A new patch is now available for Yager, updating the English, German, and French versions of Yager Development's eponymous flying action game to version 5.22. The 17 MB update address controller configuration issues, available from 4Players.de, mirrored on 3D Gamers and Gamer's Hell. Also, a Korea Forgotten Conflict demo patch is now available, though it's unclear on what version of the demo this applies to, nor is there an indication about what it is supposed to do.

This Firaxis Games Press Release (thanks GamesBrasil) has news that the Conquests expansion for Civilization III is gold, and due in stores in North America on November 4 and in Europe on November 14. Here's a quote: "Nine professionally designed conquests challenge players to compete as one of seven new Civilizations, each with its own powerful leader, unique units and special abilities, and lead their nation to its destiny. New victory conditions, Wonders of the World, terrain elements, resources, city improvements and governments offer endless variation in a quest to rule the world. Civ Conquests also includes the first expansion pack, Play the World, and features improved multiplayer support, intense diplomatic situations, and a slew of editor enhancements that round out the packed expansion."

The Battlefield 1942 Website (thanks Ant) has a status report on the eagerly anticipated version 1.5 patch:

Greetings from the Battlefield 1942 team.

We’d like to thank all of you for your continued patience and interest in the upcoming 1.5 patch. We’re sorry to say that this community update is to let you know that the patch won’t make it out this week.

The reason for the delay is that we want to make sure that it reaches you in top condition and that the cd swap fix we've been working on has proven trickier than first anticipated. The rest of the bug fixes are in place and The Invasion of the Philippines map is just about ready to go. It will be well worth the wait, we promise.

Thanks again to all of you for your continued support and enthusiasm for Battlefield 1942.

EAComMike and the rest of the Battlefield team

The Lord of Ring: War of the Ring Goes Gold is the press release announcing that the Tolkienesque real-time strategy game is complete, and is due in North America on November 4. Here's a bit: "In War of the Ring, massive battles erupt as the Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits of Middle-earth(tm) battle Sauron's minions. Players can choose to play as the forces of good and valiantly fight for the One Ring's destruction or assume command of the forces of evil to claim control over Middle-earth forever."

The Max Payne 2 Modification Tools have been released (thanks Max Payne Zone). Here's the deal: "Max Payne 2 lets you easily play user-made maps and content modifications, 'mods'. Some mods might modify the original game to give Max new weapons, new skills or a new perspective. Others might introduce a completely new surroundings and characters." The download is mirrored on Gamer's Hell, GameTab, IGN, and Worthplaying.

Eidos Interactive sends word of some updates to the Deus Ex Invisible War Website. Along with an affirmation that the game is on track for a December 3 release for both the PC and the Xbox, this is what they have to say: "With this update of the official Deus Ex: Invisible War website we bring you more information about the intriguing world of Deus Ex: Invisible War. New profiles on a handful of the players and the organizations they represent in the Deus Ex world. Fresh data on some of the Bots and transgenic creatures you will encounter in your trip across the dark globe. And new information on some of the biomods and weapons that you will rely upon for your very survival. Learn and remember..."

A new patch is now available for Etherlords II, updating Nival Interactive's card game-inspired strategy sequel to version 1.01. Word is: "The patch fixes accidental single-player crashes, disconnections from the master-server, balances Pale Knight creature depriving it of LifeTap ability and many more," with further details in the accompanying read me. The 8.5 MB patch can be found on the Etherlords II Website, mirrored on Worthplaying.

New Adventures Draw Near as Dungeon Siege Legends of Aranna Goes Gold is the press release announcing that the add-on for Gas Powered Games' RPG is gold, and is expected in stores on November 12. Here's a bit:

Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna unveils an all-new campaign that will challenge players to explore and fight their way through nine spectacular areas, including an expansive new jungle region, as they unravel the rich history and mystery of the world of Aranna. Legends of Aranna will also introduce new spells and special over-the-top spell effects to combat fierce new creatures such as Clockwork Beasts and Doppelgangers. Players begin as the latest in a long line of heroes, and as they advance will be able to add a new Half-Giant player character to fill out their party or choose the Half-Giant directly for multiplayer mode. Spells will also be discovered further into the game that can temporarily transform the player character into a wolf, troll or lava monster. Players will be able to collect rare and powerful treasures, including new consistent styles of armor sets and collectables. Also available is a new pack animal that will defend the player's treasure to the death.

