RPG Vault's Earth & Beyond Diary #2 is online, with Westwood Studios Technical Director Phil Gorrow offering a day in the life look at managing the team at work on this upcoming science fiction-themed MMORPG. On the schedule for the day in question are meetings, reviewing work on a new patch, work on a bug found during beta testing, more meetings, meals at vending machines, and more. Also, Action Vault's SWAT: Urban Justice Developer Diary #8 is online with Sierra Entertainment executive producer Rod Fung offering an installment titled "Getting the Game Out the Door" describing some of the preparations for getting the latest SWAT game onto store shelves.

GameSpot Previews Medieval: Total War with a look at Creative Assembly's follow up to their RTS game Shogun: Total War. They describe the hugs scope ("16 different companies of different soldiers on the field at one time--up to 15,000 individual units on the same battlefield simultaneously") that allows the game to live up to the "Total War" name, the increased detail on the units compared to the original, unit types, the expanded morale system, leadership, diplomacy, noteworthy historical characters who will make appearances, the map editor, multiplayer support, and more. Included are 10 new screenshots.

The official MechWarrior 4: Vengeance site offers new English point release 3.0 patches for download, coinciding with the arrival of the Inner Sphere Mech Pak on store shelves (which already includes this point release). There is a 37.7 MB download for users of the original game and a 41.3 MB download for users with the Black Knight expansion pack, and they add an improved server browser to distinguish between the various editions, a new auto-updater, and a batch of bug fixes, many of which improve multiplayer or Black Knight and its editor.

• Task Force Dagger
  NovaLogic sends along four new screenshots of Delta Force: Task Force Dagger, their upcoming tactical shooter set in Afghanistan, and another four new screenshots each are up at GameSpyDaily and GameSpot.
• Battlefield 1942
  Games Domain has captured 19 new Battlefield 1942 screenshots from a beta build of the first-person hybrid action game that is nearing completion at Digital Illusions.
• The Thing
  As is their way, Computer Artworks has issued a new screenshot of The Thing, offering another scene in their third-person horror action adventure in development.
• Arx Fatalis
  The official Arx Fatalis site has been updated with nine new screenshots of the first-person role-playing game by Arkane Studios that struck German gold yesterday (story).
• Icewind Dale II
  Four new Icewind Dale II screenshots are online at GamersClick, showing more from the imminent isometric RPG sequel by Black Isle Studios.

Triumph Studios has released the final playable demo of Age of Wonders II: the Wizard's Throne, their newly available turn-based strategy game, available for download from Gigex (here's the direct link for firewall users). This demo weighs in at a hefty 104.8 MB and "features one scenario, playable from two sides as either a single player game against two AI opponents or as a multiplayer game against one human and one AI opponent. The demo offers select features, spells and units from the game," along with several multiplayer options.

The Reaction Quake 3 Website has the release of beta 2.00 of this Quake III Arena modification. Here is the succinct description of what's on tap with the latest release: "Along with new maps, a new user-interface, new models, and other graphical updates, the long awaited addition of Teamplay and replicated Action Quake 2 physics is included." The download is about 150 MB, and a previous version of the mod is not required.

The official Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 site offers a new map pack for Yuri's Revenge for download, expanding Westwood's isometric RTS add-on. This tiny 156 KB download contains two multiplayer maps, a 2-4 player map called Circuit Board and a 2-6 player map titled High Explosive Round.

The latest on QuakeCon 2002 is that registration for this year's edition of the id Software sponsored LAN party/tournament will begin tonight at 10:00 PM EDT. Word on registration is that it will continue up until the event (August 15-18), but those interested in participating in the Quake III Arena tournament are urged to sign up quickly, as those spots are expected to fill up fast. Additionally those under 18 who wish to attend will be required to supply a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.

Loadedinc's UFO: Aftermath Q&A chats with Jiri Rydl of Czech developer ALTAR Interactive about UFO: Aftermath, their upcoming turn-based strategy successor to the X-COM series. Topics include some background on ALTAR, an overview of the game, a bit on the how this project picked up on some of the foundations of Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, combat, squad AI, tech trees, the game engine, the reasons for forgoing multiplayer support, modification support, their release schedule, and more. Included are five new screenshots.

The official Settlers IV site has word that a new sequel to the long-running management strategy series by Blue Byte is in development. This as-yet untitled fifth installment will be the first to incorporate "innovative 3D-technology" as well as "new strategic elements" with the aim to "create a truly innovative leap inside the Settlers' gameplay," and the announcement is accompanied by the first concept image. The formal press release can be found on the German Ubi Soft site in their native tongue, so here is the customary Babel Fish link. Thanks Tiscali Games for the tip.

