The C&C: Renegade Website now offers a version 1.034 patch for Command & Conquer Renegade and the corresponding version of the Renegade dedicated server software. The new version of the game fixes a bug exhibited when playing a solo game after playing multiplayer, the edit_vehicle command now only works in single-play or one-player multiplayer games, the superweapon->quit exploit has been closed, and more. Foreign language patches are also available.

Following the recently released version 2.0 multiplayer patch (story), 3DO's Heroes of Might and Magic IV Support Page now offers an updated version 2.1 of the game's Campaign Editor "that correctly implements the Prologue and Epiloge (sic) campaign options."

GameSpyDaily's Devastation Q&A chats with Digitalo's Bob Berry to learn more about their upcoming Unreal-engine action game. They discuss the games story, the perils of including AI teammates, friendly fire, mission objectives, weapons, equipment, environments, multiplayer support, working with the Unreal technology, AI, avoiding common FPS pitfalls, and more. Accompanying the article are four new screenshots.

• Earth & Beyond
  GameSpot's Earth & Beyond Developer Interview #3 is a video conversation with Louis Castle about Westwood's upcoming space MMORPG. The streaming version is available for free, offering "an in-depth demonstration on some of the more exotic locations in Earth & Beyond in this lengthy interview."
• The Art of Conquest
  GameZone.com's The Art of Conquest Q&A chats with Ken Davis about Mad Doc Software's Empire Earth expansion which just shipped today. They discuss the add-on's upgraded engine, how they determined which campaigns to include, new units, the space epoch, their multiplayer matching system, that the original game is required to play, and more.
• Raven
  There's a Kenn Hoekstra Q&A on Invisible Dream talking with the Raven Software project administrator about what's what. Topics include their company's growth, whether he sees them branching out from the FPS genre, their recent emphasis on licensed games, the possibility of returning to the Hexen/Heretic series, whether there is room for innovation in the first-person shooter, and more.
• Ryzom
  RPG Vault's Ryzom Q&A Part 2 talks with David Cohen Corval and Eric Simon about Nevrax' "science fantasy online game." Topics in part two include careers, character development, professions (as opposed to careers), advancement, skills, changing professions, combat, non-combat activities, economics, item degradation, crafting, and more.

Action Vault's Enigma: Rising Tide Diary #4 is the latest installment of one of the pair of such diary series currently underway. In this installment Tesseraction Games' CEO Kelly 'East' Asay offers a weather report, followed by a description of the whirlwind of activity that they've been involved in, describing where the project stands, how the offline version of their naval combat MMORPG is about to go gold, and reflecting upon his role as leader of the development team, offering a "group-hug" to his cohorts.

The Rune Website has a lengthy status report from Human Head's Tim Gerritsen discussing the various considerations that have prevented them from actively pursuing a project to create a sequel to RUNE, going on to say they plan to revisit the idea, but that they need to have confidence they will be able to do it right. The update concludes with this: "We know many of you would like to see Rune 2 happen as soon as possible, and the fact that we're not ready to unleash it upon the world as soon as possible is disappointing news. However, we hope that when you hear about the projects we are working on you'll be equally excited."

• Iron Storm
  The Iron Storm Preview on Worthplaying is online, offering impressions of 4x Studios' upcoming alternate-history World War I combat game. They discuss gameplay, sound, levels, multiplayer support, and more.
• OMF: Battlegrounds
  BlueSmoke Previews One Must Fall: Battlegrounds with a look at the upcoming giant robot fighting game sequel based on getting to play with a beta version. They describe returning "classic" robots from the original OMF: 2097, new robots, the 50-some individual pilots, pilot characteristics, items, arenas, the interface, multiplayer support, and more.
• There's an American Conquest Preview on Gamer's Hell with a look at GSC Game World's upcoming RTS game set during the influx of Europeans to North America during the age of exploration. They describe the game's heritage that began with the Cossacks series, the massive armies players will control, buildings, units, and more.
• Another War
  There's an Another War Preview on Hexus based on getting to see Mirage's upcoming World War II role-playing game at this year's ECTS. They describe the game's "goblin-free" setting, how the story unfolds, graphics, gameplay, and more.
• Shade: Wrath of Angels
  The Shade: Wrath of Angels Preview on Hexus, based on seeing Black Element Software's upcoming horror/adventure game, also at this year's ECTS. They describe the player's role as a "Miracle Verifier" in the Europe of yore, encounters with undead enemies, the settings, and more.
• Hegemonia
  There's a Hegemonia Preview on Invisible Dream with a look at Digital Reality's upcoming space-based RTS game. They draw the inevitable comparisons with games like Homeworld and Imperium Galactica 2, describe getting underway playing the game, the role of heroes, technology, the interface, graphics, the ships, the interface, and more.

