Lunkwill Labs and GarageGames announce the first annual Robot Battle programming contest; a battle of wits to see who can design and code the smartest most adaptable fighting robot. The contest challenges players to devise their own autonomous robot for a head to head fight to the finish.

Today, Argonaut Games is delighted to announce Carve, the watercraft based racer for Xbox, featuring intense team-based AI, a mass of extreme tricks and full online racing via Microsoft's Xbox Live. Carve harnesses the sheer power of Xbox to create a race experience that mixes thrills and authenticity in equal measures. Each of the twenty-seven levels are visually resplendent with an authentic atmosphere, ensured by the dedicated team jetting off to Thailand, Iceland, Amsterdam and the Grand Canyon on research matters, before channelling their discoveries back into the game. Read more for details & the first screens ...

TimeGate Studios, Inc. announced today (thanks VE3D) that it is developing KINGS OF WAR, a fantasy real-time strategy game inspired by TimeGate’s critically acclaimed Kohan series.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure will use cutting-edge technology from Activision's latest Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 engine to allow characters from three beloved animated films: Walt Disney Pictures' presentation of Pixar Animation Studios' "Toy Story 2," "Disney's Tarzan " and "Disney's The Lion King" to skateboard just like the pros in their respective worlds for the first time. In addition to these characters, the new game includes a Create-A-Skater option where players can customize a youthful skater's "look" by selecting clothing and accessories.

Extreme 4x4 is not a racing game, it is an ACTION RACING game which will give you the extreme fun on enjoying the thrill of racing and the suspense of adventures. Unpredicted happenings such as a tornado, exploding mines, the falling of huge rocks which you will encounter during the game will not require a mere driving skill to be successful. We now have a trailer showing off some wicked in game action! Read more for download link...

ATI Technologies Inc. leading graphics technology provider, and Valve, creators of Half-Life, Counter-Strike and other award-winning PC action games, announced the first public showing of Valve's Half-Life 2 will take place at next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, CA. The product will be shown on ATI's RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB, the highest performance 3D card currently available, in a state of the art theater located in ATI's booth (South Hall, 646). Half-Life 2, published by Vivendi Universal Games, will be demonstrated by Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder and Managing Director, every half-hour. The original Half-Life was launched to tremendous reviews in 1998, won over 50 "Game of the year" awards worldwide, and launched a franchise with over 8 million units sold.

As many other companies, Midway will be present at the upcoming E3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 14-16, 2003. Today we have another big batch of screens representing their entire E3 lineup. We got screens from the following titles:

• Roadkill
• The Suffering
• ESPionage
• Freaky Flyers
• FreeStyle Metal X
• Justice League: Dark Reflections (GBA)
• Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (GBA)
• NBA Ballers
• NFL Blitz Pro
• NHL Hitz Pro
• Spy Hunter 2
• Static Shock (GBA)
• Super Duper Sumos (GBA)
• 
  
  Read more and check out the goodies!

Arxeltribe let us know that they tossed up the official site for their upcoming action-investigation game HANNIBAL. Based on the eponymous movie by Ridley Scott, Hannibal: The Game is a first person Action/Investigation developed for the PC. You embody Agent Clarice Starling, an FBI agent on the deadly track of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The game is divided into 6 different levels, all of which are reconstitutions or extrapolations based on the movie's key sceneries. The site includes screens gameinfo and much more.. Check it out here! Or read more to check out some screens ...

Shrapnel Games is proud to announce the next in the highly acclaimed Combat Command series. From master designer Dave Erickson and Boku Strategy Games comes Combat Command 2: Danger Forward Gold Edition, slated for release June 09, 2003 it will be available online for $39.95, those who pre-order before the end of May will save $5.00. The gold edition takes the classic company-level wargame and makes it even better. New graphics! New battles! New rule tweaks! These tweaks offer subtle, yet important, enhancements to Combat Command 2's already mesmerizing gameplay.

