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In the early hours of this morning our beloved Id Software saw fit to bestow upon us another Quake III Arena point release, this one numbered 1.25. Somewhat worryingly Graeme Devine labelled it as a beta, and barely minutes later Robert Duffy updated his .plan with the other half of the problem.. "Mods for Quake 3 Arena will require a recompile for use with 1.25". According to Dave Angus at BarrysWorld their leagues will not be upgrading to the 1.25 patch "due to id software being stupid w*****s" (Censored to protect your cherub-like ears -Ed). Their server chap DrChris was a little more collected.. "We will *not* be upgrading to the new point release of Q3 just yet. It's officially a beta, breaks all existing mods and, since it uses a different protocol from the previous release, clients can not easily mix versions either. We will be waiting until the source code has been released and the major mods have been updated to support it." Of course, the mods of the moment are Rocket Arena 3 and Quake 3 Fortress. An apologetic update from RA3's creator David "CRT" Wright said that "RA3 players are advised NOT to upgrade to 1.25 for the time being, as my initial testing seems to indicate it breaks RA3 in several ways. Hopefully id will release the updated game source so that I can update RA3 soon," while Q3F's Locki sent out a net-wide news broadcast to say that "All Q3F players and server administrators are advised to hold off from upgrading until the Q3F Beta 1F update is ready." If you made the mistake of installing the 17Mb file (which can be found on on Id Software's FTP) then you can either wait around for a bit (Locki does point out that he'll have a beta of a 125-compatible version available within days) or go with his unofficial removal tip. Apparently you can roll back by deleting pak4.pk3 from your "quake3/baseq3" directory and then reinstall the 1.17 patch (which is also still on Id Software's FTP). Still, there's nothing to stop you upgrading if you really want to, but you may have trouble finding willing servers. Vanilla Duel and FFA servers will upgrade in spats, with some operators unwilling while others perfectly happy to sort it out. If you're interested in what this patch adds (and it's quite a bountiful list), then take a peak at Graeme Devine's .plan.

The long-awaited Deus Ex SDK is now available for people wanting to make add-ons for the hit action-RPG

Some of the most impressive games at the ECTS trade show in London were to be found on NVIDIA's stand, running on their latest GeForce 2 Ultra and GeForce 2 MX graphics cards. Codemasters dropped by with Colin McRae Rally 2.0, Peter Molyneux stopped off to demonstrate Black & White, and Giants was running on a widescreen TV throughout the show. And amongst all these top titles was a tech demo designed by a small German company called Crytek Studios, showing off the capabilities of the GeForce 2 by rendering a vast island with a T-Rex wandering amongst its trees. Crytek are now using the CryEngine which powered that tech demo to develop two new games, and we caught up with them to find out more...

3dfx recently put a smile on Apple fans' faces by releasing a version of their Voodoo 5 5500 PCI graphics card for the Mac, and now they have announced that they will also be releasing the AGP version of the card for the Mac, apparently because of "strong demand for an AGP version of 3dfx's award-winning Voodoo5 5500 PCI product for Macintosh". No news yet on price or availability, but no doubt all will become clear soon. In the meantime, Mac owners will no doubt be queueing up to burn their old ATI Rage graphics cards... With the Voodoo 5 5500 PCI already available for Mac, the AGP version coming soon, and rivals NVIDIA ready to ship a Mac version of the GeForce 2 MX as soon as Apple clear it, the future is looking brighter for Mac loving gamers.

Sierra fired off the latest news on the "Dark Conspiracy" expansion pack for the 3D real-time strategy game "Ground Control", confirming that the pack (which features an entire new faction to control, 15 single player missions, and new multiplayer maps and modes) will be released in the UK this November. For the full scoop, read the press release. Sierra also sent over a bandwidth sapping selection of new high resolution screenshots taken from the expansion pack, so go ahead and feast your eyes on these!

We claimed earlier this week that Microsoft would soon have the full support of development companies from both East and West, and judging by today's announcement from Konami, we weren't far off the mark. At the moment the only major names not developing for the Xbox are Square and Electronic Arts. Both are expected to make their own announcements soon. Konami's lineup for the Xbox will include Crash Bandicoot X, Jurassic Park X, Silent Hill X and Metal Gear Solid .. wait for it .. X. Yes that ferociously original naming convention exclusive (apologies) to next generation consoles has returned. Remember the N64's first spat of titles? It was This 64 and That X and so-on and so-forth. Hopefully the content of said games will go some way to improving the situation. Multi-million selling titles like Silent Hill and MGS will have gamers scrambling for units when the machine hits late next year. Meanwhile the PlayStation 2's Metal Gear Solid 2 will hit this year, and may well steal some of the thunder from this announcement. As far as Konami must be concerned though, it's all good.

