• Age of Mythology
  Ensemble Studios sent word that another new Age of Mythology screenshot is online at the official site for their 3D RTS game in development.
• Might and Magic IX
  The first two Might and Magic IX screenshots are up at GameSpot, showing off the latest installment in the long-running first-person RPG series by 3DO.
• Empire Earth
  XGR has captured over two dozen new Empire Earth screenshots from their beta copy of Stainless Steel Studios' 3D real-time strategy game and are giving away another copy to those who sign up for their email newsletter.
• Patrician II
  Back on GameSpot there are also 18 new screenshots of Patrician II, illustrating this isometric trading strategy game by Ascaron Software.

The DooM Legacy Home Site offers a new version 1.32 beta 3 of this port of the public DOOM source code. This release includes a new "engine for Transform & Lighting," translucent 3D water and floors, improved Heretic support, an updated launcher, and other enhancements. The DOS and Win32 versions are available now, while the Linux, MacOS and OS/2 releases are expected soon.

GameSpot previews Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon with an updated look at this tactical shooter in the works at Red Storm Entertainment. The article is based on a visit to the their offices and shares new details on recent development advances, plenty of hands-on impressions from the gameplay, an overview of the multiplayer features, and eight new screenshots. Here is an excerpt on the tactical aspects of the game:

As commander, you control your troop's movement and rules of engagement either from a command map or by hotkeys: Simply select a squad and press a key to have that team hold its position, advance cautiously, or advance at all costs. Used in combination with the rules-of-engagement commands--recon (don't fire), standard (return fire and take advantage of target opportunities), and suppression (fire at any area where enemies are suspected to be)--you can perform some nice tactical maneuvers. About the only thing you can't do is determine what position the soldiers will take as they move. Troops can stand, crouch, or go prone, but unless you're controlling the team members, you won't be able to have them crawl as they advance: The AI will make that determination. Setting waypoints is an extremely simple point-and-click affair on the command map, and when the soldiers arrive at their destination, you can assign a firing arc, perfect for suppressing enemy fire from a particular direction as another squad advances.

After a lengthy development cycle, the new version 2.86 of the Infiltration modification for Unreal Tournament is finally available. The Online Manual has word on how to properly install, set up, and play this mod that offers combat featuring real-world weaponry, and word on the new release is that "Both online and offline play is much more solid than all previous releases of Infiltration!" Also included with the new release is Map Pack 3, which features six new maps and three revised older ones, but to use the pack, you must have previously installed both of the prior map packs.

More ships ahoy, as Codemasters Ships Cold War Action Game Operation Flashpoint is their press release announcing that, as promised (story), the North American version of Operation Flashpoint, their cold war first-person shooter that's already available in Europe, is shipping to stores even as you read these words. As is noted in the release, "This North American version is armed with full-functioning multiplayer capabilities, including dedicated server functionality and enhanced network code that were not included in the earlier European release. The game also includes additional weapons, vehicles and missions as well as graphical enhancements."

We have another updated release date to report, as The Eidos Interactive.com Project Eden page has an updated release date of September 24, 2001, another title just barely missing its original intended target of Summer 2001. In addition to the new date, the page now carries minimum system specifications for the game.

Well it seems the update about the ASMD & Flak Cannon making their ways into Unreal II (story) was not the final word on the subject, as a post on our forums (thanks ViX) points the way to a post on the Infogrames Forums by Legend Entertainment's Chris Hargrove that says while "as of now, these two weapons will *likely* end up going in, in one form or another (possibly only for multiplayer or something and not for single player, who knows)... but the fact is the verdict's still out." Here's a bit more from Chris' post:

Without trying to throw a slam at our PR people or anything, I'll merely say that Mr. Frary should have consulted us before making his statement.
The ASMD/Flak issues were in discussion between Legend, Epic, and Infogrames well before the topic was even brought up here on these forums. I'm not saying that we're ignoring the fanbase here or anything (we're certainly not), but by the same token, we've been considering these issues for some time now.

That said, the ASMD and Flak cannon *MAY* make it into U2, and the current trend in our discussions (which may have led Mr. Frary to jump to a conclusion here) is that they will... but this is not carved in stone.

The point of debate is the fact that even before the idea of reviving these two weapons came up, we've had new weapons of our own all along which perform similar functions. Not necessarily *identical* functions (some changes are aesthetic, others are gameplay related both in terms of originality and technical issues like network efficiency), but definitely similar.

