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The official QuakeCon site has been updated with an announcement regarding the QuakeCon 2004 festival and tournament. This is the 9th annual gathering of gamers to the Texas homeland of Quake and promises to be one of the largest ever.

QuakeCon 2004 will be held August 12-15 in Grapevine, Texas, and online registration for the games will begin April 14 at 9:00PM EST. Here are more details regarding the event:

The new venue will house the largest-ever BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) area accommodating 3,000 players, an increase of 1,000 seats from last year’s packed house of 2,000. The four-day event will erupt with contests, workshops, hardware and software demos/exhibits, give-aways, loud parties and white-knuckle tournament action – attracting top players from around the globe.

QuakeCon 2004

Activision (add to watch list)

id Software (add to watch list)

Quake III Arena (add to watch list)

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The developers of the hit massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG), Shadowbane, recently had a chat discussing some of the events and aspects of the game. Topics of the chat included the 2.0 and 2.5 patches, along with the rise of the Upstart Gods.

Here's a snippet from the chat:

When can we expect to see a detailed list of Shrine/Spire abilities as well a some documentation on how these things work?

A fair explanation as to how these things work can already be found in the 'In Development' page on the Chronicles (http://chronicles.ubi.com). I probably need to take a gander at it - there have been some minor tweaks as we've learned how players use the system on Test

As for a list of what the shrines and spires are, I'm sure we'll get those up eventually, but right now, you can find a fairly good rundown of all of that data on the Test community boards, who have been documenting it fairly well.

Shadowbane Developer Chat Logs

Ubisoft (add to watch list)

Wolfpack Studios (add to watch list)

Shadowbane (add to watch list)

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Spiderweb has released a new patch for its RPG title Avernum 3. Bearing the version number 1.1.4, this patch addresses some OS X bugs and smooths out the gameplay a bit. Those interested in downloading the patch, which is sized at 1.3 MB, can do so at Spiderweb's site. A full version of Avernum 3 1.1.4 is also available for download.

Avernum 3 is an isometric RPG that features over 100 locations and a dynamic world that thrives or fades depending on the actions of the player. Those interested in trying it out can find demo's at its official site.

Avernum 3 Updates and Tech Support

Spiderweb Software (add to watch list)

Avernum 3 (add to watch list)

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Myth II folks playing under OS X may want to hold off on the latest update. According to PlayMyth.net, the recently released OS 10.3.3 update causes some problems with the current build:

If you recently updated OS X to 10.3.3, you'll notice your games will not be loading. Instead of the proper blue loading bar, you'll get kicked to the desktop. Please be aware that the development team is aware of this problem.

PlayMyth - OS X 10.3.3 and Myth 1.4.x

MacSoft (add to watch list)

Bungie Studios (add to watch list)

Myth II: Soulblighter (add to watch list)

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Inside Mac Games has posted a review of Star Trek: Elite Force II. Here's a clip from the review:

The original Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force came out over two years ago and was well executed, with a strong storyline that played out rather like an episode of the TV series. But it had some shortcomings: its single-player game was much too short, easy and linear, it had a lot of extremely small levels, and its loading times were glacial. Although the sequel bears more than a passing resemblance to its predecessor, there are some significant differences. The new game seems a little less story-driven and slightly less linear than the first, and it's also a lot more of a challenge.

IMG Review: Star Trek Elite Force II

Ritual Entertainment (add to watch list)

Aspyr Media (add to watch list)

Star Trek Elite Force II (add to watch list)

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Pangea Software has released a patch for Nanosaur 2, the company's recently released action game. The new patch includes several bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where player would randomly fade in/out for some people.
• Fixed a major problem where the keyboard would not work for some people.This was done by adding a “Don’t use HID for Input” option to the Input Configurationdialog.
• Fixed problem with LCD shutter glaOther misc stability tweaks.

Pangea Software (add to watch list)

Nanosaur 2: Hatchling (add to watch list)

Macgamefiles.com

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