Xicat tears up the track with its latest release, Motor Trend presents Lotus Challenge, to be released for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft in late 2002 in North America. This is the first auto racing video game to bear the Motor Trend name and seal of approval.

Developed by Ubi Soft's Montreal studio in close collaboration with Red Storm Entertainment, Raven Shield features a brand new Tom Clancy storyline in which Team RAINBOW is led all over the world in a series of dramatic operations. The game will utilize graphics technology provided by the next-generation Unreal engine to power 15 new single-player missions that include the discovery of a cache of biological weapons and stopping an armed gang from terrorizing a London bank. 4 new screens for you to enjoy.
UPDATE : The links were broken earlier today, they are fixed now!

The Neverwinter Nights Patches Page now offers downloads of a new version 1.27 patch for Neverwinter Nights for the English, German, French, Italian and Spanish versions of BioWare's D&D RPG. The new version adds a couple of game resources, support for ATI shiny water, some campaign fixes, a new plot wizard for the Aurora toolset, and more. It is warned that modules created and saved under the new version cannot be played with older versions of the game, and they supply a reversion patch to go back to version 1.26 if this is required to play custom modules and such (thanks Bluesnews).

GarageGames in cooperation with CyPR Media presents the final Indie Developer Roundtable of 2003: How To Focus on Fun And Avoid The Technological Arms Race. The series of monthly moderated chats is designed to improve the visibility of the "indie" community and give access to its leaders on topics of importance to the indie developer. Roundtables are normally hosted on the last Thursday of each month on IRC (IRC server: irc.maxgaming.net Channel: #garagegames). This roundtable will be held Thursday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. PST.

CTO S.p.A., Italy's largest manufacturer of entertainment peripherals is now launching their Xtecnologies range in the UK. The range includes peripherals for PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Cube, Game Boy Advance and Xbox formats. The newest addition to the Xtecnologies range is the Ducati Corse II handlebars. Whilst joypads and steering wheels satisfy the needs of car and flight game players, motorcyclists have previously been left empty handed, but now Xtechnologies meets their needs with the new Ducati Corse II for the PlayStation 2 & PC - exclusive to the two-wheeled players.

A playable demo for MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries has been released, offering the opportunity to experience this recent 3D 'Mech action game by Cyberlore and FASA Studios. The demo sports 2 Halloran missions, 1 Solaris mission (set in the jungle), 2 multiplayer maps and four mechs (Cougar, Owens, HellHound, Uziel and Hellspawn). Read more for links where to grab the goods!

Using archive ITV footage, Acclaim Studios, Salt Lake has re-created every minute detail giving the game a level of realism and authenticity very rarely witnessed in video games. Character intros, costumes and signature moves have all been added and, just like watching the real thing, the crowd becomes a major part of proceedings as the action heats-up. Hear the crowd chant "Easy, Easy" as Big Daddy launches into his infamous 'Splashdown' or bellowing jeers as Nagasaki wipes out his opponent with his rib-crushing 'Kamikaze Crash'. Check out screens for the PS2, NGC and Xbox versions ...

Highland WarriorsTM is the epic story of bloody feuds, Scottish patriotism and English Invaders begins with the original founding of Scotland around 850 AD and peaks with the fight for independence during the 13th / 14th century. Play as one of three Scottish clans or risk your life for the British Crown in 35 historically founded missions. Highland Warriors also supports up to eight players through the Internet or LAN. Today we serve up some screens from another clan featured in Highland Warriors, The MacDonald's! Njoy!

Publisher Strategy First and Developer BattleGoat Studios are pleased to announce that they have entered into a worldwide publishing deal to bring Supreme Ruler 2010 to a store near you in Q3 2003.

The Blizzard's website let us know that a demo of Warcraft III will be available today! (thanks Blues) This playable demo of fantasy real-time strategy Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos features three new single-player missions not included in the full version. The new missions in the demo chronicle the Orcs journey from Lordaeron to Kalimdor - a previously untold chapter in the Warcraft III saga. Demo also contains one multiplayer map (Deadlock) which is ready to be played on Battle.net, Blizzards free online game network, and can be used for custom 1on1 game. Read more for links where to grab the goods ...

