degrees East's strategy/adventure title has gone gold, and will be arriving on store shelves later this month. The game uses a unique hybrid engine that utilizes both voxels and traditional polygons, and is fully 3D.

In the Trenches has posted a brief interview with Raven's John Scott, talking to him about the changes in Soldier of Fortune since the demo version, the retail version's multiplayer game modes, and even what kind of beverage he'd like to be (mmm....Guiness).

StrangeCompany has re-released Ozymandias, their first movie made with the LithTech Film Producer, as a new "director's cut" which now has the film taking place in "in a surreal black-and-white world." You will need to have already downloaded the original real-time movie in order to watch this new version. For those not using Windows 9x machines (which at this time is required for the Film Producer's run-time client) they've also released the original movie in Real Media format.

As promised, ThrushWave has released a playable demo of The Rift, their space-based real-time strategy game. The demo is currently available for download at the Adrenaline Vault, and weighs in at a very reasonable 16.6 MB.

Three new screenshots from Battlecruiser Millennium (showing off the "type 1" and "type 4" space stations), and two new screenshots from the Battlecruiser Strike Pak have been posted at the official Battlecruiser 3000 AD site.

In a strange turn of events, S3 and NVIDIA, each of whom had filed patent-infringement cases against the other, have decided to enter into a cross-licensing agreement in exchange for dropping the lawsuits (thanks Jeff Magil). Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Access to intellectual property is rapidly becoming the highest barrier to entry in today's PC graphics market," said Andrew Wolfe, Chief Technology Officer for S3 Incorporated. "Over the past ten years, S3 has built an incredibly strong IP portfolio through internal development, as well as through licensing agreements with Intel, Exponential, Cirrus and now NVIDIA. Based on our IP strengths, S3 and NVIDIA rank as possibly the only two companies positioned to win long-term in the PC graphics market."

"With this announcement we have reached an agreement that is mutually beneficial to both companies," said Jen-Hsun Huang, President and CEO at NVIDIA. "Over the years, S3 has developed and acquired a rich portfolio of technologies in graphics, multimedia, microprocessors and system logic. Our license agreements with SGI and S3, combined with NVIDIA's rich technology patent portfolio, gives us a strong technology base on which to build winning products."

New information reported on PS2.IGN about Square's Final Fantasy XI (no, that's not a typo - they recently announced IX, X, and XI in Japan) states that the company is planning a simultaneous worldwide release of the game, which will be a massively multiplayer RPG. Gamers in the US will be able to play with those in Japan, and perhaps most intriguing, because the information is all stored on their central server, you will be able to switch between the PC and Playstation 2 versions without losing your character. The title is not set to be released until Summer of 2001, and very little is known about the gameplay at this point.

Well, it looks like Wednesdays are officially Mail Bag days now, here at Blue's News, as we've just posted a brand new edition of our Mail Bag. In this week's oddball collection of mail: TRIBES 2 authentication, Trekkies, more on the Ultima IX boards, a reply from 3D Realms to last week's open letter, and the truth about the mysterious number revealed. Swing by and read all about it.

The official Star Trek: Armada site has been updated with a new screenshot of the week from this space-based RTS, and kicked off the first development diary by producer Marc Turndorf, discussing the co-operation between Activision and Paramount in recreating the Star Trek universe into a gaming world. Thanks Tymetodie.

Games Domain has posted a pair of movie trailers for Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, showing off a few dozen seconds each of cinematic footage from the upcoming expansion pack to Westwood's real-time strategy game.

Pterodon, the Czech company that is co-developing Flying Heroes with Illusion Softworks, has opened their website to provide more information, a couple of screenshots, and some music samples, from their upcoming fantasy 3D action/strategy game where you apparently get to act out "those magnificent men in their flying machines."

A new version of Q3Log, a log-parsing program for Quake III Arena, has been released, and is available for download at its official site. This new version supports client-side log files in addition to other changes.

Gamers Central has posted a preview of Project Overdrive, an upcoming first-person shooter and racing game by Russian developers Vistage and Buka. As the title is scheduled for a Fall release, the preview is not based on a playable build, but there are seven new screenshots (and one familiar) to give you an idea of the look of the game.

Dark Corners of the Earth: Call of Cthulhu Interview is a talk with Andrew Brazier of Headfirst about their 3D horror adventure that is based on the pen and paper RPG. As the title is still early in development, the discussion mostly covers the storyline, building up a feeling of horror, and the gameplay, which will include these multiplayer features:

IGNPC: So there's going to be an emphasis on help in multiplayer?

AB: Yeah, it's going to be totally cooperative. We're going to put a deathmatch in as well, just because it's like, "why not?" really. So action fans will still want to pick it up. But Lovecraft's stories weren't really about running round with guns shooting everything, so that's not the focus of the normal game, but yeah, we'll put a deathmatch mode in anyway just to have a bit of a laugh really.

There is a new preview of Hitman: Codename 47 online at Daily Radar, looking at IO Interactive's upcoming third-person action game that sees you acting out the ways of a professional hitman. A couple of new (and some familiar) screenshots demonstrate his stealthy operations.

