Strategy games publisher Paradox Interactive today announced, that the much-awaited sequel to the multiple award-winning Hearts of Iron, has gone gold. The game will be released in North America, Scandinavia, Russia, France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Poland, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Portugal and Mexico. It will be available in stores in the beginning of 2005.

Sony and NVIDIA today announced that the companies have been collaborating on bringing advanced graphics technology and computer entertainment technology to SCEI's highly anticipated next-generation computer entertainment system. Both companies are jointly developing a custom graphics processing unit incorporating NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce and SCEI's system solutions for next-generation computer entertainment systems featuring the Cell processor.

Queasy Games released a new beta of its multiplayer, action-RTS title, Gate 88. In addition to a graphical face lift inspired by abstract Japanese shmups (shoot'em-ups), players can now, at any time during the game, access a tightly integrated lobby chat (IRC client) to find other Gate 88 players. Significant improvements have also been made to the network code.

NRA Varmint Hunter v1.01 upgrades your game by fixing some minor animal artificial intelligence bugs, and adds some performance upgrades to allow the game to run better on slower computers and those with less memory. Read more for download links ...

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.

EA's Mark Skaggs has sent out a note to long time Command & Conquer fans quietly announcing that the team behind C&C: Red Alert 2, Yuri's Revenge and C&C Generals is working on an all-new Command & Conquer product. Not many details are revealed but read on for the full note ..

Good parties may run late, but great parties run all night - and all day with Mario Party 6, which launches today exclusively for Nintendo GameCube. Players can keep the party going indefinitely with this rowdy new party game.

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 :

• LotR: Battle For Middle Earth - Trailer (2)
• Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - Trailer #3

Midway announced today that two of its titles, NBA Ballers and Midway Arcade Treasures, have shipped more than one million units worldwide since their respective releases. NBA Ballers shipped to retail outlets in North America on April 5, 2004 and in Europe on October 14, 2004. Midway Arcade Treasures shipped in North America on November 24, 2003 and on February 6, 2004 in Europe. The compilation of classic Midway arcade titles retails for $19.99.

It has been six years since the destruction of Raccoon City and in that time, the U.S. government has been able to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation. Fast forward to 2004 and players rejoin Leon, who is now a U.S. agent with a top-secret mission. He has been tasked to look into the abduction of the President’s daughter and his investigation has led him to a mysterious location in Europe.

Jowood has updated the official SÖLDNER: Secret Wars website with word that you can now sign up to participate in the closed beta test for Wings Simulations' upcoming SÖLDNER: Secret Wars multiplayer shooter addon. You need to meet the following requirements : Age of 18, Broadband Internet Connection, 2 GHz Processor, 512 MB RAM and a GeForce 3 equivalent video card.

For the first time, EA has moved development for NASCAR PC racing games to the Tiburon Studio in Orlando, FL to focus exclusively on building the ultimate racing simulation. For 18 months, a dedicated team of NASCAR gaming veterans from the top shops has been focused on creating the ultimate simulation for the 2005 NASCAR season. The game will feature the new Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship format and will also include the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Busch Series.

While it was already revealed in an interview over on Gamespy, Midway announced today that it has named Harvey Smith the creative director for Midway Studios-Austin. An industry veteran with more than 10 years of experience in game design and development, Smith will report directly to Denise Fulton, head of Midway Studios-Austin.

LucasArts is pleased to announce today the release of the highly anticipated Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords for the Xbox. The PC version will release in February 2005.

Bandai and Atari have announced the launch of Bandai's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 for the GameCube in March 2005. The GameCube version has incredible new features, more characters, improved fighting action, the original Japanese voiceovers and an open-ended way to relive the DBZ story, making it an essential purchase both for fighting game fans and fans of the DBZ series.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection is an anthology of classic Mega Man games (Mega Man 1 through Mega Man 8) from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation game console and arcade systems. The compilation provides a comprehensive look at the blue bomber's progression to become one of the longest running videogame icons to date. This set also features two never-before-released-in-the-US Mega Man arcade games: Mega Man the Power Battle and Mega Man 2 the Power Fighters. Mega Man Anniversary Collection will be available for the Xbox v in March 2005.

IncaGold, Asylum Games and Tri Synergy Inc. today announced that development is underway on Rebirth of Honor, a World War II Combat Flight Simulator for the PC and is scheduled to ship Q1 of 2005.

Volkswagen AG and TDK Mediactive Europe have entered into a worldwide cooperation agreement. The partnership will allow the masses worldwide to experience Volkswagen vehicles virtually, as part of a computer game. This racing game will be marketed as World Racing 2 and is being developed in the studios of racing software specialist Synetic to run on current next generation game consoles and PC. Read more for details ...

Conspiracy Entertainment today announced that they have been approved as a Nintendo DS platform publisher for the North America territory. The company is already a publisher on the Nintendo Gameboy Advance and Nintendo Game Cube platforms.

K2Network announces today the official launch of Knight Online with completely revamped website, new server expansion, and the revolutionary "Free2Play" for all players with unlimited playing time. Both existing and new players will have complete access to all the current features of the game as well as all future updates and expansion packages.