• Alone in the Dark 4, Anarchy Online, Anachronox, and Diablo II Expansion - Lord of Destruction all shipped yesterday.
• I'm excited to say that EBGames.com has moved the ship date for Operation Flashpoint from September, to July 15th.

by Jared   

• Operation Flashpoint is now available in Europe, but those of us waiting for it in North America will have to wait until September. To hold you over until then they have released a new game movie which is awesome! It is also our new number one movie on our top ten list. Click here to download the new movie. Here is another incredible movie for Operation Flashpoint, click here. You have to see both of these movies! Even if you have a slow connection these movies are worth the wait.
• No one has entered our contest to try and win the free Black & White game yet. Time is running out on the chance to win. Click here for details.
• Baldurs Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Legends of Might and Magic, Startopia, and Poseidon have all shipped in the past few days. Poseidon is the expansion pack for Zeus: Master of Olympus.

by Jared   

• As you can see from the banner above we are now advertising for GameStop.com . I am very excited about this, as they recently gave us a compliment. So if your looking to purchase any games online please consider clicking the banner above. They are related to the retail store Babbages which I am sure many of you know.
• Conquest: Frontier Wars is looking for beta testers. Click here to sign up.
• Arthur's Knight: Tales of Chivalry shipped two days ago.

by Jared   

• I added a feedback form to the site. We welcome any input that you may have to help us improve our web site. Thank in advance for any suggestions or comments.
• Steel Soldiers shipped today.
• Scott has finished his latest review of Black & White. Black & White is the latest recipient of our Gold Award, and has gotten the highest score of any previously reviewed game on our site. We are holding a contest to give away a free copy of the game. You can see details here on the game contest. Good luck to the winner. Click here for the review.

by Jared  

• Four new big games have shipped! Emperor: Battle for Dune, Star Trek: Dominion Wars, Half Life: Blueshift, and Antaeus Rising.
• Tribes 2 has a new patch available. The patch is only available via the auto-update for now.
• Several new movies have been added to our top ten movies list: Max Payne, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and the new random movie is Planetside.

by Jared  

• After days of not getting even close to being able to log into World War II Online, I finally got in! They now have 4 separate servers. I entered the war as a German rifleman on the first server just as it came up. I was one of the first ones in the game, and soon after a ton of German tanks and infantry came pooring in headed towards the front line. A tank driver named 'Redleg' offered me a ride on his tank, and I jumped on. We headed toward the front! It was amazing watching all these other soldiers and tanks headed off to war. While your riding on a vehicle you can't move around. You can only turn your head left or right to look forward or back. It was really cool watching the guy sitting next to me looking around as I was. Redleg was a good driver and had us moving fast toward the combat zone. He got us up on a road and we quickly sped up. The sound of the tank switching gears made it feel very real. The view was amazing! Looking around at all the scenery. A lot of people kept asking where the enemy was on the radio. I was starting to ask that question myself after a 10 minute ride. As we crested over a hill I no longer needed to ask that. We came into a valley with a small town at the bottom near the edge of a river. German fighters flew over our head adding to the excitement. One tank was in front of ours as we headed toward the town. There was some small fire, and explosions as we approached but nothing major. Then as we got closer to the town we started getting major incoming fire from the town. The tank in front of us exploded as several tracer rounds slammed into and around it! Our tank came to a stop and let me and the other two soldiers jump off. We quickly ran into the field to flank the town. Redleg charged the town in his tank, while overhead I watched a German fighter strafing the town. The fighter disappeared below the hill as he attacked and never came back up. Tracers were flying from both directions as the attack increased. I took a couple of rifle shots at the town, but couldn't really make out anything. I started my advance on the town with the battle raging around me, and then I crashed! Repeated attempts to get back in did not go well. I got in once only to see a tank flying overhead, and then crashed again. Buggy or not this game has the potential to be awesome! I still do not recommend buying it until things get worked out more. On the other hand if you don't mind being a 'beta tester' than grab a copy and come join me! See you on the battlefield.

Post your opinions and/or thoughts on our message board.

by Jared  

• If you signed up to be a Beta tester for Anarchy Online, they are now sending out beta CDs to 100,000 players that signed up.
• For those of you already mad and excited about World War II Online, just read the following combat stories of those who have actually been able to play. Then your really going to be wanting to play this game! http://agw.dogfighter.com/agw//Forum3/HTML/021282.html 
• Strategy First has announced that the 30 days of free play in World War II Online has not started yet, and they will make an announcement when it will commence.
• Flying Lab Software is looking for beta testers for their upcoming game, Rails Across America. Here is the link to join the beta test: www.flyinglab.com/rails/?contact.html.
• I just want to again caution anyone considering buying World War II Online. I do think it will be a great game eventually, but right now it is still unplayable. Considering most stores have a limited amount of time you can return a game I would highly recommend waiting to purchase this item. There are already a lot of very unhappy customers, and thousands are all trying to log in to servers that aren't even up. So save yourself some frustration, and I will be sure and let you know as soon as things are working right. Since, I am one of those people constantly trying to log in. :)

by Jared  

• I am very sorry for the lack of updates. I have been out of town dealing with a family illness. I returned to a down cable modem which didn't help the situation. The good news is the site is continuing to grow fast. We had over 150,000 hits last month. That's a 50% increase from the prior month. So far I have gotten the Release Dates section updated with dates, and a bunch of new games. I still have a few other new games I have to add.
• In my absence the following games have all shipped and are now in stores: Traffic Giant, Microsoft Train Simulator, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Worms world Party, World War II Online, and Gangsters 2.
• With Tuesday's release of World War II Online there are a lot of unhappy players! Personally, I expected them to have problems(That's why I also got Gangsters 2 to hold me over until the servers are set). As of this morning the WWII Online servers are still not working. Keep in mind these are newer companies handling this process. They don't have the backing and experience that Ultima Online, or other games had. I think this is going to be a great game, but don't waste your time if your not ready to accept a lot of headaches, and understand from the beginning this game is going to have troubles.
• Last week while in NY I picked up an older game for a present for my Dad. I checked in both Electronics Boutique, and Best Buy. All the boxes in both stores were slightly beat up (the shipment was probably dropped). The price was cheaper in Best Buy, and they told me I could return it if it was unopened. I found out my Dad had the software already, and so when I returned home to Virginia I tried to return the item. It was only a matter of a couple days, and the sticky tab at the top had come loose (it was already in rough condition). One of the CDs was still sealed, and the other two CDs had never been sealed (this was standard in all their boxes). To make a long story short the Best Buy clerk accuses me of opening the software, and refuses to give me a refund. I spent my lunch break arguing with her and her manager and the best I got was a store credit. What it all came down to was them accusing me of lying, and not accepting my word. I begged them to call the NY store to confirm that all their boxes looked similar, but they refused. Neither employee was friendly, or helpful. Their return policy is refunds only for unopened software, otherwise you have to exchange for the same game. Unlike EB where you can return the product for a refund within 10 days even if you don't like the game after playing it! The moral of the story is I tried to save a few bucks, and ended up losing out and got treated like crap. I will never buy a game at Best Buy again regardless of the price. I currently have a complaint in with Best Buy about my treatment, but my first response was pathetic so I am not very hopeful. If they are going to be so strict about their return policy than they should shrink wrap their products. Otherwise, there is too much room for interpretation about whether a product has been opened or not. I think accusing customers of lying based on the fact that the sticky tab lost it's stickiness is a bit outrageous. I just wanted to warn all of you about their lack of quality customer service, and their unfair return policy. 

Make your voice heard on our message board!

by Jared