On Sunday the TaleWorlds team released beta version .950 of their soon-to-be-completed medieval warfare simulation, Mount & Blade. The new update is one of the largest in recent memory and will hopefully be the last before the game is formally released later this year by Paradox Interactive. The new features and improvements for this version include:

• Many new settlements and castles on the world map.
• Reworked animations.
• Graphical updates, including new textures and effects
• New approach to character creation along the lines of the Ultima series, which replaces picking stats with answering a set of questions designed to establish your character's strengths and weaknesses.
• Changes to the way arena fights are handled.
• Much-improved realm gameplay, including the ability to win the favor of a lady, capture and ransom kings and nobles, defend castles against beseigers or become a mercenary.
• Improved A.I.
• Optomized engine and loading times.
• A whole bunch of really amazing stuff.

Mount & Blade version .950 is available at gameupdates.org and filecloud.com.