Sword of the Stars lets you explore planets, manage their empire and research new technology. This demo features unlimited turns in a 40 star galaxy, but limited to fission era technology, 2 races (Human & Tarkas), 3 difficulty settings, includes random, encounters, alliances and is multiplayer (4 player online/LAN) enabled.

Create your own fascinating world of ANNO 1701! Become a discoverer – and experience the adventure of a lifetime. Weigh anchor, sail the seven seas, explore new continents and foreign cultures. Demonstrate your strategic skills, business acumen and diplomatic finesse. Revel in the jubilant cheers of your people – but don't disappoint them!

Nintendo North America today revealed its non-Wii release lineup for the rest of 2006. While the new Wii console will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2006, Nintendo has plenty of other things to keep people busy until then, such as Yoshi’s Island 2, and Elite Beat Agents.

Epic's Mark Rein has put up a message in the Epic chat boards stating that a "BIG announcement coming next week!" While of course no details were provided, when one user hinted it might be about the release date, Mark Rein commented "maybe the announcement that is going to be made isn't what you think it is." User speculation has been rampant from GoW going gold, release date, to possibly multiplayer or other info about Epic's upcoming visceral shooter. To be continued ...

Call of Juarez is situated in 19th-century Wild West America and requires a combination of both intelligent stealth and pure shooting. Fast-paced revolver duels using historically accurate firearms, horseback riding, and memorable locations combine with top-notch graphics and an enthralling soundtrack to immerse both casual and hardcore players.

Out of the Park Baseball 2006 offers gamers the ultimate in realism with its brand new pitch-by-pitch game engine, unrivalled playability and unparalleled customization. This final v1.02 patch/demo includes several new community requested features, as well as the usual bug/crash fixes and game tweaks.

At Comic-con an EA representative revealed that, not surprisingly, an add-on for the PC edition of Battle for Middle-earth 2 is in the works. The Rise of the Witch-king is set prior to the War of the Ring, and will feature new armor, buildings, and of course units. While it seems that not too many graphical changes have been made, new powers showed off summoning an ice wolf walking on two legs. More details should follow later this week...

After some internal troubles, Project-Zero is no more and is now called gEasy Team, and has released a new patch for JoWood's Soldner: Secret Wars. This v33673 patch mainly tweaks various weapons and vehicles brought up by the community.

Earlier this year THQ announced it had acquired Atari's Stuntman franchise, with the sequel being in development at Paradigm Entertainment. The agreement included the option to eventually acquire the studio, which THQ did earlier this month. Paradigm will unveil its next-gen Stuntman 2 title later this year.

In Company of Heroes gamers will experience the journey of the brave men of Able Company in a deep single-player campaign that begins with the invasion of Normandy through their fight across Europe, all set against the most dynamic, and completely destructible, battlefield ever seen in a game.

El Matador is a 3rd person action game with stealth elements set in the environment of the Central and South America. Originally scheduled for late August, Red Mile announced it will now be released September 15th, 2006.

Bullet Witch is an action adventure taking place in the exceedingly bleak near future of 2013. Civilization is on the brink of extinction after demons begin appearing on the earth, and the player wades into the fray as a witch named Alicia.

Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software announce Forge of Freedom, a new American Civil War strategy game. More than seven-score years have passed since the start of this conflict that pitted state against state, brother against brother and broke the chains of slavery.

The golden age of console hockey will return when NHL 07 debuts with gameplay innovations that will allow players to feel like they are actually on the ice. Featuring an unmatched level of freedom and control, NHL 07 will represent a watershed moment in the history of the console hockey.

Styrateg combines strategy and RPG to provide more than 60 quests with a variety of locales in over 20 unique levels! There are four characters that the player can choose, each with their own special skills and spells, with a total of 80 magical items to collect and use.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar adds a multitude of new features and options to further enhance the strategic depth of the game. A gripping new single-player campaign sees the elimination of two of the game’s alien races and the introduction of several others.

GiganTour 2006, the brainchild of Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, launches in the Northeast and will work its way through 25 major markets before wrapping in mid-October, with Xbox's "Gears of War" sponsoring the trek.

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 :

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie [PS3/X360/PC] - Trailer
• Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Trailer #4
• Star Wolves 2 - Trailer #2
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

The Pro Evolution Soccer series is renowned for its realism, and Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 is abundant with new gameplay additions. Player AI has been massively upgraded, while the physical side of play has been refined.