WON.net has opened their signups page for the upcoming limited multiplayer beta test of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. If you make it, you must be willing to sign an NDA, and commit 10 hours a week and participate in bi-weekly "stress tests."

Gamecenter has posted a new interview with Rod Fung, Sierra Studios' producer on SWAT 3, which features the first batch of screenshots from SWAT 3: Battle Plan, the just-announced multiplayer add-on for the game.

Also new on Gamcenter is a new, hands-on preview of Raven's Soldier of Fortune, featuring a look at the full version of the game (complete with over 30 screenshots).

Sierra Studios has released the version 1.2 patch of SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle for download on their ftp server (1.8 MB). This is the real deal, as the version 1.1 patch was revoked last month (story). The list of changes includes new AI behaviors, several gameplay adjustments, and a FAQ (thanks Cosmo3D for that).

AGN3D has posted an updated demo of Codename Eagle, the first-person action game by Refraction. The demo offers the same mission as the previous demo, but is said to contain "plenty of improvements and more." Thanks 3DFiles, who have a mirror here.

Gone Gold has posted a Sierra Studios press release announcing SWAT 3: Battle Plan, a multi-player add-on to their tactical squad-action game SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle, for a release this Fall. The pack will include six missions and new multi-player modes, and a free multi-player upgrade will become available for those who already own SWAT 3: CQB. Thanks Well Rounded Entertainment for the tip.

Eurogamer has posted an interview with Xavier Carrillo, producer of Blade at Spanish developer Rebel Act Studios. Xavier talks quite a bit about their third person action game and the technology behind it (which is an original 3D engine). In other Blade news, a screenshot featuring the Blade 3D editor has been posted on Blade Universe.

Strategy guide publisher Prima Games has posted part three of their interview with John Romero, conducted by none other than Daikatana level designer Stevie "KillCreek" Case. This portion of the interview covers the origin of Daikatana and ION Storm. If you missed the first two parts (which is possible, since we never reported on them) here are links to part one and part two.

Incite Games has posted some more screenshots from Peter Molyneux' "god game" Black & White. There's even what appears to be a shot from the multiplayer "Gathering Area" with two people chatting within the game world.

Version 1.3 of Battlecom, a real-time voice communication program for multiplayer games, has been released. This new version requires Direct X 7, and is now freeware.

A new version of QStat, a command-line server query and statistics program for a multitude of games, has been released, and is available for download on its official site in both Windows and Unix flavors. This new version adds support for Soldier of Fortune in addition to other changes.

Tonight's edition of Lilith & Eve features none other than Tom Hall, the mad genius behind ION Storm's Quake II engine RPG, Anachronox. The fun begins at 7:00 EST, and you can ask Tom questions via their IRC channel at chat.pseudo.com, channel #allgames. A Real Media or compatible player is required to watch the show.

3DGaming.net has posted 5 new images from Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, including some new conceptual artwork of the enemies in the game, and some in-game screenshots as well.

Voodoo Extreme has posted an interview with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, talking to him about the recently announced Dreamcast version of Half-Life, which Gearbox will be making an original single player episode for (thanks Stomped).

GameSpy has posted a brief interview with Monoltith's Jason Hall, talking to him about their plans for the LithTech engine, covering several of their recent announcements, including their Playstation 2 and massively multiplayer versions of the engine.

Microsoft has released a Compatibility Update for Windows 2000 on their Windows Update site. The download, which takes about a minute on even the slowest connection, adds compatibility for a ton of applications and games, including Heretic II, Aliens vs. Predator, Myth II, Drakkan, Tomb Raider III and more.

PC.IGN.Com's Thief 2 The Metal Age Preview has been updated with more details on this upcoming sequel to the original stealthy shooter they cleverly refer to as a first-person sneaker. The update includes a load of new screenshots and several QuickTime format movies.

The Adrenaline Vault Previews Shadows of Reality looking ahead at this upcoming cyberpunk Unreal Tournament-engine RPG currently in development at Nevolution. Here's a bit on character development in the game:

Armed with a skill system based on Fallout and System Shock, you can create your character, assign him or her skills, and then build upon them throughout the course of the adventure. If being a doctor strikes your fancy, then you can jack into medical simulators and, in true "Matrix" style, learn entire years worth of information and skills in under ten minutes. If the life of a mercenary Street Samurai is your calling, then wire yourself up with smart gun implants and cyber-enhanced reflexes to show that you're not to be trifled with. Whether it's obtaining information at gunpoint or doing a run on a data fortress, you can do things your own way.

Summoner Thursday!, Chapter 6 is another installment in PC.IGN.Com's Summoner diary, this week catching up with James Agay, a designer on this upcoming 3D fantasy RPG from Volition. This update is described as "particularly juicy," as it offers "loads of details on how the design team fills out the levels with quests, sub-quests and NPCs." There are also a couple of screenshots of the level editor in action showing a bit of how such gameplay elements are added.

A new Outrage Entertainment Descent 3 FAQ is a gives some troubleshooting tips for this space shooter. Though there is also a tip on using the guidebot when you are stuck, the brief document mostly covers resolving hardware and software conflicts.

In addition to the other Win2K drivers posted earlier (story), the Creative Labs Latest Files page has new version 1.03 Win2K drivers for 3D Blaster GeForce Pro, 3D Blaster GeForce, 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 Ultra, 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2, Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value, and Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT accelerators. Thanks NT Compatible.

Unreal Tournament Known Bugs page has been updated with pointers to their latest d3ddrv.dll Direct3D interface code and the latest S3-specific MeTaL drivers for users of the S3 Savage 4 chipset and Viper II/Savage2000 cards.

