There's a Freedom Fighters Q&A on ActionTrip talking with Mads Prahm about IO Interactive's alternative-history squad-based combat game that places the player in the role of an American fighting off a Soviet invasion. Mads says: "Currently, we are crunching hard to bring the game through BETA stage, which means endless days of bug fixing; making sure that the game is solid when we release it." In addition, there is a Freedom Fighters Movie on Computer and Video Games showing off some of the game.

Calling All Competitive Gamers - Audition to Play Live at the 2003 Gravity Games is the press release with word that this year's Gravity Games (September 10-14, Cleveland, OH) will include video games. Here's a bit from the announcement, which does not specify the games or platforms involved:

As part of the qualification process for this live event, the GGL is holding a national audition for competitive gamers, in order to find players with the talent to compete live and on stage in front of an estimated audience of 160,000. Gamers between the ages of 16 and over can download an application at www.GGLeague.com and vie for two expense-paid trips to Cleveland this September, where they'll have the chance to go head-to-head with the industry's best - on stage as part of the evening's main entertainment.

Gamers competing at this year's Gravity Games/GGL events will be vying for the first official Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for video gaming competition. Spectators will also have opportunities to become members of the GGL at the Festival Village, compete at the GGL pavilion in an open tournament, and win prizes.

• Mythica
  RPG Vault's Mythica Q&A, Part 1 talks with Joel Manners about Microsoft's upcoming Norse-themed MMORPG, getting the big picture of what they are aiming to accomplish.
• Hybrid
  Action Vault's Hybrid Q&A features detailed answers from Vulcan Software's Lisa Tunnah to their queries about this upcoming science fiction-themed first-person shooter.
• LifeMode Interactive
  GameZone's LifeMode Interactive Q&A is a discussion of this facial animation technology that's being used in a bunch of upcoming games.

A new StarFleet Command: Orion Pirates Patch is now available, updating Taldren's Trekkie strategy game to version 2.5.4.12. The update addresses a bug that could provoke a crash to desktop as well as a couple of smaller issues, and Taldren is hopeful that this will be the final patch the game will require.

• Final Fantasy XI on The Adrenaline Vault and PC.IGN.Com.
• LucasArts Press Day on Mixnmojo.com.

Darkfall Warcry's Darkfall Online Diary #2 offers insights into the design decisions behind the races in the game, offering a description of each of Darkfall Online's six races, along with reasons they feel this is the right number of races for inclusion.

Thanks Frans.

• Battlefield Command on the Codemasters Forums.
• BREED on Action Vault.
• Chrome on Action Vault.
• Colonies on the Official Website.
• EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath on the Official Website.
• FireStarter on the Official Website.
• Hostile Intent on the Official Website.
• Ryzom on RPG Vault.

A new version 0.1 of the Multi Theft Auto modification that adds multiplayer support to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is now available. The mod offers in-game chat and support for up to 32 players.

Thanks Mike Martinez.

• Microsoft broadens licensing terms.
• AMD's rush to make Opteron into Athlon 64.
• 64-bit Linux Ready for prime time?
• Study: Cracks in tablet PC sales.
• Study: U.S. swappers shrug off copyrights.
• Hackers get lesson in the law.
• European firms threaten mass P2P lawsuit.
• Technology scores at Safeco Field.
• How to build a Silent PC A Step by Step Guide.

As promised earlier, the new Half-Life 2 movie is now available via their beta Steam dealie. The Bugbait trailer is a three minute movie that's a 165 MB download, and mirrors are available at 3D Gamers, FileFront, File Rush, Gamer's Hell, Happy Puppy (registration required), Loadedinc (registration required), IGN, and NWSGaming.

Cenega UK announces it has acquired the worldwide rights to publish The Roots "a third-person perspective fantasy-role-playing, action-adventure experience" from Poland based games developer Tannhauser Gate. Word is: "The game leans heavily on classic role playing within a mystical world where arena style turn-based, real time combat action is coupled with exploration to create an intriguing and fantasical [sic] adventure." And: The Roots (PC-CD) will be shown at ECTS (Stand 1480) to invited media and trade at ECTS and is scheduled for release in Q3 2004."