ELSA have announced that instead of simply bundling some tired old games with their 3D graphics cards, from now on they will be giving customers the option of adding a bundle of their choice of three top titles for just £12.95 with any of their NVIDIA based graphics cards. The games on offer include everything from "MDK2" and "Evolva" to "F/A-18E Super Hornet" and "Super 1 Karting". For the full details of the offer, read the press release.

Friday is release day for computer games in the UK, and there's a good selection of new and re-released titles on offer this week. Top of the list is "Heavy Metal : FAKK2", the third person sci-fi action-adventure game from Ritual and the Gathering of Developers which has been available in the US for some time now, and has finally arrived in Europe. This week's other new releases are "Wizards & Warriors" and "Golf 2001".

Today really is a day for console and pocket gamers to be out shopping, with plenty of different titles across several formats let loose upon us. The biggest titles are clearly Konami's Dreamcast monster International Track & Field, which has been long in the coming, and of course Virgin's epicurean International Karate on the GameBoy Color, which we took a look at in the early months of this year.

John Carmack, lead programmer and co-founder of id Software, has long been known for his geekish tendencies, but during an interview with Voodoo Extreme he finally blew a gasket... "None of the Quake games have had what I would call a BSP based VSD algorithm", JC gibbered (that's pronounced with a soft g by the way!). "The visibility associated with Quake is a cluster to cluster potentially visible set (PVS) algorithm, masked by an area connectivity graph (in Q2 and Q3), followed by hierarchical frustum culling (which does use the BSP). The software renderers then performed an edge based scan-line rasterization algorithm, which resulted in zero-overdraw for the world."

Released as a forerunner to both the highly anticipated PSX version and of course the equally anticipated film, X-Men : Mutant Academy on the GameBoy Color was always going to be a cash-in. Activision must have sat there, realised the money to be had from such a venture and thrown it at the nearest development farm, which just so happened to be Crawfish. The thing is, this shouldn't have been such a big loss, since Crawfish are a fairly well respected GameBoy developer, capable of making decent beat-em-ups out of concepts like this. But sadly despite their credentials this game is tatty, unadventurous and bloody easy to finish. In fact you can get the whole way through by simply using the A button, something of a limitation I think it must be said. If you delve a little deeper, you discover that the charm and popularity of the X-Men series are totally alien to designers Crawfish, and the game is a real clanger. None of the charisma of the series' characters is carried over, and the sprites look fuzzy and blurred. What the heck happened here?

Today we have a double dose of eye candy for you here on EuroGamer, with sixteen brand spanking new screenshots of "Arthur's Knights" and a second batch of eight exclusive new screenshots of "Odyssey". Both are adventure games from French publisher Cryo Interactive, featuring a mixture of pre-rendered backdrops and highly detailed real-time 3D characters for the best of both worlds. Go on, give your eyes a treat!

In recent years the "Close Combat" series has had a near monopoly when it came to World War II real-time strategy, but now all that is about to change. Enter German publisher CDV, whose epic "Sudden Strike" shot straight to the top of the charts in their native country when it was released there a few weeks ago. The game is due to invade these shores at the end of October, so we headed deep behind enemy lines to find out more...

The latest release schedule from 3DO Europe has just arrived, with the expected wide selection of "Might & Magic" and "Army Men" titles on offer. The first two "Heroes of Might & Magic Chronicles" games are now due for release on November 3rd, with two more to follow on November 17th, and a further two now pencilled in for March 2001. These games mark 3DO's first attempt at episodic gaming, each offering a single story-based campaign using the Heroes III engine, aiming to bring the Heroes series' addictive blend of role-playing and turn-based strategy to a larger audience with a budget price and gentler learning curve. Meanwhile Might & Magic fans will be disappointed to hear that the Lithtech powered multiplayer title "Legends of Might & Magic" has been delayed. Originally due out this November, the game now looks set to be released some time early next spring. For all the latest UK release information, check EuroGamer's UK release date list, currently tracking over a hundred PC titles due for release over the next year.

