Heads Up: Star Trek: The Neutral Zone 2

A bit overlooked but not too out-dated, the Star Trek: The Neutral Zone 2 site has launched. The game is a sequel to Neutral Zone, both of which are 2D shooters. Full details about the game are available at the site, along with an alpha version of the game.

glElite Update

The glElite site has been updated with word that Teddy (the previous glElite engine) development has nearly halted. The game will use the Ogre engine instead. Further, there have been advancements in the planning stage. Full updates can be read at the site.

For the People, By the People: Friday

Bridge Commander:

BCFiles serves up Cakuzma's Target Separation v4.0 script, which allows Galaxy-class starships to separate. There are additional mods which must be installed; requirements are listed on the linked page.

Freelancer:

Hispania Revolutions Mod Beta v1.101 can be downloaded from Lancers Reactor or from Kryosphere Studios. Another mod by KS is the Music Mod v1 (also at Lancers Reactor and the KS site), which allows the user to select music styles for each House.
Freespace 2:

The Babylon Project is soliciting voice actors for a sixteen-mission run. Full details and instructions can be found in this HLP thread.

Hardwar:

REAxion offers a new version of HardLook, which is compatible with UIM.04. This thread at Captain Zedo's has a download link and more information about the program.

For the People, By the People: Thursday

Bridge Commander:

New ship models at BC Files include Zambie Zan's Romulan Starling-class Destroyer, Enterprise Intrepid, K'Mirra Klingon Battleship, and Klingon Suvwl'QeH.

Freelancer:

Lancers Reactor serves up the Crossfire v1.4 mod by the Crossfire Server Team.

Freespace 2:

Mr. Fury announces the availability of The Babylon Project (Base Project) v3.0 and a re-release of the original Earth-Minbari War campaign. Raider Wars, another campaign, and a mission pack should also be released in the near future. All releases can be downloaded either via Bit Torrent or Fileplanet.

Independence War:

Hot4Darmat and Steve Robertson discuss the progress they've made on Dreadnaught-class Corvette paper models.

Star Trek Armada II:

Armada 2 Files hosts an Enterprise Intrepid (Anon), a Romulan Negh'Var by t_Beta_t, a Thulfir-class Starship by Terradyhne, and a mod by Sweldon that replaces the user-controls tutorial in single-player.

X-Wing Alliance:

The X-Wing Alliance Upgrade site has been updated with a Type H Freighter, which is filed appropriately under "Transports" in the downloads section. The Freighter is also available at Darksaber's.

For the People, By the People: Tuesday

Freelancer:

Filed under "Mistaken Identities" or "You've got Wing Commander in my Star Wars!", Lancers Reactor brings word of a new Midway CMP and MAT file by Aldebaran (needs additional hardpoints and other requirements to make it flyable in game).

Freespace 2:

Goober5000 has released a demo of sorts of a project with the worlds-colliding title, "Freespacelancer". As the title suggests, this is his attempt to add a non-linear campaign to Freespace 2. Also, Col. Fishguts (and you have to love that name) has posted some additional screenshots to the Babylon Project's board at HLP.

Starfleet Command 3:

MajorRacal offers a Liger-class Dreadnaught. From SFC3Files.com come Anon's Borg Tactical Ziggurat, MarianoDT's Xindi Insectoid, Unimatrix 1's Zeus Refit v2.0, Unimatrix 1's Odyssey Refit v2.0, Unimatrix 1's Shipyard v2.0, Unimatrix 1's Excelsior v2.0, Unimatrix 1's Excalibur Refit v2.0, and Unimatrix 1's Borg Probe v3.0.

Vendetta Online Update

The Vendetta Online site has been updated with word of an impending patch for the game that will "fix some server-side problems and introduce some improvements to AI code and a few other things. Among said changes, it will now be possible to follow mining bots back to the queens (within 1000m, their jump destination will be displayed)." Also, there will be an update to the In Progress developmental page sometime later today.

SWG Dev Update

Gordon Walton has added to his original post regarding upcoming changes to Star Wars Galaxies. Any new planets will apparently only be made available in expansion packs, and additional quests in space (as well as ground) should be "moving forward".

For the People, By the People: Sunday Drive Edition

Bridge Commander:

BCFiles has a few additional downloads that I missed on New Year's Eve--a Main Menu Replacement Movies mod by JTS1701, a Klingon Shuttle by mrjohn, and an Akira Hardpoint model by Applefreak.

Freespace 2:

Mr. Fury has posted a pair of updates on the status of the Babylon Project, including word that a new release should be forthcoming in the next week. The other update concerns future plans for the conversion, including news about the Mists of Fire and EA Civil War campaigns.

