Starting now and ending in the middle of December, a few lucky testers will be selected to participate in the Elemental Wars beta test. Testing will include exciting head to head play via peer to peer and in the Playful Minds game lobby. Also testers will be asked to outwit the challenging computer players who have three levels of difficulty. Active, selected testers will receive a free copy of the game plus be given in game testing credits.

Atari today announced it has shipped Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 for the PlayStation2, with a nationwide retail in-store date of November 23.

Picking up right where the game’s story left off, Battle out of Hell includes an additional single-player chapter with 10 levels, as well as new multiplayer modes, maps and models. It will also offer an amplified arsenal of un-deadly weapons, bigger and badder bosses and the map editor Software Development Kit. Check the new screens...

Soldiers ... it's time to heed the call and experience cinematic intensity and the chaos of battle as never before with the release of Activision's Call of Duty: Finest Hour, a gritty new World War II action game for the PS2, Xbox and GameCube.

Half-Life 2 is out, and you better believe it! But with new game releases come new bugs, and this is no different for Valve's HL2. For people who are running into the bug on startup that looks like "Map Version is 0, expecting 19," Valve's Erik Johnson suggested trying this to see if it works:

1. Go into your "/Steam/SteamApps folder"
2. Rename the file called sourcemodels.gcf to something else.
3. Relaunch the game.

This is going to require a redownload of this file, but if you want to get playing tonight it's probably the best path. There are a couple of people now who were in this situation and fixed the error in this way.

Electronic Arts and Cherry Lane Music Publishing today announced that the two companies have teamed up to create Next Level Music LLC, a music publishing company that will sign established as well as emerging new artists, acquire publishing catalogs, produce original music and further develop EA's rich catalogue of music.

Chat live with Yannis Mallat on PlayStation.com today Tuesday, November 16th @ 10:00am until 11:00am (Pacific Standard Time). Website visitors will have a chance to ask Yannis questions about the upcoming Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and his involvement with the critically-acclaimed, award-winning franchise.

Slitherine are pleased to announce Legion II, its new 4X strategy game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit & eXterminate). Initial design work on Legion II began early in 2004 and the game is slated for a late 2005 release. Legion II is set in the ancient Mediterranean world and players can choose to take control of any of the major civilizations at the time including the Romans, Carthaginians, Gauls and many more.

Mistland have another project lined up for the near future, "Alfa: AntiTerror". The sad reality of life in many countries. The global problem of modern times. A war, which can neither be won nor lost. The unpromising forecasts of scientists and experts concerning further development of things. Terrorism is waiting for our answer. An answer we are about to deliver.

Valve made good on its promise and has unlocked Half-Life 2 for people who pre-ordered it through its online delivery system Steam. "Half-Life 2 is available now for purchase and to play. Those who pre-purchased their copy via Steam may access the game by double-clicking on the Half-Life 2 icon in their Steam Games directory. To purchase your copy via Steam, please visit www.steampowered.com." The Source remake of the original Half-Life is now also available.

COPS 2170: The Power of Law is a colorful hybrid of tactical strategy and RPG elements where players take on the role of a rookie cop as she patrols the mean streets of a futuristic, cyberpunk metropolis. Read more for details and a few new screens ...

Jolt Online Gaming is pleased to announce that it is providing hosting and infrastructure for the German-developed MMORPG, Face of Mankind.

Former Argonaut development studio Just Add Monsters (JAM), creators of Kung Fu Chaos and one of the first developers to tackle next-generation development has been rescued and are now working under the Ninja Theory Ltd name.

"Stranger" is a real-time strategy game, with elements of role playing games set in a world, split in two parts, surface and a subterranean one, which are in a tenuous balance. 'Stranger' will also feature multiplayer although details beyond "The players may play on their own, or unite in teams" are a bit sktechy.

Tilted Mill has announced that they will be releasing a demo for their city building strategy game The Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile Official Website this coning Friday, November 19. The 200mb demo "reveal a glimpse into the life of your citizens. Take on the rewarding challenge of being Pharaoh as you lead independent people to create a society and then a civilization of your design." Of course we will have it on our fileserver network as soon as its available...

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. Due to be released for PC in early 2005, until then, check these new screens...

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 :

• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Trailer

God of War is a new action/adventure game developed by SCEA's Southern California studio previously known for developing Twisted Metal. You play as a yet unnamed hero, surrounded by Greek mythology. Hacking your way through hordes of enemies by means of swords and Spawn-like chains you are on a quest to kill the Greek "God Of War", Ares. Read more for some screens...

In 'Playboy: the Mansion' you step into the virtual slippers of world-famous Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner, building Playboy Magazine and the Playboy Mansion into dynamic cultural icons. Gamers also will live the lifestyle, rubbing elbows with stunning women and popular celebrities, and share the mystique of the Mansion by hosting extravagant, exciting parties.

Epic has released a new patch for its sci-fi FPS Unreal Tournament 2004. This patch brings your retail game to v3339 and addresses the usual slew of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. There is also an updated Editor's Choice Edition bonus pack, for new users only as the patch already includes the bonus pack changes. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...