Namco Bandai announced today that the final chapter in its RPG series, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra, is coming to North America fall 2006. As Shion, uncover the future of mankind in a journey to unveil the Gnosis phenomenon and save the galaxy in this exciting conclusion to the Xenosaga trilogy.

Heroes of Might & Magic V will offer a wealth of innovations such as a highly immersive scenario, a variety of appealing factions, modern 3D graphics, a revolutionary tactical combat system, and a story-based campaign mode. Ubisoft has released a singleplayer demo with 3 playable missions (2 campaign missions, 1 custom game), 2 playable races, and 6 presets for Duel game (play on Ubi.com).

The Chronicles of Spellborn is a MMORPG set in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Developed by Dutch studio Khaeon Games, Spellborn uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine, and today it has released an explanation of character statistics

Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg adds tons of new features including many player submitted suggestions. This demo features the same 2 campaigns as before, but now also includes an all new Demo Tutorial Guide, the full game manual (153 pages in pdf format) as well as several game tweaks and enhancements.

Down In Flames focuses on tactical fighter to fighter dogfight combat in World War II. The game is turn based, and the action is resolved through a unique 'action - reaction' game mechanic. This demo features the same content as before, but now includes an all new damage system, updated cannon and machinegun effectiveness, improved wingmen AI, new spitfire animations and more.

Atari and Obsidian Entertainment today announced that the official Neverwinter Nights 2 web site has gone live, and is scheduled for a September 2006 release. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the popular Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms universe, and will transport players back to the embattled city of Neverwinter.

Blur the lines between game and reality with the return of "The World" - a complex virtual landscape filled with intrigue and mystery. When are you playing the game and when is the game playing you? Real life and game life become intertwined as you play the player killer-hunter Haseo in search of a mysterious character in a vividly created MMO world.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• Auto Assault (PC)
• Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked (PS2)
• Bone: The Great Cow Race (PC)
• Hummer Badlands (PS2/Xbox)
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details...

Deer Drive is a stage-based 3D action hunting game, tailored for casual players, but with elements appealing to hardcore gamers. With only a firearm for protection, the player must take stand in an environment full of wild animals - whitetail deer trot and gallop, grizzly and moose charge and attack!

Announced earlier this year, Open Season will allow gamers to relive the humor and adventure of the movie by creating a fun and immersive interactive world that conveys the same comedic storyline, zany characters and artistic images projected in the animated film.

Shortly after previous update Firaxis has released another, large, patch for Sid Meier's Civilization IV. This update brings your retail game to v1.61 and includes numerous optimizations for memory usage that should help performance on all machines but are tailored to especially improve performance on machines at or near the minimum specification.

Two Worlds is an RPG under development at Reality Pump featuring thrilling fight choreographies, gripping characters and realistic worlds, creating new dimensions in the genre. The title also introduces new benchmarks in content with experienced script editors linking the cinematic story with maximum gaming freedom in a medieval fantasy world.

IGA Worldwide has signed a multi-year exclusive agreement to integrate its Radial in-game advertising technology into SimBin’s stable of officially licensed racing video game titles – GTR, based on the FIA GT and a recently announced new series to be based on the World Touring Car Championships.

It was a routine operation. Colombian and American Special Forces units were destroying a cocaine plantation when a sniper’s bullet killed their commanding officer. A moment later, all hell broke loose. The expedition dared to destroy cocaine fields belonging to the Bendictions cartel: the largest and most ruthless drug lord alliance in Colombia.

A leaked overview of Konami's E3 2006 lineup reveals that it will have a new Silent Hill title on display at the convention next month. Whatever information is available at this point indicates that Silent Hill : Original Sin is not going to be an all new title in the horror/adventure franchise but instead a remake of the very first, PSOne, title of the series. Silent Hill : Original Sin is currently scheduled to be released in North America on October 2006.

Sparta: Ancient Wars is a real time strategy based on historical events and timelines, and not to feature myths or legends. Based on the historical background of Spartans' high culture, there will appear huge ancient battles on your screen, enabled by a brand new stunning 3D engine.

While Microsoft ran an Xbox Live free for all last month, it was restricted to North America, so Microsoft Europe announced today it will host a similar weekend for EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting Monday, May 8th, at 08:01 and ends Monday, May 15th, at 07:59.

Brigade E5: New Jagged Union is a tactical turn-based game. The scene of action is a small country called Palinero somewhere in the tropics. Recently a coup d'etat has happened in the country and civil war is about to break out. This demo allows you to try out a tutorial and one mission.

Belief & Betrayal is an adventure game putting the players into the role of the journalist Jonathan Danter, who - after the mysterious death of his uncle - gets involved in a dangerous church conspiracy, which has its roots through the centuries in the time when Judas got 30 silver coins for his betrayal of Jesus Christ.

In Emergency 4 you can either play the 20 mission campaign or choose to try the randomly generated missions. Emergency 4 will feature realistic physics (walls collapsing, fire spreading), simplified controls, as well as a multiplayer mode. This patch will bring your French/German retail game to v1.05 and addresses a multiplayer issue, a load issue and a few other tweaks.