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Follow the pay-to-play sign up held late last week for the World of Warcraft Stress Test beta on FilePlanet, Blizzard on Saturday announced that the stress test is now open to everyone. Potential testers must sign up quickly, because the remaining test slots will be distributed on a first come, first served basis until they’ve all been claimed.

Here's more from the announcement on the World of Warcraft web site:

The stress test beta, which will start soon after all 100,000+ test slots have been assigned, will help Blizzard evaluate World of Warcraft’s account-creation process and server performance under heavy loads. This seven-day test will be separate from the ongoing World of Warcraft closed beta test, but stress testers will have access to all of the game content that closed-beta testers are currently playing.

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The IMG Store is now taking pre-orders for one of the most anticipated titles of 2004, Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Two versions are available for pre-order. The first is the regular version and includes a full copy of the game. It is available for $49.95.

The Collector’s Edition will contain the full version of World of Warcraft, plus comes loaded with some great extras, including: 200 page Art Book , behind the Scenes DVD, soundtrack w/exclusive Tracks , cloth World Map, "Virtual Item". It is available for pre-order for $79.95.

Please note that Blizzard hasn't set the final prices on these items so they are subject to change, if at all. If they do change, we'll be sure to alert you via email.

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The first Halo Custom Edition map called Quagmire has been successfully ported and released for the Macintosh. The map is described as "the best swamp map p and rivals 343 Guilty Spark in quality. This stormy map is full of dense fog, heavy rain, and tons of plant life."

If you're into Halo and looking for some custom maps, be sure to check it out.

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Quagmire Released

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In a recent post to the Neverwinter Nights forum Bioware programmer Owen Borstad announced that a Macintosh 1.64 patch to the popular RPG is due out soon. Borstad has fixed a few bugs listed below:

I've managed to get some time to work on some mac updates, and would like you to give me a quick report of any issues you have at the moment with the mac version of NWN. There will be a beta mac patch for 1.64 out shortly, but there may still be some time to sneek other fixes in before then. I've managed to track down some of the bugs reported, but any more would be great.

Known Bugs Squashed:

• Ansi Models in override won't be needed any more.
• Swerly backgrounds fixed (You'll see)
• Wilting spell fixed for real this time.
• Spell book GUI's fixed.
• A few other GUI's fixed (for real).

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In order to evaluate their online distribution for patches and other files regarding the upcoming MMORPG World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment have released a 320MB large collection of gameplay movies and cinematics for the highly anticipated title. Some of these movies have been able to download separately before.

From the World of Warcraft community site:

Our new World of Warcraft Compilation is now available for downloading! This exclusive set includes a polished collection of World of Warcraft cinematic and in-game movies that were shown at various industry trade shows over the years. Until now, many of these files were only available as separate downloads.

In addition to acquiring a full series of critically acclaimed World of Warcraft movies, when you download the compilation you will be helping us test the new Blizzard Downloader. The Blizzard Downloader is being developed to ensure that we can deliver files such as game patches to you as quickly and as seamlessly as possible

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Clan Tournament has recently announced the addition of 3 new high-speed servers dedicated to Call of Duty. While two of the servers are available for general public play, the 3rd is being reserved for a service free to any interested clans without a home of their own.

Here's more from their site:

This is for all you clans out there that don't have servers to call your own. Just drop an email to clanbattle@clantournament.net. Letting us know when you would like the tournament and your prefered server setup for the event. We set it up and your clans can battle. We are setup with the rule sets for all the major leauges (twl, cal, gotfrag, etc.. via PAM), and can do just about any configuration your clan needs. We even offer refereed matches if you want a more official matchup.

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An interesting site has recently been brought to our attention. Titled Liberated Games, this site tracks games that, formerly retail releases, have been made available for free public use. In addition, licenses for a number of titles have also been made available.

As of today, Liberated Games is officially open for visitors. I know the list of games isn't complete, so please email me with your suggestions. Eventually, we will have a submission form for this kind of thing.

Also, I know I haven't gotten all the ports of the various games which have been open sourced. Please don't take offense, but rather mail me with the name and a link to the site and I'll put it into the queue with all the other items to do. Eventually, you will be listed, I promise.

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The team behind Red Orchestra has recently released the latest update to their title, dubbed Red Orchestra 3.0: Combined Arms. A total conversion for UT2004, RO put players in the heart of WWII, with the focus being on the battles between the Soviet Union and Germany.

3.0 adds a large number of changes to the previous formula, including new artillery weapons and controllable vehicles. Some of the listed changes are as follows:

New and highly interactive maps
New Anti-Tank Weapons
Artillery
Vehicles
Satchel Explosions

As well as Improved Infantry Mechanics including:
Modeled Iron Sights
Weapon Sway
Streamlined Player Movement
Real Weapon Ballistics
Locational Damage Effects
Hand Wound Drops Weapon
Stamina Management

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