Everybody knows that Apple is firmly ensconced within the Star Wars: Episode I hype juggernaut, right? We've got all those great trailers and commercials and things "exclusively" in QuickTime format, and jointly served from the Star Wars site and the Apple site. But according to a tip from a mysterious viewer known only as Mr. Nobel, the connection goes even deeper than that. Few events in the history of geekdom have been so anxiously awaited as the Phantom Menace premiere on May 19th; software and hardware development will grind to a screeching halt as engineers all over the place ditch work and try to catch one of the first showings. But if Mr. Nobel isn't just yanking our collective chain, Mac geeks just might get a leg up on the rest of the salivating world.

See, Mr. Nobel points out that on WWDC's Tuesday schedule, at eight o'clock that night there's a "Film Festival" listing. If he's right, that "Film Festival" is in fact none other than a private WWDC-only screening of Episode I. So Mac developers attending the conference won't just have the benefit of basking in Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field and access to all the latest hardware and software info in the Mac development world, but they'll also get to see this long-awaited movie a full week before it hits the theaters-- and as part of an "audience of propellerheads," as Mr. Nobel so succinctly puts it. Now that would be a coup.

Is this early screening of Episode I just Apple's attempt to distract the attendees from what might turn out to be a less-than-compelling presentation of the Mac's OS roadmap, or a lack of hot new product announcements? Could be, but who's complaining? For those of you crazy enough to drop what you're doing, jet out to San Jose, and shell out $1295 for admission to WWDC all because of one little rumor that you might get to see Episode I a week or so early, congratulations-- you're a real fan. And probably certifiably wacky, to boot. Personally, we're more than a tad skeptical that Apple's really planning on doing this, but it's a great rumor and we feel duty-bound to report it; for one thing, if it turns out to be true, Apple may just have found a way to improve developer relations about a kajillion percent and completely compensate for all the sins of the past. On the other hand, the rumor might be completely false and Apple might be planning to show Tron instead. Feeling lucky, punk?

The countdown continues, and just about everybody expects Apple to introduce the new "101" PowerBooks at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference. Of course, most of us also expected them at the last three or four big media events, but who's counting? The thing is, information about the new PowerBooks hasn't exactly been easy to come by; whereas everybody pretty much knew everything about the Wall Street models for a couple of months before they finally surfaced, Apple's managed to plug leaks and keep most of the details about 101 under wraps. That little fact, however, hasn't stopped Apple Insider from compiling what they are calling their "final" compendium of 101 information.

As it turns out, most of the changes in 101 are under-the-hood, so don't expect a big, flashy new enclosure; Apple's even internally referring to 101 as "Wall Street 1.5," implying that they've improved the current PowerBooks instead of replacing them outright. In addition to faster processors and a kick-ass Rage 128-based graphics controller, Apple has also reportedly redesigned the cooling system in the new portables, meaning that, unlike the original Wall Streets, 101 units probably won't double as a portable electric room heater and mug warmer. Then there are the ports; wave bye-bye to the ADB and DIN-8 serial ports, because they're being replaced with two USB ports instead. But other than a few small tweaks here and there, it sure looks like 101 bears more than a passing resemblance to the current Wall Street enclosures. Check out the engineering drawings for yourself; we might have a long while to wait before super-curvy or super-thin PowerBooks make it out of the gate.

If you ask us, perhaps the most interesting thing about those technical drawings is the trackpad and its buttons. That's "buttons," as in plural. Doesn't it look as though the 101 has two buttons below its trackpad? If this technical drawing is genuine, then it looks like at some point Apple was at least toying with the idea of putting two-button "mice" on its pro-level machines; whether or not the two buttons will make it into shipping systems remains to be seen. Heck, for all we know, all of this info could be a crock-- just part of a deliberate Apple campaign to befuddle the rumors sites and track down leaks. But that's what makes following Apple so much fun.

Your average gamer might be counting down the hours until the full release of Quake 3: Arena, but to be honest, we tried the Q3TEST release and we weren't all that impressed; yes, it's fun, and we're very glad that it's getting released for the Mac (despite earlier statements to the contrary by the game's creator), but the AtAT staff is actually much more wound up about another game slated for release later this year. Oni is the latest project by those happy folks over at Bungie; they were the ones who brought us Pathways Into Darkness, the Marathon series, and both Myths-- some of the most engrossing games ever released for any platform in our opinion. And while id may crank out some nice plot-light first-person shooters that provide maximum killage via network games, we really like an involving story that pulls us in and doesn't let go. Bungie has yet to disappoint us.

Oni means "ghosts" or "demons" in Japanese, as in the demons of the past that torture one's soul. The game is heavily anime-influenced (as evidenced by the protagonist's purple hair) and promises to be as action-packed as it is involving. Imagine Tomb Raider if Lara Croft were more, er, reasonably proportioned. And outfitted for serious battle. Oh, and with a serious penchant for hand-to-hand combat when guns lack that personal touch. Imagine a third-person-perspective game that combines never-before-seen gunplay with fast and fluid martial arts action like that seen in the Tekken-style arcade games. Or, heck, stop imagining and see for yourself...

See, E3 is next week, and given that it's the big electronic entertainment trade show of the year, Bungie's been hard at work getting ready to knock the rest of the gaming world flat on its butt. They've put together a cinematic trailer that shows off some of Oni's best aspects, and Next Generation Online has the exclusive QuickTime version available for download. You either need a fast connection or a whole mess of patience, because the small version is 23 MB, and the large one is 42 MB. But believe us-- it's worth the download. If we had nothing else to live for right now, we'd struggle on just to see Oni get released this winter. Our appetite has been whetted by this taste of Oni's big, sprawling rooms, fighting action that puts Jackie Chan to shame, and a six-pronged rocket launcher that just has to be seen to be believed. (Oh, and by what appears to be a guest appearance by ED-209 of Robocop fame.) Gee, can you tell we're excited?