Let me fill in the details for those of you who haven't been obsessively checking in on the state of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Baldur's Gate II was a game released way back in the year 2000 to the delight of critics around the world. You and up to six friends play a hero of your own making and are joined by a cadre of colorful NPCs, or a band of your own creations, on your quest to save all of existence. Combat and dialogue are based around the second Dungeons and Dragons tabletop role playing system, though the internal mechanics are obfuscated by the game crunching the numbers for you. The result is a character driven experience catered to the way you want to play it.

In anticipation of its impending launch date, the folks over at Overhaul Games, the dev studio behind the enhancement and re-release, have unleashed a little pile of goodies to help tide gamers over; including new screenshots, some new concept art, music samples from the game's soundtrack, and wallpapers. Having never played the original ("What?!" you exclaim, "You're no gamer!"), I can only compare the improved graphics via side-by-side screen shot comparisons of the original versus this enhanced edition. That, and my memory of PC graphics circa 2000... we were so impressed by little things back then, like "floors with bricks!" and "buildings with windows!"

Take a look at the gameplay footage.