Strategy First sends word that plans are underway to bring the MMO gameplay of World War II Online to the Macintosh platform. Word on the Mac edition, which will contain a couple of bonus items including a fold-out wall map, will ship in early November.

GameSpot's Stronghold Crusader Preview offers impressions of the upcoming stand-alone expansion for Stronghold, Firefly Studios castle building/siege RTS. They describe how the expansion builds upon the strength of the original's besieging and defending castles, while eliminating the weaknesses like the purely economic missions. They go on to discuss the story that's centered around the crusades, an improved instant action mode, new units, new modes of castle attack and defense, resources and economics, improved AI, and more. Accompanying the article is a large batch of new screenshots.

Sierra Ships Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, Add-on to 2001's Game of the Year is the press release announcing Mad Doc Software's expansion for Empire Earth, the epic RTS game, has shipped to retail stores in the US. In addition to featuring enhanced multiplayer functionality (which will be made available for download to owners of the original Empire Earth), here is the description of what The Art of Conquest has to offer: "The Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest game includes three new single-player campaigns set in ancient Rome, the Pacific Theater of World War II, and Asia in the 22nd century. In addition, each of the 21 pre-designed civilizations in the game gains a unique special power, building, or unit. Examples include: the Kingdom of Italy's Metallurgy power, which allows them to pay building costs with gold or iron interchangeably; Great Britain's S.A.S. unit will be able to plant demolitions and swim across water; and the United States' market building will allow that civilization to trade abundant resources for scarce ones."

As promised (story), the demo version of No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way has been released, premiering on FilePlanet (registration required). The demo is a 158 MB download, and according to plan, offers "four levels total from three of the game's 15 chapters. The locations will include Japan, Siberia and the never before seen, Underwater Base." Mirrors are now available from Gigex, FileShack (registration required), and 3D Gamers.

The promised Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo patch is now available via the demo's in-game auto-update function. The patch is also available as an approximately 3 MB download, a list of download locations can be found on the Unreal Tournament 2003 Website. Word on a Linux patch is that it is to follow soon, but it's possible it will only be released through the auto-updater. Here is the list of what this patch addresses.

- Fixed support for Voodoo3 / Matrox G400.
- Fixed initial framerate hitches in network play.
- Fixed the jittery screen updates in the server browser when sorting by ping.
- Fixed a possible DoS attack in the server code.
- Fixed a few other minor potential crashes.

A post to the BeyondUnreal Forums (thanks Seriously!) offers details on how you can enable the Redeemer code buried within the UT2003 demo. Further details on how to get the game's über-rocket up and running can be found in this Infogrames Forum Post and this follow-up post on the BeyondUnreal Forums. Information is also offered on how to call in an Ion Cannon blast.

There's a DOOM III Preview on Computer and Video Games reproducing a print article from a recent copy of PC Zone magazine. The article is based on a sojourn to Dublin to see the game in action, and offers some brief reactions to what they saw, along with some quotes from id Software's Tim Willits and Todd Hollenshead touching on things like realism, atmosphere and monster AI.

• Lineage II
  GameSpy.com's Lineage II Q&A chats with NCSoft's Yong-hyun Park and Hyung-jin Kim to learn about progress on Lineage II, their upcoming Unreal-engine MMORPG. They discuss working with the Unreal technology, how far along development is, races and classes, their combat, the reasons for setting the follow-up as a prequel, pledge system ("is that a pledge pin you're wearing?!?"), new races and classes, whether Lord British will appear within the story, and more.
• Tomb Raider
  HomeLan Fed's Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness Q&A catches up with Eidos Interactive's Mike Schmitt to inquire about Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness, the next installment in Lara Croft's ongoing adventures. Topics include their goals for the game, the story, locations visited, enemies and puzzles, NGEs, the new game engine, plans for a PC demo, the possibilities of eventual multiplayer support, and more.

RPG Vault's Horizons Journal #2 features Artifact Entertainment creative director David Bowman discussing player characters in their upcoming MMORPG. He describes the wide variety of physical appearances a character can take on to start with, the ability to sport a new hairstyle or even tattoos during gameplay, the wide variety of accoutrements available to players, and their plans to maintain the ability to widely vary the appearance of characters as they continue to add races to the game. Action Vault's EVE: The Second Genesis Journal #7 features CCP's Hrafnkell Oskarsson discussing the abilities for players to form their own corporations in their upcoming outer space MMORPG, the advantages to going corporate, the ability to create a specialized character as a vital cog in such an organization, and more.

• BANDITS: Phoenix Rising on Gamer's Hell.
• Harbinger on PC.IGN.Com
• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin on XGR.
• No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way on GameSurf.
• Priston Tale on RPG Vault.

• PlayStation 2 gets TiVo-like functions. Thanks Mike Martinez.
• Making connections for a digital home. Thanks Mike Martinez.

