Mark Rein from Epic Games Inc. tossed up following update status on their official UT2003 forum.

Performance optimizations are really coming under control nicely. When we originally announced UT2003 we were pretty sure that hardware T&L and 32-bit rendering would be must-have features just to get the game running. It turns out we might have been a little too conservative with this specification. Resident graphics wiz, Andrew Scheidecker, has cranked up graphics performance very nicely and hardware guru Daniel Vogel has somehow managed to get 16 bit working quite well and make the game run on low-end cards like TNT2 and even 3DFX's famous Voodoo3! Read more below!

Last night BioWare let us know that there was an automatic update patch available for their just release 3D role-playing game "Never winter Nights". Today they released the manual patch for Neverwinter Nights, upgrading the game to version 1.18. Read more for details and links.

"WE WANT IT. You want it. Everybody wants to know what's really going on with Halo 2. We know. Other than confirming its coming, Microsoft has been very coy about the game, repeatedly dodging everyone's questions. Everyone, that is, except for Official UK Xbox Magazine."

Phantagram Interactive announced today that it will begin limited enrollment for beta testing its upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "Shining Lore." The company expects tens of thousands of submissions but will limit the testing to the first 20,000 qualified candidates. Interested parties are encouraged to go to the official Shining Lore websiteto enroll. Set to begin in July, the beta test will run approximately 60 days and will lead into the commercial release of the game for North America.

Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced that it will publish the next installments of its best-selling Petz family of products with Catz 5 and Dogz 5. Key among the new features in Catz 5 and Dogz 5 will be the ability for Petz owners to import all officially released Dogz and Catz from previous versions into the new title, ensuring that old friends aren't lost when their owners upgrade. Catz 5 and Dogz 5 for the PC are both expected to ship to U.S. and Canadian retail this Fall with an MSRP of $19.99 each.

For IGI 2, the acclaimed superb stealth-based first-person shooter action returns, and continues the modern warfare and espionage theme of the original. The covert missions continue the career of David Jones, a former SAS soldier, now working freelance for the secret organisation, codenamed 'IGI'. We already had some new screens a few days ago, and today we bring you some more.. Njoy!

Kingdom Hearts is the first project from Squaresoft and Disney Interactive. This revolutionary relationship has created an entirely new genre of game - an 'Action RPG' that combines classic Disney characters and worlds with new elements created in the renowned Squaresoft style. Check out some Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy screens below!

Ubi Soft updated the official Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Raven Shield website with a full transcript of their first developer chat log. The chat log was posted on the German Raven Shield website and has Mike McCoy (Lead Game Designer), Joel Trembley (Programmer) and Chadi Lebbos (Producer) discussing aspects such as online play, gameplay modes, and player interaction with in-game characters. While the chat log was conducted on the German section of the website its been translated into English. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Raven Shield follows Team Rainbow as they try to retrieve a cache of biological weapons while stopping a London bank from being terrorized. The game makes its debut this fall on Xbox & PC.

THQ Inc. today announced that "Britney's Dance Beat" for PC is now available at retailers nationwide. The video game features Britney Spears' songs, music videos, behind-the-scenes video clips and challenging gameplay. The PC version differs from "Britney's Dance Beat" for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance, both currently available at retail, with a Britney Quiz and a Free Play mode in which fans can create their own choreography.

Infogrames announced the European release on June 21st, 2002 of V-Rally 3 under the Atari Brand, the latest in the prestigious V-Rally series V-Rally 3 is the latest and most accomplished version of a rally driving franchise that established the rally genre on Playstation. The game features the same innovative game design principles and attention to details. In addition, the exclusive new V-Rally mode will give player a chance to experience for themselves the carrer of a rally driver.

Stuntman received rave previews at last month’s E3 show in Los Angeles and its release in September is anticipated as one of the key releases of the year. Developed by Reflections, the company responsible for the best-selling Driver series, the game will be available exclusively on PS2 and the website has been produced in response to the demand its release has engendered.

Following recent press speculation as to the status of “Call of Cthulhu : Dark Corners of the Earth” for PC, currently being developed by Headfirst Productions, Mike Woodroffe (Managing Director) has made the following statement :- Read more below!

Just Trains are proud to announce the release of TGV Train Sim Pack. This must be the ultimate high-speed upgrade for Microsoft Train Simulator. TGV Train Sim Pack is realistic simulation of the high-speed rail route between Ashford, Kent in the UK and Lille in France, capturing the atmosphere and excitement of driving such a route, including passing through an authentic looking tunnel under the English Channel.

Goliath is a powerful 3D engine that has the power to bring the most demanding game concepts to life. First person shooters? Thrid person action games? Real time strategy? Goliath can do all these. It already features such things as real-time shadows, dynamic lighting, open logic architecture, console, optimized environment rendering, occlusion systems, advanced physics, and much more. Goliath now has a preview page of its own. This page features seven screenshots of a playable demo of "The VATZ", a game concept that Beenox bringing to life with Goliath. "Goliath is the current technology in development at Beenox Studio"

Do you have an interest in creating fantastic worlds such as one that exist within the World of Warcraft? Perhaps your true passion lies within the creation of breathtaking cinematics such as the ones in Diablo II and the upcoming Warcraft III? Blizzard Entertainment is actively searching the gaming world for passionate artists who have a flare for color, an eye for detail and a love for games. Look interesting? Well check out the Blizzard site for full scoop!

3DGamers got a playable demo of Spider-Man: the Movie available for download. The demo is 175MB to grab and there currently are no details on the demo's contents.

When a pack of saloon cars tear from the starting line simultaneously and head into some of motor sport’s most aggressive exhibition of close-contact racing it can only mean one thing – the green light’s on for TOCA Race Driver. Codemasters’ game of speed, control, and aggression is coming to PlayStation 2 on August 23rd and, as seen recently at E3, is a stunning racing title that puts players through an experience they’ll never forget.

There are 7 pages available of Soccer Quizzes that you can take on line and see "How did I do". Test your knowledge! take the quizzes. Soccer Quizzes - Page 1 of 7!

Pivotal Games has tossed up the official site for their 3rd person squad based action game, Conflict - Desert Storm. The site offers, features, screenshots, trailers and much more. Desert Storm is scheduled for release in September for PC, XBox and PS2.

Dreamcatcher has just released the first patch for their recently released First Person Shooter, GORE! Read more to get a full detailed list of fixes and links where to grab the patch.