A demo for Silent Hill 3 is now available from 4Players.de, a sample of the PC version of Konami's horror game sequel. Early indications were that this is a German demo, which is supported by the filename, but it turns out the whopping 468 MB demo offers multiple language support. The demo is mirrored on Computer Games Online, FileFront, Filerush, Gamer's Hell, GameTab, IGN, and Pixelrage.ro. As is their way, 3D Gamers has posted a (25 MB smaller) 444 MB version of the same demo, the efficiency created by removing the included DirectX 8 installer. A similarly dieted version is available on Worthplaying.

This C&C Generals Downloads Page now offers downloads of the promised map for C&C Generals: Zero Hour (thanks Frans). Here's the scant description of the 300 KB download: "The C&C Generals team once again presents the fans with a new multiplayer map: Mountain Fox. This unique layout should please the team players out there. We hope you enjoy it!"

Another pair of movies showing off Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault are now available, once again highlighting the engine technology in the upcoming World War II shooter sequel. The two clips are each available in higher and lower resolutions from the EA Games Website.

Funcom sends along an announcement: "The critically acclaimed and award-winning Shadowlands expansion pack is now available as a part of Funcom’s Free 7 Day Trial for Anarchy Online. Now players from all over the world can download the entire Anarchy Online universe and try it without any commitment for seven full days." The trial version can be downloaded from this page, and here's a bit on the content the expansion for their science fiction MMORPG, which has: "introduced 20 large playfields, 40 smaller playfield areas, and over 165 distinct dungeon zones tailored to players of all levels. An impressive range of new features, including new professions, faction system, hundreds of perks, better AI, hundreds of monsters and items, new music and a greatly updated graphics engine ensured a gigantic addition to what was already an award-winning game. Shadowlands doesn’t take any of the trademark gameplay away, but greatly expands a fantastic virtual world." Likewise, Palestar sends word of another promotion for DarkSpace, their MMO space game, where: "all new player accounts now receive a coupon for 5 free days after the account has been activated. No credit card is required, just a valid email address. This enables full access to all servers and the ability to gain rank and prestige."

A Railroad Pioneer Demo is now available, providing a chance to check out this railroad building and management simulation from KritzelKratz 3000. The demo is an 87 MB download, available from 3D Gamers, Boomtown (registration required), Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying.

This press release announces the beginning of beta testing for Dark Horizons: Lore, the upcoming persistent-state mechanized combat game in the works at Max Gaming. They call the beta "open," but only 1000 participants will be selected for the testing, which is described like this: "In addition to testing the backend technologies the player community will be invited in this early release to being collaborating with the game developers on possible sanctioned mods for the game." Applications can be submitted here.

• Weird War
  HomeLAN Fed's Weird War Q&A talks with Pawel Kalinowski of Polish developer Mirage Interactive about Weird War, their upcoming offbeat World War II role-playing game.
• Vivisector
  The Vivisector Q&A on GenGamers talks with Igor Karev of Action Forms about their first-person shooter, discussing the change from the planned Dr. Moreau theme and the direction gameplay has taken since.
• Flagship Studios
  HomeLAN Fed's Flagship Studios Q&A chats once again with Bill Roper about Flagship Studios, the just-announced start-up developer started by Bill and some of his fellow Blizzard expatriates, though as before, no details about game projects are forthcoming.
• Bridge It!
  Warcry News Network's Bridge It! Q&A chats with Auran's Andrew Edelsten about their Torque-engine SimEngineering game.
• MMOGs
  FemDevs: The Debut Discussion on Warcry News Network speaks confidentially with some female MMORPG developers.

The World of Gothic (thanks YiYas) is now offering a patch for the "Die Nacht des Raben" add-on for the German version of Gothic II. The patch is 9.3 MB, and details about what it addresses can be found in the read me.

