Purge, delivers a compelling combination of first-person shooter gameplay and RPG character development, immersing players in a strife-torn world that blends science fiction and fantasy. This beta build primarily focuses on optimizes the netcode. All players should see large drop in ping. Player creatable base constructions (Barriers, Generators, Shrines, etc.) should no longer significantly increase ping. Purge 1.3.6 also fixes reported various bugs in Purge. Also, for players who still think Purge is played like typical deathmatch FPS, a new "helper" message system added assist new players to Purge's unique game style. Read more for a detailed fix list and download links (full download and patch).

Yesterday the official site for Sim City 4 was updated with this link for a new patch (thanks Blues).. The patch mainly adressed several game fixes and is now also available as standalone download for people having problems getting it through the website. Read more for details and download links ...

World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars is the imminent dirt track racing simulation by Ratbag and Infogrames that started out as a PS2-only game. Infogrames has just released a playable demo that sports the Knoxville and Lernerville tracks in arcade and multiplayer modes with a choice of two different cars (thanks Gamespot). Read more for details and download links ...

New budget range launched 4 April for Nintendo GameCube, including Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros and the glorious Pikmin. Read more for full pressrelease!

Konami of Europe has confirmed a March 28th release date for the PlayStation 2 version of the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance - and has also announced that the Sony version of the game will include a DVD of 'The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2' at no extra cost.

And we thought our puns were grim. Still, this Cheshire company reckons it's cracked the old "games for girls" chestnut... A UK Computer Games Company "Nissimo" has created a computer game which is more popular with women than men. Fruitfall is a game so simple that anyone of any age or ability can grasp how to play, with enough of a challenge to keep even the most ardent gamer amused for hours. Sales figures to January 31st 2003 show that female purchasers outnumber males by 3 to 1.

To mark the success of Junglewar: Vietcong gaining over 14,000 signups since its launch in late Dec, PC videogame publishers, Gathering have created a new scenario to keep players entertained until the release of Vietcong on the 21st March 2003 (UK release).

NVIDIA Corporation the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, and Microsoft Corporation announced today that the companies have settled all issues related to pricing of the Microsoft Xbox GPU (graphics) and MCP (audio and networking) chipset and have ended the arbitration between them. In addition to resolving this pricing dispute, the two companies have agreed to collaborate on future cost reductions for the Xbox. More details will be provided during NVIDIA's quarterly conference call to be held February 13th, 2003.

With just a week to go now before American Conquest hits the shelves,things at CDV are as busy as ever. The latest pre-release news is that there are 10 exclusive new screenshots on their American Conquest: War Of Independence Tournament website. Here is a direct link to the Gallery page.