Another couple days, another Beta Patch as we rush ever closer to the release of the Titan Pack. Today's tasty changes, which as usual, also includes the changes in the

are:

• Fix a midgame UI crash
• Fixed Engine.* localization files being in the wrong location
• Localized nvidia driver warning
• Fixed bug with removal of map prefixes in the vote menu
• Fixed stealth vehicle invisibility toggling in client-side demos.
• Fixed Fury, Manta, and Scavenger animation issues in client-side demos.
• Fixed bug where game profile options in UTMapLists.ini didn't override options already in the URL
• Fixed AVRiL rare case where it dealt double damage on hit.
• Fixed another avril fast firing exploit
• Improved detection of XP64
• Removed spurious VEHICLE NOT FOUND printout
• Supports compiling script code in -mod, as well as publishing within -mod
• Fixed not being able to publish default (startup) map
• No longer copies RefShaderCache files when publishing
• Supports Bink movies in -mod dir (ModDir\Movies)
• Fixed problem with completely overriding UTCustomChar.ini in the mod config directory
• OSHelper process will now time out after 15 minutes of getting no communication
• Added -solomod option to restrict game looking in non-loaded .ini files for maps/gametypes/etc

As always, these patches aren't meant for the general public, so please don't ask for links to them.

Originally posted on February 25th, 2009

. It clocks in at a sizeable 1.01 GB, and

, the full game is due April 9th and will use Steamworks for "unspecified functionality."

UPDATE (2/27/2009): The demo is now available on Steam, as well as the full game for Pre-Purchasing.

Harrison Krix is quickly making a name for himself. First, he created a gorgeous-looking replica of Portal's eponymous Portal Gun, and now,

, wielded with love by many a Little Sister.

If you'd like to make your own,

. We at BeyondUnreal, of course, are not responsible if you suck the DNA out of your friends, loved ones, or pets.

David Perry - yes, the same one who designed Earthworm Jim - is going to host

. Also featured in the chat is Spellborn's Lead Designer, El Dryver. The chat will take place on

, in the "Acclaim Spellborn" room, and begins today at Noon Pacific, 3 PM Eastern, so get your questions ready!

Ok, for those people who stopped playing at FragBU due to the extremely laggy server, I've got good news for you. The server has been MOVED!

There's been quite a few changes and we've removed quite a bit of the custom content since no one was playing it. The major map packs are still there so downloading them is still recommended before joining.

We invite you to help us test out the new server while fragging with or against BU staff members and your fellow BuF'ers for two nights of fast and heart pumping matches spanning through DM, TDM, CTF, vCTF, and even WAR. If you've never been to a FragBU event before, don't worry, it's open to anyone who wants to join us for some good old fashioned friendly fragging.

Before you start, don't forget to check out the FragBU thread in the UT3 forums for download links to all of the custom content we use. Even though we've trimmed down the content, there are quite a few large map packs like the excellent and often played HOLP1 and HOLP2 that have many individual maps in them. All of the content is still available through the servers fast redirect, but it is recommended, as I said before, to download the files before you jump on the server if you want to jump in on the action right away.

To check on the status of the server without opening the game, you can either check the FragBU thread or log on to the official FragBU IRC channel at #fragbu on EnterTheGame where there's always plenty of people to help you out if you need any assistance getting on the server.

If you are patiently waiting on the server and it's currently empty don't fret, It may take a while but people will eventually join. Most players do not start joining until 10pm EST but people will join earlier if they see activity on the server. So just fire up the game and join up! If idling on the server isn't working and you do not want to wait any longer, bugging people in irc to join usually works!

We hope to see you there on the new server!

Hot on the heels of their success in Make Somthing Unreal Contest

, The Ball team has picked up ModDB's 2008

for their Unreal Tournament 3 modification.