GameDaily (thanks Frans) has an unusual 24 karat gold announcement, covering three different JoWood games being published by Encore, with news that North American editions of AquaNox 2: Revelation, Cold Zero, and Chaser should be in stores by the end of August:

• AquaNox 2: Revelation—The sequel underwater combat game will offer up 30 missions, four ships and 20 different weapons as players search for a long-lost treasure.
• Cold Zero—In this title players will take on the role of an LA sniper turned private dick, who is being blackmailed by the Mafia. 16 missions in all are included, along with 100 weapons, 16 locations and support for Internet play for up to 16 people. According to Encore, “players can customize their game play, selecting stealth, all-out action or a combination to complete their missions.”
• Chaser—This first-person shooter is set on the planet Mars in the year 2044. While trying to learn Chaser’s identity, gamers will traverse the Red planet as well as futuristic Earth cities. Online play is supported, with Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes supporting up to 128 players on a dedicated server.

Wyatt, an attendee of SIGRAPH 2003, sends word that during the show a version of SoftImage XSI was demonstrated that will be freely distributed after the release of Half-Life 2 to serve as a modification tool for the game. According to Wyatt the program will be fully supported by SoftImage and Valve. Also, Valve's Doug Lombardi sends word of plans for another Steam-powered Half-Life 2 movie release today, as well as word on their plans to expand the service:

Valve, creators of Half-Life and Counter-Strike, has partnered with Nvidia, Game-Storm.net, and a host of leading technology companies to deliver high-resolution trailers of the upcoming PC game Half-Life 2 via Steam, a broadband platform for direct software delivery and content management.

"Bugbait," the latest in a series of Half-Life 2 trailers, will be released today. Additional Half-Life 2 trailers, as well as more digital content from Valve, will be delivered to participants of the Steam beta over the coming weeks. Then, later this year, Half-Life 2 will be sold via Steam as well as in retail outlets the world over.

"The delivery of these trailers is just the beginning of several activities and offerings we will be making via Steam with these partners," said Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder. "Steam will broaden our relationship with companies such as Nvidia, and allow us to extend new offerings and services to our customers in both the current and future generation of our products."

As promised yesterday, the Tron 2.0 Downloads Index on GameSpot (registration required) now offers an updated TRON 2.0 demo to provide a sample of Monolith's upcoming shooter that's a sequel to the cult-classic sci-fi flick. Word is: "This demo is based on the final, gold version of the game and includes a single-player level, disc combat and light cycle tutorials, and several multiplayer options," and further details can be found on this page. The file has been mirrored on 3D Gamers, Gamer's Hell, Loadedinc (registration required), NWSGaming, PC.IGN.Com, and PixelRage.

There's a Chris Mahnken Q&A on GameSpy.com talking with Vivendi Universal's producer on TRIBES Vengeance, the upcoming TRIBES game in the works at Irrational Games. They go into a great deal of detail about what to expect from the project. Additionally, FilePlanet (registration required) is offering up a gameplay movie from the game, showing off the rag doll physics that add realism to the behavior of bodies.

• BREED
  Gameguru Mania's BREED Q&A chats with CDV's Sven Schmidt, publisher's producer on Brat Designs' upcoming science fiction-themed shooter. They go into detail about gameplay, and serve up a half-dozen screenshots.
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
  Just RPG's Pirates of the Burning Sea Q&A Part 2 chats further with Flying Lab Software's John Tynes to learn more about their upcoming MMORPG, though we never do actually learn how they are going to get the sea to burn.
• No Man's Land
  The No Mans Land Q&A on Gamer's Hell talks with Thomas Pottkämper of German developer Related Designs about their RTS game that depicts "300 years of American history from 1600 to 1900, separated into 6 exciting storylines."
• Condition Zero
  Boomtown's Doug Lombardi Interview features a video of the Valve rep showing off Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. They posted this video previously, but have since converted it to a higher-quality DivX flick.

