yes PTERODON gave up a long time ago,
it will not be an official patch.. but wont just be a "add on" i knew a few people working on the project and they have got gamespy to support the patch, to be honest i think there working on more than what pterodon has ever done with the game will be interesting to see how it goes, as VC2 wasn't that big of a success ( they proberly lost money with that game ) maybe a big update is all thats needed for VC 1