On December 22 many players were unable to access World of Warcraft for approximately seven hours, due to server problems. Blizzard will address this issue by automatically extending the trial period of all players who created an account on or before December 22 (11:59 PM PST) for an additional day.

Activision has released new patches for its WW2 based FPS Call of Duty and the 'United Offensive' expansion pack. The Call of Duty patch brings your retail game to v1.5b while the United Offensive will become v1.51b, both patches resolve an exploit that can be used to crash servers. This is a server side only patch. If you do not plan on hosting a server there is no need to download and install it. Read more for download links ...

EA has released the first patch for EA Sports' NBA LIVE 2005. This update brings your retail game to v1.1, and fixes various gameplay issues, and most importantly, improved art for all shoes in the game. There is a patch for the US and UK versions available. Read more for details and download links.

SEGA of America has released the first patch for Sports Interactive's 'Worldwide Soccer Manager. This update brings your retail game to v5.0.2, fixes lots of bugs, tunes the game more realistic like the player position bug, and makes it compatible with the European Football Manager 2005 edition of the game. The patch is save game compatible, but to get the full out of it, start a new game. Read more for download links ...

Ubisoft has released a small patch for its latest CSI crime-solving title, CSI: Miami. This update brings your retail game to v1.01 and addresses the Assembly Table crash and the Evidence Processor on Pano screens lockup. Be advised, save games will no longer work for cases in progress. Read more for details and download links ...

Blizzard has released yet another new Warcraft III map, this time called "Azeroth Grand Prix." Unlike previously released maps, this one actually turns Warcraft III into a kart racing game. Map info: "Legends speak of a hidden race track north of the border where representatives from the far reaches of the land gather to test their skills and racing prowess. This event is known to break even the mightiest of combatants with its no-rules-barred arena." This is a huge map and the suggested no. of players is 4 to 8. It is based on the "Lordaeron Winter" tileset. Go download it here!

Tesseraction Games has released a new patch for its naval combat sim Enigma: Rising Tide to bring the US edition of the game to the "Gold" version. This update adds all content that is in the Gold retail edition (except the soundtrack) and also adds the ability for you to create your own patrols and campaigns (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

In Battlefield 2, players will choose to fight for one of three military superpowers: the United States, China, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition. Armed with the latest modern weaponry, players can take control of any of the game's 30+ vehicles to engage in major conflicts with over 100 players in some of the largest online battles on the PC. Read more to check out 32 new screens, and a trailer showing off the 1st person perspective, weapons and vehicles...

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

• World Racing 2 - Trailer
• Jurassic Park 'FarCry Mod' - Trailer
• Dangerous Waters - Trailer

Stronghold 2 will bring the the castle-sim and siege-warfare RTS series to life in glorious 3D. Stronghold 2 will also offer players a "castle-life" campaign, enhanced multiplayer capability and a new, innovative and exciting single player campaign that will be revealed in the months ahead. The title is due to be released for PC in early 2005, but until then, check out these new screens ...