The World of Warcraft Forums have word that paid faction changes are now underway. Blizzard Support's Faction Change FAQ has all the details, and word is: "After purchasing a Faction Change for a character, a player can choose any race of the opposite faction that is compatible with the character’s class." They also say that they will also be offering a paid race change service going forward, and more details on that will be revealed at a future date.

Square Enix Announces Order of War will ship in North America on September 22, offering real-time strategy gameplay set during World War II. A playable demo for the game was released earlier this month, and here's a bit on the game:

As Square Enix's first foray into the hugely popular genre of historical real-time strategy, ORDER OF WAR takes strategy games to new heights and features massive-scale battles brought to life with unprecedented cinematic intensity. Players will take command of an entire army including ground troops, artillery, tank divisions and aircraft in all-out strategic assaults. The single-player mode can be played out in two campaigns - American forces versus German forces in occupied France and German forces versus Soviet forces in Poland and versus American forces in France. Missions will be based on key historic events and operations from 1944.

The OnLive Blog announces the promised closed beta testing of OnLive is now underway, offering the chance to try this cloud-based gaming service first-hand (thanks Kotaku). They are still collecting beta sign-ups, and here's word on testing:

When you sign up for OnLive Beta, you tell us some general information about your ISP, your computer configuration and your location. We use this information to organize Beta testers into test groups so that our engineering team can focus at different times on testing different situations. If you are a potential fit for a particular test group, we’ll send you an invitation email, asking you to run a detailed Performance Test on your network connection and your computer configuration. The results of the Performance Test will then feed back up to OnLive, and if you are a fit for a test group at some point during Beta, we’ll let you install the OnLive plug-in into your browser. Then, we’ll ask you to spend some time playing…um, I mean…testing games OnLive.

The Team Fortress 2 Blog announces that Valve will be removing all items earned using external idling applications in Team Fortress 2. As Hank Williams once sang: "When tears come down like fallin' rain, You'll toss around and call my name, You'll walk the floor the way I do, Your cheatin' hat will tell on you." Wait, maybe he said heart. Anyway, here's word:

Over the next few days we'll be removing all TF2 items that were earned using external idling applications. We're going to adopt a zero tolerance policy for external applications used to manipulate the persistent item system. Due to us not having a policy in place prior to today, this time we're only removing the items earned through cheating the system. Going forward, if we find users using external applications, we'll remove all of their items. If you're interested, only about 4.5% of the players in TF2's community will be affected by this cleansing process.

Meanwhile, everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory. We've also significantly increased the chance of finding any of the existing hats.

We realize there is a high level of demand for items, and we're still working on systems to allow you to find them in new ways (via Trading, and crafting duplicates into desired items). However, we need to draw the line at running external applications.

IGN's Red Faction: Guerrilla Preview outlines the additional content planned for release with the PC edition of Red Faction: Guerrilla to make up for the wait since the console releases of Volition's shooter sequel:

Much more than a simple port of the console game, the PC build of Guerrilla has been in production for more than a year by Reactor Zero, a studio out of Ann Arbor. Apart from adding in the Demons of the Badlands content, the developers also packs in six new Wrecking Crew maps from the latest dlc pack, the two exclusive Wrecking Crew maps that were only available for players that pre-ordered Guerrilla, and two multiplayer maps that are exclusive to the PC version. The PC build will also get access to two new gameplay modes: bagman and team bagman, and while we weren't told about these two modes, it's nice to know that all of these items will be tossed in for free. For players that are interested in achievements, there is also Games For Windows Live support as well.

As announced here, CodeWeavers now offers a new version 8.0 of CrossOver Games, which allows Windows games to be played on Mac and Linux PCs without Windows. The Change Log outlines what's new, including support for Left 4 Dead and the Steam version Tales of Monkey Island and fixes and enhancements for Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Spore, Guild Wars, and more. A trial version is available.

The Jerome Gastaldi Interview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun chats with the CEO of Monte Cristo about Cities XL, the upcoming urban planning and management game for which a playable demo was just released. They discuss the game, and the various aspects that differentiate it from Sim City, including social networking and multiplayer components.

New Preorder Bonuses on GamersGate are now in effect, including 250 bonus "coins," a 30-day price guarantee, and downloads available six hours before release.

