Mac gamers, listen up. While the PC version of Battlefield 2142 was updated a while ago to v1.50, bringing with it two new maps - Wake Island 2142 and Operation Shingle you poor apple-fans have been waiting (im)patiently for it to be your turn.

Of course, the updates for the game are created originally for the much larger PC gamer-base, and then have to go through a conversion process to bring the update to the Mac. While this process should run smoothly, this time it wasn't so great, seeing just over two months pass between releases. Still - it's okay now, Mac gamers can download their brand new copy of the 1.50 Patch fresh from our File Library.

Well now. It's been quite a while between drinks, but I imagine there's still at least a handful of you diehards out there who stay up late at night playing games, and who particularly like those set on a futuristic battlefield...

Yes, I'm talking about Battlefield 2142, it seems like forever since I've brought you any news about the game itself (been too wrapped up with new projects, I guess) - but, to make up for lost time, I've got a new patch, just for you.

The v1.50 patch brings a bunch of new features and fixes, plus tweaks to Operation Shingle and Wake Island 2142. It's a little over 500MB for the full patch, or you can step up from 1.40 -> 1.50 with the 176MB incremental. Of course we have the full changelog here for you - so why not have a browse while it's downloading?

With an ever increasing trend towards revivals of old stories within the gaming industry, it is always refreshing to see someone take some risks with interesting and new ideas as opposed to endless repetition.

After a long time working on the Battlefield series, Dice have decided to try something new. Surprisingly, it doesn't even have anything to do with warring factions and all that stuff that comes from the Battlefield universe. The new title, Mirror's Edge covers completely new ground and has different gameplay mechanics.

Today, we've got the first trailer from Mirror's Edge which shows off a little bit of what we can expect from the game.

It seems these days you can't do anything without being subjected to some sort of advertising. Whether you turn on the TV, browse the Internet, catch a bus to uni, work or school, you're likely to see at least some form of advertising. I remember a little while ago with there being some pretty fiery discussions on these very forums about the inclusion of advertising in game titles. Titles such as Battlefield 2142 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars are recent tiles which have included advertising.

EA have just signed an agreement with Massive Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. Massive Incorporated are a company which provides opportunities for in-game advertising to other companies. This new agreement extends upon the previous agreement between EA and Massive Incorporated, with greater scope for advertising, and another two years added to the deal.

The global agreement will see advertising placed in several of EA's upcoming Xbox 360 and PC games.

What will you remember 2007 for, in terms of gaming?

We asked some of the game admins and network staff to find out their thoughts, but I'll give you a quick recap first:
Australia got the PS3 in a bit of an anti-climactic launch, bringing with it a bit of resistance, as well as a stormy racer. We got a new Command & Conquer, another episode of Half-Life 2, a final Halo and didn't get the latest Grand Theft Auto. The world was thrown into "what-if?" with a little game from Massive, a motley crew of cartoons finally arrived, making up Team Fortress 2, and the Call of Duty was heard on a more modern battlefield. Ingame physics were turned on their head and flipped inside-out with Valve's puzzling Portal, our favourite four-fingered family arrived on almost every console known to man, first-person shooters got genetically-engineered, and the world was overrun by pocket monsters, both handheld and motion-sensitive. It's also been a big year for a little Italian plumber, who not only took over the soccer field, he also had a party or two and even headed into space, as well as turning somewhat more two-dimensional. Blizzard released their first MMO expansion, announced their second, revealed that 9 million people played World of Warcraft, took the covers off of StarCraft II, and still managed to keep tight-lipped on their new project.

The Games Network has done a whole bunch of work behind the scenes, making things a lot nicer and easier to work with, even if it looks pretty much the same. One of the major changes would be the upgrade to our file mirror, which now boasts 10 terabytes of space, so there's plenty of room for games, demos, screenshots, videos and patches. We also upgraded our staff, getting a whole new person to work for us, as well as a handful of new newsbots to bring you updates and good stories.

As a team, we tended to stay pretty close to home this year (other than sending representatives to eGames in Melbourne, GO3 in Perth, and BlizzCon in LA!), but we took the time to recognise the local guys with a big meetup for our Adelaide members, volunteers and gamers on the Australia Day long weekend last year. We had a whole pub to ourselves!

Overall, we must be doing something right, as every month, it seems we get bigger and bigger, with more visits, downloads and members! ...and, of course, you guys are the most important thing. Thanks for all your support, whether you're a regular visitor, someone who pops in from time to time, or just someone who keeps an eye out for interesting files in our library.

Bring on 2008 - but first, read on to find out what the admins, staff and volunteers have to say about 2007!

It's that time again, and we have a brand new Battlefield 2142 patch for you. Well... it's not that brand new. It's pretty much the same one you've been beta testing recently, but hey - at least you know what to expect!

You can grab it here. It's less than 400MB, so you should be up and playing in no time... well, as soon as the servers are updated. Maybe a few minutes after no time. Hm.

I pride myself on having some sort of newsbot integrity. I post news that has facts and details available to back up my claims. I don't like rumours or unsubstantiated comments that have appeared out of nowhere and may well dissolve into nothingness.

That said, the alleged leak of Battlefield 3 information was too good to pass up. Apparently, a three-page document has been prepared for a December mailout to investors, and someone has gotten their hands on it early. The internet being what it is, we've now acquired some of the information allegedly contained within, and we're sharing it with you.

There's been some discussion on the forums in recent times about getting into gaming ...on a Mac. It's pretty widely acknowledged that if you're not using Windows, your choice of games is pretty severely limited ...but looks like EA is trying to change that.

They've just released the first four games from their catalogue specifically for Mac OS X - so if you're an Apple fan, you can now visit the Apple Store and get your hands on Battlefield 2142, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Need for Speed Carbon and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars!

