The entire Worthplaying staff would like to say "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to our readers all around the world. We hope everybody has a wonderful holiday, loads of good food, and a joyful time with friends & family. May Santa bring you all the games you wished for, but above all, stay safe! Our news coverage will not slow down, but the news itself might be lacking. If there is anything worthy of your attention, you can be sure to read it here ...

Atari has released a new update patch for Troika's RPG Temple of Elemental Evil. This upgrade brings your retail game to v3.0 and only corrects problems associated with upgrading to DirectX 9.0c, specifically, the inability to loot bug. Read more for details and download links ...

Enlight Software has released a new patch for its animal loving sim/strategy game Zoo Empire. This update brings your retail game to v1.22 and further refines the hunger algorithm so that animals will no longer die of hunger so long as there is food in the exhibit (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

X-Isle is a singleplayer mod for Ubisoft/CryTek's FPS Far Cry. This Alpha v0.1 features 2 maps, 2 weapons, a jetski and a few other features. Read more for download links ...

The Sims 2 University is the first expansion pack for the highly-acclaimed The Sims 2, giving players of The Sims 2 the ability to watch their Sims become young adults and put childhood behind them as they settle into an all-new college town to live out their ultimate college fantasy.

Activision Value has released the first patch for Creat Studio's motorbike building game American Chopper, based on the Discovery Channel's TV series with the same name. This update brings your retail game to v1.1, although no details as to what it fixes are available. Read more for download links ...

Parkan II is a 3D space simulator combined with first person action planet side. In the game players will get an opportunity to explore a vast universe, visit different planets, their satellites, huge space stations and immense space destroyers.

Gran Turismo 4 further demonstrates its mission to provide the most authentic driving simulation available in the marketplace. New features will extend above and beyond just pure automotive racing, providing a unique destination for automotive and PS2 enthusiasts to enjoy car culture in every dimension. Sony announced the European release date is pushed back from late February to March 9, 2004. Read more for the 52 tracks which will be available in GT4.

In Battlefield 2, players will choose to fight for one of three military superpowers: the United States, China, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition. Armed with the latest modern weaponry, players can take control of any of the game's 30+ vehicles to engage in major conflicts with over 100 players. Check out the freshly launched BF2 website, which at this point only featuring previously released screens & trailers. For new goodies, check our 30+ new screens & movies from yesterday.

Square Enix announced today that its PS2 exclusive RPG FullMetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel will ship to North American retailers on January 18, 2005. FullMetal Alchemist expands the story in the anime series which airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. The tale follows the adventures of brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric on their quest to make right the mistakes of their past.

On December 22 many players were unable to access World of Warcraft for approximately seven hours, due to server problems. Blizzard will address this issue by automatically extending the trial period of all players who created an account on or before December 22 (11:59 PM PST) for an additional day.

Activision has released new patches for its WW2 based FPS Call of Duty and the 'United Offensive' expansion pack. The Call of Duty patch brings your retail game to v1.5b while the United Offensive will become v1.51b, both patches resolve an exploit that can be used to crash servers. This is a server side only patch. If you do not plan on hosting a server there is no need to download and install it. Read more for download links ...

EA has released the first patch for EA Sports' NBA LIVE 2005. This update brings your retail game to v1.1, and fixes various gameplay issues, and most importantly, improved art for all shoes in the game. There is a patch for the US and UK versions available. Read more for details and download links.

SEGA of America has released the first patch for Sports Interactive's 'Worldwide Soccer Manager. This update brings your retail game to v5.0.2, fixes lots of bugs, tunes the game more realistic like the player position bug, and makes it compatible with the European Football Manager 2005 edition of the game. The patch is save game compatible, but to get the full out of it, start a new game. Read more for download links ...

Ubisoft has released a small patch for its latest CSI crime-solving title, CSI: Miami. This update brings your retail game to v1.01 and addresses the Assembly Table crash and the Evidence Processor on Pano screens lockup. Be advised, save games will no longer work for cases in progress. Read more for details and download links ...

Blizzard has released yet another new Warcraft III map, this time called "Azeroth Grand Prix." Unlike previously released maps, this one actually turns Warcraft III into a kart racing game. Map info: "Legends speak of a hidden race track north of the border where representatives from the far reaches of the land gather to test their skills and racing prowess. This event is known to break even the mightiest of combatants with its no-rules-barred arena." This is a huge map and the suggested no. of players is 4 to 8. It is based on the "Lordaeron Winter" tileset. Go download it here!

Tesseraction Games has released a new patch for its naval combat sim Enigma: Rising Tide to bring the US edition of the game to the "Gold" version. This update adds all content that is in the Gold retail edition (except the soundtrack) and also adds the ability for you to create your own patrols and campaigns (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

In Battlefield 2, players will choose to fight for one of three military superpowers: the United States, China, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition. Armed with the latest modern weaponry, players can take control of any of the game's 30+ vehicles to engage in major conflicts with over 100 players in some of the largest online battles on the PC. Read more to check out 32 new screens, and a trailer showing off the 1st person perspective, weapons and vehicles...

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 :

• World Racing 2 - Trailer
• Jurassic Park 'FarCry Mod' - Trailer
• Dangerous Waters - Trailer

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. The title is due to be released for PC in early 2005, but until then, check out these new screens ...