After being obscured in the digital void which holds all the poor unlinked pages of the world, the Swordplay.net Stuff section has at last made its triumphant return! There's not too much there right now, but that will change as we grow. Expect new resources and sections to appear there as I get around to completing them. =)

And to start Stuff off right, we are posting it complete with our very first article. It's an offbeat look at Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, a cool game which was rather overlooked with last years rush of sci-fi themed RTS games. Be sure to take a gander here. Oh, and speaking of TA: Kingdoms, a new patch came out yesterday bringing the version number to an even 2.0. There's too many new features to list, but you can read all about it and grab the file on this Adrenaline Vault Downloads page.

Last thing before I call it a night: as promised, the Daily Radar has released the second part of their preview of Diablo II characters. This time focusing on the Paladin. Like yesterday's look at the Amazon, there is little new info, but several new screenshots. And also like yesterday, DiabloII.net has whipped up extensive captions for each, available on their main page.

GameFan Online has scored an exclusive Ultima IX: Ascension screenshot, and it's a good one. It depicts the Avatar casting a powerful-looking spell at a giant spider. They also promise an interview with the designers and more exclusive shots later in the week, so be sure to check back.

In other Ultima IX news, we should have the official demo in our grubby little paws quite soon. It will be first availale on the CD included with the December issue of Computer Gaming World, scheduled to hit newsstands around November 1st. Here's the latest straight from Origin employee, Matt Orlich:

And some more pictures for those of you who just can't wait to get back to Britannia, a new preview from Daily Radar. I'm not sure who these new Daily Radar folks are, but this preview seems to fit their style of not having much new info, but scoring many new screenshots. Go take a look.

The Adrenaline Vault has posted a new interview with Revenant Lead Designer, Rex Dickson. Now that the game is finished and headed for stores, Rex takes time to look back at the design process as well as giving teasers of what gamers can expect. Here's a quote from him after being asked how much of an inspiration games like Diablo were to the design team:

Read the full interview here.

If you haven't experienced the masterpiece that is System Shock 2 yet, then this might interest you. Voodoo Extreme today posted a lengthy reprint from the SS2 manual in which designers Ken Levine and Jonathan Chey pontificate on the process of bringing the game from an idea and a business deal all the way to a finished product. If you've already read it in the maual, then just keep moving... but if not, then click here.

And speaking of Drakan (okay, we weren't, but I was yesterday), Surreal Software has release the official editor for the game. No word on the features except to say it should be useful for multiplayer maps, but I assume it's a full level-builder and such. You can download it directly from them.

Well, it figures that five minutes after I say Blizzard was late posting their Diablo II Screenshot of the Week, they release it. It's another good one, depicting the Sorceress fending off a bevy of Fallen and Thorned Hulks with a fire-enchanted sword. As usual, the folks at DiabloII.net have whipped up an excellent caption here.

After a few days of relative quiet in the RPG world, there has finally been a resurgence of worthy news items. I know how excited this makes all of you so there will be a reception with beer and chips later to celebrate. But let's get down to business first, shall we? Okay, good. First up, Revenant has gone gold and should be on store shelves in a week or two. This dark fantasy title from Eidos Interactive has been eagerly anticipated by countless fans who wish to rise from the dead and play the role of Locke D'Averam, a hero who (like so many others) has put "Saving the World of Ur" as one of the main goals on his resume. Here are some of the game's key features:

If this is of interest to you, be sure to read Gamespot's Revenant Preview to get the facts. You may also download the 39.5 MB demo from this page. The words "Diablo Clone" have often been used to describe this game, but I prefer to take a look at the finished product before making such blanket statements.

Although all my sources tell me that today is Tuesday, there still is no Diablo II Screenshot of the Week to show for it. I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer than normal. But to quench your thirst for hellish info, Daily Radar has a new Diablo II Preview up. While there is no new information, there are a slew of new screenshots, some of which are really terrific. And, as they are wont to do, the gang at DiabloII.net have gone and written up some excellent captions to accompany the new pics. There are links to them on DiabloII.net's main page and you can read the preview here. Additionally, the Daily Radar this week will be showing an overview of each of the 5 main characters from the game and then hold a contest to give away 30 slots in the Diablo II Beta test. This week it's the Amazon, so go have a look and check back soon to get in that contest!

Also pertaining to the world of Diablo II, Blizzard has updated their page describing Battle.net Chat Icons. This will give you the full detail on what all those tiny pictures next to people's names mean on b.net.

Another game that has been eagerly anticipated for ages is Anachronox from the company that loves to miss shipdates by years at a time, Ion Storm. But the day of release seems to be at last drawing near for this RPG built with an über-modified version of the Quake engine. And in that light, a new site from the GameSpy Network has opened up, PlanetAnachronox and they even have a hands-on preview to celebrate. Also of note is an interview with Lead Designer, Tom Hall.

For those of you who are into that whole dragon-riding scene made popular again by Drakan: Order of the Flame, there is a new patch you'll want to get your hands on. It includes all the previous fixes "plus improved server support". Get it from here.

The official Icewind Dale message board was lacking posts from designers for a while, but they seem to be back in full force. Over the past few days there has been a spate of replies from the programers to make up for the lack of official word on this stand-alone AD&D game using Bioware's Infinity Engine (the engine used to create Baldur's Gate). Most of the new information relates to the various technical limitations of the engine, explaining why Icewind Dale from Black Isle Studios won't have any dragons, carried torches, or reverse-gravity rooms, for example. Why not give the board a perusal here.

This next story doesn't really have much to do with anything, but I just found it too damn funny not to post. Citezens in Character, an Ultima Online guild from the shard of Chesapeake, recently sponsored a contest to find the Worst Dressed Wench in Britannia. And, oh man, did they ever! There is a picture up of the 5 finalists, and let me tell you... it is remarkable just how ugly ugly can be. As it turned out, all the finalists were male which probably makes some kind of sick sense. You've just got to click here and see their pics for yourself.

And the winner was none other than CoolDaddyO, a longtime friend and guildmate of myself and Rao. Why not send him an email and let him know just how revolting he is! (Well, unless you're into that kind of stuff... in which case I recommend you let him know that too).

Oh, in other news... I just got Freespace 2 working! In an absolute first for me, I called tech-support and they actually fixed the problem! Let's here it for James (I think) at Interplay tech-support!

Glide Underground has posted an interview with the designers of GOTHIC, a 3D RPG from the German-based company, Piranha Bytes. Slated for a March 2000 release, the game could take the place of reigning RPG once the initial thrill of the Christmas lineup wears off. The designers boast the game will meld the best features of several popular games:

Lofty goals, indeed. But they do have some innovative ideas and a seemingly solid engine to build from. Read the interview here and be sure to check out the game's homepage here.