Already revealed a few days ago, SEGA of America, Inc., SEGA Europe Ltd, and The Creative Assembly, known for the Total War series, today officially announced a partnership to create the action-based Spartan: Total Warrior for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. The first game in the new Total Warrior franchise represents the development giant's first console release. Read more for details and the first screens ...

During SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog induction into the Walk of Game tonight, it was revealed with a brief trailer that SEGA is working on a new title in the franchise, but this time the focus will be on Sonic's sworn enemy, Shadow. While no details were disclosed, it will be yet another platformer, albeit with some twists, and the clip showed environments and gave you a taste of what to expect, graphics-wise. Shadow the Hedgehog is scheduled for fall 2005, and SEGA promised there will be more information about "several" new Sonic titles. Read more to download the trailer and see for yourself.

Following a successful 18-month period publishing PC games in Europe, new British video game publisher Digital Jesters announced today that Bet On Soldier, the first-person shooter for PC that has all of Europe buzzing, will be the company’s first foray into the U.S. gaming market, will ship this summer.

EA Tiburon is working on the first patch for EA Sports' NASCAR SimRacing due to be released in the near future. Blackhole Motorsports managed to get their hands on a tentative fix list which indicates there are quite a few tweaks, gameplay adjustments and fixes to be made. Read more for the full fix list...

Konami today announced that it has shipped two video game titles based on the hit TOKYOPOP anime property Rave Master. Rave Master: Special Attack Force for the GBA and Rave Master for the GameCube are over-the-top fighting games that feature storylines, characters and locations from the popular Rave Master animated TV series and comic books.

Act of War: Direct Action, developed by Eugen Systems, is Atari's new action game with a storyline and game universe created in cooperation with Dale Brown, 15-time New York Times best-selling author and expert on US military, global conflict and future military technology. Not even in stores yet, but here is the first patch, although no specific details available (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

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 :

• Battlefield 2 - Proper BFCON LAN Trailer
• FEAR - Trailer #3
• Empire Earth 2 - Tara Teich Diary #2
• NIBIRU - Trailer #2
• Splinter Cell Chaos Theory - NSA Trailer #5
• Rayman DS - Trailer #2
• Silent Hunter 3 - Trailer #7

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, three members of a global computer piracy ring admitted Thursday they shuttled millions of dollars in computer games, movies and software around the world through a coded system of Web sites and chat rooms. One of the three people in question is Seth Kleinberg, Executive Editor of Game-Over.net, who apparently was arrested last April as part of Operation Fastlink. Read more for details ...

Earlier today Epic and Ubisoft announced support for AGEIA's new PPU, SEGA Corporation now also announced a license agreement with AGEIA Technologies Inc. that entitles it to use the NovodeX Physics SDK NovodeX in games developed for the PC and next generation game consoles.

LEGO Star Wars combines two childhood favorites, LEGO and Star Wars, to create an innovative and exciting action-adventure title designed for young gamers. The game is based on The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and the eagerly awaited Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, slated for worldwide release in May 2005.

Guild Wars is a Competitive Online Role Playing Game with an emphasis on rewarding player skill. In large head-to-head guild battles, cooperative group combat, and single player missions, players will explore a fantasy world while pursuing professions and acquiring skills to develop their own personalized character. Unique items, special abilities, and a wide variety of skills add meaningful value for the player and for their comrades.

Stolen is an ultra realistic, third person, stealth-based, action game based around a high-tech female thief. Along with innovative high-tech stealth/robbery game actions and events, Stolen also boasts some truly amazing technical and presentational features to give it a spectacular look that will captivate gamers. Hip Games today released information on Breeze, the arch enemy of Anya Romanov. Read more for details and screens.

Forza Motorsport gives Xbox gamers who are passionate about cars and racing the opportunity to own, customize, and race their favorite cars in a realistic driving simulation. From sport compacts to LeMans prototypes, players use earnings from hundreds of races to buy upgrades and aftermarket parts so they can transform real production cars into high-performance race cars.