• GOG.com's first anniversary promotion. Buy one, get one free for the next week.
• Majesty 2 Preorder on GamersGate. Save 20%, get Majesty Gold, plus the new GG bonuses mentioned above.
• Batman Arkham Asylum Preorder on GamersGate. Just the 250 coins and the price guarantee.
• Time of Shadows Preorder on Impulse. Save 10% this weekend. Thanks John.
• Aaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity preorder on Impulse. Save 25% this weekend.
• Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition on Impulse. Save $10.00 this weekend.
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel on Impulse. Save 60% this weekend.
• Evochron Legends on Impulse. Save 25% this weekend.
• Dawn of Discovery on Impulse. Save 50% this weekend.
• Sins of a Solar Empire Bundle on Impulse. Save 40% this weekend.
• Demigod on Impulse. Save 50% this weekend.
• Restaurant Empire on Impulse. Save 33% this weekend.
• Nation Red on Direct2Drive is now $9.95 USD.
  
  Still on sale (previously reported)
• All Strategy First Games on Steam. Save 50% through September 7.
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin on Direct2Drive. Save $10.00 this week ($24.95). Thanks Kxmode.
• Aaaaa! prepurchase on Direct2Drive. Save $5.00.
• Dark Void Gold 4 Jetpack TV Ad. Outlines the preorder bonus.
• Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Collection on GoGamer. Save 43% through Thursday.
• Company of Heroes on GoGamer. Save 80% through Thursday.
• Red Faction II on GoGamer. Save 60% through Thursday.
• Supreme Commander on GoGamer. Save 60% through Thursday.
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on GoGamer. Save 84% through Thursday.
• Obscure II on GoGamer. Save 75% through Thursday.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Second Edition on GoGamer. Save 60% through Thursday.
• Stranger on GoGamer. Save 74% through Thursday.
• X3: Terran Conflict 2.0 w/ Aldrin Missions on GoGamer. Save 55% through Thursday.
• ANNO 1701: The Sunken Dragon Expansion on GoGamer. Save 60% through Thursday.
• Dreamcatcher Strategy Pack on GoGamer. Save 25% through Thursday.
• Stronghold Legends on GoGamer. Save 90% through Thursday.
• TrackMania Sunrise on GoGamer. Save 47% through Thursday.
• Free In-Game Bonus Items for CrimeCraft on Steam.
• Aaaaa! Pre-purchase on Steam. Save 10% and get a free game.
• Mass Effect 1 + 2 Bundle Download on Direct2Drive. $5.00 off.
• Fallen Earth is now on sale at the Fallen Earth Store. Preorder bonus, and a 10% discount on multiple keys.
• Cities XL Limited Edition Pre-Order Special on Impulse. $10.00 off.
• Ubisoft Expands Catalog Worldwide on Steam. Full list here. New titles 10% off.
• 50% Off Xbox 360 Game Offer at Best Buy. Thanks Joystiq.
• 20% discount on all in-stock items with Play-Asia's Visa Summer Promotion. Thanks Kotaku.
• Buy Guitar Hero 5 and get the unreleased Guitar Hero Van Halen Game for free. Thanks xXBatmanXx.
  
  Newly Available
• Line Rider 2: Unbound - Now Available on Steam.

• Command & Conquer 4 on IncGamers.
• Section 8 on TheTechLounge.
• Tropico 3 on Voodoo Extreme.

• Win tickets to DiRT 2 launch party and NME Radio takeover show in London.
• Earth Eternal Beta Key Giveaway on Ten Ton Hammer.
• Ran Online Beta Key Giveaway on Ten Ton Hammer.
• Vote in SEGA's "Bayonetta Re-envisioned" Competition.

• Sega sticks by mature Wii releases.
• No framerate issues for PES 2010.
• Average PSN User Is Male, Aged 28.

Thanks Mike Martinez. Did you know the first ATM in New York City was opened on this Day in 1969?

• Microsoft offers free Windows 7 RTM trial. Thanks Ant and Digg.
• Intel's 'Braidwood'--Turbo Memory done right?
• IBM's 8-core POWER7- twice the muscle, half the transistors.
• AMD aims to stay in the race with Magny-Cours 12-core CPU.
• Race to Be an Early Adopter Goes Mainstream, a Forrester Survey Finds.
• Microsoft show 'faster' Windows 7.
• Users abandon XP for Vista, Windows 7.
• 12 cool ways to donate your PC's spare processing power.