Doubletime with the designers of Starships Unlimited and Master of Orion III on Quarter to Three is an unusual double interview that somewhat simultaneously converses with Alan Emrich, former Computer Gaming World editor and designer on Master of Orion III, the upcoming 4X sequel, and Andrew Ewanchyna, developer of Starships Unlimited, a game only available online that they call "perhaps the best sci-fi strategy game since SimTex's Master of Orion titles." The Q&A poses the same questions of both developers and posts both their answers on an offbeat side-by-side format. Topics covered include the science fiction influences behind their respective games, a bit about the development process, whether graphics are important in a 4X game, how to avoid micromanagement in the genre, and more. Thanks Zdim.

The second Parkan: Iron Strategy interview of the day is online at GamesBrazil.com.br, this time quizzing Nikita PR manager Pavel Yupatov about their imminent 3D action strategy game. Although it connects Brasil with Russia, the interview itself is in English, and Pavel talks about the game's reception in Russia where it was released early this year, the hurdles taken during its four year development, the upcoming US and European release through publisher Monte Cristo, the problems caused by software piracy in Russia, and a few other topics. Eight new screenshots illustrate the proceedings.

The Atriarch Beta Test Headquarters has opened its doors for the public, and now allows signing up for the upcoming beta test of this massively multiplayer online role-playing game by World Fusion, set in the "alien and organic world of Atriana." More information can be found in the Beta Test FAQ which also outlines the four stages of the test. Thanks RPGDot for the tip.

Sierra's Throne of Darkness page has an updated release date for Throne of Darkness, which had been originally planned for a Summer 2001 release. The update shows they are just barely missing that projected date, as they now list September 25th, 2001, as a release date.

Those who take issue with violence in gaming and its impact on young people have found a new issue to take up, as Game critics slam violent 'mods' on ZDNet (originally published in the Wall Street Journal Online) looks at the fact that some of those making game modifications are minors, who are not only exposed to violent imagery, but are involved in creating it (thanks Mirsky). Here is a bit from the article that offers quotes from both sides of the issue:

David Walsh, president of National Institute on Media and the Family, a nonpartisan organization that looks at the impact of entertainment on children, contends that underage mod makers are the moral equivalent of teenage pornographers. He thinks the game industry should apply the same rating system used on games to the mods themselves and restrict kids' access to Web sites where mods are posted.

The issue is starting to catch the attention of Congress. "This is a whole new problem," says Dan Gerstein, communications director for Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut. Lieberman is the author of a bill that would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to penalize companies that intentionally market adult-rated entertainment directly to children. But the legislation is finely tailored to address deceptive marketing rather than prohibit kids from making mods for mature-rated games, Gerstein says.

Game companies say they are essentially powerless to regulate mods since they're usually written by people in their homes and posted on Web sites. (The companies' games, on the other hand, usually can't be downloaded from the Web but instead must be purchased from retailers.) Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games Inc., the Raleigh, N.C., developer of Unreal Tournament, says people are getting upset about mods when the problem is that parents let their kids have the games. "If you don't have the game, the mod is worthless to you," he says.

Unreality's Mike Verdu Interview last week (story), raised a bit of hue and cry over the news that Legend Entertainment was omitting the ASMD shock rifle and the Flak Cannon from Unreal II. This did not go unnoticed, as a new post on Unreality has word from Matt Frary at Infogrames that due to this popular demand, both weapons are now planned for inclusion in the upcoming Unreal sequel, which will bring the total number of weapons in U2 to 17.

If you're participating in the Empire Earth beta test, chances are you already know this, as Sierra Studios has released a first patch for the recently commenced beta program, available for download from their ftp server. This 7.8 MB download brings the beta to version 0.0.1.1 and adds a series of multiplayer improvements, addresses some graphics issues, tweaks the AI and user interface, and brings some gameplay and balance changes, all of which are listed in detail in the included README file.

There's an interview with Christofer Sundberg on FREELANCER discussing Mutant Chronicles Warzone, a single-player game that's emerged as a separate project from Warzone Online, Paradox Entertainment's upcoming multiplayer strategy game based on the Warzone tabletop miniatures and the Mutant Chronicles universe. The conversation covers what differentiates the two games, the reasoning behind production on a second project based on the same property as the first, what sort of resource management will be included, how economics will be handled, as well as questions about units, missions, and various other aspects of gameplay. According to the interview's final answer, they expect to release the game in the Spring of next year.