Arxel Tribe has opened the official site for The Gladiators, showcasing their upcoming 3D action strategy game. The site is sparsely populated with a backstory section, some artwork and character images, and a dozen familiar screenshots.

Belgian site SpelletjesGarnaal serves up a new movie of Largo Winch, the 3D adventure game by Ubi Soft. This video preview comes in downloadable (12.6 MB) and streaming Windows Media Player format, and offers more than eight minutes of gameplay footage accompanied by the game's mix of English and French voices, and of course the site's outrageous Flemish and French commentary.

Mike "Archangel" McCart of Ensemble Studios sends along advance warning that they will be revealing plans to sign up beta testers for their next "Age of..." RTS game on Monday. The good news is it sounds like they are planning on accepting a whopping 10,000 testers! Here's the tease:

Join the 10,000 Faithful

Be sure to meditate and get your rest this weekend, because on Monday, you'll find out how you and 9,999 of your not-so-closest friends can experience god-like gaming.

Find out Monday how you can be one of the chosen.

HomeLan Fed's Red Faction 2 Q&A talks with Volition's James Tsai about progress on the upcoming PS2 sequel to Red Faction, their ground-breaking first-person shooter. GameSpot Previews Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a look ahead at the upcoming third-person action game based on the hit TV series based on getting to check it out first-hand at The Collective. Accompanying the piece they have also posted a new Q&A with The Collective to discuss progress on the Buffy Xbox title. There's also a two minute Buffy Movie Trailer (12.5 MB direct download) that was released sometime last week, but is now available from EA's FTP. There are 10 new The Thing screenshots on TeamXbox.

Console Reviews

• Final Fantasy X (PS2) on Music 4 Games.
• Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Xbox) on ESCMag.

There's a Dungeon Siege Tweaking Guide on the Mid-West Gaming League Website describing the fine-tuning they performed to get a 75% performance improvement in Gas Powered Games' RPG.

Here's a help wanted email, all in one quick rush: "The Creative Assembly, developers of the Award Winning 'Shogun: Total War™' and forthcoming 'Medieval: Total War™' are looking for talented 3d and 2d artists to join their UK and Australian studios. Applicants should be able to demonstrate excellent creative, technical and visual skill, a good working knowledge of an industry standard package (3DSMax, Maya, Lightwave, Photoshop etc.), a passion for games and a proven ability in one or more of the following areas: character modeling, skinning, texturing, character animation, level design, environment creation, texture creation, graphic design. Send your CV plus relevant URLs with any examples of work to jobs@creative-assembly.co.uk."

• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project on Game Club Central and Action Vault.
• Gore on GameSpot and Gamer's Hell.
• Legion on GameSpy.com.
• Le Mans 24 Hours on GameFaction.
• Search and Rescue 3 on Helosim.
• Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix on Game Revolution.
• Starmageddon: Project Earth on Games Domain.

• G.I. Combat - Episode 1: Invasion Normandy on The Entertainment Depot.
• Postal 2 on CG Online.

• Albatron P4X845EPro Motherboard on PC STATS.
• Asus A7V333 Motherboard on hARDWAREMANIA.
• Chieftec Scorpio TX-10WD Case on Dan's Data.
• Cooler Master ATC-600 Case on Dan's Data.
• Cooler Master HHC-001 Copper Heatpipe Heatsink on FrostyTech.
• Gigabyte 8SIML SIS650 Motherboard on Overclockers Melbourne.
• Lian Li PC-602 Case on Dan's Data.
• MSI K7D Master Motherboard on Viper's Lair.
• SIS Xabre400 Motherboard on Digit-Life.

• Monkeystone Games has released the demo for the PC port of Hyperspace Delivery Boy, the debut game from John Romero's new company...

Gosh I remember the days when viruses on the Internet were so uncommon you would actually write back to someone if they sent you one to find out if it was intentional, or to let them know they had a problem. Nowadays, of course, they come flooding in at such a rate it's impossible to do that, even if they did have the proper sender's address (which almost none of them do anymore). Well if things are wild with all this now, I just can't imagine what will happen if the virus mentioned in a Wired article called New Virus Infects Picture Files (thanks [MP] Wolverine [MP]) proliferates.

Link of the Day: Bob Reno's BadJocks.com. Thanks BabyJesus.
Story of the Day: U.S. spy imagery viewed by civilians. Thanks dbodine and Frottage, who adds: "This all could have been prevented had they had used spam encryption."
Weird Science: Tuning in to a deep sea monster. Thanks Bryce Baker.
Wild Science: Extrasolar Planets. "Newfound planetary system has 'hometown' look." Thanks SurlyBitch.
Auction of the Day: Porsche Boxster. Thanks Chris Johnson. So is there more plastic molding on the car, or the presenter?