My sincerest apologies ... it seems that the Decal Bazaar has been delivering unsatisfactory performance: page time outs, lost files, etc. . Freeservers has told me that they are experiencing critical problems with their servers; they say that it is due to an ongoing network upgrade. We'll see. For the time being, hang in there. I have lots of new decals ready to post, and will do so as soon as the dust settles around here. Be sure to keep the submissions coming!

If you are absolutely fiending for decals and are unable to download the bitmaps from the gallery, you can make your own by following the decal tutorial, or download the .gif files available in the gallery and convert them into greyscale .bmp format (the tutorial explains how to save in this format).

Welcome Back... it just keeps getting better! Please note that 60 new decals have been added to the gallery. Agreed, updates have been few and far between. Don't despair, though, for they will keep coming, with increasing frequency, until further notice. In the meantime, check out what else we have to offer this time around...

The issue of lengthy load times for the gallery pages has been a common complaint, and has been addressed. The GIF images in the gallery have been reduced in size, effectively decreasing the amount of time the pages load two- or threefold! We would like to make this site as accessable as possible, so please let us know if load times have improved, or are too slow for you to browse the site comfortably. Also, some minor improvements have been made, such as browser detection (which loads the appropriate menu bar), and others.

Loyal fans and newcomers alike should be remember to read over the decal tips and tutorial if you are searching for pointers. You can, of course, e-mail any questions you may have.

Last but not least, a huge thanks to everyone who has been submitting decals; nothing we've received has been less than top-notch! This site wouldn't be anything without your contributions, so keep the decals coming. Also, I realize that many of you would like to receive credit on the site for your contributions. I'm working on imlementing a system to do this, so contributors past, present and future should let me know if you have any feelings on it.

The Decal Bazaar has done it again... over 100 new decals have been added to the gallery! Special additions include some Disney characters and 9 new joker-themed decals. Also, thanks to all of you who submitted your own decals; we have received almost fifty since the last update! Submissions have been coming in daily, so be ready for another update soon.

The Decal Bazaar has also undergone some cosmetic changes, including a navigation bar (with a bonus for IE4+ users) and the Decal of the Moment, which displays a random decal from the gallery every time the page is loaded. Please let us know what you think of the facelift or if you encounter any problems at decalbazaar@rattlebrain.com.

Finally, for those of you not in the know, be sure to check out the Half-Life Beginner's Guide at Planet Halflife, and to download a copy of GameSpy to find the fastest multiplayer servers. Everyone should also get the Half-Life patch version 1.0.1.0. Now get playing!

After an extended delay, the Decal Bazaar gets its first update! The gallery now has 84 new images, bringing the grand total to 269 ! Thanks to a fantastic response, we have had over 10,000 hits, and almost all of the new decals were submitted by fans! Look forward to more frequent updates in the future. A special thanks goes out to all of you who submitted your own decals!

As if that wasn't enough, Valve has just released Half-Life patch 1.0.0.9, with Team Fortress Classic. Multiplayer may never be the same! Download the update from one of the mirrors at Planet Half-Life or from WON.NET. And if you can pry yourself away from TFC, be sure to come back soon!

The Decal Bazaar opens today! The first incarnation of the gallery is quite ample, and holds 185 decal images. If this site is successful, look forward to regular additions to the gallery. For now, check out the gallery, the tutorial, and the rest of the site. Please let me know what you think! Whether you enjoy the site or you don't, please send your comments or suggestions to decalbazaar@rattlebrain.com. That's it for today. Enjoy the Decal Bazaar!

Also, be sure to get the newest Half-Life patch 1.0.0.8, available at WON.net, and the new Sierra multiplayer add-on, which you can get at gamecenter.com. Both the patch and the update can also be found at www.halflife.org. The patch fixes some bugs and improves multiplayer performance, the addon has a nice selection of extra decals, and both have new player models and multiplayer maps. The patch also includes a new teamplay mode for multiplayer! What are you waiting for?