Lots of news happened this week fellow gamers - from 3dfx's war cry to Johnny Wilson leaving CGW. Here's a quick recap of what happened.

　　3dfx is getting closer to the release of its Voodoo4 (the company doesn't officially have a name for the new board yet but we doubt the company would call it the Banshee2). And while most companies would hunker down on its current offering to begin weaving plans for launching its next product, 3dfx still appears to be firmly committed to its Voodoo3. This week, the company released its high-end ATI All-In-Wonder Pro competitor, the Voodoo3 3500 TV. The new board sports video recording, TV input/output, and radio output running at 183 MHz but with only 16MB. For the "value conscious"consumer, 3dfx launched its "underclocked" US$69 Voodoo3 brand, the Velocity 100 and 200 (8 and 16 MB of memory). The new boards aren't really focused at gamers but there are bound to attract several interested games as a potential solution - although we suggest sticking with the higher-end Voodoo3 boards for gaming.

　　Firaxis' Alpha Centauri has to be one of the most addictive titles I've ever played. Two weeks ago, I finally found a copy of the game to take home and play for a short time. After starting at 8 in the evening and then looking at the clock again at 4 in the morning and not really wanting to go to bed, I knew it had to be that classic Sid Meier/Brian Reynolds magic returning. When I went to take a look at the Alpha Centauri review on GameSpot, reviewer Denny Atkin opened his review with the facts by saying you'd stay up until 4 a.m playing the title. So true. So when the announcement that Alpha Centauri's first add-on pack, Alien Crossfire, was on the way - I was all smiles and have been trying to catch up on sleep until it arrives. While no date has been announced for when the title will make it to shelves, turn-based strategy games with a copy of SMAC on their hard drives will probably eat this one up when it releases and skip sleeping for several days.

　　Coming soon… more from the team that brought you EverQuest. Since EverQuest was released, I have seen more and more gamers, editors, and developers addicted than to any other game I've ever seen. One person mentions the game and suddenly a mass of gamers forms talking about what they have and where they've explored. So Verant's second leap into the online massively multiplayer universe will undoubtedly bring EverQuest fans out of the woodwork. We wouldn't be surprised if gamers actually went to GenCon just to see the upcoming game, Sovereign, in action.

　　Once a week there is always some news that makes gamers sad and the confirmation that Computer Gaming World's Johnny Wilson would be leaving the publication to move on to Wizards of the Coast as its publishing director. I've known Johnny for a few years (when I first met him I had to help clean the Nerf Ping Pong set up off the meeting table) and have always respected his keen insight and contagious humor. While he'll be leaving the world of video games for paper and card games, I wish him well and suspect to bother him in Seattle sometime soon. Congratulations and good luck (I guess this means I can't do another featured April Fool's Story about him next year now.)