There is a brief preview of Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge on PC.IGN.com, looking ahead to the forthcoming expansion pack in Westwood's long-running real-time strategy series. The article describes the campaigns and the gameplay, sums up some of the new units on each of the three sides (Allied, Soviet, and Yuri), and comes with a handful of new screenshots.

The latest Halo Update is online at Battleground: Halo this evening, and this time Bungie's Matt Soell kicks off with the confession that "Folks, I gotta be honest with you: I am rapidly running out of Halo Update material," as they are approaching that point in the game's development where they are no longer adding new features and concentrating solely on playtesting and bug fixing. That said, this update has word on balancing the difficulty levels, tweaking the Ghost vehicle physics, a new vision system for the AI units, multiplayer stability, and improvements in level load times.

AvPNews.com has posted a new Aliens Vs. Predator 2 diary with lead designer William Westwater penning his thoughts on the three-way first-person shooter sequel in the works at Monolith. Topics in this installment include the research they put into the game, the shape of the Aliens' bodies and how that affected their look in the game, and different views on the mentality of the Predator and how that influenced their storyline in the game.

XGR has posted a new preview of Red Faction, taking a press build of Volition's earth-shattering first-person shooter for a spin, or a dig, as the case may be. After an introduction to the by-now-familiar story, the brief article looks at the game's GeoMod engine, the graphics, weapons and vehicles, as well as the multiplayer side. Over two dozen new screenshots accompany the proceedings.

GameSpot's Battle Realms Serpent Heroes Profile is the third installment in their four-part series on the clan champions in Battle Realms, Liquid Entertainment's upcoming RTS game. They point out that the Serpent Clan's heroes aren't as "noble" as those of the Wolf Clan or the Dragon Clan, subjects of the two prior installments in the series, saying "more often than not, they'll relish in the suffering of others or, at the very least, come from a background shrouded in mystery." The article goes on to outline the backgrounds of the four heroes: Shinja, Utara, Budo, and Vetkin, while also offering accompanying concept sketches of all four, and action screenshots of the first two.

As promised yesterday (story), the PaleStar website reports that all players' prestige has been zeroed out in the open beta of DarkSpace. They also mention that there has been a change to the way prestige is calculated "making it more fair to those who engage in combat able to progress in rank at the same rate of engineers, support, and transports." Points are now awarded based on the type of ship engaged, rather than the rank of the other player." Finally, a subsequent note says that moderators no longer have the ability to pilot any ship they choose, and that any servers where this is still being allowed to happen need to be restarted.

A report on The Seattle Times (thanks Mycroft999 and EvilToast) headlined "Hacking of Web game EverQuest linked to local teen" has the story of a break in that allowed the perpetrator superuser access to the enormously successful MMORPG's servers. The break-in was apparently discovered because: "For reasons unexplained, the hacker sent all of the proprietary files that were hacked to a Sony executive, 'making it evident that (he) had illegally obtained the files.' Until then, Sony Online Entertainment was unaware of the extent of the intrusion." Here's a bit more from the account:

Federal agents have seized 10 computers and other computer gear from the home of a Snoqualmie teen suspected of hacking into Sony's extremely popular online game "EverQuest."

The hacking would have given him access to personal information on hundreds of thousands of players and Sony employees.

Agents also say the hacker, who was 17 at the time, was able to access the home computer of the company's vice president of product development, Brad McQuaid, and downloaded documents for an as-yet-unreleased version of the popular role-playing fantasy game.

Sony, which declined comment on the investigation, says the game is played by as many as 400,000 people worldwide and reaps more than $50 million a year in revenue.

No arrests have been made, and no charges have been filed, said Deborah Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, where Sony Online is based.

In a note unrelated to the hacking incident, but related to EverQuest, ie Magazine is reporting that Sony has plans to launch new EQ servers in Europe to provide better performance for European users, while The Station "will also roll out new translation software and new payment options for overseas customers in an attempt to entice more Europeans into playing games through the site."

There's an Interview on RPG Vault with Feargus Urquhart president of Black Isle Studios. The Q&A discusses Feargus' role within BIS, the formation of this RPG development company within Interplay, the challenges he had to overcome in the early days of the studio's existence, Fallout, Fallout 2, BioWare, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, and more. If that's all not enough, this is the first part of an interview, and part two will be posted "in the not too distant future."