While browsing some hardware pages this morning I spotted an advert advising me to sign up for NetGames UK's 0800 service. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth (obviously with the exception of those Punch the Monkey click-throughs), I clicked through to the NetGames UK website.. The company is entering the third phase of its 0800 beta-test. The service aims to provide a high-quality gaming performance Internet connection with plenty of associated services. The signups are only running until tomorrow, so you'll have to look sharp about it if you want to be in with a chance of getting this service for free, at least for a while. While the company will only be accepting 100 signups based on very specific criteria, you're in with a shot!

Electronic Arts have announced that their eagerly awaited real-time strategy sequel "Red Alert 2" has been pushed back two weeks to an end of October release. Meanwhile THQ have also updated their release schedule after a long period of dormancy, with the much delayed "X : Beyond The Frontier Gold Edition" now due for release tomorrow, and their Settlers style strategy game "Cultures" is due on October 20th. For all the latest UK release information, check EuroGamer's UK release date list, currently tracking over a hundred PC titles due for release over the next year.

French publisher Ubisoft have updated their UK release schedule, with several titles moving since we last heard from them. Underwater action-strategy game "Deep Fighter" is now due at the end of this month, along with a couple of Star Wars titles, including the intriguing sounding "Maths : Jabba's Game Galaxy". No, really. The promising looking stealth 'em up "In Cold Blood" has slipped to mid-October, while the hilarious adventure game "Stupid Invaders" is now set for release at the end of October. The last of the big titles is the Everquest add-on "Scars of Velious", which Ubisoft will be distributing in the UK just in time for Christmas. For all the latest UK release information, check EuroGamer's UK release date list, currently tracking over a hundred PC titles due for release over the next year.

Activision's UK release schedule has been updated, with the biggest mover being the PC version of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2". We were expecting this to be released at the end of September, but it has now been pushed back until mid-November, where it joins "Escape From Monkey Island". Civilization sequel in all but name "Call To Power II" is also expected in November, and although there are still no firm release dates for "Return To Castle Wolfenstein" or "Quake 3 : Team Arena", we suspect that both will be available just in time for Christmas. For all the latest UK release information, check EuroGamer's UK release date list, currently tracking over a hundred PC titles due for release over the next year.

Clan Zone have interviewed the team behind the Navy Seals : Covert Ops mod for Quake 3, complete with a host of new screenshots of the mod

The demo for "Homeworld Cataclysm" is now available, giving you a taste of Barking Dog's semi-sequel to last year's hit space-bound real-time strategy game, "Homeworld". Published by Sierra, the game is due for release in the UK at the end of September, and will feature a new storyline, tweaked graphics engine, new ships and technology to research, and plenty of single player and multiplayer missions to keep you busy. While you're waiting, why not grab the 50Mb demo?

The ECTS computer games trade show in London was a fairly big showcase for new technology, but in some respects it was also used as a low key platform on which to showcase the latest and greatest in silicon engineering. The Intel stand certainly drew a crowd by showing off Shiny's new strategy game Sacrifice and Microsoft's sequel to the entertaining Midtown Madness, but the big I were also showing off some of their own 'new technology'. The Pentium 4 has to be one of the latest pieces of gossip in the hardware world, and anyone actually getting to see it 'in action' is something of a rarity. Yet with little or no promotion, Intel were quite happily demonstrating software running on their new behemoth CPU at ECTS.

British TV channel BBC2 is currently working on a series called "Bleeding Thumbs", which will feature a mix of gaming lifestyle type stuff and competitive multiplayer gaming, with the big event in each show a celebrity shoot-out in a modified version of Epic's eye candy laden first person shooter "Unreal Tournament". Apparently the company is now looking for female gamers to form a women-only team for the show, so if you're a woman, play games, and live in the UK, drop us a line at contact@eurogamer.net and we'll pass your details on to the show's producers.

Good news for fans of the dungeon crawling role-playing game "Icewind Dale" - Virgin's latest release schedule lists an add-on for the game, titled "Heart of Winter", due for release some time in .. um .. the heart of winter. December to be precise. And for those of you who are sick of disk swapping, look for a DVD edition of "Icewind Dale" appearing on shelves in the UK on September 29th - the same day "Baldur's Gate 2" is released on this side of the pond. Expect much beard scratching and dice rolling over the next few months! Related Feature - Icewind Dale review

The latest UK release schedule from Eidos just arrived, with some noteworthy changes - the recently announced "Tomb Raider Chronicles" is set for a November release (surprise, surprise), while "Hitman 47", "Project IGI" and "Chicken Run" are now all due for release on November 24th. Looks like it could be a busy month for the troubled British publisher.

