This is my public apology to every member of the OPGU!

New lead, and new idea for OPGU

"Our final preview reveals details of the new scenarios." Details inside.

"We break out the cleaver and go to town on Arkane's first-person hack and slash." Details inside.

Splash Damage's much-hyped sequel will not release in 2006. Details inside.

"Designer Joe Bostic gives us more on the new Underworld faction and explains how Petroglyph is also expanding ground combat in a
significant way." Details inside.

"Lead designer Sandy Petersen returns to answer our latest questions regarding the expansion pack to last year's hit real-time strategy game, Age of Empires III." Details inside.

Lead designer James Salt talks about the new Titan game mode. Details inside.

Get the history and background of the Cybran Nation, one of the three playable factions in next year's Supreme Commander. Details inside.

Want deathmatch with a twist, action with an art deco flavor? The Ship has just come into port, and JCal writes up a brief preview on this Steam-featured title. Details inside.

EVE Online launched, almost bombed, and has since seen steady growth. The unique MMO also had a massive beta launch in China. JCal talks to the developers about their success and their expansion plans. Details inside.

"We went all the way to Crytek's offices in Germany to get the lowdown on Crysis, one of the most anticipated action games on the horizon." Details inside.

The makers of Perimeter delve into another ambitious RTS. Details inside.

Designer Blake Gilroy discusses some of the weapons to be found in this cutting-edge real-time strategy game and how you'll use them in battle. Details inside.

Release notes for 1.58June 29th, 2006
*Added detailed game statistics for Jedi Academy Multiplayer.
*Added the ability to automatically upload your game rig information to your profile page.
*Added the ability to display all raw server information in infoviews for games with server information.
*Added group chat game lobby support to Age of Empires, Age of Empires: Rise of Rome, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: The Clone Campaigns, and Imperial Glory.
*Added an improved locking out system for people who try to steal passwords.
*Added a string variable for custom infoviews based on whether the user has the friend's game installed or not (%game_installed%) for our friends at SOE.
*Converted the standard skin (not the default Xfire skin) to our new XML file format.
*Added Xfire In-Game to Rollercoaster Tycoon and Dune 2000.
*Fixed Xfire In-Game for Silkroad Online and Maplestory.
*Fixed a problem that could terminate one-to-one and group voice chats on various network events.
*Fixed a few problems that could lead to a hung client window on multiple reconnect errors or update errors.
*Fixed a problem that could cause more than 10 recently visited servers to be shown in the servers tab.
*Fixed some drawing issues with Friends' Favorite Servers.
*New games supported: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars Starfighter, Stacked, Asheron's Call, The Movies Stunts & Effects, SimCity 3000, Game Tycoon, Total Overdose, Rush For Berlin, Xpand Rally, Locomotion, Dungeon Lords, Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, Freedom Fighters, Prey Demo, Onimusha 3, Warsow, and Albatross18.

Technical Notes are available.

"Codemasters shows us the latest progress on Maelstrom, a dynamic real-time strategy game featuring an alien invasion, transforming vehicles, and deformable terrain." Details inside.

Presentation: 8.5
Plenty of tutorial tips, intuitive controls and mechanics, comprehensive manual, and many options for tuning the game to your system.

Graphics: 8.5
It looks quite good, but anti-aliasing is oddly taxing. The three world environments could use some more variety, though.

Sound: 8.5
Voice acting, sound effects, ambient sound, and music are all well done.

Gameplay: 8.0
There's dozens of hours of content, but the transitions are slow enough to make things feel grindy; loot tables are odd; not much incentive to buy items.

Lasting Appeal: 8.0
There's online multiplayer, but the game is too linear to invite much replayability.

Full review inside

Gas Powered reveals two of the main characters that command the mighty United Earth Federation in Supreme Commander, as well as two of the main worlds of the UEF. Details inside.

"We have updated hands-on impressions of this highly anticipated online
action game, plus some input from senior producer Marcus Nilsson." Details inside.

Warhammer Online maker bought and will be redubbed EA Mythic and will focus on MMORPGs, Jacobs and Denton to remain on board. Details inside.