Hot on the heels of the game's announcement (story), Interplay has opened the official Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates site for business, introducing the space-based strategy expansion pack in more detail. The site offers plenty of information on the game's story and features, a brief FAQ, and a sizable collection of new screenshots.

• CIA Operative
  Adrenaline Vault has posted a few new CIA Operative screenshots along with a familiar pair of this imminent budget first-person shooter by Trainwreck Studios.
• Star Wars Galaxies
  The official Star Wars Galaxies site has been updated with full-color concept art of the Wookie and Zabrak races in Verant's upcoming 3D MMORPG.
• Project Eden
  There is another Project Eden gallery on French site Gamedata, offering some three dozen new and familiar screenshots of Core Design's squad-based 3D action game.
• Commandos 2
  BrokenPixel has posted four new Commandos 2 screenshots, while PC.IGN offers the same four and one more of Pyro Studios' isometric tactical combat game.
• Battlecruiser Millenium
  Five new Battlecruiser Millenium screenshots on GameSpyDaily show off the space combat sim nearing completion at 3000 AD.
• EVE
  Also on PlanetGSD this evening are nine new EVE: The Second Genesis screenshots revealing new scenes in the massively multiplayer space hybrid in the works at Iceland-based developers CCP.
• Fallen Age
  Online Game Review has posted a new Fallen Age gallery showing off the isometric MMORPG being beta tested at Netamin.

Following closely on the patch for the expansion pack (story), the official RUNE site now offers the version 1.07 patch for the original game for download, bringing all editions of Human Head's third-person Viking slashfest up-to-date. The 6.8 MB patch contains a number of new features, like the new Jun player model, as well as a sizable list of bug fixes.

PC.IGN has posted a new preview of Lord of Destruction, the upcoming add-on for Diablo II. The preview contains quotes from Bill Roper of Blizzard Entertainment, and he comments on their decision to include an option for 800x600 resolution and the new assassin and druid character classes, as well as the locations that are featured in the new act.

Also new at PC.IGN tonight is the first of their three part look at Motor City Online, the upcoming massively multiplayer racing game from Electronic Arts. The article is written by Michael Waite and Andy Beaudoin, the producer and associate producer on the game, and this installment looks at how the game's concept evolved over the course of its development.

GameSquad has released a From Dusk Till Dawn movie trailer, showing off their upcoming third-person action game based on the 1996 movie (thanks GameSpot). The trailer offers a bit under two minutes of gameplay and cinematic footage, and comes in three different formats. Update: It appears the downloads are no longer available, but GameSpot has a mirror in MPEG and streaming formats.

Continuing the flurry of GameSpot news this evening, they have also posted a new movie of Independence War 2: the Edge of Chaos, the space combat sim currently docking at Particle Systems. The movie runs for a minute and a half in MPEG or streaming formats and shows a healthy dose of gameplay as well as some cutscene excerpts.

GameSpot has posted a follow-up story on this morning's announcement that Vivendi Universal will be publishing certain Fox Interactive titles through Sierra Studios, including a sequel to No One Lives Forever and Aliens vs. Predator 2 (story). They have learned some preliminary details, and according to their news update, the NOLF sequel will contain 60 new levels, and possibly 32 player multiplayer support, and AvP2 will contain seven levels for each of the game's three playable characters (Alien, Predator and Marine) and its multiplayer mode will contain ten different character types.

GameSpot has posted a US version of the Steel Soldiers demo that was released last night (story). This demo weighs in at a hefty 80.4 MB, notably larger than the UK demo (in part because it includes a distribution of DirectX 8.0a), but still offers the same special demo mission.

Version 2.53 of the GameSpy 3D server browser is now available for registered users only. This version adds support for TRIBES 2, and they claim it's up to five times faster than the regular in-game server browser.

Blue Byte has released a new patch for Battle Isle: the Andosia War, bringing their 3D turn-based strategy game to build 208. As per the version information page, this 3.25 MB patch brings multiplayer compatibility between different language editions (as a result of which there are no longer separate English and German patches) and improves multiplayer stability. As before, you should also be able to use the auto-updater within the game.

Rebellion updated their site today with new teaser pages for their upcoming first person shooter Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death and Wardog, an upcoming 3D RPG currently in development. The Dredd page doesn't offer much beyond a logo and some old screenshots, but the Wardog page contains the first screenshots to be released from this title, as well as some images of the game's characters. There is also word on their news page that a Wardog comic strip, which will serve as a prologue to the game's storyline, will be running in the Rebellion-owned 2000AD magazine. Oddly enough, nowhere on the site does it mention what platform this game will be appearing on.