Good news for the Mac loving minority, who continue to cling to their little blue tinted boxes but secretly yearn for better 3D graphics performance - 3dfx have announced that their Voodoo 5 5500 PCI graphics card is now available for the Macintosh, weighing in at £279 in the UK. Offering fast 3D graphics acceleration and full-scene anti-aliasing, this is probably the best graphics card currently available for the Mac, and comes fresh from winning the "Best Of Show" award at the Macworld Expo. "This product launch marks our official entry into a market that we knew was in desperate need of a superior graphics solution," said Bryan Speece, director of Macintosh business development at 3dfx Interactive. "No other graphics accelerator offers the kind of high visual fidelity and incredible 2D and 3D performance that Voodoo5 for Macintosh delivers."

Activision announced a launch title and a follow-up to its already popular PSX title Spider-Man on PS2 today. Sky Odyssey is a Sony-developed title that has been acquired by Activision for release. An action-adventure flying title somewhat similar to Pilot Wings, the game gives the player control of various flying apparatus (be it planes, parachutes, gliders or what have you) and asks you to perform certain tasks to suit the situation. The final game is said to include over 40 missions involving tasks like flying through hoops, under bridges, landing on aircraft carriers and similar derivatives and will be available for launch. Meanwhile Activision have also announced that it is developing Spider-Man for the platform, only days after its PlayStation Spidey title hit store shelves to critical acclaim and a strong place in the sales charts. The game will not be a conversion, but the company did not rise to speculation about its contents, simply confirming that it has 14 titles in development for the PS2 and that interest in the Spider-Man series is now at an all-time high because Sony is developing a movie scheduled for release in Spring 2002. Tobey Maguire will lead at Peter Parker and direction will come from Sam Raimi.

Sony's next console hit store shelves today in America, and no, I'm not talking about the PlayStation 2. We saw the PS One debuted at ECTS this year and thought it looked very impressive. A much smaller version of the original PlayStation console, the PS One's price tag ($79 in the States, around £79 over here) aims it at younger gamers whose parents aren't interested in the £300 PlayStation 2. There are plenty of new PSX games still coming out and with a catalogue of hundreds already available it's a solid Christmas purchase option for the erstwhile parent. Or so Sony would like you to think. Other interesting additions include possible compatibility with mobile cellphones (for what purpose we can only guess but presumably it involves score swapping and the like) and as of Spring next year a four-inch colour TFT display panel, to add supreme portability to the console's feature list. At the size it is already one of the smallest consoles we've encountered.

Cryo Interactive have today announced a license with Dark Horse to produce a 3D action PC title based on the comic firm's critically acclaimed paranormal investigator "Hellboy". This doesn't really come as too much of a surprise to us as we actually saw Hellboy in action at ECTS and were quite impressed by the early build, in which the Hellboy character already exhibited much charisma and style. Hellboy is a rather perculiar character. An orphan, he is the unfortunate product of an illegal scientific government experiment which went somewhat wrong, rendering him a Hellish demon with horns and glaring red appearance. After sawing off his horns to improve his appearance (I'm not making this up) he decided to set off on a lifelong quest to discover his identity, his past and what his purpose in life should be. Along his travels he was recruited by another secret government operation (being as there are quite a few of them these days), the BPRD, which is made up of paranormal beasts that investigate the paranormal. The press release suggests that you liken it to the X-Files, but personally I think it sounds more akin to the "Spookhouse" organisation found in fantastic PC adventure title Nocturne. While the build we saw was very early on in development (and buggy enough not be shown to the general public at ECTS, which takes some effort as far as we could see), the game is expected to be released as early as November of this year. A console version is also in production.

We last saw Human Head's Viking action game during the GOD press tour of Europe a few months ago, and were impressed by our first look at the title. With an enhanced version of the Unreal engine powering it and a healthy mix of blood letting, mead drinking and puzzle solving, the game looked to be a winner.

about the GameCube and in particular their acquisition of ArtX, the company that was working to create graphics components for Nintendo when its console was still known as the Dolphin. The interview is well worth reading, and while normally we frown on snippets here at EuroGamer, this one tickled my fancy enough to warrant a breach of protocol.