GameSpot News has posted a set of new Quark screenshots, showing off the recently announced 3D action/adventure in development at French company Quantic Dream (story).

The weekly update to the official Summoner site brings a new screenshot of the week, as well as a new entry in the character gallery, the Brown Bacite, viewable in plain 2D or glorious 3D.

Part two of Thresh's Firingsquad's John Carmack Interview is online, with more Q&A with id Software's lead programmer about the gaming industry, the possibility of self-publishing, what happened to Trinity, loads about the future, and a bit about his favorite genre, the first-person shooter. This means that id's next title will be another shooter, right? Well, maybe, but maybe not, according to this answer:

It's very likely to still be a first person game, but it may not be an action game. Graeme and I have been sitting around talking about game design ideas for different things, and they cover a pretty fair range, exploring a few different choices that we've got, but we're not prepared to talk about any of them yet. They are likely to be first person, almost certainly.

Here's an interview with Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart translated from the original German language version. The Q&A catches up with the Epic programmer on his current slate of projects, which includes work on PSX2 programming, Rocket Arena for UT, and picking his hair color of the week.

• 3dwin2000.de has the leak of the week with new version 3.76 Detonator drivers for Win2K (we're not nuts for leaks, but this seems to be almost the chosen method of distribution for these). Thanks Fishy.
• Rage 128 Tweaker Homepage has a new version of this utility for owners of these ATI video cards with new beta Fury MAXX support.
• Intel PIII 550E-a 733EB in disguise on Digital Clips says "it's the Celeron 300 A all over again."
• There's a new Diamond Viper II FAQ on Cole 3D.
• ATI Xpert 2000 Pro video card is reviewed on HotHardware.
• Voodoo 3 3500TV video card is reviewed on GAMEZReviewz.
• ELSA 3D Revelator Glasses are reviewed on Beyond 3D.
• AOpen AX6C-L motherboard is reviewed on Gamers Depot.
• MicroStar BXMaster motherboard is reviewed on HardwareCentral.
• 3DCOOL Dual Overkill PIII Cooler is reviewed on SystemLogic.

MSN Gaming Zone Chat Events is hosting one of their events this evening, a chat session with the developers of Allegiance, MS' upcoming space combat game, currently in open beta. Attending will be Joel "Solap" Dehlin, Rob "Ribski" Girling, Curt "DontMess" Carpenter and David "Tkela" Pugh, discussing tips and tricks, upcoming events, current issues in the game, and more. The chat will begin at 9:00 PM EST (6:00 PM PST) in the Zone Theater Chat Room.

Architecture of Aggression Part Two on Damage Gaming offers opinions from several developers about their favorite video game villains of all time. The article offers entries from Lee Perry, Kenn Hoekstra, Tom Hall, and others on the topic. My personal runner-up vote would go to Ensemble's Mark Terrano's and my bro Rogue's Robert Selitto's pick, the Doom Cyberdemon, but for the scariest and most intimidating of all time would be the Arch Vile from Doom II (which is also picked by LithTech's Paul Butterfield).

After a semi-private initial beta, build two of the HeadHunters Classic beta for Quake III Arena is now available on the tarot gaming site in preparation for a planned session of beta testing tonight on a few different servers. The festivities begin at 8:00 PM EST (7:00 PM CST/"GMT –6") in IRC irc.enterthegame.com #headhunters. More details on the site and their messageboards.

The Veterans Clan page has version 0.1b of the TFC-Bot, which rather than an AI playmate for TeamFortress Classic, is a program that announces TFC games in real-time through IRC, reporting captures, scores and all kinds of player statistics. TFC-Bot can also be used as an easy IRC-based server admin tool to kick/ban players, etc.

A new version 1.0.32 of the Q3AControl remote admin console is now available. Q3AControl can govern Quake, QuakeWorld, and Quake II servers in addition to Q3A servers, and the new release fixes some bugs, and adds several new features, including the ability to create a custom cVar file for each server.

The SignoSoft Homepage has the first release of MapMan for Quake III Arena, designed to make managing your Q3A map collection easier. The project is still under development, but much of the basic functionality is in place, but the final version of the program as planned will offer loads of neat functionality.

A post to The Oxygen Tank Forum and Comments System by Mark Hirsch, executive producer at S3-Diamond Inc. clarifies that versions of the S3TC-enhanced maps converted for use on non-S3 cards is not a problem for them. Local copies can be found on Z-Axis (thanks quake3nation) where we first heard word of local copies on FilePlanet (the first name on each of these is the map author's): Learth's Asunder, AzrKnight's The CrossRoads, SPoG's Lonely Planet, Mr. Clean's Last Rites, Peej's Face to Fate, ztn's Bad Blood, and Wolfen's Conflicting Interests.

Gamecenter's Sneak Peek at Warlords Battlecry, due this spring from SSG & Strategic Simulations, Inc. HavenGames previews Earth 2150 looking at this upcoming apocalyptic RTS. There are some new Gangsters II screenshots on World Online. Finally, there are new Sudden Strike screenshots on the SS homepage (warning, this is one of the most intrusive non-pornographic browser hijack links I've ever seen).