Future Games Network has posted a new preview of Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, looking ahead to the isometric RPG being crafted at Troika Games (thanks RPG Vault). While the accompanying screenshots look familiar, the preview is hands-on and contains a fairly detailed description of the game's structure and discerning characteristics. Similiarly, Swiss site gamesweb.com offers a German preview of their own which you may like to read via Babel Fish. Update: In related news, the official US demo is now available from FilePlanet, at a massive 254.9 MB clocking in slightly larger than the European one (story).

There is a new preview of Shogun: Warlord Edition on Games Domain, where they have put an alpha build of the 3D RTS expansion (also known as The Mongol Invasion overseas) by Creative Assembly through its paces. The article describes the pack's premise, new gameplay features, campaigns, and units, and comes with ten new screenshots.

A new preview of Anachronox is online over at GameSpot, looking at upcoming epic from ION Storm. The preview is based on their impressions of a full build of the game, and it features information on the overall gameplay, the many different mini-games, and the engine, which they say shows its age in some places (which is understandable, since Anachronox uses a heavily modified Quake II engine). The preview is accompanied by 12 new screenshots.

Also new on GameSpot this evening is a guide to TRIBES 2. Like all of their game guides, it's available online in HTML format or as a downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF file, and it contains strategies for the different weapons and vehicles, as well as a complete walkthrough for the single player missions.

Mafia gets Gangster Cool is the strange name of Computer Games Online's interview with Daniel Vavra, the lead designer at Illusion Softworks on their upcoming title Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. Daniel discusses the game's influences, their decision to spend most of their development time on the game's single player mode and other similar topics.

NovaLogic has released a new patch for Delta Force: Land Warrior, updating their military first-person shooter to version 1.00.29. According to the accompanying developer's notes, this 5.9 MB patch is a "Maintenance update to support foreign language masters," and as usual you should also be able to use the auto-updater within the game.

GameSpot has conducted a Q&A with Renat Nezametdinov, a game designer at Akella on their upcoming title Sea Dogs II. Renat talks about how the game will improve on the first Sea Dogs adventure, and he also provides details on the STORM 2 engine that powers the game.

Tonight at 9:00 PM EDT, XGR.com will broadcast their prerecorded interview with Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski. The interview contains some reader-submitted questions, and also features his take on that nutty Xbox controller. For more information on the broadcast, head over to XGR.

It's not technically one of their "postmortem" articles, but nonetheless, an article titled Baldur's Gate II: The Anatomy of a Sequel is up at Gamasutra (thanks Stomped). The article is by BioWare's Ray Muzyka, and it chronicles the creation of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn from the initial concept all the way through to its completion.

Blizzard has posted downloadable versions of their first-ever television commercials. The videos are in the self-running Bink format, and one is the cinematic commercial that aired over the Holiday season, while the other is a live-action commercial that was never used.

E3 is only a couple of weeks away, and so hints are being dropped as to what will be on display. Fan page Soldier-of-Fortune.com has posted a statement they received from Raven's Kenn Hoekstra, where he says three levels from Soldier of Fortune 2 will be playable at Activision's booth. Also, Rogue Spear Retreat has learned that Rogue Spear: Black Thorn, originally thought to be an English translation of the Korean Rainbow Six: Takedown product, will in fact be a brand new product that will be revealed at the show. Finally, PlanetSTArmada.com has posted details on what will be shown from Star Trek: Armada II.

Fan page The Siege Works has posted their hands-on preview of Dungeon Siege, which is based on what they were able to play at Microsoft's recent FanStock event (thanks Voodoo Extreme). The preview contains their impressions of the game, and is pretty detailed, with information on everything from the opening sequence and soundtrack to the actual gameplay.

ActionTrip previews Earth and Beyond, taking a look at this upcoming massively multiplayer title from Westwood Studios. Although the preview itself doesn't contain anything particularly new, they have also posted an interview with Westwood's Eric Wang, who provides some general information about the game as well as some gameplay details.

An interview with Scott Dalton of Legend Entertainment is up at Tolstiy's Place today, talking with him about his work and Unreal II. The questions are all over the map, and while you won't find much in the way of new information about Unreal II in here, Scott does talk about their relationship with Epic, the complexity of modern game development and more.

Belgian site SpelletjesGarnaal has posted a new video preview of Dark Ages of Camelot, looking ahead to Mythic's medieval MMORPG by way of the ongoing beta test. The movie runs for more than 16 minutes in downloadable or streaming Windows Media Player format and offers oodles of in-game footage, accompanied by their usual Flemish commentary.

