Midway today announced plans for the NBA Ballers: Phenom $100K Tournament. For two days in April, more than 1,000 of the best video gamers in the country will gather at The Music Box Fonda in Los Angeles to put their skills on display with hopes of walking away as champion in the highest paying 1-on-1 basketball video game tournament ever.

Steel Monkeys announces the licensing of IDV's SpeedTree, which will help to create virtual plants in the cinematographic TPS 2 Days to Vegas, its a story driven 3rd person action-adventure game. The thrill-a-minute story is crammed full of car chases, shootouts and unexpected twists, to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the game.

Maelstrom is a groundbreaking strategy action epic which takes place on a devastated future Earth. In the wake of an apocalyptic ecological disaster, the planet is threatened by an alien invasion, thus becoming the battleground as a divided human race fights for survival.

The Outfit multiplayer demo will provide X360 players with a great sample of the intense multiplayer experience (Strategic Victory) available in the final game - with up to 8 players battling to secure command points and strategic objectives throughout the map for their side. Read more for details and screens ...

An adrenaline-pumping action game developed in the Finnish woods in secrecy for almost two years, Shadowgrounds strikes from the darkness with a flash of light in 2005. The game features upgradeable weapons, lighting based gameplay and an epic storyline with strong characters.

Star Heritage 0: Ship of Ages, an upcoming action/RPG, prequel to Star Heritage 1: The Black Cobra, Step Creative Group's upcoming first-person adventure game remake.

"Because we wanted to give Xbox 360 users a superior game experience with the same richness and tactical depth that Football Manager has traditionally offered, we asked Microsoft whether we could develop Football Manager 2006 to be a Hard Drive only game. Microsoft agreed as they wanted the best possible game for their console, and with Xbox Live multiplayer being incorporated into the title, we now have a complete Football Manager experience for console gamers, the first time in the franchise's history." Still doesn't tell us WHY it is required...

War on Terror is a modern combat RTS game, set against the background of today's greatest threat to world peace – terrorism! Forces clash in believable scenarios, set within real locations across the globe. This demo features one mission "Forgotten Hope," from the World Forces campaign. Contact with the Point Hope base has been lost and you are sent in to check things out.

UPDATE: Koch Media informed us that their installer was corrupt, proper version now in place.

State of Emergency 2 takes place 10 years after the original and has Spanky, Bull and MacNeill again up against the Corporation. This time, they not only have access to guns but also - for the first time - helicopters, speedboats, Tanks and APCs and new team members. South Peak Interactive is bringing SOE2 to Europe on in April 2006.

THQ has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Gas Powered Games for its RTS game Supreme Commander. Chris Taylor is known for his work with Total Annihilation under Cave Dog, and Supreme Commander will mark his return to a genre that he helped popularize.

MLB '06 continues to build upon the critically acclaimed franchise with new and enhanced features, providing fans with the most realistic baseball videogame available to date.

The success of Nintendogs continues to go from strength to strength for Nintendo with the latest sales across Europe reaching 2 million since its launch on the Nintendo DS on the 7th October 2005. The innovative software has expanded the gaming population by attracting new audiences, including many female purchasers. Nintendogs has also made a massive impact across the globe, with sales in the US reaching 1.5 million and over 1 million in Japan.

The Sims 2: Open for Business will revolve around setting up businesses and making money. Construction company, restaurant, nightclub, or simply decide to work from home, it will all be possible. You will need to strategically place employees, or fire useless workers, in order to keep your customers happy.

KOEI today announced that Samurai Warriors: State of War, its tactical action game set in the turbulent times of civil war Japan, has reached gold status, and will ship on March 7, 2006.

Cult of Mithras is a downloadable add-on for Legion Arena. It allows players to take their armies on new adventures into a new world, fighting against old enemies and new mythological beasts.

LucasArts has released the first patch for Petroglyph's just released RTS Star Wars Empire at War. This update brings your retail game to v1.1 and addresses a slew of tweaks, and fixes multiplayer, balance, and graphical issues.

This morning UK publisher SCi made a brief statement that it "does not believe that it is in the company's or the shareholders' interests to prolong talks any further." This means that it has called off negotiations with whoever was in the running up until last week to take over SCi, who themselves had recently taken over ailing UK publisher Eidos. When the news broke SCi's stocks dropped considerably but by the end of business day prices rallied to close slightly above starting price that same morning.

As expected LucasArts has released the first patch for Pandemic Studios' Star Wars Battlefront II. This update brings your retail game to v1.1 and adds new map support, improves multiplayer, adds balance tweaks and various graphical issues.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat will drop players into the heat of battle on the high tech frontlines, entering a new modern era of combat with more firepower and new expansive environments.

Join the famous CSI team in Las Vegas and investigate five all-new cases using the latest forensic science. Work along side Grissom, Katherine, and the entire cast as you utilize the latest crime-solving equipment.