Joining the online distribution movement, Valve Software have announced the upcoming release of several Activision titles on the Steam online content delivery service. So far, four titles have been named: GUN, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty: United Offensive and Call of Duty.

More and more third party publishers have been signing up for a piece of the Steam pie, with Majesco's Psychonauts launching today and Ubisoft's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic later this month the title library is really starting to diversify. Does this mean we might see the upcoming Enemy Territory: Quake Wars offered over Steam? Time will tell.

The v1.3 patch for Call of Duty 2 is now avaialble addressing several multiplayer-centric issues in Infinity Ward's World War II first person shooter. GameArena Call of Duty 2 servers have now been updated, so download the patch and join the battle.

• Raised the gamestate from 16k to 128k
  
• Added loading bars to maps mp_harbor and mp_rhine
  
• Addressed the PB GUID issue where players were not being assigned PB GUID's of exactly 32 characters.
  
  mp_rhine map changes:
• Fixed player getting on top of broken wall and seeing through second story of bombed out building.
  
  mp_harbor map changes:
• Reduced overall fog density
  
• Fixed missing water texture
  
• Fixed player not being able to shoot through lower portion of the first gap in a railing found on east side of map.
  
• Fixed player not being able to shoot through lower portion of railing found on east edge of map.
  
• Fixed a partially floating crate and a couple holes in sandbags.

The long promised multiplayer patch for Call of Duty 2 is now live adding two new maps and the community demanded punkbuster anti-cheat support. Here's a snippet of other changes included in v1.2:

- Fixed a potential exploit where players could get outside the map boundaries.
- Corrected an exploit that caused some servers to shut down unexpectedly.
- Please note that all "Message of the Day" text needs to be less than 1000 characters total.

Head over to our download page for the complete change list.

Activision sends word that the promised update for the Xbox 360 version of the World War II FPS, Call of Duty 2 is now online as an automatic update on Xbox Live, ensuring that any Australian first day purchasers will be able to access the new features come tomorrow's long awaited release.

The title update offers significant enhancements, including improved multiplayer performance, the ability to reserve friend slots in private game lobbies, post-game lobbies so friends can play longer, configurable host options and more.

PC gamers need not be disappointed as further details for the desktop release's next patch have also been revealed and include Punkbuster anti-cheat and two new multiplayer maps, "Rhine" and a remake of Call of Duty's "Harbour".

In an announcement sure to bring some of you a bit of holiday cheer, Activision sends word of some new patch changes in the works for Call of Duty 2, chief among those being the inclusion of Punkbuster anti-cheat support.

"Our team at Infinity Ward is committed to supporting Call of Duty fans," said Grant Collier, president, Infinity Ward. "We've worked hard to deliver the most epic and immersive experience ever with Call of Duty 2 and look forward to delivering new content such as multiplayer maps, tools and anti-cheat software that will further enhance the gameplay experience."

Expect this one early in the new year.