"Stranger" is a real-time strategy game, with elements of role playing games set in a world, split in two parts, surface and a subterranean one, which are in a tenuous balance. 'Stranger' will also feature multiplayer although details beyond "The players may play on their own, or unite in teams" are a bit sktechy.

Tilted Mill has announced that they will be releasing a demo for their city building strategy game The Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile Official Website this coning Friday, November 19. The 200mb demo "reveal a glimpse into the life of your citizens. Take on the rewarding challenge of being Pharaoh as you lead independent people to create a society and then a civilization of your design." Of course we will have it on our fileserver network as soon as its available...

Stronghold 2 will bring the the castle-sim and siege-warfare RTS series to life in glorious 3D. Stronghold 2 will also offer players a "castle-life" campaign, enhanced multiplayer capability and a new, innovative and exciting single player campaign that will be revealed in the months ahead. Due to be released for PC in early 2005, until then, check these new screens...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Trailer

God of War is a new action/adventure game developed by SCEA's Southern California studio previously known for developing Twisted Metal. You play as a yet unnamed hero, surrounded by Greek mythology. Hacking your way through hordes of enemies by means of swords and Spawn-like chains you are on a quest to kill the Greek "God Of War", Ares. Read more for some screens...

In 'Playboy: the Mansion' you step into the virtual slippers of world-famous Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner, building Playboy Magazine and the Playboy Mansion into dynamic cultural icons. Gamers also will live the lifestyle, rubbing elbows with stunning women and popular celebrities, and share the mystique of the Mansion by hosting extravagant, exciting parties.

Epic has released a new patch for its sci-fi FPS Unreal Tournament 2004. This patch brings your retail game to v3339 and addresses the usual slew of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. There is also an updated Editor's Choice Edition bonus pack, for new users only as the patch already includes the bonus pack changes. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Stronghold 2 is the third installment of the Stronghold franchise. The original Stronghold was the first and only game to combine a castle SIM with siege-warfare RTS. Stronghold 2 will be the first to bring the franchise to 3D. Players will be able to build and develop numerous types of castles and defenses while watching their peasants go about their every day lives. Players will see medieval life in all its forms from festivals and jousts to drunken wenches serving their lord dinner. Players will also be given more control over the strategic aspect of the game.

Like its predecessor, "Rolling Thunder" also offers a campaign with 18 missions (approximately eight single missions). This time, Blitzkrieg fans can look forward to a campaign with the famous American General Patton. His crusade through seven countries, including Operation: Husky, is but one of many historical highlights.

Asphalt Urban GT for the Nintendo DS screens have arrived! Drive more than 20 well-respected racing cars in the world, including Lamborghini, Jaguar, Hummer and many more. Race through streets of New York City, Miami, Paris and and other famous locations, at the same time players will have the advantage of watching their progress turn-by-turn on the bottom display of the Nintendo DS.

Midway announced today the appointment of three industry leaders who add significant depth to Midway's internal product development capabilities and are expected to be instrumental in next generation game development. Scot Bayless, former EA and Microsoft, will head Midway's Chicago studio. Denise Fulton, former Eidos and EA, will head the new Midway Studios-Austin. Stephan Martinière, an artist and visual designer brings his talents to the position of visual design director at the Chicago studio.

The Modding Theater Forums have info from EALA's Ed Moore regarding an upcoming patch for EA's recently release FPS Pacific Assault. The update will bring your retail game to v1.1 and address a few minor issues such as address mouse lag, dedicated server CPU utilization, the 999 ping bug, miscellaneous single player bug fixes, etc. Read more for details ...

You might be comfortable in the armor. You might wield the arm cannon with devastating precision. And you might even be a master at maneuvering the Morph Ball. Yet nothing you've encountered has prepared you for the edge-of-your-seat adventure of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, launching today exclusively for GameCube.

Electronic Arts today announced that Need for Speed Underground 2 has shipped to retail stores nationwide for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance and PC.

As commander of up to four fort-dwelling worms, you direct your garrison to quickly construct defenses then build weapons of mass destruction to destroy your opponents' fortifications! With a touch of skill, catapult or canon and some crazy Worms attitude, battle your way to victory through eras and mythologies.

Konami has announced that it will launch Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, an online version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game, Konami's global strategic product. Konami Online, Inc. and Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Inc. have joined forces to develop the new on-line service, which is scheduled to start December 18 on a test basis.

Oddworld Stranger's Wrath combines first and third-person gameplay with familiar Oddworld elements and an all-new engine to deliver a unique gameplay experience. Set to award-winning visuals, players will be moved by the complex and inspiring story as the Stranger comes to grips with his true nature in the hunt for the ultimate bounty.

Electronic Arts today announced a tender offer for all outstanding shares of the Swedish game developer, Digital Illusions (DICE). The offer is scheduled to close on December 27, 2004. EA currently owns approximately 19 percent of DICE's outstanding shares.

Flat-Out developers Bugbear have put a message in the game's community forum notifying its fans that they are working on an update patch for their recently released racing game. The fixes will include at least the following Blue screen / crashes (as far as these can be reproduced), incompability with certain Nvidia Forceware driver version, DirectX 9.0 detection and reporting, force feedback and the horsepower bugs are also on the to-be-fixed list. No multiplayer patch is being worked on, although BugBear recognizes the fan outcry, but says it depends on publisher Empire Interactive.

City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios has updated its official website with a brief statement regarding last week's copyright lawsuit by Marvel Comics. "As reported by The Associated Press, Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Marvel Characters, Inc. have sued NCsoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios. The complaint is meritless. Cryptic Studios is confident that the District Court will reject all of Marvel's claims and fully vindicate Cryptic Studios in all respects."

Guilty Gear Isuka introduces revolutionary upgrades such as 4-player simultaneous fighting, allowing for 2-on-2, 3-on-1 and 2-player co-op battles. The title also adds new characters to a full roster of returning fighters, all-new fight arenas and multiple new modes of play, including an exciting side-scrolling action game called Boost Mode.

SimBin Development Team is nearing completion of the first ever official racing game based on the FIA GT racing series. GTR – The Ultimate Racing Game represents the most intense and immersive racing experience ever to grace a PC or games console. GTR is scheduled to ship in North America in late Q1, 2005 for the PC.

HL2DB and GameSurge are holding a Half-Life 2 Release Party on IRC and GameSurge Radio, with various events scheduled for the hours leading up to the release (midnight on November the 15th), including a possible interview with members of Valve Software. From 9PM Pacific Standard Time, an interview with Sven Viking and Sniper of the Sven Co-op team -- on the subject of their upcoming co-operative mod for HL2 -- is to be held in the #HalfLife2 channel on irc.gamesurge.net.

After Strategy First losing the license last week, Matrix Games is pleased to announce that it has secured the rights to publish Black Hammer Game's new turn-based sci-fi strategy game, Supremacy: Four Paths To Power, which is scheduled for release in December, 2004.