Mark 'Nurgle' Collins contributes the piece below on some of the factors which undeniably influence the state of Linux games, espcially for developers hoping to make money by selling them. I haven't been there in a few months (been hooked on various Free games instead), but I know I bought Quake III Arena from dedicated shelf space at EB -- so Mark's optimism can't be that far off the mark.

Decado writes "I found out from gamasutra that Michael Abrash and Dr.Dobbs Journal have made Abrash's now out of print "Graphics Programming Black Book" available for free download here. Written at about the time he was finished on Quake it was one of the most readable and informative books on graphics programming. Abrash begins each chapter with a real life anecdote to the problem he is solving and you can't help but think he is a cool guy. Though fairly dated now it is still a great read and his approach to optimisation still holds true today."

madburn writes "MacInTouch has a blurb about a device from Boost Technology called the Tracer. It appears to be an almost-affordable head-mounted "mouse" with the features and performance needed for serious use, including 360-degree field of view. It supports USB and PS/2. I wonder if this will make the Quake experience more immersive?" The girl in the picture looks kinda stoned, but I can imagine that this could be useful for the handicapped, and fun for someone looking for a different input device.

NiceGeek asks: "Is there any interest in a 'Geek' bar? After reading a comment in a recent story on Slashdot, I started thinking about a 'geek hangout' type bar. Basically, beer, music, classic arcade and console games and maybe classic network games like Doom and Quake. One advantage to the 'classic' theme would be reduced overhead. I already possess a lot of classic consoles/games and older stand-up systems are pretty cheap also. I would also consider adding a 'cyber-cafe' for broadband access. I have several other ideas but would like to see if there is any interest." It's an interesting idea, but are there any other things that you think such an endeavor would need? NTN Trivia consoles would be a nice addition (it would fit in well with the other things listed). I have fond memories of playing NTN with friends when it was available at a local hangout.

Thermodyne writes: "The sequel of the game that helped invent the fps is being developed and the first of the screenshots have been released here. The game is based on the Quake 3 engine, but seems to stray away from the original intent of the first game." I can't begin to count the number of hours I lost in wolf3d ... course, I hope it does stray from the original game: who wants to run around shooting dogs and finding hidden switches for 30 levels? The lighting in some of those screenshots is super impressive. (check out that flame thrower). Sadly, I think my fps days are past me. I played The Sims for the first time last week. What an amazing game.

This is Slashback for the evening. Please be advised, through the following items, about ... how to turn that extra Pentium into a firewall running iptables; the state of the Symantec patent on software updates (uughh!); more on can satellites, and more.

Logic Bomb writes: "Feed is running a very well-written essay by Steven Johnson on game design that includes an interview with the designer of Oni. Johnson has some thought-provoking comments on narrative, navigation, and cheat sheets. Lots of room for discussion here: what balance do you like best between plot and action (i.e. Metal Gear Solid versus Quake)? Are cheat sheets just part of the game, or does needing one show bad game design? Anyone have comments on the system used by Oni discussed in the article?" Equally interesting to me is this other Feed interview with Warren Spector, designer of Deus Ex.

Inigima writes "According to this article at the dying GameCenter, the IDSA is preparing to make a proposal to Congress about the marketing of games rated "M" by the ESRB. According to Gamecenter's analysis, not only would this neuter the game marketing industry, but might even prevent games like Quake and Half-Life from being produced."

Ant noted that there are now quake games running on IPv6. Now once we get it running on I2, and someone manages to bring these 2 critical technologies to my bedroom, the world will be a better place.

Rhett writes: "Straight out of Quake it's a couple of EE projects for building railguns: Working railgun by Texas Tech students and a project by MIT Students." Now if only we can get enemy ICBMs to pass through Texas Tech on their way to dropping nuclear weapons on the U.S., we'll have a working missile defense system.

hooded1 writes: "Although once considered a utopian ideal, it has now become a reality. Last night on January 20th Dan East released the alpha version of PocketQuake, the first successful port of Quake to any pda. ... Currently PocketQuake only runs on the iPaq." And Jacek Fedorynski points to this screenshot as well. Note that this only works for iPaqs running WinCE, not Linux.

