Oddworld Stranger's Wrath has officially gone gold for the Xbox and will begin shipping under the EA GAMES brand starting Tuesday, January 25, 2005.

Ubisoft announces that Prince of Persia Warrior Within has already doubled sales of the brand's first installment, with 1.8 million units delivered since its December 2nd release. During an extremely competitive holiday season, Prince of Persia Warrior Within has proven itself as a force with which to be reckoned.

'Take Command 1861 - 1st Bull Run' is what the industry calls a garage game, a title created by a group of individuals on their own time using their own resources with no external funding from publishers or investors. 'Civil War Bull Run' uses the weapons, strategies, and tactics of the Civil War without limiting game play to the actual battles of the era. The developed game engine will be fully customizable by the player so that they can create their own maps, modify ballistics, and basically change the entire game.

Dreamcatcher Europe has released an updated version of the previously released patch for Streko-Graphics Inc.'s puzzle/adventure game Aura: Fate Of The Ages. This update still brings your English retail game to v1.04, and there are still no details provided as to what it addresses. Read more for download links ...

For the first time on any handheld game system, players will experience the thrill of fighting single handed against legions of powerful enemy soldiers in historic battles that shaped the Chinese empire. Read more for a spiffy screens!

Offering over 40 fully-licensed and faithfully replicated club and national teams, players can tinker with tactics, formation, line-up and training before each match. During the game, Pro Rugby Manager 2 displays each bone-crunching tackle, each heart-in-mouth drop kick and every maddening pass and dash to the try-line in such glorious, motion-captured detail, it rivals anything TV coverage can offer.

Wow, talk about a surprise! A few weeks ago Israeli game developer Majorem announced it was putting development of Ballerium on hold due to insufficient funds, and today Interplay announced that it will exclusively publish and distribute the massively multiplayer online strategy game. The game, currently in beta testing, is expected to be commercially launched by summer 2005.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ and SCi today announced the talent line-up secured for the Constantine videogame, which is based on the upcoming film from Warner Bros. Pictures, set for release in February 2005, and the DC Comics/Vertigo Hellblazer graphic novels. Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale and Max Baker have their likeness recreated in the game and, players will be able to assume the title role of the film's protagonist John Constantine (Reeves) in the game.

I of the Dragon is an action RPG where you are the hero, you are the dragon. Born as a young dragon, you must mature in strength and power through a leveling system that will reward you with new spells and skill upgrades. Download this package if you are experiencing problems with the game's video sequences, due to certain Windows XP machines where the required codec is not included by default.

Jolt Online Gaming is now offering the MMORPG community 100 new beta tester slots in an upcoming behind-closed-doors test of Roma Victor, due to take place in 2005. Read more for details ...

JoWooD offers to fans of Stargate the unique opportunity to take on the role of one of the characters in the fascinating world of the Stargate SG-1: The Alliance game. Starting December 22nd and ending on December 31st JoWooD will put up a charity-auction on “Ebay”, the world biggest internet auction house featuring the opportunity to have a virtual double of the highest bidder integrated into the upcoming Stargate SG-1: The Alliance game.

MLB 2006 features numerous new gameplay enhancements, and returning gameplay favorites, including EyeToy functionality; online playability through 989SportsOnline.com; and Voice Recognition, MLB 2006 promises to provide gamers with a true-to-life experience from the diamond. Read more for details and 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 :

• Brothers in Arms - Trailer
• Drakengard 2 - Trailer
• ESPN MLB 2K5 - Trailer
• GTR - Trailer
• Stolen - Trailer #2
• Tenchu: Fatal Shadows - Trailer

GMX Media/Tri Synergy have released a demo for Gameyus' upcoming modern warfare tactical 3D RTS Will of Steel. This demo features one level giving you the chance to wage war. Read more for download links ...

Matrix Games and X1 Software announced today that announced today that The Last Days, the second of two expansions due to release this week for IL-2 Sturmovik, is now available for sale from the Matrix Games website. The Last Days is compatible with the ACE Expansion pack and can be purchased online from the Matrix Games Online Store.

Atari has updated its Act of War: Direct Action website with a countdown timer ticking down towards the release of the public Act of War demo. A quick calculation points out that the release date would be January 13, 2005 and if you are really impatient you can go ahead and sign up to get an email notification as soon as the demo is available (thanks Blues). If you haven't yet, check out our Act of War preview!

Busy evening for the people over at Valve as today it disabled more than 30,000 Steam accounts (a few weeks ago Valve already banned 20,000) which had been used to try to illegally gain access to Valve games without a valid purchase. A new Steam update has been released fixing some some stuttering issues with Half-Life 2 and also addressing missing models when running the Counterstrike Source Video Stress Test.

Digital Jesters has opened up its upcoming Trackmania expansion Speed Up! for beta testing. Head on over to the official Trackmania website and sign up to enter the public beta test for Nadeo's racing game. The beta requires you to have the original TrackMania: Power Up! version. Head on over to the Trackmania website and download the Speed Up! Alpha 3, install, and you are good to go ...

Shadow of Rome, an all-new action adventure game, transports players to one of the most perilous ages of man, an era when Caesar was hailed as the leader of the Roman Empire and whose sovereignty dominated all of western civilization.

Ubisoft is pleased to announce that Spring’s hottest title, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, will be releasing a Limited Collector’s Edition for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube and PC in the U.S. and Canada. Read more for details as well as some new screenage ...