• Red Faction
  The Red Faction Friday update on the official site for Volition's imminent first-person shooter today consists merely of a new screenshot of the week.
• Galleon
  PC Zone UK has posted two dozen new, high-res Galleon screenshots, showing off the third-person action adventure by Core Design that will make an appearance on the PC next year after more immediate console releases.
• Morrowind
  The weekly update of the official Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind site brings new information and concept images of the armor that will be available in Bethesda's 3D role-playing game, as well as a new wallpaper.
• Kohan Expansion
  GameSpyDaily has posted half a dozen new screenshots of Kohan: Ahriman's Gift, the isometric real-time strategy add-on in the works at TimeGate Studios.
• Spells of Gold
  As is their way, RPGDot has posted another pair of Spells of Gold screenshots, depicting new areas in the isometric role-playing trading sim being crafted at Jonquin Software.
• Europa Universalis II
  Paradox Entertainment has released another new Europa Universalis II screenshot subtitled "What is this? :)" for their upcoming historic strategy sequel.

There's a Pool of Radiance II Progress Report The Adrenaline Vault News with an update about Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, quoting unnamed sources saying "that the sequel to Strategic Simulations' classic AD&D role-playing game should be mastered this weekend or by Monday at the latest. This does not mean the game has gone gold or is about to go gold, as publisher Ubi Soft has not made an announcement."

There is a brief Max Payne interview on PCShooter.com, catching up with Remedy Entertainment's Markus Mäki about their recently released third-person action game (thanks Action Vault). Markus reflects on the game's reception so far, their in-house engine and editing tools, the decision to go for a single-player only game, the budding mod community, and a few other topics.

As promised (story), Sierra Studios has released an English patch for Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, updating the just-released isometric RPG by Troika Games to version 1.0.6.9. This 2.2 MB release brings a full-screen view mode, improvements to the inventory interfaces, new keyboard short-cuts, as well as addressing a handful of bugs, and more. Save game files are preserved across this version update.

Hot on the heels of the previous patch (story), New Media Generation has released another minor update for Hired Team: Trial Gold for download from this ftp server. This 7.0 MB patch brings their first-person shooter to version 2.102, but as before there are no details on the changes it applies.

A thread called A comment from Linda about this latest flurry of news has an update from Sir-tech Canada's Linda Curry with a bit more on the rumors and realities of their situation after this morning's now-debunked rumor (next story), reassuring fans that Wizardry 8 will still be released. Here's the update:

I just wanted to stop by and let you all know that there is really nothing any different than yesterday. As you know, back in July we announced layoffs but cited our complete intentions to bring Wiz 8 to market. That is still the case. Wiz 8 WILL be released.

We have mentioned previously that unless funding for future products could be obtained, that Sirtech would no longer develop titles. That too is still the case, though as time passes, more and more of us who were involved in the development of Sirtech products will move on to other employment.

Sirtech Canada does continue to exist as a legal and operating entity for the purposes of supporting the release of Wiz 8. At this time, there are no plans for Sirtech Canada to develop further product.

I hope that clears things up at least to say that there is nothing any different about the release plans of Wiz 8.

Linda Currie

To paraphrase Mark Twain, it seems rumors of Sir-tech Canada's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Clearing up the confusion that contributed to this morning's report that Sir-tech Canada had shut down (story), RPGvault has posted the following email from Ian Currie as well as a forum post with further clarification:

Yes, my last day is today as I've joined another company. This has no effect on Wizardry 8.

Sirtech continues to exist.

And here's the post he made to Software Specialties' Wizardry 8 Forum:

This email was replying to someone asking for help with a JA2:Unfinshed Business 'mod'.

It IS my last day with Sirtech (I really have nothing to do here), but the "everyone" I was referring to were Jagged Alliance programmers.

Sirtech Canada continues to exist - if only to support Wizardry 8.

Just wanted to clear that up...

Gone Gold reports, as is their way, that Spider-Man has gone gold and is expected to arrive on store shelves around September 18. Spider-Man is the PC port by LTI Gray Matter of the third-person console action game by Neversoft. In other golden news, Strategy First sends along this press release announcing that Rails Across America, their railroad empire simulator, has also gone gold.

Czech gaming site BonusWeb sends word that they're host to a new version of the demo for Gothic, the action/RPG from German developer Piranha Bytes. Not to be confused with the 90 MB first demo (story) which was in German, or the second demo (story), also in German, which included a part of the "Oberwelt" (Upperworld) and grew to a whopping 249 MB, the new demo is in English, and also includes the Upperworld component, and continuing the trend, now clocks in at an eye-popping 271 MB.

