It's more Rune-o-rama as there's a shot of some goblin heads from Rune being arted around in SoftImage on Unreality. Also, Getting A Taste of Ted Halsted on Ragnarok is another Rune interview, discussing the upcoming third-person Norse smash-and-slash game with the game's art manager.

Ok, it must be official: today is TR4 day, as Gamecenter has posted the Fast Track guide to Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation, providing basic walkthroughs of all levels in Core Design's third-person action adventure.

There's an interview with Mike Werckle on RuneNews.com kicking off the grand opening of a new Rune fan site with some conversation with this designer from Human Head studios about their upcoming third-person game of Viking combat (think large swords and axes). Here's one Q&A that discusses gameplay in this Unreal-engine game:

Phoebus: Rune will be a third-person melee / close-combat game, but I'm sure that description only scratches the surface. What singleplayer gameplay aspect in Rune do you think will be most fun? How about in multiplayer?

Mike: In single player it will be the immersion factor. We are working very hard on the story and how it contributes to game play. It is my philosophy that the "story" in a game *is* the "player's experience." This means that everything the player does contributes to the story of the game. There was nothing storywise in Half-Life that couldn't have been done with Doom, but Valve just paid attention how one sequence builds upon the next, to great effect.

In multiplayer, I don't know what will be the most fun since we don't have anything running yet.

Red Storm has released a plug-in for 3D Studio MAX to export Rogue Spear weapons or objects. The file requires a full version of 3D Studio MAX, and comes with sample weapon models.

Adrenaline Vault has posted a preview of Hidden & Dangerous: Devil's Bridge, the upcoming expansion pack for the tactical squad action game by Illusion Softworks. The hands-on preview sports a couple of new screenshots, too.

More Tomb Raider news, as Eidos' German support site has posted two patches for the German version of Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation. The version 1.1 patch fixes problems with sound cards (or the lack of one), allows keys to be redefined and increases the number of savegame slots (but breaks savegame compatibility in the process). The video patch fixes problems on slower systems and a crash in one particular level. Thanks Patches Scrolls.

GameSpot UK has posted a preview of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, featuring new in-game shots, as well as some new concept art sketches.

New versions of the SpoonBot and TRIBES Racer have been released. The SpoonBot is a bot for Starsiege: TRIBES, while TRIBES Racer transforms the game into, well...a racing game. Also, devilishone has posted a new PK3 file that allows you to initialize all Q3A bots at startup (trying to add one without it is impossible, since the bots.txt in pk0.pk3 will overwrite yours) full details are available on his site.

The Unreal Technology page has been updated with a description of problems some people are experiencing in reading files off the game CD, with running a particular map, or after applying the 402 patch. The solution is to first copy the CD to your harddisk and then install from there. Read the full description on the Unreal Technology page.

The British publication The Times has released a new demo for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (available stateside via AVault and 3DGamers). The level was created specifically for the paper, and features their editor in the game, as well as their offices. The 32 MB download is only available from this download (or in the 5000 limited CD-ROMs being distributed) and is not actually from the game.

AVault has posted some side-by-side comparison shots that show off the environment bump mapping support in Battlezone II. The shots are closeups on different in-game models, allowing you to really see in detail the changes the feature adds.

id Software's Graeme Devine will be on tonight's edition of GameTime on the All Games Network. The fun starts at 6:00 EST, and you'll need a Real or compatible player. If you want to submit questions, hop onto their IRC channel at chat.pseudo.com #allgames, or use the Java client on their web site.

MacGamer has posted an interview with Epic spokesman Mark Rein, talking about (what else?) Unreal Tournament. While brief, the interview deals with his views on the new Apple G4s and iMacs, as well as his personal opinion of UT.

GASource has posted a six meg movie with gameplay footage from Picassio, a third person (and largely non-violent) title where you play an art thief sneaking around stealing famous works of art (although one can only hope that picture with the dogs playing poker isn't one of them).

There's another screenshot from the Unreal Tournament add-on on Penny Arcade showing off some more level design from the upcoming free map pack with an action shot.

As promised when the first piece of Sacrifice art was posted yesterday (story), there's a second piece of Sacrifice concept art on Developers-Corner showing off more gameplay from Shiny's hush-hush game-in-progress, Sacrifice, due down the road after the release of Messiah.

id Software designer Christian "Disruptor" Antkow updated his .plan with a step-by-step rundown on the procedure for making Rocket Arena style maps for Quake III Arena, "where everyone spawns in with all the items."

