ELSPA, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, today announced its wholesale endorsement of the new Pan European Game Information system ('PEGI') for new interactive entertainment titles released from April 2003. The system, which recognises the need for a uniformed age ratings across Europe, has been designed to rate the age suitability and content of computer and video games so that consumers - particularly parents - can make informed buying decisions at point of purchase.

Austrian software developer and publisher JoWooD Productions Software AG today announced the conclusion of an exclusive agreement with Infogrames for the international marketing of their role-play game sensation "Gothic II". With the exception of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the agreement covers the worldwide publishing, marketing and distribution of the title.

Crowd Control Productions (CCP), developer of the highly anticipated massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) "EVE Online: The Second Genesis" announced today the client portion of the game has been certified 'gold' and has been released to manufacturing. Work continues on the server side of EVE which will be ongoing through to launch on May 6, 2003.

Today we received a bunch of screens from Nintendo. A bit of a pre-E3 treat: Your first five Mario Kart GC shots to pore over and six new screenshots to pik from. Njoy!

Atari today revealed plans to bring Deer Hunter, the hunting series that has continually raised the bar for outdoor adventure and excitement, onto the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system this fall. The game marks the first time the famed hunting franchise will be launching on console, delivering an entirely new interactive hunting experience.

Easter Sunday saw the broadcast of ITV1's inaugural Game Stars awards ceremony. The awards were voted for by the public, and represent one of the biggest ever polls of video gaming opinion. In a coup for Nintendo, the GAME Retail: Most Wanted Award went to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, exclusively for NINTENDO GAMECUBE, successfully seeing off very respectable bids from Halo 2, Doom III and Enter The Matrix amongst a host of others.

After months in development on a far and distant tropical isle Tropico 2: Pirate Cove is making its sailing the seven seas into stores. An addictive real time strategy, empire building game for the PC this swashbuckling adventure is a treasure that can be discovered in stores on 25th April 2003.

Xbox, the video game system from Microsoft, today announced that "Controller S" becomes the standard Xbox controller and will be packaged inside all Xbox video game systems in Europe. Originally sold separately as a stand-alone peripheral, Controller S is the Xbox answer to gamers who wanted more choice. Smaller than the original Xbox controller and featuring a new button layout, Xbox Controller S has proven to be a big hit with gamers since its launch at retail in September 2002.

Titans of Steel Soundtrack to be Preformed by Alternative Rock Band Crownd.. Matrix Games is proud to announce signing Alternative rock band Crownd to play on their upcoming Titans of Steel Warring Suns game. Read more for details!

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 :

• The Suffering (Midway)
• Viewtiful Joe (Capcom)
• Lost Kingdoms 2 (Activision)
• Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil (Infogrames)
• Dino Crisis 3 (Capcom)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

Today Global Star Software has released a list of the PC games they will be showcasing at next month's E3 in Los Angeles. Located in Booth Booth 6021 of Kentia Hall, Global Star will be highlighting the following upcoming titles: Airport Tycoon 3, Jetfighter 5, Mall Tycoon 2, Emergency Services Sim, Firefighter 259, Rebel Trucker.

Divine Divinity is an RPG in which you take control over either a male of female character whom you guide through a highly interactive fantasy world. Your goal is to develop your character by making him/her better in a variety of skills, discover mysteries, combat enemies and save the day. Larian Studios has just issued the third patch (hotfix Nr3) for Divine Divinity, bringing your retails game to v1.33 (UK&US). This upgrade fixes problems with corrupted savegames, fixes a bug with passive skills, and several other bugs as well. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

At last the eagerly-anticipated release of the new patch for Unreal Tournament 2003 has been released. This upgrade brings your retail copy of the multiplayer first-person shooter by Digital Extremes and Epic Games to v2225. This patch can be applied to any previous version and has a buttload of gameplay tweaks and fixes, HUD/menus, AI, networking, mod support, D3D/OpenGL, audio as well as demo recording and playback. Read more for detailed fix list and links where to grab it ...

GarageGames and 21-6 Productions launch Orbz 2.0 with thirty-five all new single-player challenges, online community high scores, computer opponents called Botz, three new courses to compete on, 15 new orbs to choose from, and now available on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. The demo offers 5 solo challenges (35 in retail), 2 courses (14 in retail), 10 orbs (30 in retail), only 2 botz allowed in multi-player, no online ranking for multi-player, no community high scores for Single-Player, no unique naming. Read more for download link...

Arx offers a number of interactions with objects and NPCs, realistic action fights, a unique real time spell casting system, character creation, dialogues, puzzles, exploration in an underground atmospheric world with various Cities inhabited by several races, galleries, dungeons and mines all intertwined by an unexpected epic plot. Arkane Studios has issued updated retail patches for Arx Fatalis, bringing their 3D role-playing game at version 1.17. This release fixes a crash with the inventory and also fixed a bug with sounds settings not being remembered. Read more for links where to grab this puppy ..

SEGA of America, Inc. today announced that "Vectorman" (working title) is currently in development exclusively for the PlayStation2 and will debut at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2003. "Vectorman" is being developed by Pseudo Interactive and is slated for release in early 2004.

Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Rise of Nations has gone gold and is scheduled to ship to stores on 23rd May (UK) and May 20th (US). Virtual field commanders will soon get the opportunity to "Conquer the World" in single player, or lead their troops into battle online with this revolutionary real-time strategy (RTS) game from Brian Reynolds. To celebrate this milestone, gamers will be able to chat live with Reynolds on Zone.com today, 22nd April, at 1am GMT. For more information on the chat, check here .

Ubi Soft Entertainment and Alienware Corporation today announced details of a cross-promotional deal for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield for the PC. The contest will offer consumers the chance to win online prizes, including a grand prize of an Alienware system with a copy of this highly anticipated sequel in the award-winning Rainbow Six series of games. The promotion will launch in April and continue through December 31st 2003.

In Squad Assault: West Front, you command troops in both the Allied and German Armies of the West Front of World War II in an immersive full 3-D continuous time environment. Squad Assault: West Front features detailed models for all the major armies that fought in France in 1944, including American, German, British, Canadian, and Free French. For those who prefer traditional turn-oriented play, a user defined auto-pause feature for order entry and battlefield assessment allows for a more thoughtful game. A 2D overhead map view with order entry is also available for those who prefer to see the battle from above. Check the new batch of screens ...