The Rats have posted an update on the progress of the Unity engine upgrade they are performing. The release is "definately 2009":

How is this upgrade best described and how will effect a player's game experience? The goal is to improve game performance while making the code team more productive.

"We’re not just talking about better FPS we’re also talking about the ability of our dev team to integrate new features with out breaking things. We’re talking about taking disparate parts of code and making them one defined module. We’re talking about rebuilding code bases to get rid of errors," wrote GOPHUR.

The upgrade will result in using some of the performance gains being converted into new or upgraded visuals. We plan on implementing the newest version of IDV's "Speedtree" library which contains higher resolution and more detailed trees. Players will see new version of special effects such as water, smoke and explosions. There are even plans to upgrade our infantry with rag doll physics.

The battlefields of Western Europe have been playable for 7 years now. Cornered Rat Software have announced that they will be hosting a week of festivities in order to celebrate the anniversary for World War II Online: Battleground Europe, and they are giving new, former and current players a treat - Full details and schedule here.

- New players will be able to:

14-DAY FREE TRIAL
From June 6th through June 13th, new players can create a 14-day FREE trial account and to celebrate our anniversary, there is no credit card required to sign-up and at the end of the free trial, we're giving you a an activation key ($19.99 value) FOR FREE!

- Former players will be able to:

WELCOME BACK SOLDIER
Playnet is inviting all previous players to enjoy 7 days of free game time between June 6th and June 13th. Tens of thousands of accounts will be activated for the promotion.

- New, former and current players will be able to:

HIGH SCORE WINNER - WE'LL MAKE YOU FAMOUS!
The highest scoring fighter pilot on June 8th will win an incredibly unique prize: Their own face immortalized in game! Don't miss this opportunity to have your likeness digitized and added to the Battleground Europe catalogue of avatar faces. Log in on June 8th and rid the skies of your enemies!

REALISM EVENT- OPERATION SEA LION
The Realism Event team is a group of players who volunteer tremendous amounts of time to create special events and recreations of World War II battles. The team is hosting an event of June 8th dubbed "OPERATION SEA LION".

The Axis High Command has captured the mainland of Europe and have set their sights on the capture of England to control all of Europe. Months of planning, preparation, training, and gathering of troops and equipment have come to a close and it's time now for "Operation Sea lion" to commence. The England invasion orders have been issued and dispatched to the troops.

HIGH SCORE WINNER - WE'LL MAKE YOU FAMOUS! (PART DEUX)
Here's the chance for ground pounders to make their mark in Battleground Europe: The top scoring infantry player for June 9th will have their face digitized and entered into the catalogue of game avatars. So log in, pick up a weapon, and hit the battlefield to scrap it out for this great prize!

KILL-A-RAT
Everybody's favorite! Add 3 Rat (Game Staff) kills to your CS&R (ststs) and earn bragging rights, a T-shirt and a shot at a free year of gameplay! An announcement will be made as to which part of the map The Rats will be located. Don't worry, they're splitting up and fighting for both the Allies and the Axis. T-shirts will be awarded for 3 kills on a Rat and the grand prize is a one-year free subscription.

THE RATS LAST STAND
Cornered Rats in name, Cornered Rats in reality...The premise is simple: The Rats have infested Willemstad Castle, and the community must exterminate them. The Rats have taken refuge in the castle and must hold it at all cost until a transport ship From Hellevoetsluis arrives to withdraw them to Cromstrijen. If Willemstad is captured before the transport ship arrives and the Rats cannot make good their escape, the community claims victory! If the Rats holds against the unwashed horde and can board the transport, then all shall bow before their might!

2pm - Rats will play Axis
8pm - Rats will play Allied

A few hours prior to the beginning of the event, there will be a sytem message reminding players to log in to the training server to begin this titanic struggle.

- And an event that I will definitely be logging into WWIIOL to join:

SERVER-WIDE CEASE FIRE
Battleground Europe may be the most immersive and realistic war game you can play, but it pales drastically in comparison to the real thing. Join us in-game at 2pm and 8pm CST to quietly honor all of the men and women in the armed forces around the world who served and sacrificed during World War II. Axis and Allied players are requested to meet on the bridge at Dinant for a 15-minute peaceful gathering and memorial service.

Another chat with the developers of World War II Online has been conducted. Below is a summary of the topics:

Topics covered included:

• How rounds are tracked post penetration
• How fires and explosions work
• Why "overmatch" isn't modeled
• What is going to be changed or improved in the future regarding ATG models
• Bailing out and what it means within the vehicle spawning part of the game engine
• Visual damage models and how they work

Listen to the chat here.

Cornered Rat Software has conducted another "Ratchat". This chat mentions their intention to add more features to the High Command gameplay.

Currently, the HC exists mainly outside the game via email, TS chat or forums to create campaigns. The changes in the UI will bring command functions into the game through the UI and create a gameplay of it's own for command oriented players.

An MP3 of the chat can be heard.

MMORPG.com has teamed up with PlayNet to offer a free 14-day trial of World War II Online: Battleground Europe.

Cornered Rat Software's <a href="http://www.battleground-europe.com" target="_blank">World War II Online</a> is celebrating its five year anniversary.<blockquote><em>Bedford, TX, June 16th, 2006 a  The largest promotion in the 5-year history of the PvP-based MMOG, "WWII Online", is set to begin June 22nd to celebrate the game's evolution and to thank players for supporting one of the longest-running MMOGs in the history of gaming.<br><br>The a S
Welcome Back Soldiera ? promotion will activate accounts of approximately 300,000 players for 14 days between June 22nd and July 6th. In addition, all former and current players who join the action during the promotion will be eligible for prizes such as t-shirts, drink coozies, free yearly subscriptions and more.<br><br>Playnet Inc. and its in-house development studio, Cornered Rat Software, launched "WWII Online: Blitzkrieg" in June of 2001 with follow-up retail releases, "Readers' Choice Edition", "Macintosh Edition" and most recently, "Battleground Europe" in many European countries. The current version is available through direct download at <a href="http://www.battleground-europe.com" target="_blank">www.battleground-europe.com</a> or as a game-on-demand through Matrix Games (<a href="http://www.matrixgames.com" target="_blank">www.matrixgames.com</a>)<br><br>"Its been a roller-coaster ride beginning with one of the earliest MMOG launches to growing and supporting a fiercely-loyal player community all the while trying to continue the innovative and unique approach to development that's seen WWII Online stand alone as the ultimate PvP MMOG available", says Al "Rafter" Corey, Executive Producer for Playnet. "We're so proud to stand up and say that we're still here and thriving after 5 years. This promo is just a small way for us to say thank you to the thousands of players, past and present, who helped make it possible."<br><br>More details of the 'Welcome Back Soldier' promotion and how to get a 14-day free trial of "WWII Online: Battleground Europe" are available at <a href="http://www.battleground-europe.com" target="_blank">www.battleground-europe.com</a>.</em></blockquote>