Ranger Gone AWOL on Machinima.com tells the story of Ranger Gone Bad 3, detailing the history of the on-again, off-again, and now apparently on-again Quake movie, including some of the behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding the project's post-production woes.

Registration for the Razer CPL Event, which opened Monday, is now complete, with all the spots in this upcoming $100,000 tournament filled.

• 3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers on Gamezilla and Operation Sports.
• Aces High on Dogfighter.
• Asheron's Call on Electric Playground.
• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on Game Revolution and 3DGaming.Net.
• Campaign 1776: The American Revolution on Gamecenter.
• Carmageddon 2 on PCGameReview.
• Demolition Racer on Operation Sports.
• Delta Force 2 on ActiveWindows.
• Descent 3: Mercenary on GamePower.
• Gabriel Knight III on GameWire.Org and PC Arena.
• Jane's F/A-18 on Games Domain Review.
• NASCAR Legends on Adrenaline Vault.
• Rat Padz mouse pad on BoomGames Interactive.
• Septerra Core: Legacy Of The Creator on GameSpot UK.
• Sid Meiers Antietam! on The Wargamer.
• South Park Rally on Gamecenter.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on EuroGamer.
• Test Drive 6 on Games Domain Review.
• The Sims on Future Gamer and Insane Gamer.

• Sorry to see word on UnrealNation that this old school Unreal news site has thrown in the towel, in their words, and will no longer be updated. Thanks deCyber...
• Houston Native Digital Tome Set to Launch Computer Game Industry’s First Episodic Game Novel...
• Act One-No. 172 is the new Diablo II Screenshot of the week (no, it's not the 172nd of these, just the 49th)...
• Panty Raider has been announced, from the folks that brought you the Deer Avenger series. The plausible premise? "This May, To Save the Earth from Nasty Aliens, Gamers will Seek Out Supermodels to Strip Them Down to Their Bra and Panties." There are screenshots on GameDaily...
• Speaking of GameDaily, here is the weekly best-selling PC games list and the Mac bestsellers list. This week UT surpasses Q3A on the PC list by only dropping one spot to #9, while Q3A plunges 10 spots to #15. UT and Q3A both hold steady on the Mac chart at #1 and #3 respectively. Until next week this is Casey Kasem saying keep your feet on the ground and a fire extinguisher in the kitchen...
• FGNOnline reports Hasbro Interactive and its subsidiary Atari Interactive have filed suit in federal court to enforce the companies' copyrights to some of the world's most popular computer and videogames. The complaint alleges that eGames, GT Interactive and several others have blatantly copied games for which Hasbro Interactive owns the exclusive copyrights. These games include Centipede, Asteroids and Missile Command among others." Thanks GreenMarine.
• A press release on NovaCentral reports attempts by a US Marine to convince his superiors to spring some taxpayer cash to play Delta Force 2 on a LAN as a training simulator (sounds like something that will be brought up in these school shooting lawsuits)...

From the vast "I probably should know this stuff already" department: Some interesting comments in the messageboards about the weapon respawn times in Q3A teamplay games I mentioned yesterday, enlightening me on the reasoning behind the respawns in team games being longer than in free-for-alls. The main concept is map control where teams end up taking certain portions of the map, only allowing teammates access to the weapons that spawn in their area, and fighting to take control of areas held by the other team (of course the last time I clamped down a weapon in a teamplay game, I was called a camper). It has been pointed out with shorter respawns, teamplay would tend to be more a team free-for-all, rewarding FFA skills, which tend to emphasize aim over team tactics. This makes sense, though some server operators did express some frustration with the inability to change the spawn times to create their own balance, as apparently the 30 second respawn time is indeed hard-coded (though one comment seemed to recall that changing the "weaponrespawn setting AFTER you set the g_gametype setting" will change the spawn time). Being able to shorten the respawns certainly would help in the situations like MrCoffee and I were encountering, since I realize an extra factor in our situation was that we were looking for servers where the player limit was tweaked a bit high, to maximize the chance we couple play on the same team (difficult to do when you join a two-on-two). Anyway, though the point is well taken that that having trouble finding a weapon can be a sign the other team is doing a good job of map control, as I mentioned, the skimpy default ammo loads had lots of players on both teams fighting like Muhammad Ali with the fists, but not with the guns.

Link of the Day: YETI@Home. Help in the search for BigFoot from your home PC. Thanks DarkNinja.
Bonus Link: NetSlaves Combat Manual 10 Surviving Silicon Alley. Thanks Redwood. A good insight into surviving in the Big Apple even if you aren't some Internet startup billionaire.
Story of the Day: Russian Stripper Newscasts on ABCNEWS. Thanks Judo Chop. From a few days back: Its embedded RealMedia stuff may be rough on your browser's digestion (as it was on mine), but this is a classic, and another case of life imitating art for any that recall Jane Curtain's open-shirted complaint about Chevy Chase nostalgia on an old SNL newscast.
Quote of the Day: "I will be happy to NOT see Daikatana at this years' E³." John Romero (Stomped @ E3).