Here is the eighth part in our continuing reprint of the columns Jon Katz wrote following the killings at Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado. Below are more of the many charged comments that the story drew.

Will G writes: "3DRage has posted an article entitled "Quantum Computers: How they work and How they will effect us" by Alan Cline. Not only can quantum computers run one billion times faster than typical silicon-based computers, but also theoretically, they can run and consume no energy. That being true, quantum computers could obsolete the silicon chip much as the transistor did the vacuum tube. This paper is intended for the general reader, and explains basic quantum computer features, and the paradoxical effects quantum theory produces in a practical world. This paper discusses how quantum computers originated, the inevitability of their use, and how they differ from classical computers." An interesting nugget to add to this comes from leelaw2000, who writes: "New Scientist have published this little news story about the development of a kind of quantum shielding that might help the development of real quantum computers. Now if they can just get Quake on it ..."

This is the seventh in our continuing reprint of Jon Katz' series beginning with his column "Voices From the Hellmouth," which serves to illustrate how deeply problems can lurk even under apparent normality.

Aciel asks: "I recently decided to switch from Windows to Linux. I'd been held back by many things before (such as that my copies of Thief II, Quake III Arena, and Wheel of Time only ran on the former), but I was really ready to do it this time. But once I got Red Hat all set up, running Gnome, et cetera, I realized that I had no idea how to install anything. I of course knew about sites like linuxnewbie.com (and .org), but neither of them were really oriented towards people like me. One was oriented more towards programmers; the other towards idiots. But where to find a tutorial on Gnome, KDE, or Linux and X in general oriented towards people like myself, people with significant but not infinite computer DOS-based know-how?" If Unix (Linux/*BSD/etc) is ever to successfully woo users from Windows, something like this is a must.

Mr.Tweak writes: "TweakTown has some "exclusive" pictures of 3DFX's new Motion Blur effects on a 3DFX Voodoo5 in Quake 3 Arena @ 1280x980, 4X FSAA and oh boy - it looks absolutely sensational and so futuristic! According to 3DFX, together the Voodoo5 5000's support of the FXT1(tm) and DXTC(TM) texture compression and textures as large as 2048 texels x 2048 texels, the T-Buffer(TM) can render 3d landscapes with unparalleled realism and with an impressive cinematic style which is Motion Blur. Their article quickly explains Motion Blur and has lots of pictures of the new feature which is currently unreleased by 3DFX, or should we now say nVidiaFX?"

Below is part seven in our continuing reprint of John Katz's columns about the events in Littleton, Colorado, and the reaction that the columns and that tragedy generated.

Gaming cheats like "Up, Up, Down, Down..." are techno-folklore, a universal introduction to people of the gaming era. Other generations told war stories or bragged about their sexual exploits. Gamers trade techniques and other lore -- early experiences, confrontations, conflicts, great exploits, cheats, tricks, myths, and legends. Gaming is moving so quickly that it's time to start building some gaming archives. What, for example, is the most addictive game, now or ever: Asheron's Call? Quake? Final Fantasy 8? Red Alert2? You can testify, brag, reminisce, and otherwise post your own gaming stories and experiences here. (And more below about some surprising new stats on Xmas game sales figures, and gender and gaming)

Below is another sampling of the email and comments that Jon Katz inspired with his "Voices From The Hellmouth" series about the events that rocked Littleton, Colorado.

brtb asks: "Rumors have been flying high on IRC that the popular Quake 3 mod "Bid for Power," based on DragonBallZ, was recently cease-and-desisted by Funimation and forced into selling out. I'm not speculating as to the validity of these rumors, but I'm sure the mod-making community (including myself) would want to hear from all the copyright experts out there in /. - even the IANAL ones - what possible legal problems can TV/game based mods get into, and are they avoidable? What's fair use in the way of names, images, characters, settings, etc.? Is there anything in particular that we should stay away from doing while developing mods?" Rumor this may be, but it raises an interesting question: what use is fair when it comes to character licenses, scenes and other such things that can result from parodies and game mods based on something seen on TV or at the theater? Update: 12/16 08:44 PM EDT:As expected, this is a rumor and nothing more. Bid for Power has not received a cease-and-decist order.