Shrapnel Games announces that Aaron Hall's Dungeon Odyssey has shipped, bringing "the unlimited gameplay of his previous Space Empires games to the RPG market." A demo version is available for download, and word is all the pre-orders will have shipped by today. Also, The PaGTech Website has a new demo of Scarlet Waves, their seafaring hex-based wargame (for which the full game can be purchased from within the demo).

There's an Unreal Tournament 2003 Special Movements Guide on 3DGPU.com (thanks Bearded Kirklander) listing adrenaline moves, other special moves, as well as some console commands for use with the UT2003 demo.

Though the ladders themselves are not yet open, The Rumble is now accepting sign-ups for their new Battlefield 1942 team ladders.

• Battlefield 1942 on UGO.com and GameSpot.
• Celtic Kings: Rage of War on GameZone.
• Delta Force: Task Force Dagger on Computer and Video Games.
• Emperor: Rise of Middle Kingdom on Gamer's Pulse.
• Grand Prix 4 on GameZone.
• Grand Theft Auto III on The Wargamer.
• Icewind Dale II on Game Over and Next Level Gaming.
• Legion on Game Industry.
• Mafia on Games Domain, Four Fat Chicks, and MyGamer.
• Medieval: Total War on Games Domain and ZenGamer.
• Neverwinter Nights on Games Fusion.
• Operation Flashpoint: Resistance on ActionTrip.
• Prince of Qin on ESCMag.
• Space HoRSE on Gone Gold.
• Sudden Strike II on Gamers Europe.
• The Thing on Digital Back Spin.
• Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo on FiringSquad.

• Akasa 80mm Glowing Fans on FrostyTech.com.
• AMD AthlonXP 2400+ CPU on PCStats.com.
• Antec Hard Drive Cooling System on OverclockersClub.
• Arctic Cooling Super Silent Pro Cooler on PC Abusers.
• ASUS P4S8X Motherboard on Legion Hardware.
• ASUS V8420/Deluxe GeForce 4 Ti DVI 4200 Video Card on got apex.
• ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Video Card on The Tech Report.
• Condor Aluminum Case on Little White Dog.
• Cooler Master Neon Light Fan on Overclocker Warehouse.
• Cornea Systems MP704 17" LCD Monitor on 3DGPU.com.
• MSI GeForce4 Ti4600-VTD MS-8872 on Hardware-test.dk.
• MSI KT3 Ultra 2 Vs Gigabyte 7VRXP Motherboard Shootout on NeoSeeker.
• Nexland 800 Pro Router on Monster Hardware.
  Samsung 171P LCD Monitor on MonkeyReview.
• Samsung SW-232 CD-RW on Futurelooks.
• Samsung SW-240B CD-RW on GideonTech.com.
• Seagate Barracuda SATA V Hard Drive on LostCircuits, Tech Advice Guide.
• Sony SDM-X82 18.1 LCD Monitor on GamePC.
• Vantec CopperX Socket 478 CCK-7025 Cooler (in video) on 3dGameMan.
• Zalman CNPS5700D-Cu Ducted P4 Heatsink on FrostyTech.com.

• McDonald's pays to play with Sims (thanks Mike Martinez). "Players in the game also will be able to buy a McDonald's kiosk and sell the company's branded food products, earning "simoleons," the game's currency. Eating that food will also improve their standing within the game."
• A post to the TTLG Forums sends out the cry for help to those interested in helping a game journalist with a book about Looking Glass Studios...
• One Man's Retro Mac Revival (thanks Mike Martinez) describes an obsessed individual's collection of 50-some elder Macs and how he shows them at various related events...
• Epic wait ends for gaming heroes (thanks Naveen), on quests, dragons, kill-stealing and more in EverQuest...
• DemoHQ.com's Michael Flatley Q&A talks with the lord of the dance of Quake III trick-jumping about the art of in-game acrobatics...

As my nana, Nana Rosanadana used to say, if it's not one thing, it's another. Apparently one of the ads here has been rearing its noisy head and playing a sound. This has inspired some feedback that covers a range of reactions from folks expressing severe hatred all the way to those offering praise for one of the cooler such ads they've seen (or heard, rather). Now keeping in mind that it is a really positive thing for the advertisers to feel like they are getting something for the money that theoretically keeps things going here (and bear in mind that theoretical money is far less valuable than the non-theoretical kind), I'm hoping to inspire a bit of further feedback on this subject, which will be helpful in trying to influence (within reason) what sort of ads are and are not acceptable here.

Stories of the Day:	Bangkok Karaoke bar rewards chubby guests. Thanks Mike Martinez. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life..." 'Mile High Club' Forces Virgin Plane Refit. Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Wild Science:	Speed of light broken with basic lab kit. Thanks Dr. oOmph. Maid to Order. Thanks Mike Martinez. What's the Point. Thanks Mike Martinez.
Weird Science:	'Big bang' brings toys to life.