Primeval: Wrath of Entropy House of Commons Log recaps a chat session with the folks from Inner Fire Studios to discuss their recently unveiled fantasy-MMORPG. Included along the way is the apparent first confirmation that the game's title will be Primeval: Wrath of Entropy.

• Armed And Dangerous on HomeLAN Fed. Based on the Xbox version.
• Republic: The Revolution on Gamer's Hell.
• Far Cry on GenGamers.
• The Sims 2 on Games Domain.

Version 0.1a of the Galactic Conquest modification for Battlefield 1942 is now available, debuting this Star Wars-themed project. The initial release includes one map of the ice planet Hoth and "pits the evil Empire against the surviving Rebel forces." The mod is a 294 MB download, available from FilePlanet (registration required), Gamer's Hell, and NWSGaming.

The ET Pro Website offers the first version of this Enemy Territory competition mod. The mod fixes bugs and exploits, reduces system requirements, adds administrative functions, adds matchmaking functions, and more.

Best of the Void now offers another update to the BattleMech game based on the Quake source code. The update addresses a couple of bugs, though the version number remains unchanged at 1.1.

Thanks Mike Martinez.

• Feds warn of broad Internet attack and the patch. Thanks Darkhorse.
• Intel locks up deal for secure PCs.
• Homeland Security courts Silicon Valley.
• Hackers look to hide communications.
• Wonders Aplenty at Siggraph.
• UK bans iPod gadget.
• End of the road for SMTP?
• DVD burner sales on fire.
• Network Solutions glitch darkens sites.
• Experts anxious over possible Web attack.
• Digital (Fill in the Blank) Is on the Horizon (registration required).
• Efforts to Stop Music Swapping Draw More Fire (registration required) and Senator Wants Answers From RIAA.

Middle-Earth Online FAQ has received an update (thanks Frans) that adds ten new questions (and their corresponding answers, naturally) about housing and other topics in the upcoming Tolkien-inspired MMORPG.

AMDZone July 2003 Lan Party Coverage has pictures, descriptions, and accounts of the festivities at their recent gala, not to be reproduced without the expressed written permission of Major League Baseball. Also, the Unreal Technology Website (thanks Frans) offers a Make Something Unreal Contest Clarification saying: "The three phases of the $1000000 NVidia Make Something Unreal Mod Contest are independent. You can enter any category in the second or third phase, whether or not you had submitted an entry in any previous phase. The only limitation is that there must be significant improvements to an entry for it to be considered if it had previously been submitted in an earlier phase of the contest."

XGR's Underworld: Bloodline Half-Life Mod Q&A chats with Neil Manke about the recently released Underworld: Bloodline modification for Half-Life that serves as a tie-in with the upcoming Underworld movie debut.

• EVE Online: the Second Genesis on GameOver.
• IGI 2: Covert Strike on The Wargamer.
• NASCAR Racing 2003 Season on FiringSquad.
• Pirates of the Caribbean on Khabal Gaming and 10100.org.
• Star Wars Galaxies: an Empire Divided on Next Level Gaming.
• The Great Escape on GameSpot.

