In Sid Meier's Pirates! you take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean amassing fortune and fame in an attempt to seize your rightful place as one of the most revered (and feared!) pirates in history. Test your skills as a sea captain exploring the high seas and exotic ports in a richly detailed 3D world. Overtake the enemy and seize valuable booty. Exchange plank-shattering broadsides in fierce naval battles, and engage in duels with worthy opposing captains. Check out the freshly launched website or read more for some new screens ...

Magitech Corporation has released a playable demo of their 3D RTS/Strategy game Strength and Honor. This hefty demo features 3 battles/missions as well as the full "Queen of the Nile" campaign (thanks 3DGamers). 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.

Evil Genius, a strategy/life simulation game, is a tongue-in-cheek take on the 60's spy thriller genre where you assume the role of a wicked mastermind bent on achieving global domination through the construction of the ultimate doomsday device.

Star Wolves is a 3D space RPG with strategy elements. The game thrusts players into a world of freelance space hunters in the XXI-XXII Century A.D. during a time of political crisis for the all-powerful Empire and the three mega-corporations that control all the known worlds. Star Wolves is being developed by Xbow Software and published by 1C. Read more for some new screens ...

In SÖLDNER: Secret Wars the player takes command of one of these special teams. As Commander he leads the small high tech army consisting of soldiers, light armoured vehicles, helicopters and VTOLs to fulfill a wide variety of mission. The Simulation of a highly complex political system creates a dynamic campaign: each decision has direct impact on the flow of the game. Read more to check some new screens ...

Freeform Interactive LLC releases Purge Jihad 2.0.6b. This new version fixes several player reported bugs and balance issues. Purge Jihad 2.0.6b comes in a full installation and patch format for both Registered users and Free users. "We continue to support all our users," explains Freeform's Lead Artist Joerg Ecker. "all players have the same upgrade benefits." There are no time-limits, no nags, no spyware, and no ads in the Free version of Purge Jihad.

In the next generation sequel of The Sims, The Sims 2, you control your Sims over an entire lifetime for the first time. With the ground-breaking addition of genetics, your Sims now pass their DNA down through generations, giving you a more vivid and in-depth Sims experience. Every life choice you make has a relevant and dramatic effect on the lifetime of your Sim. It’s up to you to take your Sims from the cradle to the grave, fulfill their dreams, and push them to extremes in The Sims 2. Official ship date for The Sims 2 is set for September 17th. Until then, read more for some new screens & trailer ...

Blizzard has released yet another new Warcraft III map, this time called "Slalom"... Map info: "Even this far south, Northrend has no mercy. Bitter winds slice through the thickest clothes, and cunning arctic beasts race down the slopes to prey upon unsuspecting settlers." This is a Medium map and the suggested no. of players is 3v3 or 4v4. It is based on the "Northrend" tileset. Go download it here!

Check out the following new screens from Legacy Interactive's 2004 E3 lineup:

• ER (PC)
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (PC)
• Law and Order III: Justice is Served (PC)
• Zoo Vet (PC)

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 ...

EA has released the promised patch for DICE's multiplayer FPS Battlefield: Vietnam. This update brings your retail game to v1.01 and removes of the M60 from the LAW Kit (big complaint about it being too powerful), server list sorted by ping and various other server & client side fixes. Win32/Linux dedicated server patches are also available. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

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: The Battle For Middle-Earth - Inside The Battle Trailer #2
• Need For Speed 2 - E3 2004 Trailer
• MechAssault 2 - E3 2004 Trailer
• Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes -E3 2004 Trailer
• King Of Fighters: Maximum Impact - E3 2004 Trailer
• Tekken 5 - Trailer

ShellShock: Nam '67 depicts the true horrors of the Vietnam War for the first time in a video game. ShellShock: Nam '67 focuses on one man's experience of the most controversial war of modern times. You take on the role of a rookie soldier on his first tour of duty as he experiences the fear, chaos and atrocities of the Vietnam War.

Codemasters has released a multiplayer demo for K-D Lab's Perimeter, a real-time strategy game built on the concept of territory seizure using detailed terraforming and on the subsequent encircling of these zones with a special protective perimeter. The multiplayer demo includes a tutorial and two maps for four-player tactical battles over LAN or online play. Read more for download links ...

Besieger is a new real-time 3D strategy is set in a medieval fantasy world in which rival players wage war as either Viking or Cimmerian warriors. Gamers will need to conquer factions such as Ogres, Werewolves and Centaurs and besiege towns on horseback or build primitive flying machines to win their battles. Users will also have to smash their way into the enemy’s heavily defended Citadels, while in turn defending their own domains.

Space Hack is a sci-fi RPG/action title with Diablo-inspired gameplay mechanics. The storyline puts you on board of a quite 'peculiar' spaceship, trapped inside a space warp. Being a tough guy, whose axe is almost as quick as his wit, it's not surprising that you promptly find yourself confronting angry monsters, one wave after another.

Every great hero has a nemesis, an equally powerful and evil villain... Presenting City of Villains, the first expansion of the comic book-inspired massively multiplayer game, City of Heroes! Read more for details & screens ...

Atari and Zombie, Inc. are pleased to announce that development is complete on Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, the highly anticipated cinematic action game for the Xbox. The game features AAA Hollywood production values in sound effects, music, script writing and cinematics to create the ultimate interactive summer blockbuster. Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is expected to be available at retail stores in North America on June 15 and in Europe on June 18.

The Australian Defence Simulation Office has now formally placed a purchase order to obtain a special version of CM:AK to be able to simulate and re-play historical tactical engagements in Greece, Crete and North Africa from 1940-1943.