Black Bean is proud to announce the signing of a pan-European publishing deal for "Stalingrad." The deal was signed with the Moscow based publisher 1C Company. "Stalingrad" is being developed by DTF Games and uses a modified version of the game engine used in the successful game "Blitzkrieg", which was noted for the realism of its combat scenes.

The Sims 2 University is the first expansion pack for the highly-acclaimed The Sims 2, giving players of The Sims 2 the ability to watch their Sims become young adults and put childhood behind them as they settle into an all-new college town to live out their ultimate college fantasy.

3000AD announced “Universal Combat: A World Apart”, an add-on to the original Universal Combat title released in February 2004 by Dreamcatcher Games. This add-on has been in development for some time and is scheduled to be released in Q1 2005 via online distribution as well as various retail chains.

Boiling Point: Road to Hell, previously known as Xenus, will combine intense armed combat with exploration and interaction with a vast and seamless open-ended gaming world. Boiling Point: Road to Hell is in development by Ukrainian developer Deep Shadows and is scheduled for release in Spring 2005.

Sony Online has put up a note in the official EQ2 forums about a total blackout of the EQ2 servers. "All US servers and Innovation are currently down for an upate. We do not have a solid ETA available at this time, but will be updating you with progress hourly and will deliver a more firm ETA when we can. Worlds will be brought back online as they are ready. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes you and thank you for your patience while our folks here work to correct this issue." SOE is posting an hourly progress report, as they gradually are bringing servers back up after 24hours downtome

Atlus U.S.A. announced today that Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, the latest game in the popular RPG series, will be packaged in a special deluxe box set when it ships in the spring of 2005.

DeepSilver announced today that Egosoft's space sim addon X²: The Return will not meet its February release deadline and postponed it until a more vague Q2 2005 date. No explenation for the delay has been given by either publisher or developer, but they did release some new screens, so read more to check them out ...

Massive Entertainment has released a new multiplayer map or its sci-fi RTS Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. This Nashorn bonus map needs to be installed in the standalone copy in the game's Custom_Maps folder. Massive Entertainment will be releasing new maps every Friday for the next few months. Read more for download links ...

THQ has released a patch for the recent The Punisher singleplayer demo. This update adds a mouse sensitivity slider, adresses a framerate issue as well as a few other graphical problems in Volition's action game based on the Marvel comic book. Read more for download links ...

The strategy role-playing game from Japan, Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity, is coming to North America for the PlayStation 2, courtesy of Atlus U.S.A. Read more for details, screens and trailer ...