Eidos Interactive today announced its exciting partnership with multi-platinum recording artists the Insane Clown Posse (ICP), Psychopathic Records and the Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home video games for the PS2 and Xbox. The games are scheduled for release this summer. Read more for details ...

Konami of America today announced that the celebrated videogame franchise Castlevania will debut on the Sony PS2 in Fall 2003. Castlevania for PS2 is being reinvented from the ground up by legendary game producer, Koji Igarashi at Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and the creative team behind the critically acclaimed Castlevania Symphony of the Night (PS1), the award-winning Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance (GBA) and the all-new adventure Castlevania Aria of Sorrow scheduled for release on May 6, 2003 (GBA). Set against the backdrop of a gothic Transylvania, Castlevania for PS2 will plunge players into a fantastic new vampire-hunting adventure. Maximizing the processing power of the console, the ominous drama of the franchise will be realized through exhilarating action, a rich story, breathtaking environments, dazzling next-generation graphics and a sweeping musical soundtrack.

Mega Man Network Transmission uses the popular chip system introduced in the original Battle Network RPG. By collecting chips, players can equip Mega Man with special weapons and support items that enhance his abilities. For example one chip will improve Mega Man’s jumping skills, while another creates a protective shield to deflect enemy attacks. Check these 16 new screens ...

Sammy Europe Ltd. today announced the release date for great beat-em-up title in PAL region for PS2. Guilty Gear X2, the newest sequel in the exceptional 2D anime fighter series, will be available on 21st March 2003. The title will have an RRP 29.99 GBP. With fan momentum for the Guilty Gear series continuing to dramatically escalate worldwide, Guilty Gear X2 brings the newest and most complete title in the series to European PS2 players. The title combines the traditions that set the fighter apart with new characters, new moves, new animation and bonus features, with improved reaction speed by 50Hz/60Hz option added answering users’ requests. Guilty Gear X2 adds six new characters to the most unique cast ever conceived for a total 20 playable fighters, and delivers new modes like Story, Mission, Medal of Millionaires and Gallery to build on the series story of war between humans and the bio-weapon Gears. Guilty Gear signatures such as amazing character and backdrop animation, super-fast gameplay speed and eye-popping special moves return, as does the brilliant character design of renowned artist Daisuke Ishiwatari.

Rainbow Six: Raven Shield features a brand new Tom Clancy storyline in which Team RAINBOW is led all over the world in a string of dramatic operations. The game will utilize graphics technology provided by the next-generation Unreal engine to power 15 new single-player missions that include the discovery of a cache of biological weapons and stopping an armed gang from terrorizing a London bank. More Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield intel available today. This time: key strategic information for multiplayer missions. Read more for screens and in game trailer ...

Hang on for your life in Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray as you get ripped across a lake by a high-powered speedboat and trick through dangerous terrain. Feel the rush as you crash into houseboats and catch huge air in nine exotic levels with seven world-class wakeboarders. Tired already? Then drive the boat and help your friend pull off challenging technical tricks on the most realistic looking water ever. A new batch of screens as well as a new trailer. Njoy!

Empire Interactive announces a further agreement with Black Cactus on the exclusive rights for the original, multiple award winning, top 10 chart success Warrior Kings title. Empire will publish its sequel, Warrior Kings: Battles, a real time strategy title for the PC, in March 2003. Following on from this Empire and Black Cactus will release an updated and enhanced version of the original, called Warrior Kings: Gold Edition in June at mid price. Empire also has the rights to release the game as a double pack with Warrior Kings: Battles and on its budget label, Xplosiv later in the year.

Microids has just released a patch for their top selling adventure hit, Syberia. This upgrade is for European and Canadian versions only and addresses the random freezing problem in the area with the Giant Robot in Komkolzgrad and the characters freezing bug for the Pentium 4 Hyperthreading or Xeon processors users. Additionally, it addresses a problem with overlapping character voices, and a problem with character movement speeds on portable computers. Read more fore links where to grab it ..

EA has just released a new patch for Total Club Manager 2003 is now available bringing your retail copy to v1.22. The v1.22 patch fixes two small issues in the Database Editor. Please note this patch is ONLY for the English version. Read more for links where to download this puppy!

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE) announced today the release of EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha, the first digital extension for the best-selling, critically acclaimed EverQuest series. Breaking new ground by offering numerous technical advances and improvements to gameplay via digital download, The Legacy of Ykesha expands the world of Norrath for current EverQuest players by adding new adventure zones, quests, spells, items, a new playable character race and more. The new digital extension can be downloaded in-game for $21.99. Additionally, select retailers will receive a limited number of retail CDs for the benefit of narrowband customers in the coming weeks. Retail pricing will vary.