PlanetMoon Central's Editing page has posted GiantsEdit, a new editing tool for use in creating maps for Giants: Citizen Kabuto. The program is also available on the author's (German) homepage, and PMC has already posted the first new user-created map (by the editor's author) for download on this page.

CG Online's The Fathers of Civilization (thanks Civilization Fanatics' Center) is a tag-team interview where they chat with Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley, the two major forces behind the creation of the first Civilization game. The interview is lengthy and filled with loads of details on how the game was conceived and designed, including its inspiration in other computer games and the board game of the same name, as well as the influence it's had on so many subsequent strategy games.

Planet Command & Conquer Interviews Joe Kucan talking with the director of the cutscenes for Westwood's games about his work on the cutscenes for Yuri's Revenge 2. I love the ways the interview kicks off so much I am compelled to reproduce it here:

Q: Would you please answer these questions when you have the time?
A: Yes I will. Is this the first question? Why isn't it numbered like the others? Should I re-number all the questions starting with this one? Should I number my answers? You guys really need to get organized...

There's a Fishtank Interactive update on Fragland.net with status reports on all of their in-the-works projects, including word on multiplayer testing of AquaNox, a new version of BeamBreakers to be shown at ECTS, the latest beta of Etherlords, as well as tidbits on Car Tycoon, S.W.I.N.E., Call Of Cthulhu, Archangel, and Chaser.

Jagged Alliance 2 Basis has posted an email with the unfortunate news that Sir-tech Canada, who have been struggling for some time now in search of a publisher for Wizardry 8, are shutting their doors (thanks Gamesticker by way of Voodoo Extreme). Here's the reply they received from Sir-tech with the news:

Hi,

Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to help you out. Tomorrow will be my last day working for Sirtech. Everyone else has already gone.

Ian Currie
Director, Product Development
Sir-tech Canada Ltd.

The Arxel Tribe Website has mention that they will be at ECTS showing off some of their upcoming projects at this weekend's ECTS, and the report includes a mention of a previously unannounced game called Deathbowl - The Gladiators saying attendees can "Meet the future and see a first demo of what could be next year's 3D RTS phenomena..." Another previously unannounced game is mentioned, as they also say: "Primitive Wars : come and pick-up a free demo including a first hand access to our online servers."

A reader named breather put his thinking cap on after reading our earlier post about the new Blizzard Teaser mentioned earlier and the worldofwarcraft.com domain that Blizzard registered (story) and added the www to the URL, and lo and behold (or just behold if you're not in a loing mood), www.worldofwarcraft.com/ has the same "As the veil of darkness gives way to a new dawn..." teaser that's been posted on the regular Blizzard site. This certainly adds a good bit of fuel to the fire for those speculating that Blizzard's ECTS announcement this Sunday will be some form of MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe, but of course, only time will tell. Update: It's been subsequently pointed out that worldofwarcraft.com is on the same machine as the main Blizzard site, which muddies the water as to whether this development is related to the ECTS tease, or not.

Activision to Publish Two New id Software Games; Long-time Associates Announce Development of QUAKE IV and an All-New Game is a new press release that was issued this morning reiterating the news about development of Quake IV and the yet-unnamed title in the works at Nerve Software, both to be published by Activision. The release doesn't seem to contain any different information than the original press release issued at QuakeCon (story) beyond a quote from Activision, but we still do enjoy seeing the words Quake IV in print.

Game maker Take-Two reports lower profits (thanks Action Vault) is a Reuters story that clarifies a recent report on the status of Duke Nukem Forever's release date that was a bit unclear at first about whether the news that Duke's next adventure would not be available until 2002 (story) referred to the PC version, the console ports, or both. This report is based on the same conference call as the original one, and says: "The company said on a conference call that its long-awaited title Duke Nukem Forever for the PC will not ship in the fourth quarter, as planned, but Paul Eibler, Take-Two's president, said that will not affect fourth quarter guidance." Of course, if Duke was actually "planned" for a Q4 release this year as the report states, it would have been internally, as the stated release date for this game since the project's inception has been "when it's done," so it's really not fair to say the game is delayed.