PAN Interactive has officially announced Intergalactic Bounty Hunter, an episodic real-time 3D-action/adventure to be created with Creative Capers that was revealed a while ago (story). The announcement has plenty of game information, screenshots and concept art, and more can be found on the recently opened official site. Thanks EuroGamer for the tip.

Stomped has conducted a Q&A with Mark Skaggs, the producer at Westwood Studios on Yuri's Revenge, the upcoming mission pack for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Mark explains what's new in the add-on, including info on the new units, locations and multiplayer modes. If you can't get to the Q&A via the above link, use this one, as Stomped has switched IP addresses and so many DNS servers haven't noted the change yet.

This press release announces that Vivendi Universal Publishing has inked a deal with Fox Interactive to publish and distribute their games through Sierra On-Line (thanks Eurogamer). The press release mentions specifically which games will be published through Sierra, and included on the list are Aliens vs. Predator 2, Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, a GameCube Die Hard title, a Playstation 2 version of No One Lives Forever, and a NOLF sequel. Here's a brief excerpt with details on the NOLF games:

-- No One Lives Forever: Currently being developed for the PlayStation 2, this game will feature four new prequel levels featuring beautiful Agent Cate Archer in her younger days as a thief. Recently, the PC game was honored as PC Game of the Year and PC Action Game of the Year. No One Lives Forever is being developed by Monolith Productions and will make its console debut this year.

-- No One Lives Forever: The Sequel: VU Publishing has been granted the rights to publish the sequel to No One Lives Forever on multiple platforms including PC and next generation consoles.

It was actually revealed last month (story), but today Interplay has formally announced Star Trek: Starfleet Command - Orion Pirates, a stand-alone mission pack for Starfleet Command Volume II (thanks Voodoo Extreme). Although it's called a "mission pack" the game doesn't require either Starfleet Command to play, and it contains a completely new campaign that allows you to play as the Orion Pirates.

GameSpot UK was sent a playable build of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars, and they have posted a brief preview containing their impressions of the game. In other Dominion Wars news, fan page Art of War has posted an announcement from Gizmo Games' Gary Wagner that says the game has reached full beta testing.

French site Gamedata has posted half a dozen new From Dusk Till Dawn screenshots, illustrating the 3D action game based on the Quentin Tarantino / Robert Rodriguez movie that's known as Une Nuit en Enfer ("One Night in Hell") in France. This recently unveiled game (story) is in development at GameSquad, creators of Devil Inside, for an October 2001 release.

Tribalwar.com has posted more details on what will be included in the next patch for TRIBES 2, which is planned for release sometime next week, following the one expected this Thursday (story). The patch is said to be "concentrating on some of the big issues we all hate," and while the "list is not guaranteed to cover all the changes," it is intended to keep us informed about what they are up to, and their plan is to possibly adjust future announcements based on the reaction to this one.

Speaking of TRIBES 2, Tribes Shoutcast Network Files section now offers last Friday's chat with Dave Georgeson (story) of Dynamix for download in .mp3 format (thanks Tribalwar.com). The file is a hefty 24.5 MB, but they think you can still stream it if you have enough bandwidth.

The Dogs of War website has downloads of a set of patches for the European version of Dogs of War. All three patches update the game to version 1.02e, adding various tweaks and fixes, but the larger patches also contain new maps for the game as well.

The official Majesty Downloads page now has a new patch #2 for Majesty: The Northern Expansion (thanks AVault). The update addresses several bugs, and updates the expansion's multiplayer component to utilize GameSpy Arcade, rather than The Zone, which no longer supports Majesty.

Game journalist Marc Saltzman made a post to our Help Wanted message board describing plans to tape a show for CNN next Monday with some gamers playing Black & White. The post has details on how you can possibly participate if you are interested and are in the Atlanta area.

Mummy canned for the Dreamcast? is the musical question being asked on GameSpot. Also, FGN Online is reporting that first day sales of Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec in Japan topped a beyond-startling 720,000 units (according to The Magicbox sales of the racing game have topped one million already). Sales like this for the entire life of a game would constitute a huge best-seller here in the US, which obviously has a much larger population than Japan (where they also sold a boggling 300,000 GT3 compatible steering wheels). For further perspective, Onimusha is the previous best-selling PS2 title in Japan, and that took several months to sell approximately one million copies. According to PS2.IGN.com, the US release of GT3 is still on track for next month.

GameSpot UK's Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel Game Guide is now online. Also, there's a new Squad Leader guide on OperationFlashpoint.net with tips on being a good C.O. in Operation Flashpoint. Of course the game isn't out yet, so if you have leadership aspirations, you may want to bookmark the site.

