TFH Gaming has conducted an interview on Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, talking to executive producer Mark Skaggs about Westwood's just-released RTS expansion. The conversation appears to have been conducted some time prior to the pack's release, and topics include its features, the new campaigns, gameplay enhancements, and Westwood's plans for the future. Also online is TFH Gaming's Yuri's Revenge section with concise overviews of the new units, weapons and structures in the pack.

There is a new Click Entertainment interview on Gamehelper, chatting up CEO Isaac Gartner about their recently released isometric action RPG. Isaac talks about the game's inspiration, the accuracy of the Japanese setting, the similarities in gameplay to the Diablo series, their in-house engine, multiplayer, and more.

Star Trek: Armada II preview on pc.ign.com is a new look ahead to the 3D space-based RTS that is currently docking at Mad Doc Software. The article looks at the new races that were added to this sequel, the third gameplay dimension and how the game is controlled with this added complexity, as well as such staple RTS features like units, resources, and more. Twenty new screenshots are also included.

• Age of Mythology
  Ensemble Studios has released a single new, high-res Age of Mythology screenshot (now in an even more elaborate pop-up) that shows a new scene in their upcoming 3D RTS.
• Black Knight
  Half a dozen new MechWarrior 4: Black Knight screenshots are up at GameSpot, accompanying some new details on the imminent 3D action expansion pack by Cyberlore Studios.
• AquaNox
  XGR has posted ten new, high-res screenshots of AquaNox, the underwater 3D action game by Massive Development that recently surfaced in their home country Germany.
• Bridge Commander
  The official Star Trek: Bridge Commander site sports another pair of new screenshots of the capitol ship space sim in the works at Totally Games.
• Clusterball
  There are eleven new Clusterball screenshots on Blue Monday, showing off this futuristic flying sports game by Daydream Software that's already available for download from Real.com but will be published in retail stores by Strategy First later this year.
• Civilization III
  GameSpyDaily has posted eight new Civilization III screenshots, depicting more scenes from the imminent turn-based strategy sequel by Firaxis.
• Another War
  Mirage has released five new (dark) screenshots on the official Another War site, revealing more from their isometric role-playing game (thanks Gameplex.ch).

A post to the Renegade Public Forums titled: "Renegade Target Release Date!" written by Renegade community manager Cliff "Devinoch" Hicks offers just that, the first estimated release date for Command & Conquer: Renegade, Westwood's upcoming action game set in the C&C universe. Thanks Havocide. Here's the scoop:

We are currently aiming for a target release date of February 12th, 2002 and we feel confident this is about when you will be seeing Renegade. (Allow a few days either way for the possibility of things beyond our control.)

GameSpot's Freedom Force Designer Diary #9 is written by Irrational Games' Ken Levine who starts off with: "There's an old joke...How do you write a story for a computer game? Very, very slowly." If that wasn't a tip-off, today's topic is writing, as Ken explores the changes in their game production since he wrote System Shock 2 entirely by himself, as he is now working with a co-writer on Freedom Force (as well as The Lost for the PS2). Specifics he covers about the topic include the difficulties of collaborating with someone half-way around the world, going on to describe how this impacts the game's overall production, capping off with a description of the process of creating the movies that recount the origins of each of the game's superheroes. Included with the diary are four new screenshots.

Kohan Ahriman's Gift Interview on FBI Reviews talks with producer Adel Chaveleh, lead designer Ian Klimon, and designer Steve Hemmesch from TimeGate Studios about their now-gold RTS prequel. Subjects include what differentiates AG from a simple add-on, clarifying the game's use of "zones," its inspiration, new units and terrain, how they are combating the possibility of creating an invincible "build path" for the game, improvements to the engine and interface, and more.

GameSpyDaily Interviews Dr. Ian Davis of Mad Doc Software discussing Star Trek Armada II, their upcoming Trekkie RTS game. Topics include their feelings about working once again with the popular Star Trek franchise, steps they are taking to ensure accuracy to the familiar universe, which The Next Generation actors leant their voice talents to the production, new features of the sequel, the switch from 2D to 3D, the Borgier Borg, the role of trading, and more.