Mystics Network interviews Piotr Krzywonosiuk of Polish developer Tannhauser Gate to catch up on progress on Mimesis Online, their upcoming online RPG formerly known as Exodus Online. The interview, which inspires some detailed answers, inquires about what can be revealed of the game's storyline, character attributes, skills, training, the role of NPCs, and more. Thanks RPGvault.

There's a Real War Preview on FREELANCER with a look at this upcoming realism-based RTS in the works at Rival Interactive based on hands-on play with a beta build. While saying that they need to wait for a final version of the game to make a judgment, this preview reads remarkably like a review (and a mostly negative one at that), as they offer a rating of 2.35 out of 10, with the only portion of the game receiving complements being the mission briefings. There is also a preview of Real War on Gone Blind Gaming offering a more traditional preview of the game saying it "will be a refreshing new addition to a genre that is already rich in quality."

Funcom sends along this press release that "introduces" Midgard, though in actuality, the game's existence became evident several months ago (story), and has been the subject of a few interviews, as well as a showing at E3 since then. What is new is that the official website for this upcoming MMORPG set in the myths of the ancient Norse is now online. Far from being a placeholder waiting for content, the site offers loads of background on the game's story, along with concept art, wallpapers, and even a couple of music files for download. Word is to expect even more to be added to the site in the future, though as for when to expect the game, according to the PR, "a release date has yet to be decided upon."

StrategyPlanet Interviews Oleg Kostin talking with the Nikita vice president and head of development about Parkan: Iron Strategy, their futuristic 3D action strategy game that will be released later this Fall. Oleg discusses the game's premise and gameplay, some of its features, their in-house engine, multiplayer, plans for mod support, and a couple of other topics.

Kenn Hoekstra updated his .plan with word that Soldier of Fortune Platinum has shipped to stores, and as promised, they are releasing the added Platinum content to owners of SoF and SoF Gold for free, the first portions of which are already available. Here's the portion of the plan update related to the new releases:

Tuesday, August 28th, 2001 - Soldier of Fortune Platinum should be making its way to retail outlets today. As with Gold, we're releasing everything that's a part of Platinum free to those who bought a previous version of Soldier of Fortune. The first part of that can be found here:
- Soldier of Fortune Platinum Map Pack (3.5MB)
- Official Soldier of Fortune 1.07 Patch (2MB)

The map pack contains five MP maps...four by Kevin Pochron, now of Raven and one map that I did back when I was a designer for Soldier. Kevin touched it up for me and added all of the startspots and weapons, etc. So, for all intents and purposes, you can heap your praise on Kevin for the new maps. ;) There are instructions for installing the map pack in the readme.

The 1.07 patch is essentially the same as Rick's 1.07f beta patch, minus all documentation references to the word "beta." If you have the beta patch, there's no need to update to this one as functionally they are identical. If you have 1.06 or earlier, the upgrade is recommended. As I noted in a prior .plan udate, the 1.06 Gold Patch is needed before applying this one. Confusing, I know...

Feel free to download and mirror the patch and map pack freely. If you have the earlier 1.07 patch, which was flawed or the 1.07f beta patch on your servers, please take them down and replace them with this official version.

I'll keep you posted on the Soldier 2 trailer and the strategy guide and let you know when they will be available.

A playable demo for the Mac edition of American McGee's Alice is now available for download from MacGameFiles, offering Mac gamers a taste from this third-person action adventure based on the Lewis Carroll novels. The demo weighs in at 81.5 MB and requires MacOS 8.6 or later (including OSX).

Infogrames sends along this press release with word that Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos is now shipping to retail outlets throughout the US. Here's a bit of their description of the sequel to Independence War, which has been available in Europe for a couple of months now (story):

As in the original Independence War, this sequel continues to focus on the logistics and physics of a space simulator while incorporating an action/adventure element with a rich, emotion-evoking storyline and dynamic characters. New to the series is a revolutionary graphics engine, allowing for such effects as rust, decay and wear on ships and stunning fire and flare effects. All ships in the game are modeled using the same textures and details as the ships in the computer-generated movies.

Other features made possible by the new technology include superior non-linear gameplay spanning 16 star systems and the ability to interact with dynamically created space traffic over hundreds of different locales. An innovative user-friendly interface allows 90% of the game's functions to be accessed by joystick.

Independence War 2 allows players to command four playable ships with over 100 weapons and upgrades that can be used in near-infinite combinations. With Internet and LAN multiplayer support for up to eight people, gamers can play DeathMatch, Capture the Flag, Bomb Tag or design their own scenarios. Watch the space opera unfold!

