A pair of articles on today's news regarding formation of Big Huge Games (story) have popped up online...Gamecenter has posted an article that features quotes from Firaxis' Kathy Gilmore and BHG's Brian Reynolds, with Reynolds saying that they haven't decided as of yet whether to do a historical or sci-fi based game. Another piece with quotes from both Gilmore and Reynolds is up at GameSpy.com, with more details on the company's future from Reynolds, including why they plan to make a real-time, not turn-based strategy game.

Monolith sends along this press release formally announcing that Zombie Studios and Ripcord Games have joined the ever-growing list of LithTech engine licensees, having "secured six LithTech licenses for multiple platforms." Some of this was previously known, as SpecOps III has already been confirmed as a LithTech engine title, but the press release contains quotes from the companies regarding their love of the engine. Monolith will also have a major presence at this year's Game Developer's Conference, as shown in this press release. They will be showcasing their engine as well as conducting a presentation that covers their Playstation 2 and LithTech Online plans in addition to their regular package.

Just when you thought the LithTech announcements had quieted down, along comes this one. According to AVault, Magic Lantern, the company where former Prey lead designer Paul Schuytema resides these days, has licensed the LithTech engine for FORTS, their 3D puzzle/strategy game. Schuytema is quoted as saying the game is, "born in the military minds of the Han Dynasty and nurtured in the fertile loam of today’s cutting-edge technology."

SOF Center has posted a brief interview on Soldier of Fortune, chatting to Raven's programmer Gil Gribb about his work on their mercenary shooter. The game is getting close to completion, as Jake Simpson's .plan details the QA process they are going through (among a couple other topics).

Sierra Studios has opened a page for SWAT 3: Multiplayer Upgrade, featuring three new screenshots of this free download, as well as a page with some concept art for their expansion pack SWAT 3: Battle Plan, both of which should be released around August 2000.

GameProWorld has posted a brief but hands-on preview of Thief II: the Metal Age, the first-person action game by Looking Glass that should sneak its way into stores next month. There are a bunch of screenshots of some areas of the game we haven't seen yet sofar.

This week's feature at loonygames is an interview with Digital Extremes, chatting to Dave Ewing and Pancho Eekels about their work on Unreal Tournament, and of course their upcoming massively multiplayer action game Dark Sector. There are two new pieces of concept art, and lots of new information on the game's design and development. Here is a quote on their design process:

Ewing: If there’s one thing we found from development of both UT and Unreal, things change. When you’re designing a game, especially with the open concept that we have, things change so often, not drastically, but there’s so many changes and shifts, minor shifts, and even some major shifts in direction that go on. Having a hugely detailed design doc before you even start is sometimes a waste of time. That’s how a game gets to be, and it really helps the game to be able to change with the times.

Another month has gone by, so tonight brings a new Deus Ex developers chat, and to participate you can hop over to the ION Chat Lobby, or point your IRC browser to www.ionstorm.com channel #ion. The festivities kick off at 9:00 PM EST (8:00 PM CST).

Here are two minor 3dfx driver updates for you this evening...a new version of their Voodoo 3 drivers for Windows 2000 have been released, with the changes listed as "Repackaged kit with new inf" and "Velocity 100/200 support." Also new are these beta Windows 9x Voodoo 3 2000/3000 drivers. These are beta drivers, and have a really scary warning, so download at your own risk.

There is a new preview of MDK2 online at GA-Source, putting a recent beta copy of BioWare's upcoming third-person action sequel through its paces, complete with ten new screenshots. MDK, of course, stands for Mannequins Dig Kelp.

Stomped has posted a brief Q&A with Raven Software's Brian Pelletier, talking to him about the recently announced Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force comic book from DC Comics/Wildstorm Entertainment, including details about how they are attempting to work game "clues" into the comic's storyline to help you find secrets within the game itself.

Continuing their daily barrage of Soldier of Fortune media (they took a short break for the weekend), incitegames has posted eight new bloody screenshots from the game, showing off a snow-themed level.

In preparation for the upcoming multiplayer-enabled Battlecruiser Millennium demo, the official Battlecruiser 3000 AD site has posted a multiplayer play guide. It's very detailed, and like the original game, extremely complex, so study it now so you're ready when the demo is released.

Bethesda Softworks has officially announced The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, the 3D turn-based strategic combat game formerly known as just Dreamland, and opened a teaser page with three new screenshots. Thanks FileClicks for the tip. The game is being developed by Mythos Games, creators of the first few titles in the X-COM series, and should be released by the end of the year.

AVault is reporting that Brian Reynolds, who recently left Firaxis studios, has formed Big Huge Games with several other former Firaxis employees. AVault quotes Reynolds as saying, "Big Huge Games will emphasize excellence in all aspects of development, including design, art, technology, and production values," as well as reporting that the company will focus on, "cutting-edge technology." This would seem to be a different vision than that of Firaxis, where the emphasis has always been on gameplay, with technology trailing behind as an afterthought.