• Sony Ericsson Aino's PS3 Remote Play capabilities get detailed -- no games, just media playback.
• Waiter, There Is a Fly in My Soup (and I Have an iPhone). Thanks Mike Martinez.
• The Zune as we know it is gone; long live the Zune HD.
• Gran Turismo PSP Entertainment Pack revealed.

• Midway Newcastle vets form Atomhawk…

Link of the Day: Streaming Electronic Arts Sound Effects. Thanks Ant.

Steam News announces a new patch is automatically available for Team Fortress 2, offering a few changes, including one that will please fans of backend inventory manipulation:

    • Fixed "not on camera object" particle effects appearing while spectating in-eyes, and not appearing when in thirdperson
    • Fixed inventory bug that caused some item pickups not to be shown
    • Added support for client explanations of backend inventory manipulation

S2 Games Announces Heroes of Newerth, surprising us with the revelation that this Defense of the Ancients-inspired multiplayer action/RPG hasn't been officially announced prior to this, even though closed beta testing has been underway for a while now. In any event, a new Heroes of Newerth Website is online where you can register for that beta and check out media and information from the game, which is to be released this year for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. Here are a bazzilion screenshots and pieces of concept art and here's a bit on the game:

In Heroes of Newerth, two teams of up to five players each take on the role of a special Hero unit. With the assistance of AI-controlled armies, each team sets out with the sole objective of destroying the other team’s base. As a match progresses, players can earn experience and gold which can be used to upgrade skills or purchase items to make their character more powerful. The team-oriented design of HoN coupled with unprecedented in-game Voice-Over-IP controls and Clan Support allow for an incredibly deep, tactical team-based experience.

NCsoft and DC Comics announce Aiva's Story, a limited edition comic book based on the lore of Aion, the fantasy-themed MMORPG scheduled to launch on September 22. The comic will be free with purchase of Aion at GameStop in the US or Electronic Boutique in Canada, and they will also be giving away a limited number of copies at NCsoft's Aion booth at this week's Penny Arcade Expo. This limited run comic from DC's Wildstorm Studios features the art of Neil Googe and the writing of David Noonan and Ricardo Sanchez; here is the cover art and a sample page, and here is a description: "The comic tells the story of Aiva, a young Asmodian warrior who vows vengeance against the Elyos who killed her family during a raid. Aiva trains ceaselessly, hoping to become a Daeva and someday find her nemesis on the battlefields of the Abyss (where only Daevas can go)."

The Company of Heroes Website offers a detailed introduction to Company of Heroes Online, which is operating in China, but it seems pretty apparent Relic is eager for western audiences to try the online version of their World War II RTS game as well. They describe the microtransaction-based business model of the free to download and play game and outline differences between CoHO and its more traditional counterparts, including the role of the Company Commander, experience and progression, items, hero squads, and more. They conclude with this overview: "We already have a really fun game in Company of Heroes to use as our base for Company of Heroes Online. This is a very brief look at what’s new and different in COHO. If you’ve played Company of Heroes before, you’ll find yourself at home when you’re deploying your MG42s and Riflemen, but there are also some new facets to this game, such as specializing your Commander abilities and hero squads, that add further to the strategic experience."

Capcom Expands Use of Havok Physics Middleware for Triple-A Titles announces Japanese developer and publisher Capcom has made Havok its development tool of choice to add physics to Lost Planet 2 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Havok was also responsible for the physics in Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and Resident Evil 5.

There's now a Peregrine channel on the YouTube with four videos showing off the Peregrine glove, the recently announced gesture-based gaming controller that may prove handy. Word is: "The videos are presented by Pu 'Whisper' Liu, the pro gamer from Team Evil Geniuses who lays claim to the #1 Warcraft III: Dawn of the Ancients (DotA) ranking in North America, as well multiple eSports World Cup USA DotA championships. An avid user of The PEREGRINE, Whisper shows in the videos how the glove allows users to instantly trigger over 30 in-game abilities literally with the touch of a finger, speeding up their response time while simultaneously offering a more comfortable and intuitive gaming experience." We may see some first-hand impressions of this soon, as the Peregrine will be demonstrated at the Penny Arcade Expo this week.