GameSpy.com Etherlords Developer Diary Volume 9 is penned by Andrey Emelyanenko describing the reaction to the first few weeks of beta testing on this upcoming turn-based strategy game that has its roots in the world of collectable card games. The article also offers a lot of information about how gameplay is conducted, including significant differences between combat in Etherlords and games like Magic: The Gathering. Also found within are updates on how progress on the game is going, saying: "It now seems that we have a good chance to finish all of Etherlords artwork by August 31" (yes today), and: "Fate hasn't, however, been so merciful to our programmers -- there's still the hell of work to do with AI, automatic camera, and (great thanks to our huge Beta-testers team) bug-fixing."

Obviously having fun with it at this point, there's more teasing related to their upcoming ECTS announcement (story) on the Blizzard website as the teaser page mentioned yesterday (story) that says "In every saga there lies a journey of wonder and imagination..." has been moved to a new location (with ECTS in the URL, in case there was any doubt) which now has a "next" button that leads to a second teaser page that says "As the veil of darkness gives way to a new dawn..." (thanks to the anonymous user who posted that to our forums). This second teaser is also now the page that first greats visitors to the main Blizzard website instead of the first one. If you want something further to chew on about all this, a reader nicknamed Mindwarp points out in our forums sends along this NSI WHOIS Search Results that points out that over two years ago Blizzard registered a domain called worldofwarcraft.com (there's nothing there though).

• BIOS Optimization
  There's a KT7/KT7A BIOS Optimization Guide on Inside Project.
• IDF Summary
  There's an IDF Summary on Tweak3D.net.
• On AMD and MHz
  The Tech Report's Technological Dissonance looks at AMD's attempt to create a standardized processor performance measurement that doesn't rely on clock speed.

As mentioned yesterday, here's a reminder that today at 11:00 AM EDT there will be a Neocron chat session in the Neocron Online Chat Area. IRC users can log in to #neocron on irc.enterthegame.com. Also, there are transcripts of yesterday's Yuri's Revenge chat on Red Alert 2 eXtreme and Planet C-n-C.

HomeLan' Half-Life And Counter-Strike Features Article is online, offering first-hand impressions from playing with a press preview of the upcoming Half-Life 1.1.0.8 patch and Counter-Strike version 1.3. The article has thoughts on the two major new features included in the new version(s), which are the integrated voice communication (which they say adds a whole new dimension to gameplay), and the new spectator mode, as well as impressions of other things, like the new multiplayer scoreboard. Also included are six new screenshots. On a related note, the Counter-Strike version 1.3 changelog has been posted on The official Counter-Strike web site, which also reveals you can "Expect to see 1.3 in early September (around the first week). More later."

There are some New Doom GBA Shots on Pocket.IGN.Com. Xbox.IGN.com reports that Microsoft has released preview code for the Xbox online package to developers. GameSpot's Hands-on Grand Theft Auto 3 Preview offers a bunch of new screenshots from the PS2 version. GameSpy.com Previews Dead or Alive 3 with hands-on impressions of the Xbox game and an interview with creator Tomonobu Itagaki. Xbox Developer Tremor Entertainment to Merge with New Systems, Inc. is the report of a little console consolidation (Tremor ported KISS: Psycho circus to the Dreamcast). PS2 Heads Online in the U.K. reports FGN. Microsoft Affirms Q1 Euro Xbox Launch on FGN quotes Microsoft as actually saying: "Our message is Xbox will be launching in Europe in Q1 2002. Everything else is rumour and speculation." Finally, Cube.IGN.com has some photos of the GameCube showing the ATI and IBM branding that will adorn it.

The first version of the Unreal: Return to NaPali COOP-Project is now available, which is described as 100% functional. As can be surmised from the name, this mod adds cooperative multiplayer play to the Unreal mission pack, something that was previously not possible due to the way the levels were disconnected when playing co-op. Word is they are now working on an Unreal Tournament co-op mod.

Ubisoft's Conquest Frontier Wars website notes that a fan-operated Conquest Frontier Wars Ladder is underway, the rules have been posted, and the first match has already taken place.

There's a new Grand Theft Auto 2 guide on GTA Sentinel offering "full detail for all 75 missions, 25 for each of the 3 levels."