Version 1.0 of SpeedQuake for Quake III Arena has been released, and is available for download at its official site. SpeedQuake, as its name would suggest, greatly increases your movement speed, and features a "Crack Syringe" powerup to make you even faster as a replacement for the regular Haste powerup.

Extreme Overload 1.0 Beta 4 has been released at its official site. This Quake III Arena mod features a wealth of customizable options, including the ability to customize skins, weapons, maps, and grappling hook options.

Beta version 0.5 FreeCam, a new Quake III Arena camera mod from Strange Company has been released, and is available for download at Machinima.com. FreeCam allows you to view demos using a free-floating camera or by affixing it to any entity within the game.

Five new screenshots from Simon & Schuster Interactive's third person Unreal-engine title Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen have been posted at FederationHQ. These shots are the first to show gameplay with Worf, everyone's favorite ponytailed Klingon.

As shown by this press release, 10SIX, SegaSoft's million-player action/strategy game, has been released (thanks GA-Source). The game should be available for download at HEAT.net (it doesn't seem to be there yet), and downloading it entitles you to a seven-day free trial, after which you'll be charged $9.95 for one month, $25.95 for three months or $49.95 for six months of gameplay.

The Shugashack has posted a new interview with Matt Hooper of Third Law Interactive, talking to him about their upcoming LithTech engine title KISS: Psycho Circus, as well as ION Storm (where Matt, like many others at Third Law got his start in the industry) and his thoughs on the various engines out there.

GA-RPG has posted a new installment of their ongoing Baldur's Gate II design diary. This edition has Kevin Martens, one of the lead designers, talking about the game's story. As a result, the article is spoiler-ridden, so don't read it unless you want to know some of the game's major plot points.

Station Terminus has posted a new installment of their Terminus Developer Journal, in which Vicarious Visions director of development Karthik Bala talks about the recent motion capture shoot they did for their upcoming role-playing space-combat title. A couple of photos give a look behind the scenes at the blue screen set (a different blue screen from the one most Windows users are familiar with).

The Telepunt page (captioned "walking sucks") has word on an unusual Unreal Tournament strategy in the vein of serendipitous classics from prior shooters like strafe-running, rocket-jumping, and bunny-hopping, describing how to "telepunt," which involves dropping your translocator dealie and "punting" it to a distant location with the impact hammer, which can make impossible locations easily (with a bit of practice) reachable (the things some people figure out!). Also, Eavy's Unreal Tournament Mods has a new advanced Assault guide, giving power strategy tips for this Unreal Tournament game-type. Eavy, who is currently ranked #1 in UT ngWorldStats for Assault, also has a guide up with tips on enhancing your own ngWorldStats Assault ranking. Finally, UT World's UT Newbie Guide offers beginner help for UT for anyone willing to fess up to the newbie label, featuring "detailed help on setting up your game, playing online, using new map files and UMODs with the game, and much more."

Thresh's FiringSquad previews the Microprose 2000 Games Lineup after attending a gamer's day showing off the upcoming lineup from this developer that's now a division of Hasbro. Included is a hands-on peek at X-Com Alliance, the upcoming Unreal-engine action-tinged installment in the strategic X-Com series. There are also looks ahead at Advanced Squad Leader, B-17, and the just-gold (story) Majesty.

There's a Soldier of Fortune gallery on Computer Games Online offering nine new shots from Raven Software's upcoming Quake II-engine shooter that puts you in the role of a gun-toting, magazine-reading mercenary. There are eight action shots, including a couple of zoomed in sniper shots, and one showing off an inventory screen.

Thief 2 The Metal Age Preview on GameLinks.Net offers a look ahead at the stealthy sequel to Thief: The Dark Project along with a load of screenshots, some of which are new (as well as some familiar shots and shots from the demo), as well as all the recently released Thief 2 concept art and wallpapers. Also, the Starbase Armada News Network has posted two new screenshots from Star Trek Armada, as well as a report on the Borg race from the beta.

There's a new version 1.03 of The Ultima IX FAQ on GameFAQs, and a brand-new Half-Life CounterStrike strategy guide there as well. Also, the Official Home of HQH's Stuff has a new version of HQH's Unofficial Half-Life FAQ, offering some minor updates related to the release of the most recent version, and his updated Unofficial Soldier of Fortune Demo FAQ, again, updated upon the release of the demo patch.

• Evergreen Performa 500 Celeron CPU upgrade kit is reviewed on The Tech Zone
• VisionTek GeForce SDR DVI video card on Gamers Depot.
• Asus K7M SlotA motherboard iz reviewed on Power Gamerz.
• Chaintech 6ATA4 motherboard is reviewed on iXBT.
• Colorcase Yuri case is reviewed on SystemLogic.
• The Plycon Gold Orb Celeron cooler is reviewed on HardOCP.

