Electronic Arts is again partnering with urban music and lifestyle powerhouse Def Jam to bring gamers Def Jam Vendetta II, the ultimate hip-hop-fueled fighting video game. Currently in development under the EA GAMES brand, Def Jam Vendetta II features more than 70 characters, including more than 35 of the most renowned artists and personalities in hip-hop today, including Busta Rhymes, Lil' Kim, Ludacris, Method Man, Redman, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, Carmen Electra and many more. Read more for details & 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 :

• Marine Sharpshooter 2 - Trailer
• War Times - Trailer
• Shadow Ops: Red Mercury - Trailer
• EUFA Euro 2004 - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Jagex today announced that the completely upgraded version of its online adventure game RuneScape has gone live and can now be played by all new and existing players at www.runescape.com. Read more for details & screens ...

Maintaining law and society order is veteran Headhunter Jack Wade, older, wiser and battle hardened. At his side is the reluctant new sidekick, the rebellious street kid Leeza X. Whether ripping up the highways of the silver metropolis on a super bike or stalking the criminal masterminds of the shadowy underworld, they are led into the greatest danger of their lives and must overcome something much more sinister than a simple human threat. Each must face their darkest fears. Together they must redeem a world facing chaos...

Atari has released a new update patch for the latest installment in Sid Meiers strategy franchise Civilizations III: Conquests. This upgrade (suitable for the English, German, Italian, Spanish, and French versions of the game) brings your retail game to v1.20 and implements a bunch of changes and bug fixes, old save games are incompatible with the new version (thanks Blues). Read more for details and download links ...

During the month of April 2004, Valve is extending a special offer to Cyber Cafes. During this time, a 12-month cyber café license for Valve's games is being offered at a savings of 33%. The license includes all of Valve's available Steam content, including Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress Classic, and more. Licensed Cyber Café's also receive product key protection, promotional materials, tournament licenses, and priority access to Valve support. This offer ends at 11:59 pm PST on April 30, 2004, is subject to change and is not available in every territory. For more information, please email cafe@valvesoftware.com.

In India, Emperor Asoka Maurya has embarked on a non-violent campaign to bring prosperity to his people and promote Buddhist philosophy. In China, the king of Qin struggles to unite the seven kingdoms and stave off invasions by Hun tribes. To the west, a fledgling Rome battles with Carthage for Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Egypt and Seleucid Persia wrestle to control Syria and the Near East. Choose your side and lead your empire to Strength and Honor! Check out the new batch of screens ...

UFC: Sudden Impact brings real fighting to the "Ultimate" fans! Experience the full contact intensity found only in the Octagon. Create the Ultimate Fighter, train him to be a master and brawl your way through five different modes of play including the fan favorite Tournament Mode and an all-new, enhanced Story Mode. Read more for some new screens ...

Film and Video Game production company Union Entertainment announced today the procurement of development financing for the company’s video game division. Backed by Korean software company Digital Tetra, the fund provides $1.2 million for Union to develop new games to a playable demo level before shopping the titles to game publishers. The deal was brokered by Clemensen Capital.

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE) today announced that EverQuest II will be the first MMO game to feature voiceover for in-game Non-Player Characters (NPCs). The voiceover will be comprised of more than 130 hours of dialog and approximately 1.5 million words (the equivalent of more than 65 feature films worth of content). The addition of voiceover to the game adds a new dimension of realism to the MMO genre that is unmatched by the current generation of titles. Read more for details & new trailer filled with speech...

The Hostile Intent team has released a new version for their Half-Life mod, bringing it to v1.2 and has a slew of bug fixes and game tweaks. Read more for details and download links ...

Strategy First has released a patch for Legend Studios' 3D RTS War Times. This upgrade will bring your retail game to v1.01. and fixes a bug with AI players in multiplayer games on the server, rebalances some unit stats and improves LAN play. Read more for download links ...

'KOF: Maximum Impact' will feature the most popular KOF characters such as Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi all rendered in 3D. The game will also feature several brand new characters to the franchise and a wide assortment of detailed battlegrounds and fighting maneuvers. Check out the freshly launched KOF: Maximum Impact website or read more for new screens ...

Publisher Strategy First and developer Legend Studios announced today that War Times has shipped to retail stores nationwide. War Times is a World War II real-time strategy game that gives players the opportunity to fight some of history’s most prolific battles as the country of their choice: the USA, England, the Soviet Union or Germany. War Times has a SRP of $39.99 and has been rated T for Teen.

Vivendi today announced that "Van Helsing", based on the highly-anticipated film from Universal Pictures, is also coming to the GBA. Van Helsing, the new epic action-adventure film from writer-director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns), draws inspiration from the studio’s classic horror properties and introduces Van Helsing, Bram Stoker’s fabled monster hunter, who is summoned to a distant Eastern European land on a quest to vanquish evil.

Fable is a ground-breaking role-playing adventure game from Peter Molyneux, in which your every action determines your skills, appearance, and reputation. Create your life story from childhood to death. Grow from an inexperienced adolescent into the most powerful being in the world. Check these 50+ new screens ...

Novalogic has released a demo for their upcoming FPS multiplayer game Joint Operations. the demo features one 'Twin Island' multiplayer map with day and night settings. The demo will be playable over the NovaWorld Games Network and via LAN. Other features in the demo include:Up to 100 player games via NovaWorld with 32 players on a LAN, 19 land sea and air drivable vehicles,27 Weapons,5 classes: Rifleman, Gunner, Engineer, Sniper & Medic. Read more for download links ...

Darkfall is a next generation Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that combines real-time action and real-time strategy in a fantasy setting. Darkfall is currently in internal beta testing and preparing for the open playtesting. RazorWax has launched/revamped the official DarFall website, go check it out, or read more for some new screens ...

Ubisoft and Microsoft are pleased to announce that an autoupdate is now available online to address the issues with optimatch that Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow players experienced. The game will automatically update itself the next time you connect to XBOX Live. The updated game will no longer freeze when displaying optimatch or quickmatch results. Read more for details ...