Hardwar:

smurph has released another bonus patch for Hardwar, which builds on the UIM.04 patch. smurph's patch affects police presence, disables negative withdrawals and negative deposits, and a variety of spawning issues. See this thread at Captain Zedo's for a readme and a download link.

Starfleet Command 3:

New models announced on the Dynaverse.net boards include MajorRacal's Gorn Dimetrodon-class Dreadnaught and Sandman3D's Eagle-class. Also, Trek-Online speaks with Generations at War mod leader, NannerSlug, about the mod, the present status and possible future of Trek gaming, and the starfleetcommand3.net website (which also has news that a new campaign is underway).

X2:

KrashKart offers a new script called Shipjacker v1.0a that adds a bit of GTA flavor to Egosoft's space sim.

Heads Up: Star Wars: Empires at War

TFN has a few details about an upcoming Star Wars title, Empires at War, which will feature land-based and space-based (a la Homeworld, the article states) combat. The strategy title is due in Autumn 2005 and is being developed by Petroglyph. Thanks Blue's (via VE3D).

For the People, By the People: Year End Edition

A very brief FTP, BTP today. I do wish you all a happy and safe New Year's.

Bridge Commander:

BC Files serves up TiqHud's Raider Hardpoint mod, which adds a cloaking device to Zorg/Morpheus' Maquis Raider, TiqHud's Peacestarbase Hardpoint mod, which updates mrjohn's Unity One so that it's dockable, JamesTiberiusKirk's Swimmy Torpedo mod, which alters the appearance of torps, mrjohn's Armored Voyager One, Laurelin's 'Tal Shiar Starbase v1.2 (updated with a hardpoint fix), and CaptainKeyes' Damage Report sound mod.

Starshatter:

DamoclesX posts a peek at a Heavy Cruiser model from the upcoming Battlestar Galactica TC.

Void War Update and Multiplayer Award

Void War has been updated to v1.01.02. The patch includes minor bug fixes.

The independent space combat title was also awarded Multiplayer Game of the Year by Game Tunnel. Congrats to Rampant Games.

For the People, By the People: Thursday

Freespace 2:

A four-mission demo of Nuclear's untitled campaign has been released. Details can be found in this thread at HLP.

There is also a sample of concept music from Wing Commander Saga. The music is based on a theme from Wing Commander 4.

Hardwar:

Captain Zedo's now hosts Plague's IceBreaker skin for the Moon Moth.

Star Trek Armada 2:

From Armada2Files comes Anon's Omega X-class, Krasim's Federation Fighter, and AdmiralPicard's Super USS Enterprise.

X-Wing Alliance:

XWAU reports that their previously released VSD has been updated to v1.1; the new version, which is supposed to be currently available only at VinceT's X-Wing HQ (unfortunately, rooting around found only a news post today and not a link; perhaps I missed the linkage) and corrects return vessels and landing issues.

X2:

Egosoft will be donating money collected from sales of X boosterpacks to "Medecins Sans Frontieres" for the benefit of those impacted by Sunday's tsunamis.

On the lighter side, ThalonMook has released a ship mod consisting of a flagship, an X-Trans, and a Dragon.

Star Wolves Vid

Excalibur Publishing, publishers of Star Wolves in the UK and Scandanavian, have released a movie that shows off the combat title from Russian developers, Xbow. Thanks 3DGamers (mirror also available there).

Interview with an Avis + X2: The Return Screenshots

There's a new, very meaty Q&A with X2: The Return developer, Avis, which is accompanied by a trio of screenshots from the upcoming game by Egosoft. Avis chats about the Empire, I-War, his work on cutscenes in The Return, and consoles.

zeckensacks's Glide Wrapper v0.82b

zeckensack's Independence War/Independence War Deluxe and Wing Commander Prophecy and Secret Ops-friendly Glide wrapper has been updated to v0.82b. A list of fixes can be viewed in the changelog.

Hardwar UIM.04 and New ASROC

There's another Hardwar patch in town (and the incredibly goofy this town ain't big enough for all of the patches, yadda yadda, must follow). UIM.04, a 5MB patch that corrects issues with video-related crashes, is available.

Plagued Mind has also updated Mun's code and has released a new version of ASROC, which "should allow ASROC to work on all versions of hardwar and automatically find the info needed to make itself work with future versions of hardwar."

For the People, By the People: Wednesday

Bridge Commander:

BCFiles hosts Elminster's Common Weapons Pack v2.5.

X-Wing Alliance:

Darksaber's X-Wing Station has an updated version of the Firespray mentioned yesterday. The new version corrects a crash problem with the earlier version. Thanks XWAU.