There's a They Hunger 3 review on ten four looking at the latest installment in Neil Manke's acclaimed Half-Life series, which is available on PC Gamer's June CD (they say its online release is planned on The Daily Radar, but that's obviously in doubt at this point). Also, Q3Center's Weapons Factory Arena Interview catches up with the team behind this class-based Quake III Arena CTF mod, discussing the reasons behind its popularity, and their future plans. Also, Cable sends word that the last page of this months issue of Computer Gaming Magazine teases that their next issue will have all sorts of details about Counter-Strike 2.

RuneEd is a newly-launched site dedicated to the care and feeding of those looking to create their own maps for RUNE, Human Head Studios' third-person game of hacking and slashing, offering tips and tutorials.

• American McGee's Alice on Gamezilla.
• Black & White on WomenGamers.
• Clive Barker's Undying on Smidge.com.
• Fur Fighters on GameVisions.
• Lineage: The Bloodpledge on GameZNet.
• Myst III: Exile on GamePower.
• Operation Flashpoint Demo on Head 2 Head.
• Rune: Halls of Valhalla on Games Domain.
• Star Trek: Away Team on PlayNOW.
• The Moon Project on eUniverseGames.
• Times of Conflict on PC Zone UK.
• TRIBES 2 on bluescreenofdeth and (in German) on Gameplex.ch.
• X-COM Enforcer on ActionTrip.

• 3D Glasses round-up on 3DGW.
• ASUS CUSL2-C motherboard on Tech-GODS.
• ATi TV Wonder USB on Glide Underground.
• AVC 112680 Athlon Cooler on NeoSeeker.
• ELSA Gladiac 920 video card on EuroGamer.
• FrontX Multimedia Ports on HotHardware.
• Gigabyte GeForce2 Pro GV-GF2010 video card on Gamers Depot.
• GlobalWin FNP-50 cooler on ChunkyHardware.com.
• GlobalWin WBK 38 cooler on TweakTown.
• Hercules Game Theater XP sound card on Yoink3D.com.
• Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3D (in German) on GamersUnitedNetwork.
• Matrox Millennium G450 video card on DeezTech.
• Monsoon MH-500 Flat Panel Speakers on GamePC.
• Mouse Bungee Pro mouse pad on Tweak3D.net.
• Mushkin Rev.2 High Performance RAM on Mikhailtech.
• Prolink Pixelview GeForce2 MX video card on TweakTown.
• Reactor Waterblock cooler on Overclockers Online.
• Shuttle AK11 socket A motherboard on Active-Hardware.
• Siemens ID Mouse on PC STATS.
• Taisol CGK 742092 cooler on ChillBlast and Amdmb.com.
• Thrustmaster Firestorm Dual Power Gamepad> on TECH EXTREME.

• The X-COM Enforcer website has a new skin package for Enforcer in their download section...
• The 3D Realms Site has word on some of the production work on the now-complete Duke Nukem Forever promotional video for this year's E3. They have also posted a couple of photos from the video production...
• Zuxxez Entertainment Purchases Topware Assets reports The Adrenaline Vault, following up on the recently announced dissolution of Topware (story)...
• An update on Beta Bites suggests that Maximum PC Online is about to follow the Daily Radar in shutting down, as they have received word that Imagine Media is shutting down all of their online content, though no official announcement has been made yet. This will leave Beta Bites itself in jeopardy, as they are a Max PC affiliate. Thanks The Patches Scrolls...
• There's a Q&A with Gordon Moore on Technology Review (thanks Slashdot). An interview with the creator of Moore's law...

Some of the best comedy on the Internet is unintentionally contained in the extensive Searchable Knowledge Base on Microsoft Product Support Services where you can inadvertently hurt yourself trying to read some of the entries. Here are a couple of examples of these that were recently passed along: Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords (thanks Ryan Schneider), offers what you would have to call tight security. Really tight security. At least you can understand why that one was entered into the database, which is more than you can say for this one: Paul Bunyan: The Story of Paul Bunyan (thanks RVF400RR).

Link of the Day: Single White Geek seeks Female. Thanks Typodemon.
Weird Science: NASA Contacts Pioneer 10 Spacecraft (Fox). Vee-ger, anyone? Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Wild Science: Arsenal! Machine that reads minds gives disabled hope (The London Sunday Times). Thanks [MP] Wolverine [MP].
Follow-up: It's an All-Out Cyber War as U.S. Hackers Fight Back at China (Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS.