The signups for the Urban Zone Leagues have opened. This is going to be the first season that Urban Terror 4.2 will be required.

The Urban Zone League consists out of Capture the Flag, Team Survivor and BOMB Leagues, respectively in their 18th, 11th and 3rd season. For the top divisions there will be the cup system that was piloted in the last season.

Microsoft is planning to change the way its Start Screen operates with the release of Windows 8.1. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed that the company is currently testing builds of Windows 8.1, known as codename Windows Blue, that include an option to boot directly to the traditional desktop. We're told that the option is disabled by default, allowing users to simply turn on the functionality should they want to avoid the "Metro" Start Screen at initial boot or login.

They’ve got the message that it should be an OPTION then!

A real case of swings and roundabouts. Following Lucasfilm’s announcement that it will lay off the staff of its videogame unit LucasArts following a billion acquisition by Disney, game developer Raven Software said that it has released the source code for the single-player components of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.

The games were published jointly by LucasArts and Activision in 2002 and 2003 and both were based on a modified version of the Quake III Arena engine.

In a statement a Raven spokesperson said that the company is releasing the code “as a gift to the persistently loyal fanbase for our Jedi games and in memory of LucasArts.”

The source code for Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy can be downloaded from SourceForge.net. Expect iojeji anytime soon!

Controversial online zombie-blasting video game The War Z is on pause after hackers raided its forum and its database of players.

Publisher OP Productions has advised survivors - what it calls its gamers - to change their passwords: the as-yet unidentified infiltrators of its computer systems accessed players' email addresses and hashed (obfuscated) passwords, but not their banking card details for the pay-to-play shooter.

In a statement, the company said it has suspended the game and its forum for an unspecified period in order to carry out an investigation into the hack.

OP Productions called in external consultants to investigate the digital break-in, which it described as a "humbling experience". The games outfit also apologised for any inconvenience.

The War Z is a multiplayer zombie survival horror fest that has attracted criticism since its release in December.

Christopher Boyd (AKA Paperghost), an avid gamer and senior researcher for ThreatTrack Security, said the hack may have been carried out by a gamer who felt let down by OP Productions and wanted revenge.

"The War Z is itself a rather controversial title - it was pulled from [Valve's online software store] Steam a while ago due to allegations regarding its marketing and promotional claims of in-game features which didn't actually exist in the game," Boyd told El Reg.

"It's entirely possible that somebody felt short-changed amid the furore over the game and decided to take action into their own hands, especially as the game has recently reappeared on Steam. While it's a little odd that the developers don't collect names and addresses, that may be a blessing in disguise given the player data it seems the hackers had access to," he added.

A blog post by Boyd notes that screenshots showing what looks like compromised developer accounts spamming players in-game have been doing the rounds in the run-up to this week's announcement of a security breach. Boyd advises gamers to look for updates via the official Steam Community forum rather than the compromised The War Z forum.

The Urban Terror open-source first person shooter has been updated to version 4.2.010, with the new version bringing a variety of improvements throughout the game.

Among the improvements to be found by gamers with Urban Terror 4.2.010 are updated sounds, performance improvements, new skin sets, new player setup menus, QuakeLive-style mouse acceleration, animation updates, collision reporting improvements, and much more.

We are in the process of upgrading our servers, players are advised to do a FRESH install of their clients.