Swedish developer Prelusion Games (Gilbert Goodmate) sends word of the opening of the websites dedicated to each of the just-announced (story) games they currently have in the works. The No Man's Land The Western Front 1916 website has new screenshots and details about this fast-paced RTS game that will put you in the heart of the ugly trench warfare that took place on the Western Front during World War I. Word is: "The game makes use of the newly in-house-developed 3D engine, MGE, featuring many gorgeous effects like alpha blending/effects, static/dynamic coloured light and shadows using 16/32-bit colours in any resolution." Also, the official Hauntings website is online, dedicated to this also upcoming adventure/strategy game where you play a ghost who haunts people away from their homes and other places ("I've seen the Exorcist about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!").

A report on GameSpot España has a few more details on Duality, a just announced (story) game from Korean publisher Phantagram that will be shown at this year's ECTS. Of course the site is in Español, so a little Babel Fish action is required for us gringos, which allows us to learn that the developer of this game is a newly formed Spanish company called Trilobite, the article going on to quote Trilobite's Iñigo Hernaez in describing Duality as a cyberpunk adventure/RPG that is based on a conflict between hackers and mercenaries. Accompanying the story is the first bit of concept art from the game.

Those interested in beta testing DuelField still have a couple more days to sign up, as they tell us they will cut off applications on August 31, so if you want to sign-up to be a tester, fill out their application form. Also, there's a Phase II Beta Status Report on the Project Entropia website with word that the testing that was to begin this week (story) has been pushed off until next week, as they are still waiting on the CDs. One of the beta testers, Igal Alkon, informs us that a note about this has been sent from MindArk to all who are part of the program.

• Chaser
  German site PCPointer.de has posted three new, high-res Chaser screenshots, offering new scenes in the futuristic first-person shooter being developed at Slovakian company Cauldron.
• Red Faction
  There is a Red Faction Gallery on Action Vault that sports two dozen new screenshots captured from a beta build of Volition's imminent first-person shooter.
• Archangel
  German site GameCaptain has posted the first two screenshots of Archangel, a third-person action RPG by Metropolis Software and Fishtank that was announced earlier this year (story).
• Europa Universalis II
  Another pair of Europa Universalis II screenshots is available for this historic strategy sequel under construction at Paradox Entertainment (thanks Gryphon).
• World War II: Panzer Claws
  Back to Germany, as Initial Images and Zuxxez have released four new screenshots of World War II: Panzer Claws, their upcoming tactical 3D RTS (thanks Gamesticker for the tip).
• Mystery of the Druids
  Seven new Mystery of the Druids screenshots are online at GameSpyDaily, illustrating this 3D point-n-click adventure by House of Tales and CDV.
• IL-2 Sturmovik
  A new preview of IL-2 Sturmovik with a handful of new screenshots of this WWII flight sim by 1C Maddox Games is up at PC Zone UK.

A new version 1.3.5 of The All-Seeing Eye shareware server browser is now available. Included in the new version is shell integration, Roger Wilco integration, the ability to import GameSpy server lists, improved fixed dead server handling, new favorites options, and more.

Gamers Pulse Interviews Mirek Dymek the project leader on World War III: Black Gold the upcoming RTS game being developed by Reality Pump Studios set in a war most of us hope will remain fictional. The reasoning behind the games present-day setting, the realism for which they are striving, the units that the game will include, and planned multiplayer capabilities are all among the subjects covered in the Q&A.

Also on Gamer's Pulse is an interview with Achim Heidelauf, director of development for ZUXXEZ Entertainment, talking about Heli Heroes, a just-announced action game that will use the same enhanced version of the Earth 2150 engine used in the World War III game mentioned in the story just above this one. Topics include the story, plans for an Internet-based ladder, plans to port the game to the Xbox, weapons, missions, and more.

GameSpot has posted a mind-boggling 19 new movies of Commandos 2: Men of Courage, showing off the squad-based tactical combat game that is nearing completion at Pyro Studios. The movies take around 8-14 MB to download in MPEG format, are also available in streaming RealPlayer and Windows Media Player formats, and offer plenty of gameplay footage from a variety of areas in the game as each of the clips runs for around one minute. Update: If nineteen movies seemed a bit over the top, it apparently seemed that way to GameSpot in retrospect as well, since the movies have now been withdrawn from their Commandos 2 movies page.