(...well, "now" if you live in the US. They haven't yet shown up on the Australian online store, sorry.)

While you're all distracted with that other beta, don't forget your old favourites. We just got a late-night email from DICE letting us know there's a new, beta, patch out for Battlefield 2142. You remember, don't you? That game that was the Next Big Thing before the next Next Big Thing came along?

Anyway. The patch, 1.40, is available either as a Standalone or as a 1.25 -> 1.40 Upgrade - and it is in beta only - please back up your files and install for "testing" purposes. I think "wanting to play Highway Tampa" constitutes "testing", there.

It seems that developing games for the Mac OSX is becoming all the rage at the moment. Electronic Arts have just announced a number of their high profile games which will be ported to the Mac. The games will be ported using the TransGaming Cider engine, and the games include: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Need for Speed Carbon, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Battlefield 2142.

It's officially "the middle of the night", what are you kids doing up still playing games? Just because it's a holiday tomorrow! My goodness.

Ah well. Those of you who are up now and interested in Battlefield 2142 will be the first to get your paws on the new 1.25 update. After lengthy beta testing, it fixes a bunch of stuff, as you can expect - and hopefully should make things just a little bit more stable.

Oh, I can hear the excitement already! ...I'm going to bed.

Oh, and... we have an official statement from "those in the know" (ie: EA) about the fact that some most of you have been having a wee bit of trouble logging into Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142.

Essentially... "We're working on it, hold tight" - but a bit more wordy than that.

Service will return "as normal" soon.

After getting much flak regarding unstable and and unbalanced patches Electronic Arts and Digital Illusions CE are doing there best efforts to redeem themselves with Battlefield 2142. Digital Illusions CE have just announced they have done some major rework on the anti-ship missile tracking system and are asking the community download the client and to hop on a beta server and tell them what you think of the changes on the Battlefield Website.

The Battlefield 2142 v1.24A beta Full client is available here or the update patch here and will include a long list of changes some large and some small, including fixes to some geometry exploit, and a reduction of the APM blast radius.

Y'know, one of these days, a game will be released that is perfect, straight out of the box (or out of the download - I'm not standing in the way of progress).

Today is not one of these days, however, and I've got yet another Battlefield 2124 patch for you. Sigh.

This one brings the game up to v 1.20, and my best bet is that it's putting some things in the right place for a seamless transition when you rush out and buy Northern Strike in a month or so.

Well, we can but hope, anyway.
Here's ze patch and the upgrade from 1.19b, as well as the Windows and Linux server files.

News Just in from EA, for this weekend only, all unlocked weapons in Battlefield 2142 will be available for all to use, and this time it isn't a bug.

Im not exactly sure what time zone this is from however we have been told from Friday, Feb 16th to Monday February 19th anyone will have the chance to test out all the weapons unavailable to them because they haven't unlocked them yet.

That is all the information we have been given so im going to exit stage left before anyone asks me any questions.

EA have just released some more information about Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike their latest expansion for Battlefield 2142.

For those hiding in a gaming black hole Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike will feature three new maps and new vehicles including EU's heavily armed IFV Goliath and the PAC's hovering light IFV Hachimoto in addition to new unlocks, new badges and ribbons, new gameplay. Kristoffer Bergqvist producer of Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike took some time out to answer questions about the new IFV Goliath.

No real surprises here, I'm afraid. The list for both overall and PC games is - of course - WoW: The Burning Crusade, followed quickly by Lost Planet, and Cricket dominates the PS2 yet again. Still no major changes for the Wii - Zelda's still on top over there - and the New Super Mario Bros tops out the DS chart (which is otherwise full of Nintendogs).

...actually, it is worthy to note that BF 2142 has wormed its way back into the charts, snuggling in between two variants on The Sims 2. Maybe the news of the Northern Strike booster pack's gained them some fans?

Walking through a dark and seedy backalley, someone bumped into me and slipped a crumpled piece of paper into my pocket. After they left, I smoothed out the paper and read a URL - a product page for EA's Battlefield 2142 booster pack - Northern Strike, with some mumbles about another one, BF2142: Infantry Storm. "But this was only rumoured!" I thought... not so, any more.

Not long after the page loaded, it was locked down and removed from prying eyes, but we've managed to keep a copy of the text, in case you were interested. And why wouldn't you be? Northern Strike puts infantry battles into new European battlegrounds, covered with snow.

So you've seen the late-night patches. You've heard all the fuss and carryon. You've counted how many servers and playerspots we're dedicating to it... but what's the big deal about Battlefield 2142?

Trusty SCUD is here to help you in your quest for knowledge, putting his gaming duties on hold and putting together a review for you all. Go, read, learn.

Looking back, what will 2006 be most remembered for, gameswise? Obviously, there's the Wii, and everything that came with it - Zelda, Rayman, cracked TVs, which is probably a highlight for most people. There's also Battlefield 2142, which let a lot of people down and didn't do much to restore faith in EA/Dice. Then there was a little game about thermonuclear war, which took the world by storm (ha!), surprising even the developers. 2006 also saw E3 change significantly, and countless similar events pop up around the globe to pick up the slack, meaning gamers have no shortage of events.

Speaking of shortages, the PS3 was delayed in Australia, while Wii was launched, and the Xbox 360 plodded along happily, among brightly coloured pinatas and killer locusts.

On a more local level - the Internode Games Network has doubled in size. We now boast an impressive news portal, a comprehensive File Library and get more than 100,000 unique visitors a month (and more than 20,000 downloads a week). Server-side, there are now eight more quad-core machines hosting game servers (with three more on order), in four cities around Australia - giving more than 2,000 peak players a night somewhere to play.

We've written up a few questions and handed them around to various Internode Games Network types, to find out about their highlights, lowlights and memorable events of 2006.