Gears of War blends the best of tactical action games with the best of survival horror titles, thrusting gamers into the harrowing story of humankind's battle for survival against the Locust Horde, creating cinematic, high-definition visuals so intense and powerful, it feels like the gamers are controlling a blockbuster action movie.

Atari and Marc Ecko celebrated as recipients of an MTV Video Music Award for its action-adventure game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, named as winner of the first-ever Best Video Game Soundtrack category at the annual video music awards show.

Panzer Tactics DS lets would-be commanders lead their forces to victory or defeat in three exciting single-player campaigns, or compete in WiFi or wireless multiplayer, offering a competitive ladder system to rank the best online commanders. If you haven't yet, also check our preview....

THQ plans to release an "official" singleplayer demo for Relic's WWII based RTS Company of Heroes, featuring new Skirmish content between the Axis and Allied forces, and in general updated code. If you thought the beta demo was huge, then you better strap in, the non-beta version is even a smidgen bigger. Come back Tuesday September 5, 2006 at 9AM PST (6PN Euro time), we will have it available on our filesever network.

Frogwares third title in the Sherlock Holmes series. After Mystery of the Mummy, and The Silver Earring, the French studio is actively working on Sherlock Holmes: The Awaken, scheduled for release October 2006.

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:

• Pacific Storm: Allies - New Features Trailer
• Dawnspire: Prelude - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the introduction of the first-ever truly 3-dimensional persistent playground, highly innovative co-op gameplay and an extensive prop interaction system all while taking place in a massive and highly-stylized urban center.

Paradox Interactive announced that it has set the launch date for Silent Heroes. The stand-alone expansion to Codemaster' Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, will be only be available for download via Gamer's Gate on September 8th, 2006,

Tortuga: Two Treasures will have players setting sail as pirate captains in search of action, adventure and of course, treasure. You play Thomas ‘Hawk’ Blythe and after you get betrayed and captured, a dramatic battle for power, romance, treasure and truth commences aboard the Jolly Roger.

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:

• Red Ocean - GC06 Teaser
• Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Wargaming has released a new patch for its Massive Assault Network 2 open beta test. This v2.0.215 beta adds further optimization, profile features, ATI Radeon bug fixes and a few other tweaks....

What if what you do as a player in a game impacted your real world? What is reality? .hack, a sci-fi fantasy RPG, has pursued this innovative concept in the previous 4-part series where “The World” was ultimately destroyed. Years after the events of the first .hack series, “The World” was rebuilt.

Empire has released the first patch for BugBear's recently released racing game FlatOut 2. This beta patch is for all European editions, including Germany, not US, and adds voice chat, improves multiplayer, updates gfx and fixes a bunch of crashes and bugs.

Europa Universalis III delves deeply into the areas of exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy and is an epic strategy game where players take control of a nation and guide it through the ages to become a great global empire.

Atari received a Staff Determination Letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department stating it's not in compliance with rules where common stock needs to maintain a $1.00 minimum bid price, and therefore is subject to delisting from The Nasdaq Global Market.

Mage Knight Apocalypse is an action RPG based on the collectible miniature game from WizKids Games. Designed with a unique character leveling system and an unprecedented focus on team play, Mage Knight Apocalypse allows up to five players to embark on a cooperative or competitive journey through a war-torn fantasy setting.

An SEC report filled by Vivendi reveals quite a few details about what it has in stores for us in the near future. Psychonauts developer Double Fine is working on a new action/adventure title, while it is preparing several Xbox Live Arcade titles such as Battlestar Galactica, Red Baron, and The Incredible Machine. There is also mention of other, yet-unannounced projects, Crash Festival, M.A.C.H. (Modified Air Combat Heroes) for the PSP, and Sierra Online has a few MMO titles in the works, such as FreeStyle and Crash Online.

In Just Cause, you take on the role of the flamboyant Rico Rodriguez - an undercover CIA operative specializing in regime change - as he tries to overthrow the corrupt government of San Esperito. This rogue South American island is suspected of stockpiling WMDs and it's your job to negate the threat to world peace.

SkillGround is the world's first video game service where competitors from around the world can play top quality video games head-to-head in a secure and fair environment for fun and real money. The creators are currently hosting a beta test, and the first 1,000 people to sign up receive $50 to use as entry fees to play other gamers on SkillGround.

With authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, photo-realistic graphics, 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, and licensed tuning and customization options, Forza Motorsport 2 improves on the unprecedented features gamers enjoyed in its debut installment.