Steam News announces some free DLC that's now available for Zeno Clash, ACE Team's fighting game. The DLC is a model pack for Garry's Mod. The Zeno Clash DLC is accompanied by a new Garry's Mod update paving the way for the DLC and addressing a couple of bugs.

Crytek's Official Modding Portal now features the release of the source code for version 1.5 of Crysis Wars, offering resources for mod authors using the Crysis Wars SDK. There is an accompanying FAQ explaining why this is for Crysis Wars only, and how to get maps created with these resources to work in other Crysis games.

More purported Duke Nukem Forever screenshots can be found on eXp. Some of the included shots outline of how the first-person shooter was to progress level-by-level, outlining key elements like new weapons and skills acquired, and outlining the game's plot.

The Battlefield Franchise Website now features an updated beta of the upcoming patch for Battlefield 2 that will update the shooter sequel to version 1.50. They have an extensive list of changes since the first beta, and word is: "We have taken a lot of feedback and made more fixes to come up with Beta 2. Bjorn has made modifications to Operation Blue Pearl so be sure to give your feedback on the new layouts HERE." The site also mentions a new version 1.0 of the Sandbox mod for BF2 on The Sir. Community Website, saying: "BF2: Sandbox is a mod that lets you use the BF2 engine to build structures, set up racetracks, ramps, and much much more. This is all done from an easy Command Rose interface in-game."

The Ryzom Website now offers subscription options, implementing the payment system announced at the beginning of the year that was subsequently delayed. One, three, six month and one year subscriptions to the on-again, off-again MMOG are offered. Thanks IncGamers.

NCsoft Reports Earnings Results for Q1 2009, showing profits are up across the board. Word is: "NCsoft explained that substantial increase in profit was based on solid maintenance of Lineage and Lineage II sales, in addition to Aion sales. The decrease in marketing spend and the narrow increase in operating costs QoQ (6%) resulted in the drastic growth of operating profit."

The Thief 4 Developer Interview on IncGamers chats with Stéphane D'Astous, general manager at Eidos-Montreal, about the just-announced continuation of the sneaky series. Topics include how they are just completing the concept stage and moving toward pre-production, how they are proceeding without any members of the original Thief team from Looking Glass, fan expectations and backlash, and several questions about specifics that do not get direct answers.

• Partial Beatles: RB tracklist for E3.
• Politically-influenced Clover Launches on XBL.
• Sega Reviving More Classics on XBLA and PSN.
• Wii Fit still on top, Wolverine holds on to 2nd.
• This week on Xbox LIVE Arcade- Star Trek & Texas Cheat'em.
• Rumor: Star Wars: Battlefront III may not go next gen.
• Sega Confirms Gunstar Heroes For PSN And XBLA.
• Wii Rock Band Scores 25 Songs This Week.
• Pearl Jam returns in new 'Rock Band project' with fan-voted set list.
• See The Future Right Now - Fable II.

Thanks Ant.

• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta (Overview & Download).
• Second wave of Windows 7 updates tomorrow, but they won't be for real.

• Fourth Studio Rises From Ensemble’s Ashes.
• Nintendo sold enough DS systems in Japan for one-fifth of the population.
• Jamming cell phones in prisons? We're not there yet.

• Why you'll never see 200Mbps from a 200Mbps 'Net connection.

• 4chan users trigger DDoS attack ... on 4chan.

• Capcom Partners with Sumthing Else Music Works to Release Game Soundtracks…
• Free-to-Play Multiplayer Action Game NinjaTrick Launches Open Beta on Facebook and NinjaTrick.com…
• First "Prince of Persia" Footage and First Trailer For "Gamer". Thanks Ant…
• HerInteractive now offers digital distribution of Nancy Drew Dossier – Lights, Camera, Curses…

Eidos-Montréal offers the expected announcement of Thief 4, though they are not supplying many details about the next installment in the action/stealth series. The Thief 4 Website is online, but that seems to be shooting blanks right now. Here's what they have to say right now, which emphasizes their hunt for talent to fill out the game's development team:

Eidos-Montréal is excited to unveil its previously secret second title in development at the studio, Thief™ 4, the next instalment in the legendary series.

The original Thief game, Thief: The Dark Project redefined first person gaming and established an entirely new genre of stealth based game play. The critically and commercially acclaimed Thief series has won numerous awards and accolades including GameSpy Hall of Fame, GameSpot Greatest Games of All Time and The Academy of Interactive Arts And Sciences Outstanding Achievement in Character and Story Development.

Eidos-Montréal, which is also currently producing the much anticipated Deus Ex™ 3, has recruited the very best core team for the development of Thief 4. The team is comprised of industry veterans who have worked on an incredible collection of AAA titles and who each bring personal expertise in their respective fields.

“We’re in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly ambitious and exciting project for Eidos,” said Stéphane D’Astous, General Manager at Eidos-Montréal. “While it’s too early for us to offer any specific game details, right now we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to join the core team at the studio and help us make what we believe will be one of the most exciting games on the market.”

Development is under way and the team is looking to recruit the very best talent as production ramps up. If you are a world-class developer looking to join the talented Thief 4 team, visit www.eidosmontreal.com to submit your résumé or www.thief4.com to join the community discussion.

