Painkiller is a first-person horror shooter, designed to satisfy the gamer's hunger for intense, fast-paced action. You are Painkiller, a mercenary for hire, charged with cleaning out nests of the undead. But an unholy pact with a demon unknowingly puts you square in the middle of a fight for control of the underworld... with the future of humanity hanging in the balance.

Wizards of the Coast today announced that the ever-popular Mirage set will be re-introduced as a new expansion for Magic: The Gathering Online. Originally released in 1996, the Mirage card set consists of some of the most memorable cards in Mirage: The Gathering history and continues to be a fan favorite to this day. The Mirage expansion for MAGIC: The Gathering Online will release in December 2005.

Donar Enterprises and Playlogic International announced today the closing of a share exchange transaction, all holders of ordinary shares of Playlogic exchanged their shares for Donar common stock. As a result, Playlogic has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Donar, and Playlogic's former shareholders now collectively own 21,836,924 shares of Donar common stock, representing 94.8% of Donar's outstanding shares.

Today Ubisoft is delighted to announce a new Nintendo DS exclusive fantasy RPG, Lunar: Dragon Song. The game is the first original installment of the Lunar franchise to be released in more than 10 years. Read more for details and screens ...

When assassins from Agent 47's contract agency, The ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, it seems a larger, more powerful agency has entered the fray. For Agent 47 it's business as usual, until suddenly he loses contact with The ICA. Sensing that he may be the next target, he travels to America, where he prepares to make a killing.

Bet On Soldier is a first-person shooter which presents something considerably different in order to stand out from the crowd. With a corporation-takes-over-the-world-style plot, Bet On Soldier allows players to do exactly what it promises with its title - that is, bet on the outcome of encounters with specific enemies. Before entering battle, players can wager on which particular enemy soldiers they are going to kill.

IBM will receive $775 million in cash and $75 million in credit for software from Microsoft Corp. to settle claims that resulted from the federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft in the 1990s. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled in 2000 that Microsoft engaged in anticompetitive practice, and the judge's ruling cited IBM as a company that Microsoft had forced to "desist from certain technological innovations and business initiatives." Read the full article here ...

As we revealed yesterday, SEGA today officially confirmed that they will add the widely anticipated expansion to Rome: Total War to their portfolio. From the makers of the Total War franchise and recently acquired studio, The Creative Assembly, Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion for PC is set to commence battle on the charts in September 2005 throughout Europe and America.

Pro Cycling Manager will have more detailed animations, an experience system, stage editor and also several multiplayer modes. Cyanide Studio has released the first patch for its cycling manager bringing your retail game to v1.1r. This update patch adds tons improvements and fixes the menus, classifications, 3D, career, gameplay, AI, database and stages. etc. Read more for download links ...

Build your own movie studio and make films to capture the world’s imagination. Start filming in the break-neck 1920s and rewrite history as you pioneer the great cinematic advances. Be the first to introduce talkies, colour, animation or computer-generated special effects. Pick the scripts you want to shoot, design and construct the sets and hire the director, the crew and the stars.

Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd and Player One Limited today announced the development of a new horse racing videogame, Frankie Dettori Racing for PS2, Xbox and PC.

Monster Madness, under development by Artificial Studios in conjunction with Immersion Software & Graphics, is a 4-player cooperative online-enabled action game for the PC and Xbox 360. Check out this coop screen...

EA revealed that it quietly has been working on the first Battlefield 2 patch, and it is expected to be released somewhere next week. Every fix in this v1.01 update is a result of Community feedback on the demo and retail game release. A few of the items being worked on are : issues that caused the Multiplayer Browser to become unresponsive, an issue where some game controls were not available to be rebound within the Options menu, and fixed a crash with rebinding LMB. An open Beta of the Battlefield 2 Editor will be released some time in July, and the linux server is almost finished as wel. Of course we will have all of those available on our fileserver network as soon as they are released.

In Desert of Flames, the first retail expansion pack for EQ2, players will experience exciting gameplay-changing features and can explore never-before-seen areas filled with new quests, monsters, and loot. Desert of Flames is centered around the newly discovered, vibrantly colorful city of Maj'Dul.

Digital Jesters has won the battle fought between rival games industry superpowers to win the race to sign Wallaroo Licensing Company's Crazy Frog icon. The firm has exclusive worldwide interactive entertainment rights across all formats, and will publish the first Crazy Frog games this November on PC and PS2.

SEGA has updated the Condemned: Criminal Origins product page reflecting a change in release date, being pushed back from its original winter 2005 launch time to winter 2006. This does not neccesarely mean it has been delayed for a year, merely postpone from December 2005, to January 2006, which would still mean the same "launch window" (thanks Robert). Condemned: Criminal Origins allows players to experience an unnatural level of psychological tension as they use their instincts, forensic tools, and melee combat to track serial killers and bring them to justice.

UPDATE : SEGA just informed us that the website stated an incorrect date, the title has not been delayed, it is still scheduled for the holiday 2005.

Matrix Games announced today that Crown of Glory by Western Civilization Software has been released for sale and is available from the Matrix Games online store for $39.99 as a digital download and $49.99 as a boxed game. Additionally Crown of Glory is making its debut at the Origins Gaming Convention in Columbus, Ohio starting today, June 30th through July 3rd.

The Rome Total War expansion pack Barbarian Invasion is set well after Rome: Total War spanning the years 364AD to 476AD. You can play as one of the Barbarian factions (including the Vandals, Saxons and Huns) and take revenge against the Roman Empire, or as the Western and Eastern Roman empires attempting to drive back the Barbarians. The big new feature is the addition of night-time battles, but lighter troops - including cavalry - can now also swim across rivers. Barbarian invasion is scheduled for Fall 2005.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the FBI cracked down on piracy in an 11-nation sting operation hunting for copies of the latest Star Wars film and other movies, games and software programs, worth at least $50 million. FBI agents and investigators in the other nations conducted 90 searches starting Wednesday, arresting four people, seizing hundreds of computers and shutting down at least eight major online distribution servers for pirated works.

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 :

• The Sims 2: Nightlife - Trailer
• Black & White 2 - Trailer #5
• City of Villains - Trailer #4
• Heroes of Might & Magic 5 - E3 demo Part 2
• Stubbs The Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse - Trailer #3
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...