A Champions Online: Blood Moon teaser website is online offering a look at an upcoming content update for Cryptic's MMORPG. Also, after a bit of an uproar on the Champions Online Forums about changes in one patch (thanks Massively) that has players calling for an ability to "retcon" their toons at no cost. A subsequent forum post (thanks Big Download) announces the complaints about retcons have been heard, and though they are not free: "it is now possible to completely retcon your character from start to finish, regardless of level." Here's a bit on what to expect from Blood Moon:

• Explore the new Celestial Powerset. Use the power of the Seraphim to heal and strengthen your allies, or release the fury of the Nephilim in a battle against evil.
• Beware the Zombie Apocalypse rising in Canada! Battle against zombies in PVP, but no matter what, do not fall there. Should you die, you shall return as one of the undead horde, bound to fight in Takofanes’ name.
• Fight off ravenous werewolf packs, but be careful lest you get bitten and infected with their dark magic.
• Stand against undead heroes who once fought in the Battle of Detroit, and do your best to free their souls from Takofanes’ necromancy.
• Challenge Takofanes to drive him from our land, but beware – you must fight the dark sorcerers who serve him before you have any chance of facing the Undying Lord.

The Total War Blog has an update about an upcoming patch for Empire: Total War to update Creative Assembly's RTS sequel to version 1.4. They offer a preliminary change list for the new version, though there's no outlook on when the patch will become available. According to the introduction, AI improvements are the main goal of version 1.4, saying: "A lot of work has been put into the campaign and diplomacy AI, focusing on how it wages war, makes alliances and peace as well as use of naval invasions. Battle side improvements have been made to most areas of the AI with the focus on the siege AI which has had major changes made to it. Sieges have also had a lot of work done on them with a lot of bugs fixed, improvements made to pathfinding and how guns and troops on walls work."

GamePolitics reports EA is preemptively suing Dillinger LLC over rights to use the "Dillinger" name in the Godfather games. There is a machine gun named after one-time public enemy number one John Dillinger in each Godfather game, and after being threatened with litigation over the use of the alleged bank robber's name they've launched a lawsuit of their own.

Steam News reveals the availability of a new automatic patch for Garry's Mod. The update properly organizes Team Fortress 2 and King of the Hill maps and addresses some bugs.

• Penny Arcade Expo 2009 Completely Sold Out.
• The Guild Wars 2 art book giveaways planned for PAX.
• Free tickets available for Braben BAFTA event.
• CEDEC 09- Keynote - Games Should Be Free From Technology.

• Black Prophecy on the Official Website. Art Direction - Part 2.
• Borderlands on AtomicGamer.
• Diablo III on IGN. Ten things you absolutely need to know about the Monk.
• RAGE on AtomicGamer.
• Red Faction: Guerrilla on GameSpot and IGN.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat on Hooked Gamers.

• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising on Hooked Gamers.

• Visceral Games’ Award-Winning Dead Space Extraction Goes Gold.
• Defense Grid: The Awakening Available Today On Xbox LIVE Arcade.
• Japan sees price cuts for Xbox 360.
• Xbox 360 HD requirements dropped?
• LostWinds sequel confirmed.
• Gran Turismo 5 PlayStation 3 Screenshots.
• Mars PlayStation 3 Screenshots.
• GH5- complete on-disc track import list.
• Real rock stars groove on `Guitar Hero' fame.

• Has the Rate of Technical Progress Slowed?
• AMD aims to stay in the race with Magny-Cours 12-core CPU.
• Sony to launch 3D TVs next year: report.
• Windows 7: Best OS for gaming?
• Understanding Windows 7 upgrade paths.
• OpenOffice 3.1.1 fixes bugs. Thanks Ant and Linux Today.

• T-Mobile users to be billed for bills. Thanks Ant and Digg.
• Hardkernal unveils Android open-source handheld.
• Scribblenauts confirmed for October 9.

Thanks Ant.

• Sold! eBay jettisons Skype in $2 billion deal.
• Military set to lay out $42M to develop advanced network prioritization, security technology.
• Despite changes, Wikipedia will still "fail within 5 years."
• Key milestones in the development of Internet. Thanks Ant and Digg.
• Chrome celebrates early birthday with Sony distribution deal.
• If You're Still Using Internet Explorer 6, You're Stealing Food from Starving People. Thanks Mike Martinez.
• People of Walmart: Site Mocks Worst-Dressed Customers. Thanks Devicer.
• Who still uses internet cafes? Thanks Digg.
• Second Life is Dead.