"The Right Stuff." by Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart kicks off GameSpy.com's Mod Developer Week with the Epic Games programmer talking about the mod development scene, describing some of the steps to follow to be a successful mod developer, discussing the possibility of becoming a professional developer as a result, pointing out that like Brandon himself, "Epic employees, for example, are almost entirely pulled from the mod development scene." GreenMarine also updated his .plan with a good luck message to Zoid, another prominent example of a professional developer who came from the mod community.

Team Orbit UMods downloads page has the debut release of Phantasm for Unreal Tournament. In Phantasm all players start a match basically transparent, and players with higher frag counts become progressively more visible, while those lower in the standings become even harder to see, clearly offering an interesting approach to game balance.

The Assimilation 2 Home has a new version 1.03 of the Assimilation 2 mod for Quake III Arena. The new release adds a g_countTime cvar that modifies the length of the countdown and a g_respawnAfterCount cvar which can respawn everyone once the countdown is over (useful for one-on-ones). The time between rounds has been slightly reduced, as well.

The El Niño Quake Extensions has an updated version 1.5.0 of the Viz mod for Quake III Arena, which adds player classes to Q3A as well as gameplay tweaks like bleeding from wounds (including blood trails) and more. The new release "fixes a few minor annoyances/inconsistencies in some of the server-side and client-side game code."

Version 2.5 of the Q1Q3 Pak is now available, providing a way to add a bit of a "Quake1 flavor" to Quake III Arena, though it's become a bit of a multi-flavor add-on, as in addition to providing some Quake sound and vision, it also makes the railgun behave more like the Quake II rail, and offers the chance to play as the Doom Marine, as well as the Quake Ranger.

A new version 1.21 of Licensed To Kill Quake II mod that adds bots to the Action Quake2 Quake II mod is now available. The new version adds "greatly improved jump code."

Version 0.2 of the NetDoom deathmatch-oriented port of the Doom source code is now available. Described as "still an early version," and therefore not as "smooth" as Legacy or ZDoom, the second release adds some speed optimizations. NetDoom supports Client/Server Internet play via DirectPlay (using the jHexen jtNet dll), BOOM/ZDoom support, OpenGL and D3D Rendering, and integrated IRC support.

Shadow Realm Games sends word of the release of the commercial Shadow Realm Model Animator, "a specialized utility designed to animate and export animated game models. Import a 3d mesh, create a skeletal structure, animate the skeleton, and export the animated model." There's a shareware version to check it out before shelling out your $55.00. GreenEggsandSpam has several Quake III Arena mapping/modeling/coding tutorials done by the founder of Urban Terror. There's a new tutorial on adding player classes to Quake III Arena on Quake3mods.net. The Rogue Spear Retreat's RSB-BMP Converter offers a way to edit images from Rogue Spear without owning Photoshop by converting the files to .bmp format, which is digestible by a wider range of programs.

Registrations are now being accepted for the next BadLAN Rising (BadLAN Rising VI "Firing For Effect") in North-Northeast England this May. The two-on-two ladder of the international MoM - Man or Mouse Tournaments for Q3A are underway. Also, the Bannockburn CTF League has rolled out their Q3A CTF league, and are willing to accept applications for future membership.

There's a chance to win one of ten copies of Planescape: Torment on this games xtreme contest.

• Asheron's Call on FullOn3D.
• Battlezone II: Combat Commander on 5 Games and 3DGameGear.
• Logitech Wingman Force Feedback mouse on BoomGames Interactive.
• The Sims on GamesFirst.
• Tread Marks on Games Domain Review and Cosmo3D.
• Unreal Tournament on Digital Clips.

• The Webdog page has a new version 2.5.1097 of the Webdog website monitoring utility, as well as version 1.01 of the Webpuppy plug-in for Webdog that will bring headlines from this very site to your desktop. The new version adds bug fixes, some Win2K fixes, and full Webpuppy integration, and the new Webpuppy has bug fixes, adds mousewheel doohickey support. Both program's auto-updaters should be working in addition to the downloads...
• Rob Huebner's .plan gives a rundown on what the Nihilistic programmer ('why should I program when we're all going to die?') feels will be highlights of this year's Game Developers Conference...
• Pushing the Right Buttons on codebloat.com offers: "A look at how something as silly as a video game sometimes gets the best of us--and our emotions."...
• Gender Bending in Games-Part II on WomenGamers.Com offers more on the effects of online play "in drag" from a clinical psychologist...

Today marks three years to the day of the installation of my ISDN connection (anyone familiar with this process knows this means it's probably also the fourth anniversary of having placed the order for the service). I was originally going to write in that first sentence as this being the third anniversary of my being an LPB (low-ping bastard), but over the course of that time the proliferation of cable modems and xDSL connections, ISDN now seems to fall somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as connections go... sort of an MPB.

Link of the Day: Hecklers.com Enabler 2000, "The World's First Nonviolent First Person Shooter" (Flash required). Thanks Dan Leadbetter.
Bonus Link: The Proof is in the Pudding. Thanks Dave.