Halo 2 continues the story of the Master Chief, the genetically enhanced super-soldier who is the only human ever to successfully defy the Covenant—a coalition of alien races on a murderous march toward Earth. To the mysterious leaders of the Covenant, the human victory at the ancient ring structure known as Halo was an unacceptable failure. They will not fail again... Check out two new screens below!

I noticed over at gamesindustry.biz that hacker-engineer Andrew "Bunnie" Huang says he's already pre-sold between 400 and 500 copies of his self-published tell-all "Hacking the Xbox: an Introduction to Reverse Engineering," weeks before its scheduled May 27th publication date, despite -- or perhaps because of -- looming suspicions by some that the book skirts the edges of legality. "It' s about getting the book out there on principle, because I can't find a publisher willing to publish it," says Huang. "I think it's controversial, but not illegal." Read the complete article here!

The USC requires the ability to move a small group of ground troops at high speed, so they designed the "AJ" class of Humvee. While not a traditional, 20th-century-looking Hummer, the design boasts a more robust armored shell and a powerfuly modified V8 engine that can churn the ground into dust. The vehicle can seat up to four GRUNTs and comes with a heavy ‘chaingun’ mounted on the back for offence and defence. We have some screens of the Humvee for you to check out below!

For the first time, experience the glory, match day tension, heat of battle, and passion in the only official game for your club and your footballing heroes. Club Football is a game like no other – in fact it's seventeen games like no other! Seventeen unique games, each one exclusively endorsed, and branded by a major European club side: Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, Bayern München, AC Milan, Arsenal, Ajax, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Leeds, Glasgow Rangers, Celtic, Borussia Dortmund, Aston Villa, and Hamburg.

iParkBoston today announced that they are presenting a range of Korean game development companies and their products to potential publishers and software distributors in the U.S. at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week. Read more for details ...

Championship Manager 4 is the next generation of football management games offering more players, leagues and competitions than any other title. For the first time ever in the series, Championship Manager 4 features a 2D match engine enabling you to make tactical decisions as the action unfolds. This update for the retail Championship Manager 4 title adds many fixes and additions. This upgrade comes in 2 versions, one including a big database update and one without. Read more for download links ...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• Metal Gear Sold 3: Snake Eater (Konami)
• Thief 3 (Eidos)
• Backyard Wrestling (Eidos)
• Star Trek: Elite Force 2 (Activision)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

Take on the role of Logan, a veteran mercenary turned bounty hunter who is out to make it rich. Using a system of implants, the player is able to manipulate Logan’s personality and abilities in order to accomplish all of the 14 missions where Logan takes part in breathtaking chases using futuristic vehicles, becomes a silent assassin to strike at unwitting enemies, and grabs his heavy plasma gun and implants enhanced muscles to storm through enemy lines... Chrome is original, full of sudden twists and turns, heavy action and a dramatic story of heroism, friendship and betrayal. (Developed by Techland Software and will be released summer 2003) Read more for some new screens!

Disciples II: Guardians of the Light is a stand-alone expansion that lets you dive into the fantastical world of Disciples II as either the Empire or the Mountain Clans. The Empire is decaying from within as self-proclaimed rulers struggle for control of the now vacant throne while a cruel Inquisition sweeps across the human lands, causing rebellion and misery. Meanwhile the Clans, recovering from their near-destruction, begin to reunite their tribes. They have received divine instructions and now seek to uncover an ancient ritual that will let them communicate with their god, Wotan.. Read more for an exclusive look with Ethan Petty, one of the game’s designers..

The 3 in E3 should stand for 3 days of absolute chaos, with international companies trying to squeeze as much as they can out of the long days at the Los Angeles Convention Center and the extracurricular evenings in between. Strategy First will be debuting several games at this year’s show.. Read more for Strategy First E3 lineup.

• How many years E3 has been running: 9
• How many people attend each year: 60,000+
• How many products debut at E3 each year: 1,000+
• How many years Strategy First has been an E3 exhibitor: 7
• How many cocktails/dinner/parties fill the 3 nights of E3: Countless