Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced a rebate program for its forthcoming Chessmaster 9000 PC title. Under the program, current Chessmaster owners will receive a $10 rebate when they upgrade to Chessmaster 9000 from any previous version of Chessmaster, starting with Chessmaster 4000. Chessmaster 9000 has an MSRP of $39.99, and will ship to U.S. and Canadian retail shelves on August 27, 2002.

Recreating the association that brought Duke Nukem – Manhattan Project across the Atlantic, the Amsterdam-based powerhouse of innovative and exciting gameplay has teamed up yet again with Arizona-based publishers Arush Entertainment to secure European publishing rights to the amazing cyber thriller Devastation.

JoWooD Productions promises that the festive season will be filled with fun for gamers as Santa Claus Jr. Advance launches on GameBoy Advance on 1st November 2002.

Fresh off the overwhelmingly successful Pentium 4 Processor Summer Championships, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) today announced their next major event in the United States - The Pentium 4 Processor Winter Event 2002. Scheduled for December 18th to 22nd at the Dallas Hyatt Regency, the event will bring together the best professional computer gamers on the planet to play Half-Life Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament 2003, and a special Team Fortress Classic tournament.. With over $150,000 being awarded, the Pentium 4 Winter Event will be the largest US gaming event this year.

Nintendo and Rare join forces to bring Fox McCloud and friends to NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Eight years after the defeat of Andross, the Star Fox team discovers a beautiful prehistoric planet ruled by a sinister tyrant known as General Scales. Players take charge of Star Fox team leader Fox McCloud to free inhabitants from Scales's evil clutches and restore peace to the primal paradise.

Celtic Kings is an RTS which combines strategy and role-playing elements in single mode, and which also includes online multi-player functions. Players must take control of the destiny of the heroic Larax and try and lead him to victory by developing a personal strategy and showing a mastery of military tactics. Celtic Kings is due for release in September 2002. (4 slightly small screens is included with the game story)

Time of Defiance unleashed on the public; limited discount subscriptions available. Two million gaming minutes served over a year of beta testing will culminate this Wednesday with the release of Nicely Crafted Entertainment’s (NiCE) Time of Defiance. Read more for screens, features and download link for a five-day demo!

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is the follow-up to the BAFTA award nominated Hitman: Codename 47. Developed by Io Interactive, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin will be released on PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in September.

Grandia Xtreme is the first original Grandia title for the PlayStation2 and is scheduled to ship September 30. Grandia Xtreme carry an estimated retail price of $49.99. Check out 16 slightly small PS2 screenshots.

GGMania got a chance to chat with FireStarter Project Manager Slava Klimov to find out more about this upcoming arcade-style shooter currently in the works at GSC Game World. Included with the interview there is six impressive new screenshots. Here is a clip:

GGMania: What is the current status of the game's development and when will it be in stores?

Slava Klimov: At the moment we have passed the half of development way with FireStarter, the expected release date is Q1 2003.

Return to the frigid north of the Forgotten Realms in the sequel to the critically acclaimed Icewind Dale. This exciting high-fantasy action adventure unites 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules, new character classes and races. Enhancements such as auto balancing game-play and an upgraded Infinity Engine allow for more dynamic battles than ever before. Icewind Dale II delivers the depth of gameplay expected by Action-RPG fans while providing an attractive entry point players new to the genre. Check the nifty screens we snapped!

Turok: Evolution is a prequel that takes us back to the origins of the Turok lineage. In the beginning of the game, we see our hero, Tal'Set, fighting his nemesis Captain Tobias Bruckner in 1886 Texas. During the battle, a rift between their world and the Lost Lands opens and Tal'Set is sucked into it. Turok: Evolution is an epic adventure of treachery, exploration, and war in a land of lush jungles, suspended cities, mysterious temples, reptile armies, and towering dinosaurs. Njoy the show!

The official America's Army web site has been updated with a new layout, screens and more. America's Army "Unreal engine powered" is an innovative, realistic computer game providing civilians with an inside perspective and a virtual role in today’s premiere land force, the U.S. Army. (thanks Homelan)

AGB brings 3D character animation system to GBA.. AGB completed the implementation of their 3D character animation system for Nintendo Gameboy Advance. This system allows to display many real-time animating 3D like characters simultaneously. Using this technique they eliminate the large memory overheads of storing many frames of sprite animation, whilst allowing the game characters a much larger range of movement. Whilst the character animation system closely approximates 3D humanoid based characters, it can also be used to represent more complex and highly detailed characters, objects and animals. A load of screenshots from AGB's latest demo below. (might take a while to load the screens)

The newest issue of magazine Game Informer has a ludicrous amount of information regarding the new Playstation 2 installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, subtitled Vice City. Today 'Games Are Fun' tossed up details and screens from this issue!

Clevers Software 'the people behind Screamer 4x4' is currently working on a new racing game with the title S.O.H (Steel of Haste). This weekend they updated their website with 32 new goodlooking screens and they also tossed up little bit more information about this game! Take me there!