There is a new preview of James Bond 007: NightFire on Computer and Video Games, looking ahead to the shaken, not stirred first-person shooter in development at Gearbox Software. The article describes the kind of gameplay experience they're aiming for, the original story and locations that are being designed, their new in-house graphics engine, what some of the missions will be like, the occasional use of a third-person camera viewpoint, the enemy AI, the gadgets and weapons at your disposal, and more. The information is highlighted with numerous quotes from EA's Michael Condrey and Gearbox' Landon Montgomery, and illustrated with a batch of new screenshots.

Sierra has released new Windows version 25005 beta patches for TRIBES 2 which, despite being issued along with the Linux patches (story), were missing in action from download links posted elsewhere. You can now actually download the patch to upgrade v24834 (the last official version) at 1.0 MB as well as the patch for the original game at 3.8 MB, and as before if you installed any previous beta patches you'll need to remove those before upgrading to this version. Details on the changes in this release can be found at TribalWar.

HomeLan Fed's Another War Q&A talks with Mirage PR and marketing manager Pawel Kalinowski about Another War, their upcoming World War II RPG. Topics include the project's roots in Odium (a cancelled futuristic RPG) and Mortyr II (their cancelled WW2 shooter sequel), the appeal of the World War II setting, the game's storyline, levels and settings, character creation, missions, weapons and items, NPC interactions, the game engine, the lack of planned multiplayer support, and more.

The MacPlay Website (thanks Mac.IGN.Com) has a new Macrifice patch, bringing the Mac version of Shiny's Sacrifice to version 1.01, though it is noted that this is an "unsupported beta version." Also, The Omni Group Game Ports Website has news of plans for a Macintosh OS X port of Freedom Force, as well as reiterating plans for a SoF2 port (story) as well as value-priced ports of Fallout and Incoming (thanks Gary Miguel). More details on these ports can be found in this Mac.IGN.Com article.

The Project N.O.E.L Website features downloads of their live-action movie based on Quake III Arena. Available in larger (151 MB) and smaller (43 MB) versions, the flick offers surprising parallels with Q3A, including authentic sound effects, authentic-looking weapons (including the game's anti-science-fictional scaling), complete lack of plot beyond what is inherent in a deathmatch, and perhaps most surprisingly of all considering it's a 'home movie,' pretty darned impressive special effects.

The Neverwinter Nights Modules Page has a list of mirrors where the Contest of Champions module for BioWare's RPG can be downloaded. "This module is designed to allow a group of players to jump into combat against each other on up to for 4 different teams. Anything goes within the two different battle arenas. The last team standing at the end of combat wins the round."

Final Fantasy XI Importing Impressions offers a description of the process of adding the necessary peripherals to a PS2 to play Square's online RPG. In a related note, there are two new FFXI gameplay movies on XenGamers, as well as some new screenshots.

Console Reviews

• Deus Ex (PS2) on EuroGamer.
• Final Fantasy X (PS2) on RewiredMind.
• Resident Evil (GameCube) on Digital Back Spin.

A few updates to the Horizons FAQ add new questions and answers to shed further light on plans for this upcoming multiplayer RPG.

• Dungeon Siege on Gameraiders.
• Gore: Ultimate Soldier on Gameguru Mania.
• Neverwinter Nights on GameSpy.com.
• Red Ace Squadron on Gameraiders.
• Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix on Ferrago.co.uk and MadOnion Gamers HQ.
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast on Gameraiders.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on TechTV.

• Deep Sea Tycoon Beta on GamersClick.

• ATI All In Wonder 7500 Video Card on BurnOutPc.
• FIC AT31 Motherboard on Tweakers Asylum.
• MSI 645E Max2 Motherboard on TweakTown.
• NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 vs. ATI RADEON 8500LE Video Cards on x-bit labs.

• Top gamers seek cash to compete is a BBC article on QuakeCon 2002. Thanks Devo...

Man, if it wasn't bad enough receiving all those virus mails that promise 'a very powful tool,' or 'a very humour game,' and of course the inevitable 'I send you this file in order to have your advice,' the inundation from the latest Windows mail worm has gotten equally out of hand. I'm talking of course, about the 'Enjoy this friendship Screen Saver and Check ur friends circle...' dealie that's been making the rounds, apparently the W32.Yaha.E@mm and W32.Yaha.F@mm worms. I guess I'll look at the screensaver later, right now I'm off to catch a 'Spice Girls vocal concert.'

Link of the Day: David Still. Visiting the site will pretty well explain this, though it can't be appreciated until you receive one of the emails.
Story of the Day: The plot's bad, and as for the dialogue... Thanks Brendan Reville.
Story of the Day II: Police fear wurst, halt Wienermobile near Pentagon. Thanks SlayerAODsk.
Follow-up: Living Sweatiest cities. The full list from yesterday's 'Weird Science' link. Thanks Jonathan C. Forster.