PlayFirst and Ubisoft today announced the launch of Chessmaster Challenge, a downloadable PC game based on the award-winning Chessmaster series. Designed for chess players of all levels, Chessmaster Challenge can be a teacher, mentor or the ultimate opponent. One hour of full-version gameplay is available for free and an unlimited version of the game can be downloaded for $19.95.

DreamCatcher Games today announced Dungeon Lords, an epic Combat RPG from D.W. Bradley and Heuristic Park, has reached beta status. To mark the occasion, DreamCatcher is holding a final call-for-entries for participants in the official public beta test. Read more for details ...

Championship Manager Online is a stand-alone massive multiplayer online football management simulation. As well as testing your managerial skills against thousands of human opponents, the game offers a "buddy league" mode that lets you compete in a league against just your friends. Championship Manager Online is being developed by online games specialist Jadestone in conjunction with Beautiful Game Studios, developer of the PC version of Championship Manager.

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 :

• Dead to Rights II - Trailer
• Madagascar - Trailer
• Silent Hunter 3 - Trailer #6
• SWAT 4 - Trailer (2)
• Commandos Strike Force - Trailer

Rising Star Games has launched an all out assault on the Nintendo DS with a completely new version of the most recognised videogame of all time. Space Invaders Revolution, as the name suggests, marries the vintage game play of the legendary shoot-'em up with the exciting new possibilities offered by the unique features of the Nintendo DS.

Initially scheduled for October 2004, the Christmas 2004, Eidos announced today that Championship Manager 5 will be released in the UK on Friday 18th March and internationally on Friday 1st April. PS2 and Xbox versions will follow later this Spring.

DC Studios announced today that it has completed the development of the Nintendo DS version of the latest installment of Ubisoft' s hugely popular Rayman franchise. Rayman DS has been developed in the company's Montreal Studio and will be a launch title in Europe.

The Robots' world is about to be taken over by an evil tyrant and it is up to the player to save his fellow robots from a tragic destiny! Players will hop on a train to a mechanical metropolis of moving gears and winding parts, meet an unforgettable cast of characters and battle evil machines - discovering the many ways a robot can turn his parts into cool and unique gadgets.

Empire Earth 2 will build upon the award-winning formula of its predecessor by adding features requested both by casual game players interested in a brief spin through history and by more hard core gamers who demand a real-time strategy game that will challenge them for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours.

Captured, conveniently forgotten, tortured, and left for dead, MI6 agent Andrew Sterling awaits execution in a Chinese prison. The story begins when a mysterious friend from his past rescues him, setting off a chain of events that could rock the very foundations of global security and wreak chaos on a worldwide level. Read more for some new screens ...

Larry Laffer's nephew, Larry Lovage, is a typical college student. He lives in a dorm, has a crush on his biology professor, and goes to bars with his buddies. But when a TV dating show comes to campus, Larry gets a chance for national sexposure. If he can show that he can make any girl on campus swoon, he will become a campus legend. Vivendi has finally release a demo featuring a conversation section with country girl Sally Mae along with the paper plane mini-game (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

'Battlestations: Midway' is a new tactical multi-player game focusing on the naval and aerial battles of World War II leading up to one of the greatest naval victories of all time, the Battle of Midway, which saw the highly outnumbered US Naval and Air forces take on the might of the most powerful naval force in modern history: the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Paraworld combes for the first time ever a setting never seen before with personalized unit management, it brings new life to the real-time strategy genre. Modern elements blend with primeval conditions in a long forgotten, incredibly beautiful prehistoric world. Creatures long extinct come once more to life, a constant danger to anyone living in the area. Read more for details and screens ...

As promised, EA has released a new patch for C&C Generals: Zero Hour. This update brings your retail game to v1.03 and addresses several technical problems, game crashes, cheats and adds a slew of balance adjustments, as well as several new maps. Read more for download links ...

Back in September NCSoft's executive producer Richard Garriott announced that its MMORPG Tabula Rasa had been pushed back, and would not be released winter 2005. Now NCsoft has released its 2004 financial results, and while the earnings soared, the fiscal 2005 release schedule did not mention a launch date for Tabula Rasa. In a brief statement afterwards NCsoft's PR person said that it's likely the game won't see the light of day until 2006. Auto Assault, City of Heroes expansion and Guild Wars are still on track.

Stronghold 2 will bring the the castle-sim and siege-warfare RTS series to life in glorious 3D. Stronghold 2 will also offer players a "castle-life" campaign, enhanced multiplayer capability and a new, innovative and exciting single player campaign that will be revealed in the months ahead. Check out these new screens ...

Sony Online Entertainment today announced information on the release of The Bloodline Chronicles, the first Adventure Pack for the hit online fantasy game EverQuest II. The Bloodline Chronicles gives players countless hours of new content in a rich, story-based realm located beneath the surface of Norrath.

EA announced today that The Sims 2 University expansion pack will ship starting today in North America. As the first expansion pack for this PC phenomenon, players will be able to take their Sims and live out their ultimate college fantasy. Developed by the award-winning EA Maxis studio, The Sims 2 University will introduce a new young-adult stage of life, 4 new career paths, new influence gameplay and over 125 new objects.

Cossacks: Napoleonic Wars returns one of the most successful strategy games of the past years to the real-time battlefield - with reinforcements: Meet Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and probably the most ingenious strategist in European history! Enter the battle on the side of one of 10 great European nations and rewrite European history in six exciting campaigns.