• Web Hosts Hit With $32 Million Judgment For Content.
• Movie studios again demand HDTV disabling powers from FCC.
• Judge: TOS violations not a crime in teen suicide case.

• Microsoft investigating newly reported IIS flaw. Thanks Mike Martinez.
• Bank wants thumbprint from man with no hands. Thanks Ant and Slashdot.

• Champions Online on GameVein.
• EverQuest II on The MMO Gamer. A Return to Norrath.
• Osmos on Out of Eight.
• Raven Squad on GameSpot.
• Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper on 2404.

• AMD Phenom II TWKR Black Edition CPU on InsideHW.
• Asus GeForce 9600 GSO Graphics Card on Ultimate Hardware.
• Asus Mars GTX 295 Graphics Card on PC Games Hardware.
• Audioengine AW1 Premium Wireless Audio Sender-Receiver on ModSynergy.com.
• Choiix Air Through Stash Notebook Cooler on OverclockersHQ.com.
• Cooler Master Elite 310 Case on Overclockers Club.
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler on X-bit labs.
• Cooler Master NotePal A1 on Modders-Inc.
• Enermax Apollish Case Fan on PureOC.
• Evercool HPK-10025EA LGA1366 CPU Cooler on Verdis Reviews.
• GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard on X-bit labs.
• GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H Motherboard on Bjorn3D.com.
• Incipio Superhero iPhone Case on OverclockersHQ.com.
• Kingwin XT-1264 Heat-Pipe Direct Touch CPU Cooler on TweakTown.
• Lowepro Flipside 200 Camera Backpack on ThinkComputers.org.
• NVIDIA GTX 260 Graphics Card SLI on OCIA.net.
• NZXT Cryo S Notebook Cooler on [Phoronix].
• Razer Moray Earphones on Techjase.
• NZXT Cryo S Aluminum Notebook Cooler on TechwareLabs.
• OCZ Vertex Turbo 120GB SSD on PureOC.
• Plextor PX-880SA DVD Writer on Digital Trends.
• PhotoFast G-Monster V4S 32GB Indilinx SLC Solid State Disk on TweakTown.
• Samsung SyncMaster F2080 and F2380 C-PVA Monitors on X-bit labs.
• SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player on Digital Trends.
• Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler on Legit Reviews.
• SSD Round-Up Redux on HotHardware.
• Synology Disk Station DS509+ NAS on X-bit labs.
• Wintec Filemate Card-It-All on ProClockers.
• X58 Motherboard Roundup on Overclockers Club.

• CO-OP Podcast 0211 -- 1994 Part 2 -- Wolfenstein, Spider, Super Metroid. Thanks Ant…
• The Guild Seasons 1-2 DVD coming to stores September 29…
• 1UP Specials: LucasArts Reunion Video…

A forum comment suggested that foregoing coffee is not really necessary for the blood test during an annual physical, but I'm pretty sure the nurse who drew my blood would have said something if that was the case for me, since we joked about how many people brought a travel mug along like I did. I do have to poke my head in at the doctor's office tomorrow, so I'll ask anyway, since I already have my appointment for next year's physical (because it was so tough to schedule an appointment this year).

Re-caffeinated Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Play:	Vox Populi, Vox Dei. CANABALT. Thanks Jay is Games. FuturCabby.
Links:	The Colbert Report's FTWiest Gaming Moments. 32 Heroes Who Must Play A Deadly Game — Or Die! Quentin Tarantino Movies.
Stories:	FBI: Fort Lauderdale bank robber also tried to steal a kiss from teller. Thanks Digg. New York City Campaigns Against Coke and Other Sugary Drinks (registration required). Judge Orders Robbery Suspects [sic] Mouth Taped Shut. Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Science:	Is There a Scientific Way to Measure How Bad a Fart Smells? Engineering Earth 'is feasible'. Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens. Thanks Slashdot.
Images:	He who controls the spice, controls the universe. Free Web Browsing WIN. Stylus on There, I Fixed It.
Media:	Data Cleansing With The M3A1 Shaped Charge. Thanks Kirk. Winkers Jeans. Thanks Sharon. Unexpected Wedding Crasher.
Follow-ups:	Sarah Connor Chronicles Returning As Direct-To-DVD Film? Thanks Digg. Is Running Barefoot Actually Better For You? British plan to tackle asteroids. Thanks Slashdot.