Encore and JoWooD, an Austrian game publisher and developer, today announced that "SpellForce: The Order of Dawn" has begun shipping to retail stores in North America.

Konami Digital Entertainment - America today announced it has shipped Silent Scope Complete for the Xbox to retail outlets nationwide. Marking the series' Xbox debut and the only light gun supported precision shooting game for the console, Silent Scope Complete combines four of the franchise's hit titles - including arcade classics Silent Scope, Silent Scope 2 Dark Silhouette, Silent Scope EX and the console exclusive Silent Scope 3 - into one game.

Will Wright, creator of The Sims and one of the game industry's most well-known designers, will kick of a new "Legends of the Game Industry" Speaker Series being hosted by The Art Institute of California – San Francisco. The free event will be held from 7 to 8:30 pm on Feb. 25 at the school, located at 1170 Market Street (at 8th) in San Francisco.

Deep in the wildest outback the best rally pilots compete on some of the most beautiful and longest tracks of the world. Races are dangerous: arriving in one piece at the end of a stage is already a victory... Choose from 30 vehicles the one that you consider to suit best to conquer the vast wilderness. And attention, with Grand Raid Offroad you will definetly be facing vastness. Read more for details & screens ...

ValuSoft today announced the release of NHRA Drag Racing: Top Fuel Thunder for PC. This intensely competitive racing game is rated "E" for Everyone and is now available at retailers throughout North America for $19.99.

Three Hollywood heavy hitters have lent their talents to the much anticipated stealth-action game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. Joining the development team are Michael Ironside (Sam Fisher), Dennis Haysbert (Irving Lambert) and Lalo Shifrin (Composer, Original Theme). Read more for detailed information...

Sammy Studios today announced the launch of the dedicated web site for "Seven Samurai 20XX". Exclusively for Sony PS2, "Seven Samurai 20XX" is a fast-paced action game inspired by Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece "The Seven Samurai." Visitors go behind-the-scenes to gain access to a wide selection of art, movies, screenshots, character and story background and artist profiles to get a look into how the greatest action tale of all time has been "digitally remastered" for the video game generation. Scheduled for release spring 2004, "Seven Samurai 20XX" is rated T for Teen and has an MSRP of $39.99.

3000 AD has released the first patch for their futuristic 3D action game Universal Combat. This release candidate will be superseded by the final patch later this week and addresses a ton of AI tweaks, interface improvements, content and gameplay revisions, multiplayer enhancements, bug fixes, and more. Read more for details and download links ...

SEGA of America, Inc. today announced the release of "Nightshade" exclusively for the PlayStation2. The latest chapter in one of the longest running and most revered videogame franchises, "Nightshade" delivers more intense gameplay, bigger environments, and sharper visuals than its popular 2002 predecessor, "Shinobi". It also offers a more reasonable learning curve and a new 'Easy' mode, making the title more accessible for casual players.

NCsoft Corporation announces the beginning of its pre-order retail box campaign for Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle and City of Heroes in North America. The boxes will begin to appear on store shelves this week at computer game retail outlets throughout the United States and Canada. Both games are expected to launch commercially this spring.

Enlight announced today that its highly anticipated title Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc is now available in retail stores across North America. Inspired by the legendary story of Joan of Arc, Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc sends players to medieval France to experience the most epic battles of the Hundred Years War.

The official add-on Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon, throws you in even more dramatic battles of WWII. Burning Horizon offers a huge 18-missions-campaign around General Rommel, giving you the opportunity to play famous battles like Ardennes, Tripolis, Tobruk, El Alamein, Sicily and, of course, Normandy. Furthermore, the add-on contains 8 single missions, with an entire new nation at war: Japan. Read more for details ...

European videogame publisher L.S.P. announced today that Hip Interactive Corp. completed the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of L.S.P. Hip Interactive Corp. is a leading North American provider of electronic entertainment products. In fiscal 2003 Hip generated sales of Cdn $361,3 million, producing net income after taxes of $11 million.

Vivendi Universal Games and Radical Entertainment today announced a worldwide development agreement under which Radical will exclusively develop products for VU Games. The two companies will collaborate on the development of six multi-platform titles based on new and existing entertainment franchises. VU Games will also obtain a royalty-free license to Radical's proprietary game development technologies, as well as an option to purchase the company during contract's term. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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. Space Hack is scheduled to be released in first half of 2004. Rebelmind just informed us that they have reached Alpha (playable) stage, and sent us some screens to celebrate it.

Matrix Games has released a new patch for Freedom Games's 3D WWII strategy title Squad Assault: West Front, as well as an updated demo with the latest code. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.60 (available for US & UK editions) and includes more Windows 98/ME enhancements, LOS and targeting improvements and solutions for some map-specific issues. Also included for download are the new v1.60 demo, with all the v1.60 fixes, an extra map and a demo update for those with previous demos. Read more for detailed fix list and download links

Digital Jesters has released the first patch for Nadeo's sailing simulation game 'Virtual Skipper 3'. This update brings your retail game to v1.1 and adresses a tons of issues suchs as creating of profiles, ISAF rules, various network code optimizations, graphics & sound issues etc. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

TKO Software, Inc. today announced an agreement for the exclusive rights for developing a PC and console game based on SAHARA -- Paramount Pictures and Crusader Entertainment's blockbuster movie. SAHARA is based on the international best-selling novel by Clive Cussler, and stars Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz and Steve Zahn. TKO Software will invest $7 million in developing a 3D action adventure game to launch with the film in late 2004.

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. today announced that Champions of Norrath has shipped to North American retail stores. Champions of Norrath, available exclusively on the PS2, brings gamers into its immersive fantasy universe as they experience exciting hack-and-slash action. Champions of Norrath has more game features than any other game in the genre, including five playable character types, randomly generated dungeons and voice chat during online, four players co-op action. Champions of Norrath carries a suggested retail price of $49.99.

Resolution Interactive has acquired full rights from Daydream Software to computer games Clusterball and X-Team Racing, and the game concepts Scarcefreak and Billion Dollar Disc. The agreement includes code, design and community servers, as well as customer databases. One exception is South America, where Daydream keeps the Clusterball and X-Team Racing rights for 3 years in order to complete unfinished business. Daydream is also allowed to use existing Autobahn code in its future production.