• Horizons: Empire of Istaria on The Adrenaline Vault.
• Lock On: Modern Air Combat on GameSpy.
• Prince of Persia: The sands of Time on GameSpy.
• SpellForce: The Order of Dawn on games xtreme.
• Unreal Tournament 2004 on HomeLAN Fed.
• Vega$: Make It Big! on Gamer's Hell.

There's a chat log on Star Wars Galaxies Stratics recapping a session with the developers of the Star Wars MMORPG about past present and future events in the game, though, of course, they all actually take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

• Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna on Packmule.Org and PlanetDungeonSiege.
• Wartime Command on the Official Website and again. Thanks Frans.

Thanks Mike Martinez.

• Sun Microsystems Java 1.4.2_02 is now available. Thanks Ant.
• MBM version 5.3.5.0 is now available.
• Security woes hit Microsoft balance sheet.
• Senate to ponder permanent Net access tax ban.
• Three R's Reading, Writing, RFID.
• Spammers Clog Up the Blogs.
• The Great Library of Amazonia.
• Hollywood's Cold War on Swapping.
• Apple cracks open the iPod, slightly.
• Son of MSBlast on the way?
• Hotmail tries to fry more spam.
• NVIDIA Editors Day Wrap-up on Gamers Depot and Guru 3D.

"Gaming Orgy is proud to announce it’s sixth main event, GO v6 occurring November 28th through 30th. Featuring tournaments in RavenShield, Battlefield 1942, Warcraft III and Counterstrike, it will attract 150 gamers from the northern Midwest region...GO v6 is shaping up to be the largest LAN Party ever in the Winnipeg, Manitoba area."

• Age of Mythology: the Titans on Strategy Informer and The Entertainment Depot.
• Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII on SimHQ.
• BloodRayne on GameSpy and Gaming Age.
• Commandos 3: Destination Berlin on Gamer's Hell.
• Empires: Dawn of the Modern World on Games Domain and IGN.
• EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath on GameOver.
• Hidden & Dangerous 2 on EuroGamer.
• Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader on VideoGamesLife.
• Massive Assault on Adrenaline Vault.
• Max Payne 2: the Fall of Max Payne on Game Revolution, 1Up, Rage3D, and GameMecca.net.
• Neighbors From Hell on GameSpy.
• Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide on GameZone.
• No Man's Land on Worthplaying.
• Once Upon A Knight (A.K.A. KnightShift) on Next Level Gaming.
• Rebels: Prison Escape on GameSpy.
• Savage: the Battle for Newerth on Cyber Gaming Network.
• Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas on Computer Games Romania.
• Space Colony on Game Industry.
• Space Empires: Starfury on Frictionless Insight and DailyGame.net.
• Vega$: Make It Big on Computer and Video Games.

• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Video Card on HomeLAN Fed and Sharky Extreme.
• Samsung SyncMaster 173T on Envy News.
• Silverstone Strider ST360 PSU on PC Abusers.

• Shrapnel Games announces that Dominions 2: The Ascension Wars is gold, and that this "epic turn-based fantasy strategy game unlike any other fantasy strategy title that you’ve ever played" will be available November 14...
• Vivendi: 'Half-Life 2' Game Release Date Uncertain (thanks Mike Martinez). No kidding!...

I'm actually feeling quite a bit better today (thank you Cold-Eeze!), so contrary to my prediction of being an OTC drug fiend for a few days, I'm hoping to skip on the cold capsules today, trying to walk that fine line between feeling sick from my cold and feeling woozy from the cold meds.

I've got a new page format that we've been playing with that I hoped to show you in this space today for feedback... if all goes according to plan, I'll probably post a link to that sometime today to solicit feedback, so if that interests you, you may want to look for that later. Update: Here's the link. Some things are still being tweaked, and the retro colors checkbox should be returning, so don't sweat that for the time being. I'm interested in aesthetic feedback, but even more in compatibility issues if you are running an unusual browser and/or OS.

Stories of the Day:	Tough Icelandic Iceman grabs shark to save men. Thanks Miguel Gonzalez. Road closes for frog and snake crossings.
Science!:	Orgasmatron Puts Tech in Sex. Problems on Space Station Stir Debate (registration required). Ocean census finds 3 new species a week.
Follow-up:	Niagara survivor ordered out of Canada.
	Thanks Mike Martinez.