X2:

This thread at the official X forums gives details on DeadlyDa's Ship, Station, and Galaxy Mod v0.1.1. The latest version tweaks new ship handling and offers more information on ships in the readme. Screenshots and download links are included in the thread.

Ace of Angels Update

Long quiet, the Ace of Angels forums have seen some recent developer activity. Seenar says:

We are in the process of integrating new technology into Ace of Angels. This is a huge undertaking because we are basically re-writing much of the code. The goal is to create an updated look to the game, while maintaining the same game play aspects that make it fun.

Further in the thread, he indicates that they are also working on bringing up a server for old players.

Hardwar UIM.03

Ian Martin is at it again, which means there's a new Hardwar patch to be downloaded. UIM.03 is a minor patch, which corrects a crashing bug involving dead pilots and saved games and enables embossing textures. Mirrors and more are including in the thread at Captain Zedo's.

For the People, By the People: Tuesday

Bridge Commander:

As seen at the BCU forums, Zambie Zan offers a low-poly Chichuba Light Crusier and an Eros-class Runabout for download.

Freelancer:

Watercooler Warrior has released another script, "Set Mission 1 Reward", which allows the user to do just that without directly manipulating .ini files. Bill-Boe Berlev (and no, I wouldn't want to say that three times in a row) has produced a Visibility Mod, which increases the range of visible objects in single and multiplayer games. Thanks Lancers Reactor (please make the scrolling stop).

Freespace 2:

Kazan's VP Constructor Suite 2.0-RC1 is available (via the HLP forums).

Master of Orion 3:

MOO3 Guardian serves up two updates to DarkCrimson's planet skins mods (gas giants and new skins for planets) and Lennier's Unliving Mod v1.0. Newly published are Psilondude's strategy tips regarding AI, System Taking, and Ship Design.

Nexus:

Darkshimmer announces the preliminary offering of dU's Star Trek: Age of War Alpha 1.0 TC. A small fix has already been posted. At least a partial readme is included in the linked post at the official Nexus forums

X-Wing Alliance:

Darksaber's X-Wing Station hosts Master Qui-Gon's Firespray Attack Ship; it includes three effects options. That and a whole lot more about the release is included at Darksaber's. Thanks XWAU.

For the People, By the People: Sunday Drive Edition

Bridge Commander:

Imperial Destroyer offers a hardpoint update to MrJohn's Guncutter 2.

Freespace 2:

The HLP forums brings a bevy of FS2 action today. We start with Blaise Russel's new campaign, "Shrouding the Light: Origins", which is now available. Freespace 2 Open has been updated to v3.6.5. The Freespace Conversion group has ported the "Christmas Heist" mission to Freespace 2; the mission was previously available only for Freespace. Starman01 has posted a Wing Commander Saga wallpaper. TrashMan shares pics of a variety of ships he's working on, while c914 has released his GTD Sirona. Lastly, there are three Wing Commander Saga shots at the CIC.

Nexus:

Jusas brings a new mission to the community.

Wing Commander:

The CIC also has word of the relaunch of the German Wing Commander site, Wingcenter, which apparently will be covering additional space combat titles in the future.

SaltLake for Christmas

The Commonwealth Navy SaltLake Base model is now available at the Independence War Paper Model site.

For the People, By the People: Santa's Sleigh Edition

FTP, BTP is short and sweet today and will be my last post for the day; it is unlikely that there will be updates tomorrow. Again, I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

Bridge Commander:

BCFiles offers Outalance Shipyards' Varuul Reman Light Cruiser.

Freespace 2:

Starman01 shares a series of shots of the Kilrathi Frawqirg-class Destroyer from the Wing Commander Saga forum at HLP.

Nexus:

ElectricMonk gives the gift of an "unfinished" SpaceTech episode that all-the-same features three new systems and five missions.

X-Wing Alliance:

As promised, the XWA Upgrade team has released the very slick Victory-class Star Destroyer by Trageton. The ship is available via the download page, filed under "Starships", of course.

Gal Civ 2: Dreadlords Info and Beta Test

The Gal Civ site has been updated with a lengthy article that discusses the differences between Gal Civ I and Gal Civ II and the hopes that the "sequel" will instead be another contender in the same genre (as opposed to being just a sequel). The article also discloses that those who pre-order the game and/or have an active subscription to Totalgaming.net will be eligible to beta test Gal Civ II.

JtL Advanced Pilot's Guide

Marzuk offers an Advanced Pilot's Guide at SWGVault. The guide covers ships, equipment, droid commands, and basic flying and combat tactics.