Cold Fear is the first action-horror title to be published under the Ubisoft brand and combines the popular elements of both action and horror releases, delivering an action-packed, tension-filled gaming experience. Today's developer diary covers 'Monsters and scientific madness' with contributions from DarkWorks' Nicolas Castaing (Level Designer and Lead Level Builder), Arnaud Barros (Lead Computer Artist) and Cyrille Combes (AI programmer).

Atari today announced hip-hop artist Talib Kweli will be the voice of Trane, the lead character in Atari's Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. The video game promises to be an homage to graffiti's rich culture and represents the culmination of seven years of story and character development by fashion pioneer Marc Ecko, himself a former graffiti artist with deep ties to the urban community.

The player takes the role of the leader and has to build up a team – whatever action it may take. With the help of this team he has to take control of the world of Ground Zero. To achieve this he must conquer 20 different locations and protect them from his enemies. The leader can choose between 250 different equipments like weapons, armour, building materials and food. There are 3 different professions: mercenary, technician, and doctor.

Sony Online Entertainment today announced a new expansion for its MMORPG, EverQuest. Dragons of Norrath returns EverQuest to its original foundation with appearances from a familiar cast of characters who will find themselves at the forefront of events transpiring across the world. Read more for details and 30+ new screens ...

Nintendo Australia confirms the February 24th nation-wide launch of the eagerly awaited Nintendo DS at SRP $199.95 with embedded messaging and communication tool Pictochat. For a limited time at launch, Metroid Prime Hunters : First Hunt demo will also be included.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, launching today, takes all these larger-than-life elements and shrinks them to microscopic size. The result is a huge quest on a tiny scale. The only way to free the Hyrule people from Vaati's evil clutches is to seal the evil mage's power. However, the knowledge to do so is only kept by the tiny Minish people who live in a land unseeable by adult eyes. Enter Link, a young boy who takes on the epic journey that will turn him into a hero of legend...

Future Games, previously known for Black Mirror, is working on an all new horror/adventure game, Nibiru: Messenger of the Gods. You take on the role of Martin Holan, an Thechz archeologist working in France sent to investigate a newly found secret tunnel apparently made by Germans during the second World War. Nibiru is a 2D adventure featuring 80 locations, over 30 NPCs, and 50 pages of narrative.

Living next door to you is a real Neighbour From Hell and it's now time to have your revenge! Creep around your neighbour ’s house performing ever more elaborate tricks upon the unsuspecting resident. As the star of a fantastic new TV show, cameras will track your every move as you set your fiendish traps. Your objectives are to create more and more disarray, increase ratings and maybe even winning prestigious awards. But beware of watchful neighbours and alert guard dogs; if they catch you then the show will be taken off air. For now only announced as a German product, it is expected to be available in retail February 2005.

The famous Dragon Quest RPG series is headed for the PS2 with a bold new visual style featuring cell shaded characters on top of beautifully rendered backdrops. Familiar creatures make their way back into this latest installment, and the interactivity with the environment -- such as picking up barrels and opening drawers, returns as well. While Square Enix confirmed that Dragon Quest VIII is indeed coming to North America, no release date was mentioned at all, yet ...

Ubisoft today announced it will be releasing Pippa Funnell: The Stud Farm Inheritance, a brand new adventure game on PC for horse riding fans across Britain. Pippa Funnell: The Stud Farm Inheritance will be in stores date March 2005.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is pleased to announce the release in PAL Territories of EyeToy: Monkey Mania, a wacky board game style EyeToy title created by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ) with kids in mind. Read more for details and list of minigames...

Nayantara Studios LLC announced today an expansion for its critically-acclaimed online collectible card game. Star Chamber: Rebellions is the second expansion for the independently-published game, and will go live on Saturday, January 15.

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.

Democracy is the working title of a new political strategy game being developed by Positech Games. Democracy is a detailed simulation game that is 'turn based' where each turn of the game represents 2 months of time. Elections are held every 4 years. The game has a complex internal model to represent the population of your country (thanks Blues).

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update which performance improvements, increased cache memory usage, increased cache memory usage, weapon script files are preloaded at startup in HL2, and a few more little tweaks. Restart Steam to get the latest update...

Nintendo's lineup for 2005 comes loaded with new games that take advantage of the touch-screen and wireless capabilities of the new NDS. Likewise, GameCube and GBA owners will find new ways to enjoy new and favorite franchises. New tricks like using bongos to control characters in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for NGC and an internal gyro sensor in WarioWare: Twisted! for GBA enhance the game experience as only Nintendo can.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory will offer a high adrenaline experience thanks to never seen before close range attacks, a totally open level design, a completely immersive and interactive environment, and challenging advanced AI. Check these new screens ...

Kuma Reality Games has designed its current online mission, Ramadi Convoy Exercise in conjunction with the Army’s Combined Arms Support Command. The Army provided military insights, helping to ensure the accuracy of the re-creation so it could be used to train U.S. troops. The mission highlights one of the most dangerous and deadly scenarios American soldiers face in Iraq today; the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) attack.

Phantom Dust is an anime-inspired game set in a post-apocalyptic era where chaos has forced people underground for safety. Players must journey above ground in a quest to learn who and what was behind the destruction, but the surface is a place of deadly evil filled with unimaginable abominations. It is also home to mysterious particles known only as Phantom Dust, a force unlike any other that has given some members of the human race unimaginable super powers.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft has sold through more than 600,000 units to customers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The fastest-growing massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has also shattered all previous concurrency records in North America, achieving over 200,000 simultaneous players during the holiday period.