• 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 Video Card on Sudhian Media. A "What if...?" review.
• 3DLabs Wildcat VP990 Video Card on LostCircuits.
• Acer AL716 17” LCD Display on BYTESECTOR.
• AOpen A600 Case on Overclockers Online.
• ASUS & Gigabyte i875P/i865PE Motherboards on Legion Hardware.
• Athenatech A747-SS Case on MonkeyReview.
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB Video Card on LAN Addict.
• Compact Flash 1 GB RAM Comparison on X-bit labs.
• Epox 8K9A9I Motherboard on AMDZone.
• Eumax Transfer Panel on The Tech Lounge.
• FIC A96P Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB Video Card on OCAddiction.com.
• HP iPAQ h2210 on WhiningDog.NET.
• iCute 0314TL-BS Case on MODSYNERGY.
• Intel Pentium M 1.4GHz CPU on The Tech Report.
• iRock 730i MP3 Player on MODSYNERGY.
• Leadtek WinFast A350 TDH MyVIVO Video Card on CyberOnion.com.
• Linksys EG008W Gigabit 8-Port Workgroup Switch on Extreme Overclocking.
• Lite-On LTR-52327S 52/32/52 CD-RW on CDRLabs.com.
• M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Sound Card on Speedy 3D.
• MSI FX5900-VTD128 Video Card on Viper's Lair.
• NEC e606 Phone on Vision Engineer.
• Nexus PHT-3600 P4 Heatsink on PimpRig.
• Solarism Flex-View LM-1730 17" LCD Monitor on Bjorn3D.com.
• Thermaltake Fireball Fan on Big Bruin.
• Tiger Miprocool Arctic Vorwort (in German) on TecCentral.de.
• Vantec Nexus NXP-205 Fan Controller on Overclockers Club.
• Zalman fan controller on bit-tech.

• A demo version of Dark Signs, an imminent hacking game, is now available. Thanks Dan Edwards...
• AC Vault's AC1 Expansion Pack Poll looks to gauge interest in an AC add-on. Thanks carl...
• Re: Buddhist Concepts In Games - Discussion Forum. Thanks theAntiELVIS...
• FilePlanet is offering complimentary one-year subscriptions to GamePro magazine, with no apparent strings attached. Thanks Gargus...

A few complaints have rolled in about the ad that scrolls a list of names as a memorial to gameplay casualties as being in questionable taste. I can't disagree about these concerns, and I asked the powers that be to remove this, and they were very accommodating. I am told that the offending spot ran for the last time last night. I've also seen other references to some Telco ad that plays an annoying ring tone... some said it was a Gator dealie, but others say they see it even after spyware checks. It turns out that some of the spots here are sold to folks who place ads specific to localities. I don't think there's supposed to be anything so obtrusive running in these overage spots, so we may be able to get the kibosh put on that one as well, the hard part may be tracking down who to contact about it (it may be helpful for those who are experiencing this one to pass along information about where they are located to aid in the detective work).

All this optimism aside, I do have to fire a warning shot that the days of being able to run this site with the relatively low-key ad presence are rapidly coming to a close. I have been battling this development forever, and seeing the need to give some ground here, have been battling equally hard to make sure that the advertising presence here remains tolerable. We will indeed be dragged into the 21st century here soon enough, and I can only hope you will continue to enjoy the ride.

Play Time:	Plastic Balls.
Links of the Day:	WiFi Speed Spray. Thanks Morg. Keep your mouse clean. More maintenance help. Thanks Travis. Bastard Operator From Hell-Style Excuses.
Stories of the Day:	Britons want to spend it like Beckham. Toymakers turn back to the '80s. And they look slick in shoulder pads.
Wild Science:	Bedwetting 'linked to breathing problems'. Skydiver in record Channel flight. Cable or Satellite? Please Stay Tuned (registration required).
Weird Science:	Artistic Robots Augment Human Art. Virtual reality conquers sense of taste. Thanks Shane, Who Is The Drizzle? Search for web's favourite colour. Thanks Ant.
Auction of the Day:	Vancouver 2010 Domain Names (thanks Sam) and Cybersquatters hit Winter Games.
Images of the Day:	Strange Spots on Mars. Thanks Rattlehead. Infrared Zoo Gallery. Thanks Ant.
Follow-ups:	Poindexter to Quit Pentagon Post Amid Controversy. Thanks Bronco. For Snopes.com, Debunking the Bambi Hoax Was All in a Day's Work.
	Thanks Mike Martinez.