Electronic Arts has made classic FPS Battlefield 1942 free as a "thank you" to Battlefield fans. The gift is being offered "in celebration of the ten year anniversary of the Battlefield series and Battlefield 3 Premium surpassing 2 million members worldwide."

Of course, it's also a clever ploy to get more people to try Origin, EA's PC gaming client.

Read more: A thanks from DICE »

Whatever else you might say about Battlefield 3, you can't deny that the game is (in 1920s parlance) a looker. Its visuals have been the claim to fame throughout EA and DICE's marketing efforts. Now for those curious to see an extremely detailed explanation of how DICE reached this point, Nvidia has released a video of the full keynote speech from its GeForce LAN 6 event, which featured DICE's Johan Andersson explaining the finer points of making games look good, spanning the Battlefield series.

Watch: Over 50 minutes of Battlefield tech-talk »

Version 5 of the Star Wars: Galactic Conquest mod for Battlefield 1942 has been released, adding four new maps, eight vehicles (there are now a total of sixty in the game), and there are several gameplay changes too. If you have v4.2 installed you can grab a smaller patch.

Boomtown has an article on Battlefield TV, an upcoming tool which will add a HLTV-like spectator mode for Battlefield. There will be features like live streaming, pausing and changing camera angles.

The Forgotten Hope team has released a new version of their popular Battlefield 1942 mod which adds a ton of new content to the game. You can find the monstrous 1.6gb download on FileShack.

PC.IGN also has some shacky cam Battlefield 2 footage, which is looking pretty damn sweet. The WMV movie runs for a minute and 18 seconds.

There is a new community update on the official Battlefield Vietnam website. It mentions the 1.1 patch has been delayed, mentioning that they're adding an additional week of testing and polishing. There are also several screenshots showing off the upcoming WW2 mod, illustrating how different Wake Island, Invasion of the Philippines and Iwo Jima look compared to the BF1942 versions.

There is a new community update on the official Battlefield Vietnam website, offering a full list of changes planned for the upcoming 1.1 patch. Thanks P-Squid.

A new version of the Galactic Conquest mod for BF1942 has been released, now at version 0.3. The new release adds a new map, several vehicles and a new player model. You can find client and server patches on FileShack.

A new version of the BF1942 RTS/FPS mod Empires has been released. The changelog can be found here and we have the mod mirrored on FileShack.

New on HomeLAN Fed today is a Q&A with Frank DeLise of Trauma Studios, developer of the Desert Combat mod. In addition to working on DC, Trauma Studios is also working on an unannounced game with Battlefield developer Digital Illusions.

This one is for all the Apple fans here on the Shack: Battlefield 1942 is coming to the Mac. Aspyr Media will be publishing the port, which will include the original game and Road To Rome expansion pack for $49.99. Look for it in June.

The Eve of Destruction team have released a patch for their Battlefield 1942 mod, updating it to version 0.31. Linux and Windows server files are available as well. The EOD team also had this to say about the status of the mod after the BF Vietnam release "At current we, like many in the community, are looking forward to evaluating the updated engine and tools available and make an informed decision afterwards".

Version 0.2 of the Galactic Conquest mod for Battlefield 1942 has been released, sporting all kinds of new features and content. You can find a mirror of the 465mb client file on FileShack.

The official Galactic Conquest website has updated, offering a trailer for the upcoming 0.2 release of this BF1942 Star Wars mod. Looks really nice.