Ubi Soft Entertainment, one of the largest video game publishers in the world, today announced plans to release Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc in the U.S. and Europe this fall with availability on all next generation consoles and PC.

Auran, creators of Trainz, have reported a significant increase in download traffic on their website since the announcement of a gmax game pack for Trainz yesterday.

UK Games Service Multi Player Zone (www.mpz.co.uk) have today launched their brand new gaming product, GameArena in its very first public beta release.

Games outsourcing specialist Babel (www.babelmedia.com) has broken new ground after being appointed by Nintendo Europe as the main content provider for the Game Boy Advance website. It is the first time that Babel has provided editorial services for a major publisher and continues the expansion of its outsourcing package for the games industry.

Today Blues tossed up following announcement.. LithTech, Inc., a leading developer of licensable game technologies and tools, announced today the release of an updated version of its advanced Jupiter system, the foundation for the highly anticipated sequel to No One Lives Forever. Jupiter now delivers an even broader range of features including a new polygrid system that supports dynamic lighting, Fresnel reflections and dynamic surface animations as well as the addition of cubic environment mapping. Other new features include an improved command editor to more easily create cinematic events and more robust support for dynamic texture effects. Full pressrelease here. Six new No One Lives Forever 2 screenshots is also available here!

Today CDV send us four renders of trains. And they look like they could handle themselves against a Connex Sprinter. Check them out!

The Sims and their families have been in overdrive with all the bustle of the holidays and the magic of Livin’ It Up, the parties of House Party and the social obligations of Hot Date. They need a break and The Sims On Holiday provides the perfect opportunity to give them a little rest and relaxation on a fun-filled vacation island! Today we recived a bunch of new screens that you can check out below!

Nintendo luminaries Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata participated in a roundtable discussion at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. The subject of the discussion was "Games for the Rest of the World." Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Iwata were joined by other key industry figures, including Bruno Bonell from Infogrames, Brian Farrell from THQ and Larry Probst from Electronic Arts.

EA SPORTS, now in the 11th year of an exclusive partnership with the PGA TOUR is pleased to announce the involvement of Colin Montgomerie, the first world class UK golfer to feature in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2002 golf simulation for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system and PC.

Fight for galactic domination in RIM - Battle Planets, a cosmic new real-time strategy game from JoWooD Productions due for release in March 2002.

Burn off the competition and take off in the fast lane with JoWooD's new PC title Car Tycoon, due for release in March 2002. In this top of the range new business simulation budding entrepreneurs must steer their company to success and compete to become the very best in engineering and design in the highly competitive world of the automobile industry, building and managing an entire manufacturing empire.

Rage's "Mobile Forces" is closing in on its scheduled April release date. The experienced team – previously been key members of Grand Theft Auto 1,2 and 3, Wild Metal Country, Silicon Valley, Strikeforce, F1 Championship 2000 and Lemmings - is going full speed ahead and here are some of the latest screens!

Mike Arkin, Executive Producer over at Crave Ent. has posted an update on the eagerly awaited Global Ops .. mentioning a demo is IMMINENT (as early as tomorrow) and store date is expected to be March 26th .. Read more for the full story ..

“10 events. 2 fingers. One goal. Are you the world’s greatest pocket athlete?” At one time, you were the best. No one could match your speed and rhythm in the arcade or at home. But now, it’s time to practice the old techniques - To get your fingers to become a blur of speed. You were once master of the track and of the field. Do you still have the magic? Read more below..

Jon Zuk just updated his .plan file with a reminder about ravensofts skin contest for SoF2..
The prizes are:

Grand Prize: Skin included in SoF2 multiplayer, a PS2, and a signed copy of SoF2.

First Prize: A Nintendo GameCube and a signed copy of SoF2.

Second Prize: A Gameboy Advance and a signed copy of SoF2.

Details can be found HERE!

In order to celebrate the release of the Gamecube on the European market, Ubi Soft send us a ton of new in-game "Tarzan Untamed" screens. One of their 3 titles for the Gamecube upon its initial release last week. I'm sure more are to follow! Njoy

Reality Pump Studios today launched the official site for their new title, KnightShift. The game NightShift is a combination of RTS with RPG elements. The game plays in a mystic world with many fantasy elements. The player has the control of wizards, witches, and many other fabulous creatures.

Computer game 'Hooligans', developed by Dutch company Darxabre has launched in the UK today, aimed towards the huge adult market for computer games. Less than 1% of such games are rated as 18 by the ELSPA or BBFC rating systems. Clearly, computer games are not just for kids. There is now a massive market for games, which appeal to adults on the basis of their levels of difficulty and challenge, not because the graphic content is of an adult nature. Personally .. i think the ELSPA and BBFC are a bunch of whinebags .. but hey .. thats just me .. Now lets knock the s**t out of the other team ..

1503 A.D. send us a note about that they updated their community section today with Part XII: Farewell and Departure. Here is a snippet from it:

Early in the morning, my entire family accompanies me to the harbor of our home town. "Will you bring back beautiful and wondrous things from strange places for us?" My sisters are still waiting for my reply when I am rendered speechless by the sight of the three ships anchoring in the harbor. Read more here.