A teaser trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now available, offering a couple of very brief glimpses of the upcoming military shooter sequel. The clip teases a full reveal of the game, which will apparently take place on May 24 during the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA playoffs. The clip is available on ActionTrip and Strategy Informer.

A demo version of Light of Altair is now available, providing a sample of this science-fiction colony-building game in the works at SaintXi. Here's a description of the game, which is due next month via digital distribution: "Light of Altair is a colonization game set in our own solar system and beyond. You must set up a strong economy to survive in the hostile void of space as you compete with other factions, the deadly environment and internal conflicts of interest. But most of all it is a strongly story driven game that will pull people in to this vision of the future." The demo is a 98 MB download, available on AtomicGamer, ComputerGames.ro, and Gamer's Hell.

LucasArts follows yesterday's revelation of Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Republic Heroes with the official announcement for the upcoming Star Wars game. The Star Wars: The Clone Wars Website is live, though this is just a teaser for now, redirecting to a subdirectory on LucasArts.com called "/theclonewars_franchise/," so you can place The Clone Wars on the official "franchise" list. The announcement confirms Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP, and DS and a September release date. It also fills in some of the details on the game:

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – May 11, 2009 – Fans of the popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars™ TV series can continue the battle for galactic peace this September in an all-new videogame from LucasArts and Krome Studios. Based on the Cartoon Network series and collaborating directly with Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to take up arms on behalf of the noble Galactic Republic, while pursuing the mysterious bounty hunter Cad Bane and combating the all-new Skakoan super villain Kul Teska.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to fight as both Jedi Knights and Clone Troopers through over 30 unique missions, all created incorporating the same ground-breaking, stunning visual style from the TV series. Featuring a brand-new storyline, players will get the chance to take part in the key events that lead directly into the highly anticipated second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Jedi characters can slice and dice their way through countless enemies, commandeer droids and show off their combat prowess on foot and in a variety of vehicles. Clone Troopers fire things up with a heavy weapons armament that includes rocket launchers, thermal detonators and even jet packs in levels built specifically to take run-and-gun gameplay to exciting levels.

Codemasters announces Ashes Cricket 2009, a sports simulation based on this summer's international cricket clash between England and Australia. Here are some screenshots from the game, which is due for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this summer, with a Wii version to follow at some later point. Here's a bit:

Coming from the home of video game cricket, Ashes Cricket 2009 is set to build on the heritage that Codemasters has enjoyed with its best-selling Brian Lara series and will continue to lead the field with great batting, bowling and fielding gameplay and authenticity that made the series a huge hit with cricket fans the world over. Produced by Codemasters, the game is currently being developed by Transmission Games (Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play (PSP)).

Delivering all the exciting, athletic, skilful and technical elements of the sport, the game’s comprehensive ‘Ashes’ mode will feature all five Tests played out at carefully detailed recreations of each authentic venue. In addition, gamers will also be able to play Test matches, One Day Internationals, 20 over games and a series of challenge modes. The high definition current generation versions will feature full online multiplayer as well as support for local multiplayer games.

The 2009 edition of the Develop 100 is online, the latest list honoring the "most bankable" developers in the video game industry by their somewhat subjective criteria that includes sales data, critical success, and industry standing. The top ten are Blizzard Entertainment, Nintendo, Rockstar North, EA Canada, Capcom, Ubisoft Montreal, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Epic Games, and Bethesda Softworks. MCV breaks down the list a bit, pointing out Activison Blizzard has three studios in the top 10, there are 31 European studios on the list, with 26 of those located in the UK.

• Wii Sports- The Biggest Selling Video Game Of All Time.

• AMD Radeon HD 4770 Graphics Card on Linux on [Phoronix].
• Antec P193 Case on Vortez Hardware.
• ASRock M3A790GXH-128M Motherboard on AMDzone.
• ASUS Rampage II GENE Cooler on InsideHW.
• NZXT Sentry LX Fan Controller on Big Bruin.
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15 Digital Camera on Digital Trends.
• Pelican 1050 Micro Case on CCE Reviews.
• Thermaltake TMG IA 1 CPU Heatsink on Hi-Tech Reviews.

Last year MrsBlue bought a pair of deck brushes, saying we could use these to clean our deck with OxyClean instead of hiring someone to power-wash it. This weekend I learned what should have been obvious, which is that by "we" she meant I would be doing the work, apparently her brush would be for beating me if I slacked off. So I'm out there following the instructions from the OxyClean container -- mopping the deck with some Oxy-water, letting it sit, scrubbing it with that deck brush, and hosing it all off -- when it occured to me what was happening: In the year 2009 I was actually swabbing the deck! I would have complained, but I was afraid I'd end up in the brig... or maybe even walking the plank.

Swabby Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Links:	Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'. Thanks Kxmode. Fanciful Fads of the Fifties. Thanks Neatorama.
Stories:	What would Spock do? Dude gets $100 Mil…If he gets married. Thanks Digg. Star Trek’s $112M Global Opening Weekend. Thanks Mark.
Science:	New Pattern Found in Prime Numbers. Thanks Slashdot. 'Cone of silence' keeps conversations secret. What? Thanks Slashdot.
Media:	300 - by Bioware. NSFW. 'Star Trek' cast tackles hardcore fans on SNL.
The Funnies:	UserFriendly.