Action-packed video games can improve your eyesight, according to a recent study at the University of Rochester funded in part by the US Navy's Office of Naval Research.

Researchers set one test group playing first-person shooters Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2, and the other The Sims 2. After 50 hours over 9 weeks, FPS players were found to have a 43% improvement in their contrast sensitivity--the ability to spot slight differences in shades of grey--while Sims 2 players saw none. Read more »

Update 3: More comparisons surfaced overnight, revealing that Limbo of the Lost apparently contains background elements of Gray Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, World of Warcraft artwork, and a shocking number of Unreal Tournament 2004 maps.

Epic plots new Make Something Unreal contest is a news story on Computer & Video Games, quoting Epic's Mark Rein on the possibility of another Make Something Unreal contest. The first contest resulted in the Red Orchestra team receiving an Unreal Engine license.

Creative has released a patch for Unreal Tournament 2004, adding enhanced weapon sounds and music to the game specifically for Sound Blaster X-Fi owners. According to the company; "Weapons and music both now use multiple voices for a bigger sound, and three dimensional panning for use with multi-speaker set-ups to surround you with sound." Thanks Blues News.

Looking to make a quick buck, Midway has announced plans to release an Unreal Anthology compilation this fall. The $29.95 compilation will include the original Unreal and its Return to Na Pali expansion pack, Unreal 2, the original Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 2004.

As promised, the Unreal Tournament 2004 Mega Pack is now available. It includes the content from the previously released Editor's Choice Edition patch, and nine community made maps.

Beyond Unreal reports that a Mega Pack patch for Unreal Tournament 2004 is set to be released this Tuesday. The Mega Pack will include the latest patch, the ECE bonus material and nine community created maps (5 Assault, 2 DM, 2 CTF).

Epic sends along a new Unreal Tournament 2004 patch, updating the multiplayer shooter to version 3369. As always, this patch is compatible with the retail version and previous patches, and servers and clients of any version can connect to each other. Some of the changes include

* General Gameplay: Fixed DriverLeft() not be called when driver dies in vehicle without vehicle being destroyed. This fixes the vehicle not resetting, and fixes effects like the engine sound not being turned off. * Fixed some vehicle weapon effects staying around when bots stopped firing them. * Fixed spider mine layer incorrectly reducing mine count when a fired spider mine immediately explodes. * Fixed manta and raptor spinning sometimes when player enters * SPMA camera explodes if it hits water. * Don't allow SPMA camera view to go outside world. * Invasion HUD radar uses the viewed pawn's rotation rather than the spectator's rotation. * Fixed low gravity not working properly in second and successive rounds of onslaught.

Epic is finalizing a new Unreal Tournament 2004 patch, and BeyondUnreal has beta change notes showing a good amount of gameplay, network and engine fixes and optimizations.

Tripwire Interactive today announced that its popular WW2 mod Red Orchestra is heading to Steam as Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. Red Orchestra for UT2004 won NVidia's $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal contest, and with the Unreal Engine 2.5 license won through the contest the game will now be a stand-alone product. There's no word on when Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 will show up on Steam.

"Digital content delivery is the future of gaming, and we are very excited to be a part of that future" said Tripwire Interactive President John Gibson. "Working with Valve to release the game over Steam allows Tripwire to remain independent and keep control of the games content and development. This allows Tripwire to continue to offer our fans the same uncompromising level of realism, authenticity, and gameplay they have come to expect from Red Orchestra while continuing to innovate and push the boundaries of the military FPS and simulation genres."

There's a Strike Force Q&A on GameCloud this morning, talking to Michael Hamlett of Vision Studios. Hamlett is asked about the Strike Force 2004 mod, and his company's plans for a commercial Strike Force Red Cell game.

Version 3.3 of the Red Orchestra mod for UT2004 has been released. In this release you'll find a new map, improved bot AI, a new player momentum system, and "major rendering optimizations". A patch updating 3.2 to 3.3 is available as well.

Version 2.16 of the Frag.Ops mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 has been released, adding two maps and also offering other new features, gameplay tweaks and bug fixes. We have the update from 2.15 on FileShack.

Version 3.2 of the Red Orchestra mod for UT2004 is now available. The new release adds bot support, the Iosef Stalin 2 tank, a motion blur effect for when an explosion occurs near you, a new prone movement system and much more.

Over at Planet Unreal you can find a Q&A with the team at Tripwire Interactive, makers of the Red Orchestra mod for UT2004. There are questions about winning the Make Something Unreal Contest, going retail, and the amount of people actually playing the mod.