Click to enlarge

Blizzard yesterday opened up their massively multiplayer online RPG World of Warcraft to another 100,000 players to help stress test the servers before the title goes live, and now they're giving stress test players an extra incentive to work hard in their short (one week) time period in the game: the three highest level players in each class will get the opportunity to keep playing in the main World of Warcraft beta for free until the game's launch.

With the number of Horde and Alliance classes, this means 48 players will be moving into the normal beta when the week-long stress test ends on September 9. Here's more from their site:

Blizzard will be holding a competition during the stress test to determine the three highest-level characters per class in both the Alliance and Horde factions. At the end of the stress test, three players of every Horde class and three players of every Alliance class will win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. In the event of a tie, total experience accumulated will determine the ultimate winners.

In the interest of fairness and in accordance with the World of Warcraft Beta Test Agreement and Terms of Use Agreement, players are not allowed to share accounts. Any character that has been leveled up through shared playtime by multiple players will be disqualified from the contest.

World of Warcraft Stress Test Contest Rules

IMG News: World Of Warcraft Nearly Complete; Stress Test Begins

Blizzard Entertainment (add to watch list)

World of Warcraft (add to watch list)

Buy World of Warcraft

Click to enlarge

Boomtown has posted an article detailing some of the more notable mods recently released for Unreal Tournament 2004. The mods listed range from weapon additions to complete overhauls, and some will be included in the upcoming Editor's Choice Edition.

Besides Red Orchestra 3.0, covered earlier, other mods include Lawdogs, a wild west shooter, Ripper 2k4, which adds the venerable Ripper weapon to UT's latest incarnation, and Dodgeball:

The objective is simple: pick up the ball and throw it directly at the opponents. Scoring is done by hitting an opponent directly with the ball, after which the ‘victim’ is put in the prison area. To get out of this prison area, simply try to pick up the ball and hit an opponent. This might seem pretty boring, but as you know, looks can be misleading.

UT2004 Modmania continues!

Digital Extremes (add to watch list)

MacSoft (add to watch list)

Epic Games (add to watch list)

Unreal Tournament 2004 (add to watch list)

Buy Unreal Tournament 2004

Click to enlarge

IMG's Brad Custer has updated his section with a brand-new desktop. This week's piece pays tribute to Freeverse's arcade shooter, Active Lancer.

Here's an update about the latest desktop:

I think it speaks well for the Mac gaming community as a whole when I miss making a desktop for a game because there are too many requested by the viewers. Active Lancer from Freeverse and de software is one such title that slipped through the cracks. I'm rectifying this oversight here and now. Being a fan of science fiction I enjoy every chance I get to make a desktop based in outer space.

IMG Desktops: Vertical

Freeverse (add to watch list)

Active Lancer (add to watch list)

Buy Active Lancer

Search for other Mac games news stories or browse our Mac Games News Archive.