Atari let us know that they have released the first Community Bonus Pack for Epic Games' multiplayer FPS Unreal Tournament 2004. This CBP features 21 maps (including four new Onslaught maps), four new character models and a new mutator, SpiderSteroids (thanks HomeLAN). Read more for download links ...

The Unreal II XMP Community Bonus Pack has been released featuring ten of the best maps and seven of the best mutators from the Unreal II XMP community (thanks BeyondUnreal). Read more for download links ...

The Battlefield 1942 team has made a new community update regarding the upcoming 1.6 patch. The BF1942 v1.6, which they call " by far the most comprehensive patch to date", will feature 2 new maps, punkbuster anti cheat measures, improved server browsing and tons of other fixes, tweaks and additions. The patch WILL be over 250mb big, read more for a quite lenghty detailed fix list.

Space Dream Factory has released the full/free download of their space combat simulator based on the Babylon 5 tv-series I've Found Her. IFH: Danger and Opportunity is the first complete and playable game produced by SDF and is the prequel campaign to the main IFH campaign due somewhere in the near future (thanks EvilAvatar). Read more for story details and download links ...

After 5 months of working on this great pack, the CBP team is proud to announce the arrival of CBP2003 map-pack (with approval from Epic Games ). A few of the Unreal community's best level designers got together to release a small pack of their best work to the community. As the time went on, the project grew into something far more significant, with more and more of the best Unreal talent out there joining the team. The map count went from a small handful to a fully-fledged professional-level bonus pack. Read more for download links ...

The Battlefield 1942 team has made a new community update, unfortunatly with some bad news regarding the upcoming 1.5 patch. The BF1942 v1.5 patch won’t make it out this week, the reason for the delay is that they want to make sure that it reaches you in top condition and that the cd swap fix they've been working on has proven trickier than first anticipated. The rest of the bug fixes are in place and The Invasion of the Philippines map is just about ready to go (promised "late October", which would be about right now).

Ubisoft held a Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time community chat with Jordan Mechner, Creative Consultant & creator of the original Prince of Persia games. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes place within an exotic, mysterious world representing Persian architecture, animals and attire. This chat was moderated by Ubi Soft, but the questions asked were submitted throughout the chat. Read more for the full transcript ...

Linden Lab today introduced Second Life v1.1, an updated version of the acclaimed online world created by and for its residents. Second Life v1.1 includes more detailed and realistic 3D landscapes, an improved mapping and navigation system, an economic system that allows groups of residents to jointly own and govern land, and the ability to create and drive a variety of vehicles. The Second Life v1.1 upgrade is available today to current residents. New residents can experience Second Life through a free 7-day trial by registering at the official Second Life website.

Noticed on VE3D that EA has updated the official Battlefield 1942 site with a new community update. This week the impending 1.4 patch is discussed further: Here are more features that you can look forward to in the 1.4 patch:

• New and improved sounds in 1st person view, such as increased volume of impacts, louder grenade explosions and a new sound for the Axis Assault rifle STG44
• Scoreboard now shows current server's name, IP address and map name. Scoreboard also shows each player's ID number, which is used for creating your buddy list/voting to kick a player
• Rear gunner for Stuka/SBD/Ai-chi-val now has crosshair. Incremental patching will be available for clients (smaller 1.31-1.4 download)
• Added a new blood effect for additional feedback when you are hitting another soldier

Much, much more.

Kenn Hoekstra send out word that he posted an update on the RavenSoft forums giving some more details about what we can expect in 'Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy'. ReavenSoft is working on the title for LucasArts (NA) and Activision (world wide). He gives details about multiplayer, engine, AI and so on .. Check it out!

Lionhead Studios is delighted to announce a collaborative project between two of the games industry's most respected veterans, Peter Molyneux and Jeff Minter... Lionhead Studios will work closely with Minter on a new game, "Unity" which is being developed for the Nintendo Gamecube, a new development platform for Lionhead Studios. Day to day development of Unity will take place in Minter's welsh studio, but he will have access to all Lionhead resources including audio, game testing, production and PR.

Liquid Entertainment developer "Ed Del Castillo" will be personally available for a community chat session on Nov20th at 19:00h to answer questions about the recently released Battle Realms add-on, Winter Of The Wolf. If you want to attend, here is the info : Server: DALNet, Channel: #wow-chat, Nov 20th at 19:00 Hrs.

The community chat organized by the Nexus and the GDC which was originally scheduled for this Sunday past, has been moved to tonight at 8pm EST. The topic will be: "What is the player community's Next Step? How can the community of players, DMs, and Creators best organize themselves to provide quality gaming experiences for as many people as possible?" Find out more below! (thanks Neverwinter Vault)

UPDATE: 'Neverwinter Haven Beta Contest' Neverwinter haven is proud to present a Beta Contest for 2 spots in the Neverwinter Beta. Time is of the essence contest Ends JUNE 2nd. More about beta test here!

It's time for a new 1503 A.D Community update, A King's Tale - Part XVIII: A Trip into the Cold.. Here is a clip from it:

"I am still trying to push aside those sinister pictures of the human bones inside the Aztec pyramid." Jeremy nods in affirmation, as we sit and wince into the rising sun outside Zang Phoon's open door. "This religion Zang Phoon is practicing is really unusual. At least we now know that Tezcatlipoca is one of his Gods." Take me there!

TimeGate Studios announced their recent efforts to further develop and strengthen the Kohan community, since the release of Kohan: Ahriman's Gift earlier this month.