The Ball is a single player action and puzzle mod for Unreal Tournament 3. It competes in the MakeSomethingUnreal Contest, and it has won a double first prize in Phase 1 (Best Gametype - Best Use of Physics). The Ball offers an adventure that puts you in the boots of a geologist who gets stuck in a cavern and bumps onto an ancient and Toltec complex holding a mysterious ball. While making your way through the internal workings of ancient ziggurats, golden cities, and huge caverns, your only companion is a giant gold and metal-shelled ball, a mysterious artifact in its own right, that you use to make your way through a series of rooms and caverns, and to crush enemies with. As you progress through the mod, slowly the real purpose of this gigantic Toltec complex becomes clear, and you are sucked into a thousands of years old story of betrayal and secrecy.

If you haven't already downloaded

, you should do so today. Congrats!

It could be frustration, nerves, or lack of Mountain Dew making him say this, but Midway Developer Shaun Himmerick says developing for PS3, simply put, is

The politically incorrect answer is that the PS3 is a huge pain in the ass. Anyone making a game, if you're going to make it for both [360 and PS3], just lead on the PS3 because if it works on the PS3 it'll work on 360.

The easiest way to look at it is, the 360 has one big chunk of memory, but the PS3 has two chunks of memory that in total are the same size as the Xbox, but because they're split you can't share memory the same way. That will bite you in the ass, and it bit us in the ass bad.

We had to play catch up on the PS3 because of the memory constraints and how it renders, how it processes is just different. And it's harder on the PS3. The Xbox is just like a dumb PC, which is great because it's easier to build a game on a PC.

It may be worth noting that Himmerick was Executive Producer on upcoming UE3-powered title Wheelman.

It's 1Up's turn to

, and they give the game a decidedly average grade of C.

Blood in the Sand takes its missteps in stride. The game doesn't takes itself too seriously and if you try to, it completely unravels. Similarly, go in looking for old school street cred and you'll come up empty. Blood in the Sand channels "gangsta" culture as intended, and in so doing accurately reflects that rap has became part of modern pop culture over the past several years. Like one of those movies that run over and over on cable, you'll never hold great debates about the game, but when it comes on you can have a good time with it.

Videogamer.com has posted

, Project Lead on Unreal Tournament 3. In it, Steve talks about where the first person shooter genre is headed, his views on graphics in games, and even a bit about a possible sequel to Unreal.

VideoGamer.com: What's the likelihood of us ever seeing another single-player Unreal game? The last one was a long time ago...

SP: It was a long time ago! It's certainly something that we would love to do, but it's hard to say. The problem is that you always have more ideas and things you want to do than you have time to do them. I certainly hope it will happen one day, but we'll just have to figure out when the time is right. With the original Unreal, some of the things that were cool about it you really have to time right. At the time it when it came out it did some things, from a technology point of view, that hadn't been done before. It allowed us to have this kind of odd shooter with big exploration. "Oh look at this amazing vista!" You've never walked out in the open before, and now you can look off into the distance and see birds flying. So obviously if we did something like that again, we'd want it to have that same kind of feeling.

Reviews are rolling in for Swordfish Studios' UE3 powered 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Gamespot's (70/100)

.

Blood on the Sand is better enjoyed with a friend, and the well-implemented drop-in/drop-out Cooperative mode is a solid addition. It's easy to let people join your game, and just as easy to keep them out or boot them should they become a nuisance. Whether you play solo or cooperative, you'll get a solid 10+ hours out of the campaign, in addition to any high-score runs that you attempt for the sake of making the online leaderboards. The run-and-gun gameplay isn't particularly inspired, but the scoring system adds enough to keep you engaged. The pervasive attitude is so excessive that it borders on parody, but when underlaid with a robust offering of authentic songs, it works surprisingly well. This isn't the best action game you'll play this year, but that doesn't mean you won't have a damn fun time playing it.

The

, as seen at Metacritic, is running at a reasonably respectable 72/100.

The rumor mill is swirling again thanks to Variety. They are reporting that Legendary Pictures, who are bankrolling the film version of Gears of War and were once rumored to be seeking to purchase Epic Games (

) is

.