Unreal Future: A chat with Cliff Bleszinski on i2e2 talks with Epic's lead level designer about Unreal Tournament, the shooter as a genre, whether a Dreamcast UT port is a possibility, and other console-related stuff.

Though the launch of PlanetJenniferLoveHewitt is still off in the future, like the inevitable sunrise, Planet Soldier of Fortune has emerged on the gaming scene. To get things going on this new GameSpy Industries site dedicated to this upcoming mercenary shooter, they are holding an online chat session with Keith Fuller, Dan Kramer, and John Scott from Raven Software, currently at work on the game. The chat will be today at 7:30 PM EST (4:30 PM PST) in GamesNet IRC, chat.planetquake.com 6667 in the channel #sof.

• Aureal's Downloads page has new Vortex2 Drivers featuring EAX and I3DL2 support. Thanks Vortex of Sound.
• This page on 3Dfxgamers has new version 1.00 official Voodoo 3 2000/3000 drivers for Windows 2000. Thanks NT Compatible.
• ATI Technologies Special Purpose Drivers prove that Navin Johnson isn't the only one with a "special purpose," as they have a new beta version 6.32CD08-5.0.96 RAGE 128/128 PRO Windows 2000 Display Driver, and a new beta version 5.38.2B08 RAGE PRO/RAGE LT-PRO/RAGE XL Windows NT4.0 Display Driver. Thanks Gareth.
• Gaming on Windows 2000 on Gamecenter checks into the situation, saying "when was the last time anyone believed anything Microsoft said without concrete proof?"
• FIC KA-11 motherboard is reviewed on Speedy 3D.
• K7OC Athlon GoldFinger Athlon overclocker is reviewed on BoomGames Interactive.
• ASUS DIMM Riser (use SDRAM in RDRAM slots) is reviewed on Gamers Depot.

GA-RPG's Nox Q&A with Michael Booth talks with this designer from Westwood studios about "the past, present, and future" of Nox, their newly-released third-person action title. Also, AGN interviews Derek Smart talking with the man behind the Battlecruiser space combat series. This is a text transcript of a piece also available in video format. Also, a V-Team Interview on TeleFragged chats with Przemek Marszal, project manager on Verge, a space-sim/RTS hybrid in development by this Polish developer. Finally, nonstuff interviews Andrew Brazier talking Lovecraft in German on the subject of Dark Corners of the Earth: Call of Cthulhu, Headfirst's upcoming horror game (here's the usual AltaVista Translations link).

To accompany their Devil Inside Play Test, the Devil Inside Screenshot gallery on GameSpot UK has been updated with new shots from this upcoming action game from the Alone in the Dark series' author. A report called New FPS in Development, Chaser on GA-Source shows a whole bunch of screenshots from a first-person shooter in the works by the same folks that are working on Black Isle 4. There are some new B-17 2 screenshots on Dogfighter. Finally, this screenshot and this screenshot on The Daily Telefrag show off action from Vseslav the Warlord, an upcoming Russian RPG from Snowball Interactive.

The newly-relocated devilishone's Allbots Site has an updated version of this tiny (8 KB) download that will allow you to mix and match all the known available bots for Quake III Arena. To help with your one-stop shopping, they also have links up to the appropriate bot and player model downloads.

The House of Hard Havoc has a few Q3A doodads. Now available is the first release of Weapon Slots for Quake III Arena, an OpenSource mod that enables Mod authors to bind multiple weapons to a single key, creating room for up to 32 weapons. Also, the Item Flags code has been updated and now includes a menu system, and Lightning Discharge has also "suffered one or two minor tweaks." Their OpenSource Playable Demo has been updated to include all of these.

• Armored First 3 on PC Gamer UK.
• Codename Eagle on PC Gamers UK.
• Crusaders of Might and Magic on Gamers Depot.
• Dirt Track Racing on Wewp! Entertainment.
• Firefight on The Wargamer.
• Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament on The New York Times (free registration required). Thanks MamaBlue.
• Rayman 2: The Great Escape on Insane Gamers.
• Test Drive Off Road 3 on GamesMania.

• Raven's Eric Biessman's .plan has word on how to catch a wave in the SoF demo to amaze and amuse your friends. The .plan tracker is eating some of the update thinking it's HTML, the binds should be "bind <any key> wave 1" and so on...
• DiabloII.net's Blizzard North Visit Paladin Observations offers the final installment in their hands-on Diablo II preview looking at the abilities of the Paladin...
• GA-Strategy has word to expect a playable demo of Zono's upcoming 3D RTS, Metal Fatigue, to be released March 3rd. The demo will be about 24 MB...

Since tomorrow marks loony's stay on the night watch, I've conjured up some early (rather than the more common belated) birthday wishes, as all the following birthdays are coming up (I believe they are all tomorrow): Happy Birthday to id Software's Zoid, Raven's Chris Foster, Don "onethumb" MacAskill, formerly of Accolade and Ritual Software, and old-school 3D guru Nicolaus Copernicus, formerly... well just formerly. And speaking of anniversaries, look at that... it's February again, meaning it's time to clean my monitor. I make a policy of doing it regularly once a year, whether it needs it or not.

Link of the Day: Celebrity Match-Maker for Men. Thanks Robs. I ended up with Salma Hayek, as apparently did id's John Cash... I don't imagine either of us is willing to concede this one without a fight
Bonus Link: Celebrity Match-Maker for Women. Equal time is only fair.
Image of the Day: X-MEN the movie TRAILER, in QuickTime format. Thanks Eben Bolter and Navarre.