Vivendi Universal Games announced today a worldwide multiplayer test for the upcoming real-time strategy game, Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. Signups have already begun, and will continue through the Multiplayer Beta start date of March 8th. Read more for details...

Rival Interactive is creating a high-end, 3D, first person shooter game based on homeland defense called “Prism: Black Shield” for the Army National Guard (ARNG). The ARNG seeks to create a commercial quality game that is both entertaining and graphically rich. The game will be distributed as a recruitment tool and for increasing the awareness of the Army National Guard. In the game, players will use futuristic US military weapons, equipment and technology as part of a secret new team to combat terrorists on US soil. Players will battle individually or in teams against the game’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) terrorists and react to a wide range of homeland terrorism scenarios.

TDK has revealed that Cauldron's hack'n slash action/adventure game Conan: the Dark Axe (based on Robert E. Howard's Barbarian) will be available in Europe on April 8th, 2004. No specfific release date for the North america version has been announced yet.

Tiscali Games are pleased to announce that BiosFear launched commercial service yesterday, February 26th. BiosFear is an action-packed, easy-to-get-into MMORPG set in a fantastic, fully 3D world packed with adventure and suspense. Join a guild and make new friends to explore the strange and varied worlds of BiosFear where entertainment and untold adventures await.

PlayStation today announced a unique partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Interactive Entertainment software, to develop a PlayStation 2 game based on the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Scheduled for release in July 2004 just prior to the start of the next Olympic Games in August, Athens 2004, The Official Videogame of the Olympic Games will be the only official licensed videogame product of the IOC on PlayStation 2.

JoWooD's Preliminary Financial Results discloses several, so far unannounced, plans for various addons and sequels to, some currently still in development, new titles. The schedule includes another derivative of the highly successful Gothic series as well as Add-ons for the titles SpellForce, Soldner and Wildlife Park. The portfolio will also include a new sequel to the top-selling Giant series and console versions of Aquanox and Neighbours from Hell (incl.a sequel). Some further titles will be Pillage, Gorky Zero and a title based on a motion picture IP. JoWooD boasts an impressive line-up for 2005. Among 2005’s key titles will be Soldner II, SpellForce II, The Guild II, Star Gate SG1, another Giant title and a new sequel to the Gothic series.

Midway Sports today announced MLB SlugFest: Loaded, the newest title in the adrenaline-style baseball series which, for the first time, takes America’s Pastime online with a host of new gameplay features. Also new for 2004, MLB SlugFest: Loaded will include the addition of the Baseball Mogul engine into its franchise mode, adding great depth and endless re-playability to the game. Midway also today unveiled Sammy Sosa as the cover athlete for MLB SlugFest: Loaded, establishing a relationship with one of baseball’s all-time greats. MLB SlugFest: Loaded is scheduled for release in June 2004 for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox.

KOEI announced today that Romance Of The Three Kingdoms IX, the award-winning simulation game for the PayStation 2 is available now at retailers throughout North America.

EA is pleased to announce that MVP Baseball 2004 has officially gone gold for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and PC. The game is set to ship nationwide to retailers under the EA SPORTS brand on Tuesday, March 9.

Oxygen Interactive can today announce the release of March Offworld Recon, the first person shooter developed by HBM and licensed through the Russian developers Buka Entertainment. This classic arcade-style shooter, praised in last week's broadcast of Gamezville as a game you just can't put down, is a remorseless adventure, with numerous puzzles to solve amidst the heat of battle. Priced at £19.99 this is set for release on 27th February 2004.

Electronic Arts today announced that it has signed a publishing agreement with Black Hole Games, a development studio launched by Cinergi Interactive, a subsidiary of the award-winning motion picture production company Cinergi Pictures Entertainment. The new PC title, Armies of Exigo (*working title) is a grand scale fantasy real-time strategy (RTS) that leverages the studio's cinematic expertise and ability to deliver captivating entertainment to a worldwide audience. Armies of Exigo is expected to ship in Fall 2004.

Spells of Gold is a role-playing set in the world of fantasy, inhabited by humans, beasts, undead ones and other creatures. The universe of the game - Lokatrienn - is large indeed. It consists of a number of separate worlds. Each one has several cities, which represent isolated economic and political systems. The Hero is able to transit from one world to another through special space Gates, called Portals. His main activity is trade, that is buying goods in one town and selling or exchanging them in another. For this purpose the Hero has got a special item - a Magic Sack of Monroke. Thanks to it, he can easily carry a vast amount of goods.

Situated between July 1942 and January 1943 Stalingrad desribes the events of one of the most dramatic episodes in World War 2. In Stalingrad the player will be able to take part in 2 campaigns (36 missions in total, 7 'secret' missions) where you must first lead the attack on Stalingrad and the subsequent seizure of city, after which, you take command of the Red Army, to defeat the Wehrmacht's 6th army. Read more to check out some 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 :

• The Sims 2 - Trailer
• X-Files: Resist or Serve - Trailer
• Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Electronic Arts today announced the development of the next expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online game, Ultima Online. Expanding the world and advancing the franchise, the new title will give consumers considerable player vs. player capabilities, two additional professions and a vast new land to explore. The UO expansion pack is scheduled for release in Fall 2004. The game name has not been announced.

Restricted Area is an action-based roleplaying game with realtime combat, which combines a fascinating gameplay similar to Diablo 2 with innovative technology, tactic-shooter elements and a dark future scenario. Read more for a few new screens ...

The game will provide players with extremely dynamic gameplay of fast and tough combats, where players are to oppose dangerous and wise enemies, a large set of multifarious weaponry, possibility to control various machinery, incredible detailing and game world interactivity, story-driven single player with original team gameplay, a well-balanced multiplayer with numerous modes: DeathMatch, CTF, Cooperative, various team games and much more. Read more to check out 2 new screens...

Today Midway Games had their financial results conference call for the 4th quarter of 2003 and while we could dazzle you with meaningless numbers of net losses and revenue's the interesting part was where Midway looked ahead and revealed some new/upcoming titles. Their upcoming action/horror titles (check our Xbox preview) now also seems to be heading to the PC. The next, yet unnamed, Mortal Kombat 6 is scheduled for Fall 2004, will feature online multiplyer for both Xbox & PS2, same goes for Inevitable's (previously know for The Hobbit) Area 51. Overall the conference called revealed Midway has about 20 upcoming titles, including several PC titles. Stay tuned for more ...

Enlight has released the demo for EgoSoft's sci-fi shooter 'X²: The Threat'. Expanding on the original, X: Beyond the Frontier, X²: The Threat allows players to construct a massive fleet of ships to aid them along whatever path they choose within the open-ended X-Universe. This demo features 4 tutorials for trade, fight, build and think (each representing one of those themes), one additional tutorial for beginners and four sectors of the actual game, playable for 4 hours with a medium ship and 1 million credits (thanks Factornews). Read more for download links ...