An Anonymous Coward asks: "I have a home network, and my wife and I each have our own computers (plus a few extra). My wife has a fear of computers, and uses hers as little as possible. In an attempt to get my wife in front of her computer more, I am looking for games we can play together. My question is, what networkable games out there appeal to the female gender? Quake-like games are definelty out. Too bad Sims isn't multi-player..." I've gotta echo the sentiment about the Sims not being multi-player, however lately I've noticed a few husband and wife couples out there on a few MMORPGs. Are any of you couples out there playing games together? If so, which ones?

Dave Robillard asks: "I've been looking at new laptops recently (hooray for disposable income) and I can't find a single one that has what I want: relatively 'slow' processor (I do not need a Ghz PIII in a laptop), networking, and most importantly, loong battery life. The real reason I want a laptop is for coding on the run. I don't need to play Quake @ 100fps. Are there any laptop manufacturers out there that machines like this?" Any laptops out there that have a battery lifetime that exceeds 2 or 3 hours of usable lifetime?

Nick G Superstar writes "From the site: 'NPRQuake attempts to capture the elements of different drawing techniques, and immerse the viewer in worlds drawn entirely in the prescribed style. If you have ever imagined running around inside a painting or a drawing, you are beginning to get the idea.' Warning: the site is slow." Update Remember this story when we first ran it? Hemos doesn't. Obviously he was a bit pre-occupied this morning. Wonder why.

INicheI writes "According to Intel, the plans for a release of a 2GHz Xeon for dual processor servers have been cancelled. Instead Intel is planning to debut a 2.2GHz chip codenamed "Prestonia" that will be ready the first quarter of 2002. I would love to see Quake running on a 4.4GHz computer."

Long-suffering Slashdot reader WrinkledShirt contributes this review of John Hall's Programming Linux Games, and lays out the good and the bad in a book that's one of the few of its kind. More games are always good -- hopefully books like this one will spark some inspiration.

Gernot Ziegler writes: "One of my professors (Stefan Gustavsson) has written a good summary that explains the history & technical background/innovations that Doom, Quake & Unreal brought with them when they were released. Check it out." It's a pdf file. Gustavsson ends with a list of hopeful questions about where such games can go, after nearly a decade of running and violence. What I'd really like to see is a goal-free 3D world like the Snowcrash Metaverse, but it will take games to get there ;)

okotauri writes: "ZeRo4 took home his second consecutive Quakecon championship today, beating the rest of the world's top Quake 3 players in the process, and cementing his reputation as the best Q3 dueller in the world today. more info: Quakecon scoreboard." And Escape from the Bastille was also released at the Con - better have high-speed access if you want to download it.

Warrior-GS writes: "This just in from QuakeCon in Texas: Id Software and Raven Software will be joing forces on Quake 4. Id and Nerve Software are also going to working on some unspecified game. Carmack is giving his talk right now. GameSpyDaily has all the details."

An anonymous submitter sent in: "With the new season of BattleBots coming up (filmed in SF over Memorial Day weekend) everyone is sick of the same-old design of a glorified R/C car. This site has the full design for a bot that runs on an onboard 486 and is controlled off a laptop with quake-style controls! Build your own for around $100 by using mostly old parts." On the other hand, Coolrobots.com has info on how to build an expensive battlebot.

As a Nobel prize-winning economist puts it, "What Information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." This technologically-driven ADD is transforming politics, entertainment, sports and culture. There is only so much attention to go around, and we are being bombarded with more information all the time. Most of us have no idea how to allocate our attention widely or productively. Those who can help us will be rich. (Second in a series).

More inspiration tonight for anyone planning a low-key entry to space, eyeball feed to celebrate Quake's semi-decennial, and a bit more on Scott McCloud's comic arguments.

Jacek Fedorynski writes "On this day five years ago the shareware version of Quake has hit the Net and changed the world forever. There's a pretty good article about the history of Quake on Methos Quake. It's got an interview with John Romero and Tim Willits."

Bill Houlehan, the same dude who has a million unopened atari 2600 games for sale from his cave warehouse is now selling Aura VR Units which are essentially a vibrating vest you hook up to any audio source (read:pc playing quake, although I suppose it has pr0n potential as well if you swing that way). No big deal, except at $20 I figured this is might be worth mentioning on a quiet sunday afternoon. here's another review of the thing. You can get more info at the website which is a strange mix of oddball old widgets (Atari T-Shirts? Tetris Keychains? 14 Acres of Colorado Land?) that amuses the hell out of me.

Erston writes "It seems as if this could really make it to market. Mad Catz is working on a game controller that will zap you with electrodes when you are on the receiving end of your enemies' weapon. The story is here. I hope the zapper will work without the controller- I'm a keyboard/mouse fragger myself. But the more senses that I can get involved in Quake, the better-- There is also an interesting trivia piece on the bottom of the page that talks about electroshock/bio(force)feedback and how it relates to a chimpanzee in the pre-manned spaceflight era of NASA. . . " I've been using similiar technology to train CowboyNeal to get me coffee/cookies/girls and so far it hasn't been successful, but this appears to be much more practical.

Jonathan Lennox writes: "Grenville Armitage has published an analysis of ping times of clients connecting to his Quake III Arena server. His conclusion is that 150 milliseconds is the limit that people find tolerable, and says this may have interesting implications for Internet Quality of Service research."

skunkeh writes "Asus have a poll up on their site asking the general public whether or not they would like to see "SeeThrough technology" available in drivers for Asus graphics cards. The technology in question is causing uproar in the online gaming community where the drivers can be used to cheat in games such as Quake III and Counter-Strike. Asus have posted some flimsy arguments in defence of the technology on their product page but they don't appear to be convincing the several thousand gamers who have already posted their comments." I still think this is cool stuff. People are just going to cheat online: drivers don't have all that much to do with it. And if they can't cheat, they'll DoS attack. Maybe I'm just disillusioned, but I have more fun playing with people I know and trust then strangers. Strangers cheat.

icemind writes "And you thought Panoramic Quake was cool. NPRQuake is actually three renderers which make Quake levels look hand sketched, like they're blueprints or even done with brushstrokes, all in real time. Very cool, although if this interview is anything to go by it sadly isn't being updated anymore." I'm not sure if making Quake look like that Aha's Take on Me video is an idea that will make quake playable, but is really sweet.

jamner writes "A Yahoo Daily News article mentions that computer users may soon be able to work on screens with displays that give the appearance of being three dimensional. The company is Deep Visual Imaging at www.actualdepth.com and their products page." They accomplish it by layering LCDs, so while its not going to fake a true 3d workspace, the depth would still add substantially to many applications (well, it would make quake cooler, and I'm sure desktop apps could benefit, but I suspect the medical industry has more important uses).

Aardappel writes: "PanQuake, a quake sourceport that allows a 360 degree panoramic view, has been released. Download it here."

lmake writes: "I'm sure a few Slashdot readers have been to a few LAN events. Packed up their computer, hauled it down to the event, almost breaking their back carrying their 19" monitor just so they can play quake against 200 other people for the day. Well, those days may be over. Electronic Arts Germany is sponsoring a LAN event in Germany with a budget of 4 million DM (AUD $ 5,200,000). You won't need to bring your computer to this event, they will be provided. View the original article (in German) here Or Cyberforces Gaming Nation has a translation here." The translated page is also abbreviated quite a bit; the original version raises the interesting question of just who is going to pay for the 3,000 (!) PCs needed for the event. (Do you really need a PC for each player?)