GameSpot UK's Praetorians Preview takes a look at Pyro Studios' upcoming RTS game set in ancient Rome. The short preview describes plans to make Praetorians more terrain oriented than much of the genre, the forces at your command as you assume the role of Roman general, the different enemies you'll contend with, a bit on recruiting, and the role different formations will play. The article is accompanied by four new screenshots and a piece of concept art.

As promised, Volition has now also released the manual version 1.10 patch for Red Faction, and we have a local copy with mirrors of the North American patch, while downloads of the German and French patches are available at 3D Gamers. The patches all take around 850 KB to download.

The Battle Realms Preview on GamesDomain Review looks at Liquid Entertainment's upcoming RTS Game based on hands-on play with a preview build. Along with commentary on the sound and graphics, the article gives a feel for the game's medieval Asian theme and looks at gameplay highlighting its emphasis on tactical thinking, the types of units at your disposal, the "individual nature of combat," the influence of the game's clans, a bit about the campaigns, and more.

There are two new Mimesis Online movies on Games Domain, revealing more from this fantasy futuristic MMORPG being developed at Tannhauser Gate. The movies require around 7-8 MB to download and offer nearly a minute of in-game footage each, but appear to require a less common AVI codec, so your viewing mileage may vary.

Word on the official Red Faction site is that a new update for Volition's earth-shattering first-person shooter is now available, taking to the game to version 1.10. This patch is currently only available through the auto-updater (a manual download is expected later today), and includes some two dozen changes, improvements and bug fixes.

Machinima.com's Max Payne Interview talks with Saku Lehtinen and Anssi Hyytiäinen, who are level designers at Remedy who were also responsible for a good deal of the work on the cinematics in the recently released third-person shooter. Topics covered along the way include the pair's background in film, their influences in this project, pros and cons of doing this sort of work with the Max Payne engine, the tools they used, what the production process consisted of, what went right and wrong along the way, the length of the project, and their feelings about the final result.

Satellite of Love on Computer and Video Games is their Q&A with Lionhead Studios' Peter Molyneux, focusing on Lionhead's recently launched (haha) satellite program, which offers support for smaller game developers. Topics include what exactly the program consists of, the criteria for new developers to join the program, and the varying "cost" that the satellites must pay in return.

There's a Call of Cthulhu Interview on ToTheGame where they interrogate Andrew Brazier of Headfirst Productions about Call of Cthulhu, their upcoming H.P. Lovecraft-inspired horror game. The Q&A, conducted by a long-time fan of the pen-and-paper Cthulhu RPG, discusses the game's interface, the way sanity/insanity will be handled, a bit on Tomes and Thaumaturgy, monsters (monstres), multiplayer support, character generation, plans for a minimal soundtrack, and more. A gallery with new artwork is also included.

• Mafia
  Computer and Video Games has posted 17 new screenshots of Mafia: the City of Lost Heaven, the third-person action game of organized crime by Illusion Softworks.
• Call Sign: Charlie
  The first three Call Sign: Charlie screenshots in the ToTheGame gallery show new scenes in the squad-based shooter by Slovakian company Outsider Development.
• Black Thorn
  Dutch site TacticalGames.nl has posted over two dozen new Rogue Spear: Black Thorn screenshots from Mission 6 in the imminent tactical shooter expansion by Red Storm Entertainment.
• AquaNox
  A brief look at AquaNox on CG Online is accompanied by four new screenshots of Massive Development's underwater 3D action game.
• Battle Realms
  Eleven new Battle Realms screenshots are online at XGR, offering more scenes and some research trees from the 3D real-time strategy game nearing completion at Liquid Entertainment.
• Warlords Battlecry 2
  The official Warlords Battlecry 2 site has been updated with four new screenshots of SSG's fantasy isometric RTS, along with a new wallpaper and some brief info on three of the game's armies.
• Europa Universalis II
  The weekly update of the Europa Universalis II page brings the usual pair of new screenshots of this historical strategy sequel by Paradox Entertainment.

The natural follow-up to the news that Stronghold was gold (story) has arrived, as word is this castle-building game from FireFly Studios is now appearing on store shelves nationwide throughout the US. Here's how the accompanying press release describes the game:

"FireFly Studios' Stronghold' takes place in a divided European countryside torn apart by four power hungry and warring lords. By skillfully managing resources, boosting peasant morale, and constructing complex castle architecture, players establish settlements, build and manage castles, and engage in siege warfare as they strive to reunite their king and country.