MGON interviews American McGee talking with the game designer about a variety of topics, including his foray into the world of filmmaking (of which he says: "We'll all just have to wait and see with this one though, I’m not going to let the siren call of Hollywood distract me from what I know and love so well, video games."), his current professional goals, what he's learned from his stints at id Software and Electronic Arts, a bit about his new company, Carbon Entertainment, Carbon's relationship with Collision Entertainment, still more questions about film development, and the inevitable more.

More news on the fate of Interplay to follow-up on yesterday's reports that Titus would end up in control of the troubled game publisher (story) as a result of a deal they signed with Vivendi Universal (story). According to a report on MCV: "The veteran US publisher has appointed Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing as its distributor in North America, although it appears that at present Titus will continue to handle the firm's line-up in Europe." The report goes on with a quote from Titus: "Titus' joint founder Eric Caen has confirmed to MCV that Interplay will retain its development and publishing autonomy within the group." Meanwhile EuroGamer reports that CBS and Reuters incorrectly stated the deal mentioned yesterday was between Titus and Vivendi, when it was actually between Vivendi and Interplay (the business world can be so exciting), which means Titus will have a contract to honor, even if it manages to take control of Interplay's board next month (which is pretty much a given, as they are now the majority shareholder in the company). The EuroGamer story goes on with some apparently informed speculation that there is another possible twist in this case that could till give Interplay a spiteful last laugh:

Obviously not content with this spoiling move, our sources are now reporting that Interplay has filed to say that its shareholders want the company wound up! This could mean that when Titus gets hold of the reins in September the company will already be in Chapter 11 receivership. Somebody at Interplay obviously doesn't like the fox...

HomeLan's One Must Fall Battlegrounds Interview talks with Saul Bottcher, Diversions Entertainment's sound and music designer on the project, who puts on his other hat as the game's PR representative to discuss its progress. Some of the topics addressed in the Q&A are how they plan to make their fighting game a success where others have failed on the PC, the difficulties of creating a game engine "from scratch," a bit about the storyline, the types of robots and arenas that will be included, and more.

A new article called Starship Captains on the Earth and Beyond website (thanks Earth N Beyond) makes examples of three adventurers from history, offering the sagas of Sir Francis Drake, Baron von Richthofen (the Red Baron), and Amelia Earhart as examples of the type of stories you will be able to write for yourself in Earth and Beyond, offering examples of races in their upcoming MMORPG that are suited to each of the three.

• More on Excite@Home
  Excite@Home Disputes Demand for Payment on Convertible Notes has a new development in the saga of this troubled broadband supplier (story), while Excite@Home lender demands payment on CNET and Lights Out For Excite@Home on Forbes (thanks Shacknews) have optimistic and pessimistic reports (respectively) on the company's future.
• CPU-Z
  CPU-Z, a freeware CPU information utility is now available. Thanks File Flash.
• WinXP FAQ
  NT Compatible's Windows XP FAQ is now online.
• Put on your PC
  Government Embraces Wearable Computers (AP). Thanks ^mortis^.

Gone Gold has an eyewitness account of seeing Age of Empires II Gold Edition (story) in CompUSA, so its available now, in the US, at least. The NetDevil website has word that Jumpgate is about ready to go gold, and has pre-order details. In other pre-order news, AvPNews sends word that Aliens versus Predator 2 pre-orders are now being accepted by EBgames.com. Also, Loki Games sends word that Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns for Linux is now available, while it looks Like Linux RUNE is likewise available. Finally, in a not-so-subtle reference to some recent MMORPG launch debacles, the folks at Nexon USA send along word that yesterday's launch of Shattered Galaxy was a success, claiming that "gamers have been treated to a patch-free online game play experience with zero server crashes. Never before has a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) launched so smoothly -- with complete playability."

Dimensions of Arcanum has posted a self-extracting executable that will create an index and table of contents for the Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura manual that can be printed out and added to your documentation.

There are Exclusive Screens and Impressions of Grand Theft Auto III on PS2.IGN.Com with a look at the upcoming PS2 car stealing game that will eventually be headed to the PC as well. Also, more from SpaceWorld (not to be confused with SpiceWorld), where GameSpy.com's SpaceWorld 2001 wrap-up is online, as is GamePen's SpaceWorld Quick Report.