Digital Leisure has just let that low down, dirty sidewinder Mad Dog McCree and his gang of bandits into your sleepy western town! The Mayor and his daughter have been kidnapped and taken to Mad Dog's hideout. The town ain't big enough for the both of you... so who's it going to be? You or Mad Dog McCree?! With all live action video and sound, and real western scenery, you'll feel like you are a part of the Old West! But you'll have to be quick on the draw to survive Mad Dog's gang of bandits to ultimately face Mad Dog himself in the final showdown. Find Mad Dog's hideout and save the sleepy town, but choose your shots carefully partner or they'll be measuring you up for the coffin! American Laser Games produced laserdisc-based shooting arcade games in the early 1990s, and Mad Dog McCree is the first to be re-released on PC CD-ROM by Digital Leisure.

A new Lara Croft for a new generation. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness sees the return of the world's most famous videogame character in her greatest adventure ever. Developed by Core Design, the game will be released on PlayStation 2 and PC in February 2003.

Black Label Games, a studio of Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games), has announced it has entered into a production agreement with Liquid Entertainment to develop "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring," a real-time strategy (RTS) game for the PC platform. The game will be developed through VU Games' long-term agreement with Tolkien Enterprises to create interactive entertainment based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novel "The Lord of the Rings." The game will be released in early 2004.

Come and join BioWare's lead designer, James Ohlen and producers, Casey Hudson (BioWare) and Mike Gallo (LucasArts) for a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic chat, at RPG Vault on Thursday evening (Dec. 5th)... Read more for all details!

A Tale in the Desert "MMORPG" is a blend between city-building games and games of guile like Diplomacy and Illuminati. There's no combat - you must win by smart management and sharp-witted negotiation, not by weapons. The game has a plot that unfolds in response to player actions, and when the story is over, the game ends. More info about this game and new screens can be found here!

Jolt.co.uk public forums let us know that the alpha mod version 1.80 of Strike Force for Unreal Tournament is available for download. The alpha release is about 80 MB, and performance and graphics tweaks are included along with gameplay alterations. (thanks Blues)

Q3Matador is a modern-quake remake of the original Matador mod, that was around in the days Quakeworld was still the big fish for Id software. Just ask any old school Quaker who played matador back in the day, they will tell you just how interesting things can get in a good match. Find out more about this mod and download it here!

The game will closely follow the original Bubble Bobble Arcade classic, which burst into the gaming archives in 1986. 'Old and New' will be splicing together two gaming generations and will employ the same graphics and gameplay structure as the original. In addition to this, it will also take inspiration from the sequel, 'Rainbow Islands' (1989). Developed by Taito, based in Japan; developers of, Space Invaders and Super Bust-A-Move and many more titles make up their official development portfolio.

Charm of War is an upcoming RPG/RTS from Buka Entertainment, developed by Antitank. Last week we received the latest build of this game, and of course we fired off some screens. Release date is set to III quarter 2003.. Read more for the screens and features!

GT Racing 2002 is a mod that converts Electronic Art's F1 2002 into a GT Racing game. GT Racing 2002 is much more than just a conversion, it represents a significant development from the FIA GT MOD V3... GT Racing 2002 features:

37 cars from the 2002 season; Extensively remodelled car dynamics; completely revised tyre models, featuring 4 different tyre brands with individual slip curves, wear rates and temperature tolerances; A real-time, dynamic suspension model which takes advantage of the super-high-rate physics engine; A sophisticated brake modelling system, with warm-up, optimum temperature and fade characteristics; Completely reworked AI system for an unprecedented level of racing realism; A unique menu system and game mode control user interface; 7 brand new tracks; An all new 10 round FIA GT championship mode; Brand new interior and exterior car sounds, menu soundtrack and Intro Video. GT Racing 2002 supports two distinct classes of cars. The powerful and difficult to handle GT cars and the easier to control but fiercely competative NGT cars. The latest screenshots can be seen here and the 278MB mod is available here!