Features of "FireFly Studios' Stronghold" include:

* Four separate game modes: Economic (non-combat) campaign mode; Siege mode, with famous historical castles; Siege That challenge mode and Freebuild castle building mode to design your ideal castle.
* Castle construction options such as walls, moats, drawbridges, portcullises, towers and killing pits.
* A detailed living community thriving with lords, ladies, jesters, chickens and more.
* Medieval warfare with siege troops such as engineers and tunnelers, mobile equipment like catapults, siege towers, and battering rams and static siege engines including mangonels, ballistas and trebuchets.
* Boiling oil and fire ditches to fight off enemies in single-player campaigns consisting of 21 story-based missions.
* Multiplayer gameplay for up to eight players via LAN or over the Internet.
* Full-featured map and scenario editor

German developer Ascaron has released a playable demo of Ballerburg, available for download from Gamigo.de. Ballerburg is an oddball (sorry) 3D-ish action strategy game where you fight sieges in a fantasy Middle Ages setting, and the German demo allows you to try the single-player game as well as multiplayer over LAN, all for a 60.7 MB download (but beware that the download server is rather overloaded). Update: A US-based mirror is online at 3D Gamers.

Here's some more serious Serious Sam action, as there's a Serious Sam: Second Encounter Q&A on Computer and Video Games where they catch up with Croteam 3D artist Admir Elezovic to discuss the upcoming follow-up to Sam's first adventure. Topics include familiar topics like the game's storyline, weapons, enhancements to the Serious engine, mod support, new enemies, as well as a couple of less well-traveled subjects, like the status of their plans to implement a skeletal animation system, and their opinion of the AI in most shooter games.

HomeLan Fed's Serious Sam: Second Encounter Preview offers some hands-on impressions after getting to play with an alpha build of Second Encounter, Croteam's upcoming follow-up to Serious Sam: The First Encounter. The preview discusses the original game, how the follow-up picks up the "thin" storyline of the original, the new weapons; enemies; and settings, the new special effects in the engine, the stability of their preview build, and more.

GameSpy.com's Morrowind Interviews chat up no fewer than four of the folks from Bethesda Softworks who are working on Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, their upcoming fantasy/RPG. The victims include project leader Todd Howard, assistant designer/"taste accountant" Douglas Goodall, environmental artist/world builder Noah Berry, and associate producer Mike Fridley all discussing their backgrounds, challenges they've faced in working on Morrowind, and what future projects they hope to work on.

GameSpyDaily's Transgaming Interview chats with Gavriel State, the CEO of Transgaming, about WineX, their technology that allows Windows games to be played under Linux, which is to be bundled with the upcoming Mandrake Linux Gamer Edition (story), which will also include Mandrake Linux 8.1 and Electronic Arts' The Sims. Topics include a general WineX overview, how it works, why WineX is not an emulator (WINE itself is an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator"), how distribution is being handled, why this won't negatively impact native Linux game development, and more.

• Windows XP ACPI Tweak Guide
  There's a Windows XP ACPI Tweak Guide on Tweakers Asylum.
• Voodoo 4/5 Drivers
  The Nfx Voodoo4/5 Drivers from AE Software Technologies has beta 1 of their drivers for 3dfx cards under Windows 2000 and Windows XP Home Edition/Windows XP Professional Edition. Thanks 3dXtreme.

GameSpot's GameCube Roundup offers a round-up of all the games that should be available for Nintendo's GameCube by Christmas.

The æon's stats website has a new version 5.21 of the free version of the ÆStats program that extracts statistics from the server logs of many shooter games. The new release is available for both Windows and Linux, and Strike Force for UT support, fixes some bugs, and redesigns various aspects of the interface, as well as much of the program's output, which no longer uses frames, and now supports style sheets.

The Orange Smoothie Productions website has a new beta version 0.99W of the OSP Tourney modification for Quake III Arena. This text file offers a complete list of changes found in the latest version. Thanks q3ctf.de.

