Does anyone know if and where someone might be trying to update Descent 3? At the very least releasing hacked texture files that contain updated graphics?

There's not really anything that anyone in the Descent community (which I've been a part of for the past 8 years or so) can do without the D3 source code. We were lucky enough to have the source for D1 and D2 released, which led to some impressive community-driven work to update those games' engines, but there's simply no way to do the same thing with D3 as of right now. It's a darn shame, but that's the way things stand.
As this is my first post in here, I have to say what an amazing service this seems to be. I'm a longtime fan of both the Descent and Freespace series, and seeing both them available at retail once again in all of their glory is just great. :)

Hi Top Gun. Interplay's even selling them on their site now through Amazon. Kinda cool how things are getting into swing right now.

yeah tru dat I've played descent since my older brother accidentally left his descent 1 disc at my house and I still have the CDs in playable condition