The 2001 Jeju International Games Festival will feature Starcraft Masters 2001 and Counter Strike Masters 2001 tournaments, saying the preliminaries will be played in battlenet (Asia) and "the final contest will be held in beautiful JEJU island, Korea," with the top 10 foreign competitors to be flown out to the finals. Also, the CPL Latin America website has details on their upcoming RIO tournament ("This is your receipt for your husband ... and this is my receipt for your receipt.").

The Deep Space 9: Dominion Wars FAQ has been updated with six new questions and their corresponding answers (the first six that are in red are the new ones). Also, PlanetDiablo's Diablo II Characters Index now has complete skill statistics for the Amazon, Assassin, and the Paladin.

There's an Action Half-Life Interview on ActionNation.com talking with payback, the programmer on the mod. Also, JuegosOnline interviews Brandon Russell, programmer on the Day of Defeat Half-Life modification, an interview that's also available in the site's native Spanish.

The Arcanum Product Page has downloads of the World Ed Developer Documentation, which are the docs Troika used to make the game. Word is they are "not pretty, but they contain info you need for creating mods. We are working on a user friendly manual." Also, there is a guide to creating an AVI movie from a Quake III Arena demo on PlanetQuake3.net.

• Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal on Game Over and The Armchair Empire.
• Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive on Game Over.
• Emperor: Battle for Dune on Gamers' Press.
• Fly! II on PC Zone UK and Intelgamer.
• Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos on PC.IGN.com.
• Jekyll and Hyde on PC Zone UK.
• RoboForge on GameSpy.com, GameSpot, and FBI Reviews.
• Shogun Total War: the Mongol Invasion on Player of Games.
• Zeus: Poseidon on PC Arena and GameStats.

• ATI Radeon VE Video Card on NeoSeeker.
• Bright Blue Neon Light Kit on OverclockersClub.
• Cooler roundup on Hardware-Unlimited.
• Cyber Cooler P-5700 Heatsink on Mikhailtech.
• ECS K7S5A SiS735 DDR-SDR SocketA Motherboard on TweakMax.
• Elsa Gladiac 920 Video Card on Bjorn3d.com.
• Enermax Temperature-Monitoring Drive Rack on TacoNuts.com.
• Hercules Prophet GeForce 3 Video Card on RIVA 3D.
• IDE Hard Drive roundup on Digit-Life.
• Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz CPU (in German) on TweakPC.
• Intel Pentium 4 Socket-478 1.7 GHz CPU on GamePC.
• IWill KK266 Plus Motherboard on PC STATS.
• Neon String Kit on PC PowerZone.
• NoiseControl 1888 Slot A Fan on ModdingZone.
• Plextor PX-W2410TA CD-R/W on StorageReview.com.
• Thermalright CB-6L cooler on casejunkiez.com.
• Tyan Tiger MP Motherboard on accelenation.com.

• There's a wacky Tramell 'TRay' Isaac interview on PlanetSide Center with a freewheeling no-holds-barred Q&A with the art director on PlanetSide...
• There's a Doom Short Film Interview on Doom Center talking with EverMail who is planning a CGI short movie based on DOOM...
• EA.Com To Launch in Korean Internet Gaming Rooms is the press release announcing the debut of Ultima Online in Korea, where they have "highest usage of the Internet in the world"...
• Blizzard sends along word that the Lord Of Destruction expansion for Diablo II has topped the one million mark in sales, making it the sixth Blizzard title to reach that rarified air, and, according to them, the "fastest selling expansion set ever"...
• Games Fusion's Server Query Service has had a redesign to make this web-based tool easier to use...

A couple of interesting bits in the tech news: Road to Nowhere DSL Growth Running on Empty talks about the stagnation in growth of the DSL market, not good news for those of us with no cable modem access who are hoping that their providers stay in business (my provider, Covad, is currently in chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, an uneasy situation for me at best, though there is cause for optimism in the latest report that says Covad Files Plan of Reorganization). Meanwhile, Chorus of Gator critics grows describes the public criticism of software company Gator "for tampering with the already troubled online ad market." I just want to ask the folks from Gator two questions: One, if you put all of our websites out of business with your product, are you going to produce some content of your own to replace it? Two, could you please kindly jump off the nearest bridge? Thanks, it would be appreciated.

Link of the Day: The Condit Interview. Flash required. Thanks miagate. Contains adult language, and out and out slander.
Story of the Day: Clever Dicks Try to End a Spot of Embarrassment (Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Wild Science: Scientists Track Down Human Longevity Genes (Reuters). Thanks [MP] Wolverine [MP].