Ubisoft and developer Gearbox Software today announced that their World War II game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 has gone gold for the PC and the PS2. Both the PC and PS2 versions will be available in stores on March 17 for the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $49.99.

Developed by Monolith Productions, F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon), is an intense first person close-quarters combat experience with rich atmosphere and an engaging storyline. Vivendi has just launched a new F.E.A.R. teaser Web site, which features a flash embedded trailer and screens, although with mostly previously released material.

NCsoft Europe today announced today that loyal City of Heroes fans will be rewarded by getting priority access to the upcoming City Of Villains European Beta. Those who signed up for a European City of Heroes account in the month following the European launch (Feb 4th to March 4th, 2005), and who have been subscribed to the game for at least six months by the time Beta starts will automatically earn a slot in the City of Villains European Beta.

Domination features a renewed global conflict between the Free Nations Union and the Phantom League on distant planets, including sci-fi land, sea and air warfare at a grand-strategy level. This singeplayer demo features several tutorials, a Free Nations Union campaign mission, Frontal Assault and Field of Glory scenarios, as well as a Micronesia world war map.

Lumines is an addictive, hip, and stylistic musical puzzler reminiscent of Tetris that transcends any puzzle game to date. Created by renowned designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi of REZ, Sega Rally, and Space Channel 5 fame, this puzzle game delivers a unique gameplay experience that challenges players to bust blocks while grooving to evolving rock, techno, and pop musical scores.

Simbin has released a new patch for the German edition of their racing game GTR: FIA GT Racing Game. The update 1.3 also offers, besides some graphical improvements, new setups for all the cars that came with the "Proximus 24H of Spa" Add-On and two new race classes with the Cup 400 and Cup 300. But the main feature is the fine-tuning of the multiplayer mode with an improved overall stability and performance as well as fixed CTD bugs (crash to desktop). Read more for details ...

Namco announced today that the company has signed a licensing agreement with Nottingham, UK-based Games Workshop Group PLC, to create interactive games based on the dark, medieval fantasy world of "Warhammer." The exclusive, long-term deal will allow Namco to publish multiple games for the PC and also allows for future console and handheld gaming versions.

Disney Interactive today announced new details about its upcoming action/adventure title, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PC. Inspired by the upcoming highly anticipated motion picture from Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, the games will launch this Holiday season, in conjunction with film's release.

At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to the island of Madagascar. When their vessel capsizes off the coast, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.

Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced the launch of MLB 2006 for the PlayStation 2. Now available in stores, the popular baseball franchise comes out swinging for the fences with enhanced gameplay to provide gamers the most realistic experience from the diamond.

Publisher Strategy First and developer Radioactive-Software are pleased to announce the signing of the 3D gang simulation game, Gang War. Read more for details and 16 screens ...

Ascaron have today announced that they have acquired the exclusive UK & Ireland co publishing rights for 4 new products from the Czech Publisher Cenega Publishing. Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars, The Roots, UFO Aftershock and El Matador are scheduled for 2005 release.

At the Game Developer Conference, AGEIA Technologies, Inc. announced that Epic Games and Ubisoft will support AGEIA's PhysX chip, the world's first dedicated physics processing unit (PPU).

Silicon Valley chip maker AGEIA Technologies, Inc. today at the Game Developers Conference introduced a new category of semiconductor—the Physics Processing Unit, or PPU. The company's debut product, the AGEIA PhysX chip, will be the first dedicated physics semiconductor chip to be used in next-generation game platforms.

Empire Earth 2 will build upon the award-winning formula of its predecessor by adding features requested both by casual game players interested in a brief spin through history and by more hard core gamers who demand a real-time strategy game that will challenge them for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours.

Musashi’s back and ready for action: he’s got a new world to save, more baddies to conquer, and an evil villain to duel. With a plethora of new moves to learn, lots of fair maidens to rescue, and endless waves of robot ninjas to fight, Musashi: Samurai Legend is a hallucinogenic trip back to the early days of video gaming… but with the luster that a modern system like the PS2 can offer. If you like kinetic, frantically fast-paced action games, you don’t want to miss this one.