Epic Programmer Brandon "CleanMarine" Reinhart updated his .plan with a birthday wish to his brother, UT bot namesake Blake, a whole review of Planescape: Torment, and the part quoted below, giving more of a rundown on what's planned for the Unreal Tournament version of the Rocket Arena mod, as well as word on the UT Linux port:

As you know, I am working with CRT on Rocket Arena for UT. I'm the lead programmer on the project along with c0mpile from Unloaded. CRT is in charge of design, management, and getting level designers. I'm leaving for Christmas tomorrow but I'll be taking the Rocket Arena code with me.

I am collaborating with CRT because he felt he really wanted to develop a Rocket Arena for UT, but was very stressed with work and the Quake3 version of the mod. Epic feels it is very important that UT develop a strong mod community, so I am able to contribute my time to the project.

Hopefully, the first release of RA:UT will be in early or mid January. The game will include full bot support, all the classic RA gametypes, and some new stuff to boot. In addition, Epic will be adding some professional quality visual and audio content.

--

I still plan to open source the Linux port. I was looking into setting up a Linux UT bugzilla, but have not had time. I would also like to set up a public RCS of some sort, instead of releasing a tarball. Perhaps I should just release the tarball and then worry about the fancy stuff. Either way, I won't be able to look into this until after Christmas. I get back from visting my parents on the 27th.

• Intel to launch fastest Pentium III chip yet is the press release announcing the big I is shipping 750 and 800 MHz CPUs as of today. Apparently the release schedule has been accelerated to retain the CPU speed crown. Thanks CNEWZ.
• RIVA 3D reviews the Voodoo 3000 PCI.
• ELSA Erazor III Review on Voodoo Extreme.
• Sharky Extreme reviews the Intel P3-750, P3-800 & P3-800B CPUs.
• Tech Report reviews the AMD Athlon 800 MHz processor.
• Gamers Depot reviews the AMD Athlon 750.
• The Tech Zone reviews the Abit BE6-II Motherboard.
• 3D Spotlight reviews the Abit BF6 motherboard.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews the Abit BE6-II Motherboard.
• Overclockin.com reviews the Alpha P3125 Heatsink.

A new version 13 of the Rocket CrowBar Mod is now available, offering a bunch of new features and fixes for this Half-Life modification. There are new screenshots on the page to show off some of what's new in the new release.

There are a bunch of new Devil Inside Shots on TeleFragged showing off gameplay from this upcoming 3D action/adventure title from GameSquad, the folks behind the Alone in the Dark series.

• Asheron's Call on PC Gameworld.
• EverQuest on PC Gameworld.
• Final Fantasy VIII Demo on PCFan.
• HangSim on Glide Underground.
• Interstate '82 on GameDownloadsOnline.
• Quake III Arena (in Polish) on OpenGL.Org.PL.
• Shadow Company on Game Forces.
• Star Trek: Hidden Evil on Adventure Collective.
• Unreal Tournament on CTNews.
• Warcraft 2: Battle Net Edition on MPOG.

• In a moment I personally have been waiting for since PC Gaming was born, Deep Red Games has announced a game based on the classic animated puppet series, Thunderbirds. Thanks riot.com.au. Thunderbirds are go! Now where's the Captain Scarlet game?
• A new edition of GA-Source's The Developer's Dream is up, offering thoughts on the perfect game from Greg Zeschuk, Joint CEO of BioWare Corp., and Jonathan Wright, lead programmer at Third Law Interactive...
• GA-Source's Exclusive Ground Control Screenshot is a new shot showing off Ground Control, an upcoming RTS formally known as Genesis: Aperian 7 (expected for a Q1 2000 release)...

Over the years I think I've mentioned more than once that one of my favorite action heroes of my childhood is James Bond, inspired by the coolness of the Sean Connery movies (yes, in the theaters, that's how old I am). In case you hadn't heard, some sad news from yesterday is word that Desmond Llewelyn dies in car crash (thanks Jacek Fedoryñski), announcing the death of the actor that played "Q" in every Bond film starting with From Russia with Love (except for the pair of satires: Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again). It is nice that it turns out the most recent Bond vehicle gave Q a chance to retire on his own terms, rather than just disappear between movies, like Bernard Lee's M did.

Link of the Day: A list of Typos and inconsistencies in William Shatner's THE RETURN. As Steve, who sent this along speculates: "Someone with Less of a Life than Myself...?"