Officially licensed by the NHL, NHLPA, NHLCA, and new for this year -- the AHL, Gretzky NHL '06 allows gamers a chance to suit up and skate with their favorite team in either league. With the AHL license, hockey fans can play as or against all 30 AHL clubs in the actual arenas with all of the top AHL players. Due to hit stores in September (PS2) and October (PSP).

Three Rings, developers of Puzzle Pirates, announced today the active development of Bang! Howdy, a multiplayer online tactical strategy game for the PC. Players face off in the steam-powered Wild West, using traditional strategy game mechanics in a variety of gameplay modes like Claim Jumping, Cattle Herding and Steam Mustang Hockey!

Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike will expand the gameplay with more maps, missions, and weapons. Eleven new exciting mission single player campaign and expanded Xbox LIVE multiplayer content.

Burnout Revenge lets gamers rip through rush hour traffic and lay waste to scores of rubbernecking roadhogs in an over-the-top scene of vehicular mayhem. The game is currently in development by Criterion Games for the PS2 and Xbox.

As promised Blizzard has released a new patch for its every popular RPG Diablo II. This update brings your retail game to v1.11 patch and adds a new Mystery, new Runewords, hireling enhancements, unique items, a slew of bug fix, plugged some game exploits, etc.. Simply connect to Battle.net to download the patch or read more for download links ...

As part of this initiative to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its teams, a majority of the staff from Blizzard's Northern California office will have an opportunity to relocate to the company's Irvine office, where they will continue work on an unannounced project. "We're looking forward to having our PC development teams together in Irvine," stated Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "In addition to improving our efficiency as a company, the relocation also represents an opportunity for all of our teams to have regular, direct input on each other's projects." Blizzard does not believe that these changes will cause significant delays on any of its projects in development.

X-Men Legends II introduces the epic storyline of an uneasy alliance between the X-Men and the hated Brotherhood in a fight to reclaim Earth from Apocalypse's grasp. Impressive gameplay enhancements include more than double the superpowers and customization capabilities, the debut of several new playable characters, over 100 diverse types of enemies, and a breathtaking range of exotic and real-world environments—from the Madri Temple to Egypt.

While rumors were already floating around during E3, and more recently its Party 2005, Square Enix today issued a statement on its official website, that Final Fantasy XII producer Yasumi Matsuno will be taking a step down from the development due to health reasons. While he stays on the project as supervisor, Akitoshi Kawazu will take over as executive producer. The statement also clarified that FFXII is just one step away from completion, and is on track for its March 16 release date, as announced earlier today.

Namco is still pluggin away at Tales of Legendia, and the next installment in the Tales of RPG series has already been revealed. Luke is the lone son of a noble family who lost his memories when he was a kid during an invasion by an enemy country. He grew up spoiled and naive and has learned how to use a sword as a hobby. Tia lost her parents and has been raised as a warrior and priestess of the Lorelai religion, and uses a mysterious form of ancient power called Seventh Sound.

Vietnam Combat: Enemy Territory, under development at Exozet Games/Provox, is a Vietnam military turn-based strategy game that it will unveil at the Leipzig game convention in Germany. Not much details are available at this point, so read more to check out some screens instead.

Square Enix has announced the Japanese release date of Final Fantasy XII for the PlayStation 2. The long-awaited role-playing game (RPG) will ship to retailers in Japan on March 16, 2006, while the North American version is scheduled for release later in 2006.

For the first time in many years the Northern Hemisphere Rugby nations are now on equal billing with their Southern Hemisphere counterparts and the competition for the top position has never been so close with even the minnows of the International scene coming up with shock results. Rugby Union has never been so competitive or so popular, even at club level.

UK computer games distributor Contact Sales is pleased to announce that it has signed a distribution deal with Tesseraction Games to distribute the eagerly anticipated updated PC version of Enigma Rising Tide - Gold Edition in the UK and Scandinavia. The product will be available in late August 2005 and published under the Tesseraction Games label.

The ingame auto-update fixes several minor sound issues and adds Windows 64-bit edition support, as well as new game modes and racetracks have been added. The new tracks will range from volcanic islands and icy lakes, to off-road racetracks and original tracks optimized for multiplayer racing. The brand new multiplayer modes include: Return The Flag, Jamboree and Destruction mode, ensuring even more fast paced online fun (log on via All Seeing Eye). Invictus Games also included a car building devkit.The kit makes it possible to import your own car or edit original cars to your own taste.

F.E.A.R. is an intense combat experience with rich atmosphere and an engaging story presented entirely in first person. Be the hero in your own blockbuster action movie. As part of a classified strike team created to deal with threats no one else can handle, your mission is simple: Eliminate the intruders at any cost. Determine the origin of the signal. And contain this crisis before it spirals out of control. Vivendi is giving away 1200 beta keys on their freshly re-launched FEAR website.

Scooter War3z delivers a surprising combination of high-speed racing, crash'em up action and death defying ragdoll stunts. Discover the dark but alive world of Scooter War3z, taking place in a free-roaming city featuring several interconnected neighborhoods, where it's all about winning. Team 6 has released a demo for its scooter racing game allowing you to try out 4 scooters and one racing track, but no stunt-area. Read more for download links ...

While Battlefield 2: Special Forces has barely been announced and is not yet available, European online retail store World of Games seems to reveal that there is already a second addon for DICE's online shooter in the works. While the product listing does not have any specific details, or even a product name apart from Battlefield 2 Addon 2, it does however list the new addon as scheduled for March 2006. Truth or not, time will tell....

The player takes the role of Maximillan, the leader of "Bounty Hounds" – a ruthless band of mercenaries. The mission is to engage in battle with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI) spread across planets and unfold a sinister plot between a corporation and ETI that threatens to take over the world.

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 :

• FEAR - Delta Level Trailer
• 50 Cent: Bulletproof - Trailer #4
• Soul Calibur III (PS2) - Story Mode Trailer
• The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2/Xbox) - Trailer #4
• Nascar 06: Total Team Control - Trailer #3
• Madden 2006 - Trailer #7
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Infected, under development at Planet Moon Studios, is a thrilling new run-and-gun shooter that allows players' avatars to invade opponents' PSP systems via multiplayer victories. Infected is scheduled to ship this fall and is the first release in an exclusive three game PSP deal between Majesco and Planet Moon Studios.