Release day is closing in on the Urban Terror community as we work our way towards Sunday and April Fools Day. And no we are not implying you are all fools and that we are going to turn this into a joke. Never happen. Today are some images in game action from BladeKiller's level, Tombs (ut4_tombs).

Now that FrozenSand has announced the release date for Urban Terror the community is electric! Gamers are joining the forums at an alarming rate, support for the game is on the rise. Gamers, old and new are taking a second (or third) look at the game, now that a stand alone client has been developed. Leagues have been yearning for greater support, both in North America and Europe since their membership had slowly decreased over the course the the development cycle.

The release on Sunday will mark the first time the stand alone client (ioUrbanTerror.exe) has been offered for Urban Terror. While many leagues will continue to use the mod version because of PunkBuster, the stand alone version does have a chance at becoming he main version in the Urban Terror Commuinty. It has been discussed that BattlEye, mostly known for anti-cheat in BF2 will be creating an anti-cheat for the stand alone version of Urban Terror.

Have you seen that new link on the page called URBAN GALLERY? We finally have something to pimp! All the levels for the upcoming release have been added to the gallery. There are four images of each level (24 in all) that will be included in Urban Terror that is scheduled for release on April 1. Thanks to the work and effort of MidgetKiller to bring this gem to life. You can also visit the Map Depot to see more unique images of each level he will be debuting until the day of the release.

As stated late week on Urban Radio and posted on the Urban Terror web site, the release for Urban Terror is scheduled for April 1 beginning at 13PDT/20BST. The team is looking forward to a great release, but we still have a few days to kill before releasing the actual game files. So in order to fill that void, we will "bring the terror" to you in images from inside Urban Terror. Here's the first sampling of images from the updated version of the level, ut4_turnpike.



EDIT: You can see 9 more images from Turnpike over at this thread in the Urban Terror Forums.

After nearly 8 years and four major versions, FrozenSand, LLC (formerly Silicon Ice Development) is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of Urban Terror (v4.0). As mentioned on Urban Radio with Oswald this past Saturday (March 24), the upcoming release will take place on Sunday, April 1 beginning at 13PDT/16EST/20BST/21CET. No fooling, this is not an evil April Fool's Day joke the development team is playing.

The release will begin with the Urban Radio Release Party followed by news on the Urban Terror web site that will contain links and release information. Some of the features of the new release include:


For more information on the release and what time the festivities will get under way, visit the urbanterror.net web site.

As mentioned last week during Urban Radio Uptown by BattleCow will be included in the upcoming release. This is great news for all those gamers who saw some of the older, "classic" levels being left out of this release due to not being updated.

Thankfully BladeKiller did not have enough to do, so she decided to update the level the past few weeks. This level has continued to go through testing as the QA testers work with her on making sure the level will have solid game play.

You can see some the updated Uptown, as we created a short video of it. This video will take you on a tour through the entire level. Many of the changes are quite noticable, such as buildings around the upper areas to close in the level, new models updated lighting and some changes that will be left up to you to spot.

The video can be access by clicking on VIDEOS over at the Urban Radio page, hosted by Stickam Video. We also posted a new video of the NVGs, as there has been some discussion on the forums about the changes done to the goggles. Enjoy the show. Look for more videos this week!

When using Urban Terror without Quake 3 Arena (using ioUrbanTerror), it's not possible to use PunkBuster. Although it's possible to have a game without an anti-cheat system, we all know it's better to have a protection from at least the public cheats that are out there.

We are therefore glad to report that the developer of BattlEye agreed to make BattlEye support available for ioUrbanTerror. It's not yet sure if it will be available as soon as Urban Terror is released, but it can easily be added later with an ioUrbanTerror update if needed. If this anti-cheat system turns out to work well, there's no reason to keep using PunkBuster any longer, which means the community will no longer be split up between old school and new players.

Although this is very good news, there's also a drawback. BattlEye works on Linux and Windows only. It does not support Mac clients (yet). The developer did say there's a possibility of support for Mac clients in the future, if a good Mac coder can help accomplish it. As a temporary 'solution', Mac users can play at servers that don't use BattlEye, or use bootcamp to play though Windows. We are aware of the great community members out there that use Macs and we regret that it isn't available for them from the start, but we believe the importance of having an anti-cheat system outweighs this fact.

It's time for you to "get in the game" as Urban Terror and Clanbase gear up for another cup season. The sign ups for the Spring 2007 Open Cup have been extended through Sunday, March 25. Currently the Cup Supervisors are planning on using the upcoming release for the entire cup. This is great! So if you were waiting for an announcement on the release, I suggest you get your clan signed up immediately.

Unlike previous Open Cups, this season the featured game mode will be Bomb & Defuse. This decision was not solely a supervisor decision, but one backed by the Urban Terror gamers who participate in Clanbase. For more information and news on the upcoming Spring 2007 Open Cup visit Clanbase or #clanbase.q3.ut and talk to dan or holden.

It's been a busy week for the development team and the QA testers as the development cycle is nearing the end. We told you there there was a light at the end of this tunnel. After a late cancellation last week Urban Radio returns on Saturday, March 24 beginning at 14PDT/17EST/21GMT/22CET. This is a 2-hour later start than the regular schedule!.

We have a great show on tap with news and notes from the development team, as well as some insight from a big QA test last week.  We have another level update for you and a special piece from an old school Clanbase match you don't want to miss! Finally, we will bring you a top ten list. All that and a few twists and turns through the wonderful world of Urban Terror.

The show will be streamed live on Inside the Game and Stickam for those wanting to watch the show live! With any luck we will record the video this week and it will be provided for playback at your convience.

All that and the latest news from the Urban Terror home front! If you are not able to catch the show live, all casts are made available on the 'Downloads' section at Radio iTG (no registration required). Information contained in the show will be posted in a Radio Roundup news post following the show. Watch for upcoming show information or type !radio in #urbanterror on ETG.