If Legendary does hire Vrabeck, it will be a sign that [Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas] Tull is deadly serious about getting into games. Most recently, she served a brief stint as president of Electronic Arts' EA Casual label--which she mysteriously left last year shortly before it was quietly folded into the Sims Studio. Prior to that, she served as president of Activision Publishing from 2003-2005 after serving as executive vice president of worldwide publishing and global brand management at the publisher.

Of interest to those not able to read French is

by noted level author, Gui, that was recently translated to English. The article is aimed toward UT2004 level designers, the theory applies to all.

Although this was written for UT2003 and UT2004, the first part of this tutorial presents fundamental theories about the lighting in general but also the necessity of contrasts and how to use complementary colors in order to get these, as well as some other tips: these informations are usefull for any wannabe artists, whatever software they use, 2D or 3D but also web or print. The rest of the tutorial presents in depth study of official maps in order to explain the "how and why" their lighting was done this way instead of another, and this reading is also recommended even to authors who don't work onto UT2Kx

Epic has privately released UT3 Patch 2 Beta 2 to its server list - meaning, it is not for public consumption. The changelist (note: this is in addition to everything that can be found in the

lists) is as follows:

• Fixed number of combatants slider range.
• Fixed redeemer bug where redeemers impacting ceiling sometimes had explosion center imbedded in ceiling, affecting damage dealt.
• Fixed stinger alt-fire stops with 1 ammo.
• Added John Barrett (programming contractor), Michiel Hendriks (programming contractor), and Pancho Eekels (level design contractor) to credits.
• Fixed spectator choppiness when camera is following a player.
• Reduced non-warfare teleporter update range if bRealTimeCapture is false.
• Fix for rare stinger shard crash when shard tries to impale two overlapping dead bodies at the same time.
• Various localization fixes in all languages.
• Fixed flying manta exploit.
• Fixed duel match rules in scoreboard.
• Fixed exploit to damage own core/nodes with rocket turret.
• Fixed fast avril firing exploit.
• Fixed vehicle turret replication in demos.
• Fixed first person weapon display in demos.
• Fixed incorrect strings displayed in rare cases in friends interaction menu.
• Fixed player information on server browser history page not refreshing correctly.
• Fixed UT3 crash on Windows Server 2003 and XP 64.
• Fixed UT3 not shutting down properly when run as Steam application on Windows XP.
• Fixed choppiness when viewing client-side demo playback.
• Don't allow input processing during playback of client-side demos.
• Fixed SPMA camera crash during demo playback.
• Fixed demo playback log spam.
• Added DemoFF and DemoSlomo console commands.  Can be bound to a key in UTInput.ini.
                 
  • DemoFF toggles between 1x, 3.3x, and 10x fast forward.                
  • DemoSlomo takes a float between 0.1 and 10 which adjusts playback speed by that factor.
• No spectating bar when spectating in first person.
• Fixed ping display in client-side demos
• Force vehicle physics updates during client-side demo playback

Square Enix, maker of many fine RPGs over the last 25 years or so, have co-announced with Valve that

, beginning April 9th.

Coming April 9, the PC version of The Last Remnant will be Square's first Steam release, and will also integrate Steamworks for as-yet-unspecified functionality. The action-RPG arrived on Xbox 360 last fall, with a PlayStation 3 release due later on.

The announcement added that Square will "continue to add to its roster of games on Steam" in North America and Europe, but did not specify any other titles or pricing.

AJ Glasser of Kotaku gives a

. In it, he delves into how much has changed since the demo he saw at the Penny Arcade Expo - among them, that the game didn't turn out to be the crashfest he played earlier:

First impressions can be rather damning (lol, pun). When I first saw the game back in August, there was only one firefight that you could actually beat without crashing the demo. Based on that, I assumed the entire game was a third person shooter with a space western premise (only without the space).

Turns out, Damnation is actually a different game altogether than what I first thought. Sure, the shooting is a part of gameplay – but there's much more to it that wasn't there seven months ago.

Damnation will sin your Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on March 3, 2009.