At a press conference during the Dragon Quest 20th anniversary event in Japan, Square Enix announced that it will release DragonQuest IX on the NDS. Developed by Level 5, Dragon Quest IX: Defender of the Stars is the first title on any Nintendo system since Dragon Quest VI, 10 years ago. Featuring WiFi support for four players in co-op, DQ IX is currently scheduled for released mid-2007 in Japan.

A recent SEC filing offers the first sign of live in quite a while from once famed publisher/developer Interplay, apparently getting ready to start production on a Fallout MMOG in January 2007 (thanks Blues). Set in the highly recognized Fallout post Nuclear Apocalyptic world giving consumers an ongoing virtual experience of today's life as if the cold war, which lasted for the best part of the second half of last century, had led to a nuclear disaster. The development budget is set for $75 million dollar and is scheduled to last until 2010, indicating approx when we should expect it in stores. Time will tell ...

Commander: Europe at War is the first in a series of high level turn based strategy games, jointly developed by Firepower Entertainment and Slitherine Software.

Valve announced that later this week it will start the closed beta for Guest Passes, a new feature that will allow owners of certain Steam-enabled games (purchased either via Steam or at retail) to send a friend limited-time trials for those games. Although the feature will be listed in the menu, it will not be active, but when this closed beta concludes, Valve will extend the Steam Guest Pass Beta to Day of Defeat: Source owners.

The furious battle of Pearl Harbor became the first in the sequence of gory sea combats. Now you can take part in all major Pacific battles of the World War II in the Pacific Storm game that is a mixture of RTS, war-game and simulator. This v1.3 multiplanguage patch fixes various bugs, in-game text, memory leak and joystick issues.

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

• Armored Core 4 [PS3/X360] - Trailer #7
• NBA Street Homecourt [PSP/PS3/X360] - Trailer
• Full Auto 2: Battlelines [PS3] - Launch Trailer
• Fuzion Frenzy 2 [X360] - Trailer #2
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Age of Pirates embodies the freedom of sailing, trading, fighting, colonization and the unlimited exploration of the real Caribbean, with 16 islands, and two main characters, each with their own spectacular story. This v1.43 patch opens scripts for modding, fixes to interface and FMOD sound system library, items/quest generation updated and more ...

Microsoft announced that registration is now open for the first two events in the highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade Challenge. Competitors in each event have the opportunity to win prizes ranging from a high definition plasma TV to Xbox hardware and Microsoft Points tokens.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos is an RTS game set in the renowned Warhammer world, featuring epic battles within massive landscapes, while offering an astounding level of detail, from a bird's eye view down to the insignias on a warrior's armor. This v1.6 patch adds new features, a slew of unit/item balance tweaks, and the usual bugs/crash fixes.

Non-stop vehicular combat action at its best is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, December 13, after 0800 GMT (12:00 a.m. PST) with Assault Heroes, an innovative action combat game from Wanako Studios and published by Sierra Online.

NBA Street series expands on the fast-paced and larger-than-life 3-on-3 basketball gameplay, creating a hyper-real world that merges legendary courts with the hometown courts of your favorite NBA stars into one seamless city of streetball moments.

SEGA announced the release of two SEGA Genesis classics, Gunstar Heroes and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, while Hudson releases Alien Crush, and last but not leasr Ice Hockey skates onto Wii's Virtual Console.

Virtua Tennis 3 gives gamers the opportunity to experience new levels of realism never thought possible on a home console system with enhanced photo-realistic graphics and advanced player animations that perfectly match the behaviour and mannerisms of individual professional players.

Today independent developer Sentinel Studios offiically announced its inception. Paul Potera, best known for his leadership role with Ubisoft-owned Sinister Games, and Marc Racine, former co-owner of Vicious Cycle Software, sit at the helm of the five-man console game development team with over 50 years combined industry experience.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar adds a gripping new single-player campaign sees the elimination of two of the game’s alien races and the introduction of several others.

XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a WinXP-based PC. Microsoft also unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360.

Fasten your seatbelt and be prepared for the race of your life as Formula One 06 brings players a brand new gaming experience, allowing you to get closer to the sport than ever before, and take part in the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship and truly interact with the sport.

Tribal Trouble is a fast paced realtime strategy game where you will find yourself pitted against your computer or online players. Oddlabs has released an updated demo, allowing you to try out 6 tutorials and single- and multiplayer modes on computer generated maps.

SEGA announced Alien Syndrome, a fast-paced action-RPG set in a stunningly imaginative sci-fi universe, offering two fast-paced action-RPG modes – the dramatic and engaging single-player campaign, plus a hugely re-playable co-op multiplayer mode where up to four players can delve into the daring quest.

The latest issue of Game Informer reveals some new information about Nintendo's Zelda franchise, some good, some bad. Now that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii is available everywhere, sources have it that Nintendo has already been working on an all new title in the franchise, for almost a year, and could see the light of day sooner than expected. Less positive news is that The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has been delayed until October 2007, and has been greatly reworked since E3 2006.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 will feature changing climate, improved AI, an advanced Cross-Com system, air strikes from jet fighters, new weapons and a new soldier class, the Medic.

Armed Assault is a realistic, combat gaming offering freedom of action and immersive complex environments, blended with a unique touch of total simulation. Bohemia has released a beta version of its Win32 dedicated server, so you can host your own games.

Tales of Destiny 2 is the sequel to Tales of Destiny, originally released on PS2 4 years ago. Set 18 years after the original, Tales of Destiny 2 introduces two new heroes, Kyle Dunamis and Reala. The game uses mostly 2D, except for map movement, battle sequences are real time using the new Trust & Tactical Linear Motion Battle System (TT-LMBS).

Caesar IV takes the city-building genre into the 21st century, with new gameplay and features, and a cutting edge 3D graphics engine developed specifically for the title.

Fist Bravo is an addon for Vietcong 2 that addresses and fixes many of the issues with the original release of the title and provides gamers with new equipment options, new multiplayer maps and much more.

Glukoza: ACTION! combines exhilarating 3rd person action game with classical fighting, when you move from one level to another, beating your enemies hard. Player controls Glukoza directly and can use various types of weapons that can be found within game levels. Melee and hand-to-hand combat modes are also present.

SEGA has signed an agreement with 20th Century Fox to develop multiple next-gen and PC games set in the "Alien" universe, including a first-person shooter and an RPG, with the first to be released in 2009. SEGA is in talks with actors from the films, including Sigourney Weaver and Lance Henriksen, to provide their likenesses and voices for the games. Aliens vs. Predator is not part of the deal, for which a second game might tie in with the movie.