I still get the odd mail about acidlaunch, my lightweight GTK 1.2-based application launcher, but since I'm no longer using or developing it, I rarely answer anyone's questions about it. Therefore, I decided that a quick acidlaunch FAQ was in order. If you've got a question about acidlaunch, please have a quick look over the FAQ - if your question isn't answered there, then do email me, but understand that I may not reply to you in a hurry, or ever.

Version 0.6.1.1-pr8 of the unix port of MAME (multiple arcade machine emulator) has recently been released.

Changes since 0.61.1-pr7:

• Fixed a problem in the DGA2 driver that could lead to scrambled colors with an i830MG video card in 24bpp mode. (Eric Brunet, Shyouzou Sugitani)
  
• The SDL target's -listmodes switch now operates before attempting to load a game. (Shadow Walker)
  
• Added some missing xmess files.
  
• Fixed some duplicate variable/unused variable warnings.
  
• Fixed several display problems with the Xv target. (Alastair Robinson)
  
• The MAME debugger should (mostly) work now.
  

After a long wait, XFree86 4.2 has finally made it into the Debian unstable distribution. The packages, which are for XFree86 4.2.1, were released into unstable a couple of days ago, and should now have propagated out to our battered aussie mirrors. The main improvement in the XFree 4.2 series is improved driver support - there's finally a driver for older non-Virge S3 cards, and improved Radeon support, including a 2D driver for the Radeon 8500 and a basic 3D driver for the 7500. It also means that Debian users can now install the lovely snapshot releases of the DRI drivers, which feature vastly improved Radeon and Radeon 7500 3D support, as well as experimental 3D support for the 8500. There's also a Mach64 driver for those people stuck with Rage Pro chips which does a surprisingly good job of playing Quake III.

Registrations for the 2003 Linux.conf.au are now open. Press release here and registration page here. I'm going hope to see a few of you there.

A new Tribes 2 patch is out adding 2 new game types, the torque game engine map editor, new maps and increased ELF range among other things from the version of Tribes2 Sierra is re-releasing.

An avi of team rabbit 2 can be found here

Release Notes
Incremental Patch
Full installer
Or alternatively just grab it via loki_update

And teamspeak have finally released a beta of the long awaited linux client for their VoIP software designed for games.

Mario fans not already keen on the idea of coming down to Myer Melbourne tomorrow to meet Mario have yet another reason to come along - Nintendo Australia have updated their news page to say that limited pre-release stock of both Super Mario Sunshine, and the Super Mario Sunshine Super Value Pack (which bundles a GameCube, a memory card and a copy of the game together) will be available for purchase. As an added bonus, those who buy copies of the game tomorrow will go into a draw for two tickets to the AFL Grand Final on Saturday.

In light of this new information, I'll be going along to the 11am Mario-meet-and-greet session with credit card in tow. Mothers with children might want to take their kiddies along to the 1:30pm session, to prevent them being jumped on and ejected from their shells during my mad dash to the checkout. Oh, and who wants my footy tickets if I win the comp? :)

Microsoft have officially announced that they now the new owners of Rare, after their recent purchase of Nintendo's 49% share in the company.

I know that a some Nintendo fans are probably going to lose sleep over this, but I'm not, and for some very good reasons. Rare's core talent - the founders of the company - recently left, and are sure to start new companies of their own in the near future. Also, Nintendo have retained exclusive rights to all of their characters that appeared in Rare games, including some characters of Rare's invention (such as Diddy Kong).

Perhaps Rare will write another Goldeneye, and sell a million Xboxes for Microsoft, but even if that does happen, it won't be for at least another year. In the meantime, Rare's latest game, the very pretty and GameCube-exclusive Star Fox Adventures is out in the US and will be out here in time for Christmas, and Nintendo have US$180m kicking around to court third parties with, or to seed more young development companies like Silicon Knights and Retro Studios.

stolen from linuxgames:
Unreal Tournament 2003 is finally gold, and should be in stores shortly. AND...

Linux Support
The Linux installer is included on Disc 3 of the 3 CD set! We support both client and server for Linux. Unfortunately there's no mention of Linux on the box because we didn't know it would be done in time so please tell all your Linux gaming friends that UT2003 is ready for them!

Nintendo of Australia have just announced that Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, is coming down to Australia to promote Super Mario Sunshine, which gets released locally on October 4th. Martinet will be appearing at venues in Melbourne and Sydney, along with games and prizes, and a chance to play Super Mario Sunshine before it's local release. Check out the full announcement for date/time/location details, and if you decide to head along to the Melbourne show, expect to see me there :)

I've just uploaded Lame Fighter 0.10, which adds dodgy music to this overwhelmingly lame experience. The music is played by MOD-playing code written by yours truly, which injects samples into my multi-channel sound system. This release also changes fixes a couple of bugs, and changes the way in which difficulty increases - it should now be a bit more even now.