PC.IGN.com's Countdown to Operation Flashpoint, day 2 has an introduction to using the mission editor in Operation Flashpoint, the cold war shooter that's currently invading the US while continuing its march across Europe. Their take on the process is: "With an editor as easy as this, creating a strong community for this game shouldn't be a problem," going on to say: "Before too long, you'll begin seeing enough maps and missions to choke an elephant. In fact, with the release of the European version of the game a while back, there are already quite a few missions out there for the taking." Also, Myth Wolf Age.com's Mumbo Jumbo trip report features a report on how the Vengeance editor for Myth III operates, including a screenshot of the editor in action. Finally, the Quake III Rally website has posted the SDK for this racing modification that features: "Three new cars, boat loads of new skins, a new racing map, scripted entities, a whole new UI, and more." There was a glitch with the initial upload that omitted some of the required textures, so if you picked up your version right after it was uploaded, you should head back for the update.

The newly-opened Sin Machinima website with information and concept art relating to their debut project, a short Sin-themed action movie "starring none other than John R. Blade."

• Age of Empires II Gold Edition on Gamitopia.
• Anachronox on Intelgamer.
• Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura on MGON, GameZone, ActionTrip, and (first impressions) on Desslock's RPG News.
• B-17 Gunner: Air War Over Germany on Electric Playground.
• Eurofighter Typhoon on Games Domain.
• Primal Prey on ActionTrip.
• Red Faction Multi-Player Test on 3DActionPlanet.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars on EuroGamer.
• Sudden Strike: Forever on PC.IGN.com.
• Z: Steel Soldiers on Game Over.

• Abit's Siluro T400 64MB MX400 Video Card on HotHardware.
• Antec JetCool Socket 370 Cooler on NeoSeeker.
• ASUS A7V133 ATX Motherboard on SocketA.com.
• Cyber Cooler P-5700 Heatsink on GideonTech.com.
• ELSA Gladiac 920 Video Card (in German) on TecCentral and auto-translated into English.
• Fujitsu MPG-AH-E Hard Drive on StorageReview.com.
• Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 Kyro-II on Guru3D.
• Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 vs Abit Siluro MX400 on OcPrices.
• Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz on Socket 423 and Socket 478 on Digit-Life.
• Philips 107P10 Professional Monitor on Overclockers Melbourne.
• RD3 Gladiator Rounded Cables on TweakMax.
• Romtec Trios Hard Drive Selector on Explosive Hardware.
• SBLive! 5.1 Platinum Sound Card on HEXUS.net.
• Themaltake Blue Orb Cooler on XTremeMods.
• ThermalTake Volcano Cooler shootout on OverclockersClub.
• Tyan Tiger MP Motherboard on Amdmb.com.
• Tyan Tomcat i815T Motherboard on Active Hardware.

• Defender of the Crown on your phone on GameSpot has screenshots of a WAP version of DotC that you can play on your WAP-happy phone. They say more info is on the Cinemaware site, but I cant find it there, though I did find the beta Web-Based version of the game...
• There's a Campaign for the Introduction of an R (Restricted 18+) Category for Computer Games in Australia Petition online. More information on this can be found on this page...

Happy birthday to one of my favorite "people" in a loose sense of the word, as Hudson the wonder dog turns one year old today. For many dogs this is considered a rite of passage into adulthood, but Huddy is an Airedale Terrier, one of the breeds that they say you should consider a puppy until they are two (Labrador Retrievers are another example). Anyway, in spite of that, she's grown into a pretty solid citizen already, as well as a constant source of joy and one of the few influences capable of getting my ass out of my chair over the course of the day, so the life she may be saving may be my own. Remember, life is merrier with an Airedale Terrier.

Link of the Day: Richard Sandrak - Fittest Boy on the Planet. Thanks EvilToast. Great, a 12-year-old that can kick my ass.
Story of the Day: 'All the poop' exhibit (CNN). Thanks again EvilToast and zombie69. All your poop are belong to us?
Bonus Link: EvilPeople. The pro-censorship homepage. Thanks yet again EvilToast (no relation).
Bonus Link II: Web Economy BS Generator. Warning, contains more BS than a session of congress. Thanks Lance Mazon.
Follow-up: Disabled Mississippi Man to Cut Off Feet on Web. Following-up a previous Link of the Day (story). Thanks A.B. Cannon Jr.
Wild Science: Supervolcanoes could trigger global freeze (BBC). More potential destruction. Thanks Erik.
Wild Science II: A Magnetic Attraction at the Theme Park. NY Times free registration required. Thanks Jonathan C. Forster.