TrackMania Sunrise, the legitimate heir to the throne, is shifting up a gear. Sunrise moves faster, handles better and features improved air-control – vital for making the massive jumps – to ensure that gameplay never moves at anything less than fast. And it's all about the gameplay.

Atlus U.S.A. announced today its plans to publish Samurai Western, an action-packed adventure game scheduled to ship in June 2005 for the PS2. Developed by Spike, the creators of the original Tenchu and The Way of the Samurai series, Samurai Western is an enhanced version of the Japanese game that was released earlier in the year.

Atlus U.S.A. announced today its plans to publish Super Army War, an action-packed military combat game scheduled to ship in February 2005 for the GBA.

Lethal fighting is all you know, and thank god you do! Entering the deadliest fighting tournament on the Shogun's island, your mission is to defeat hundreds of evil minions to reach the castle claiming victory over the other contestants in the tournament. Read more for new screens ...

GMX Media are today announcing a new flight simulation title for March 2005 - F/A-18: Operation Desert Storm for PC. Read more for details and screens ...

Empire Interactive today announced that FlatOut will ship to retail outlets in the U.S. on June 14, 2005. Vivendi Universal Games will distribute the title in the U.S.

Microsoft today announced that new content for MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, the popular 'Mech combat game for Xbox, is now available for download via Xbox Live. This round of free content consists of two maps that were originally featured in the Limited Edition; each playable via System Link, split-screen and Xbox Live. The first map, Mountain High, supports five game types: Team Destruction, Check It, Snatch it, Base War and Grinder. The second map, Troubled Waters, is playable in multiplayer Destruction mode and can also be played by either one or two gamers in the offline Grinder mode.

The non-linear plot saves the established facts of the war beginning and allows to lead to the Victory any of three sides: USSR, Germany and Allies (GB and USA). The game recreates the real structures of all participants' armies, uses the real arsenal, equipment and military techniques.

Parkan II is a 3D space simulator combined with first person action planet side. In the game players will get an opportunity to explore a vast universe, visit different planets, their satellites, huge space stations and immense space destroyers.

Sierra Entertainment announced today that its has launched the official Empire Earth II website, MadDoc's historical real-time strategy game. The site will thrill fans with the latest screenshots, news, and behind-the-scenes videos from this upcoming epic. 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.

Nintendo Europe is set to release a strong software line up for the second quarter of 2005, with games such as Star Fox Assault for GameCube, WarioWare Twisted! for the GBA and Yoshi Touch and Go for the Nintendo DS among the selection of titles on offer. With all these games to choose from you won't want to leave the house until summer! Read more for details ...

Trinigy and development and publishing house Destineer today disclosed the conclusion of a licensing deal regarding the Vision Game Engine. Within the scope of this agreement, Destineer will be developing currently undisclosed games based on Trinigy's Vision technology for multiple platforms.

Strategy First and Mist Land-South have released a patch today for the North American version of their strategy title COPS 2170: The Power of Law. This update brings your North American retail game to v1.22 and fixes game crashes and sound related issues when using WinXP/2k. Read more for download links ...

2K Games today announced that it has signed an agreement with Empire Interactive to distribute Ford Racing 3 for the PS2, Xbox, and PC in North America. The first two titles of the Ford Racing series, which were also distributed by Take-Two, sold over 1 million units in North America.

Ubisoft has released a demo for Splinter Cell Chaos Theory giving you the chance to check out the "Lighthouse" level, as well as tutorial and multiplayer map. This is a PC Gamer cover cd demo, a slightly smaller version (but identical in content) will be released in a few days. Read more for download links ...

Direct from the popular television series, He-Man, the ultimate hero, battles his greatest enemies on foot or astride his trusty Battle Cat through 34 levels within three huge environments. Spectacular sword fights and hand-to-hand combat await you at every turn in this epic world of magic and mystery. Midas Interactive continues to set the standard for budget console game publishing with the imminent release of He-Man: Defender of Grayskull on PS2.

Havok today announced that it will be revealing Havok Complete 3, its integrated middleware solution at an exclusive launch event during the 2005 Game Developer Conference (GDC 2005). Havok Complete 3 features the latest release of Havok's flagship product, Havok Physics 3, combined with Havok's newest product, Havok Animation 3.

The latest Settlers game takes the franchise and pushes it to the next level with fully animated 3D technology and enhanced gameplay features,. The game will take the player to a medieval setting, to re-conquer the kingdom currently under the domination of an evil tyrant. While Heritage of Kings is not released yet in English territories, Blue Byte is already working on a "The Fog Realm" addon with new maps, new heroes, and editor.

Matric Games has released the first update for its strategy game Tin Soldiers: Alexander the Great. This update brings your retail game to v1.01 fixes a problem with the AI exposing their rear flank when attacking and repaired a small bug that caused a menu hang in certain machines. Additionally a spelling error was found and fixed. Read more for details and download links ...