Saying: "You gotta earn that weapon," the GreenHouseEFX Website has the debut release of the Greed modification for Quake III Arena. The game offers a bunch of features and three distinct game sub-types, but the general idea behind gameplay can be summed up as: "No weapon pickups and the stakes are high. Everyone starts with the same weapon(s). Tokens are dropped by a player when they are hit and can be picked up by the attacker and used to purchase more powerful weapons and health."

Hiigara Planetia has version 0.90 of the sacrifice of Angels modification for Homeworld, which brings a little of Star Trek's final frontier to Homeworld. In addition to the mod, there are also a few map-packs to accompany it. Thanks I am not a geek, who pass this along, saying "Didn't realise you guys covered everything."

Camelot Vault's Scout Guide is online, offering gameplay tips on how to play a scout in Dark Age of Camelot: "The historical English/Welsh longbowmen were considered members of the standing army, as both archer and infantry within the military structure. They were trained as hard as any armsman, and were in just as good physical condition."

The HatLAN LAN Party of Anaheim, CA is offering free admission Saturday as part of their Halloween extravaganza.

• AquaNox on Warp2Search.
• Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge on Gamers Uplink.
• Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles (in German) on GameCaptain.
• RoboForge on 3DnGaming.
• Severance: Blade of Darkness on BurnOut Pc.
• Sub Command on PC Arena.
• Zax: the Alien Hunter (in German) on GameCaptain.

• Comanche 4 Demo on Multi Player Zone and PC Arena.

• Absolute Multimedia Nemesis GeForce2 MX 400 Pro Video Card on ChillBlast.
• Alpha PAL8045 Heatsink on AMD World.
• AMD CPU 3-Way Shootout on VIAHardware.
• ASUS TUA266 Motherboard on BlueSmoke.
• ATI Radeon 7500 Video Card (in video) on 3dGameMan.
• ATI Radeon 7500 Video Card on 8Dimensional.
• ATI Radeon 8500 Video Card on 8Dimensional, GamePC, and got apex.
• Belkin Nostromo n50 SpeedPad on The Adrenaline Vault.
• Bitspower HSF on M:6.
• CoolJag JAC102C Heatsink on Mikhailtech.
• Cyber Cooler Peltier Coolers on Overclockedcafe.
• ECS P4S5A SiS645 Motherboard on OC Workbench.
• Epox 8KHA+ ATX Motherboard on SocketA.com.
• Icemat Mouse Pad on PCArena.net.
• Iwill KK266+ Motherboard on AtlantaOC.
• Matrox G550 Video Card Review round-up on 8Dimensional.
• Non-Conductive Purple Anodized Spacer on TacoNuts.com.
• NVIDIA GeForce3 Video Card round-up on 8Dimensional.
• Noise Control Silverado CPU Cooler on PC PowerZone.
• Power Cooler PCH137 Cooler on NeoSeeker.
• Samsung 170MP Flat Panel on Future Looks.

• Amazon.com buying info for American McGee's Alice Score has the way you can order the score on a CD. Thanks Frightener...
• The Adrenaline Vault Interviews Paul Schuytema of Magic Lantern discussing Combat, their upcoming tribute to the original Atari 2600 game of the same name...
• The EA FIFA Football 2002 page has the 15.5 MB playable demo of the upcoming installment in this soccer game series. Thanks BonusWeb, where they have a mirror. On a related note, Ferrago.co.uk has a Q&A with the game's associate producer...

My bad back reared its ugly... well, back yesterday for the first time in a while. It never bothers me when it's logical to do so... like right after hauling a ton+ of dirt to the backyard to fill the hole (or chasm as someone dubbed it), but usually during some minor movement, though no doubt the real cause is some previous heavy labor (or the webmaster equivalent). Yesterday it was simply turning in the chair that caused the first twinge, a mild form of the real pain that I have from time-to-time, then later when walking the dog the other shoe dropped, and the mild form of the pain was replaced by a painful form of the pain. Now I'm walking like Igor (what hump?)--what, you were expecting Tiger Woods? Oh well, it could be worse, if I was a pro athlete I'd be benched, and if I was in a primitive culture they might leave me in the wilderness for the wolves, but I'll be able to soldier on just fine here without disturbing anyone, because in cyberspace, no one can hear you groan.

Link of the Day: 404 Error Now what??? A great variation on a 404 message that pulls up the original Zork when the server can't find your requested page.