Initially, Söldner: Secret Wars was designed to only offer a third person view because of the incorporation of stealth elements in gameplay. However, the huge online community that have followed each stage of Söldner: Secret Wars development expressed a desire for a first person view. In an attempt to create the ultimate gameplay experience, the developer, Wings Simulations, have listenened carefully and have now included an optional first person view. To make perspective changes as easy as possible, gamers will be able to switch view at any time with a simple key stroke. Read more for details and a few new screens to show off the different views ...

Four new grabs from this Ukrainian FPS 'Xenus', which is looking more verdant by the day. Down the pub, this time... Read more for all details!

Kemco and Vidis, two veterans of the games industry, agreed exclusive distribution for all Kemco-titles for the German market... Since 1984, Kemco has produced over 100 titles including the popular Top Gear racing games and Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle series for a wide variety of video game platforms. An original Nintendo licensee, Kemco works closely with DC Comics, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios on ongoing video game projects. Currently Kemco's development teams are creating games for Nintendo's next generation platforms, as well as Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox.

Astral Tournament is a magic combat simulator with the best features of "Magic: The Gathering". Long ago the Great Tournament was declared in Astral and mages from the Universe has arrived to gain the astral power. And you play for one of these mages who with the help of magical and tactical skills wants to win the Tournament. You can cast numerous spells and summon fantasy creatures to win your opponents. Besides the tournament game there is a capability of playing single duel with computer or your friend. Version 1.16 contains new computer AI and highly improoved sounds, and also enables you to play over local network.

Somewhere far away lays the land of powerful demons and breath taking beauty. The land of brave knights, doom and salvation. Land of many faces where marvelous adventures await your arrival. Sharpen your swords and gather up enough magic power because in the end of this spring a strategic delicacy arrives – Empire Of Magic. A batch of new screens magically appeared, check them out ...

Set in ancient China, Foo will challenge you and your competitors to enter palaces and temples before dawn, loot them for as much treasure as you can carry, and escape before the sun rises. Before setting out carefully plan what traps to take with you for your unwitting competitors - but beware, the more trap components you take in the less treasure you'll be able to carry out and the slower you'll move and react to the traps set out by other players. Foo is a unique "sneak, steal and trap-em-up" game of malicious pleasure with gameplay summarized as "Thief" meets "Spy vs. Spy", with the general feel of an animated feature crossed with the comical morbidity and brutality of "Itchy and Scratchy ".

German PCGames revealed (thanks Racedriver-portal.de, where they also snapped 30 new screens) reports that we can expect a ProRaceDriver (aka Toca Race Driver, v8 Challenge and DTM Race Driver depending on the localization) multiplayer demo on March 14th. If all of that is not enough for you race freaks you can check our previously posted 100 screens of racing madness.

The Open Beta Testing for Prince of Qin Online is now up running. “Prince of Qin Online” is set in a time where chaos reigned and injustice prevailed in the almighty Qin Empire. An era where the good suffered while the evil enjoyed tremendous power, where the rightful crown prince was denied of his throne and forced to be on the run... Embark on your journey into the Qin Dynasty and live your life as a Qin hero! Beta Stress Test period for Prince of Qin Online will be for a duration of two months starting from 21st February 2003. More info and DOWNLOAD (300MB) here!

Sony are once again accepting applications for the PlanetSide Public Beta Test. Those of you who have already submitted beta applications will not need to re-apply. PlanetSide is a Massively Multiplayer Online First-Person Shooter involving thousands of players fulfilling all the roles needed to wage war across the face of ten gigantic continents. The war will involve infantry, ground vehicles, and air battles in a science-fiction setting.

There is some new information on Infogrames Unreal Tournament 2003 forum, letting us know that the upcoming bonuspack is delayed (thanks Blues). They also posted up info about what they done so far for the next patch. Here is a clip from the bonuspack posting:

A lot of unexpected issues have come up that have delayed the release of the bonus pack. We had to release patch 2186 before the bonuspack, because the bonuspack relies on some functionality added in 2186. Testing and releasing that patch took a little longer than expected. Then, we had to make a new version for Germany to satisfy the German requirements to avoid having the game "indexed". After that, we had to make another patch (2199) to address the server exploits that were published.