Stardock Entertainment today announced the first expansion to its award-winning strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, as well as a new worldwide-publishing division operating under the Stardock Entertainment brand.

Mastertronic announced today it has signed Silverback Studios' action game Made Man. Prepare to get 'made' in the most compelling and thrilling mafia experience you've ever seen. Work up the ranks of The Mob, from opportunist G.I. fighting in Vietnam, to 'wise guy' on the make, doing deeds and winning favor from the Don in New York City.

Konami today announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Label Interactive, and plans to enter additional mobile entertainment ventures beyond gaming.

2K Sports announced today that NHL All-Star center Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks is the official spokesman and cover athlete for NHL 2K7. The 2005-06 NHL assist and points leader was the catalyst behind the San Jose Sharks' 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs run, and has established himself as one of the best centers in the NHL.

World Tour Golf is destined to capture the player's imagination by fusing the features of real-world golf, high-end graphics, accurate animation and a unique control system. Oxygen Interactive announced that it has added Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose to the World Tour Golf's line-up of international golfing talent.

It has been a bit quiet around Vietcong developer Pterodon, and after several months, the reason has been revealed. As it turns out, Pterodon has been acquired by fellow Czech Republic developer Illusion Softworks nine months ago. Technically, Pterodon still exists but is merely a shell company. All employees were moved to Illusion and are working on Enemy In Sight, recently sold off by ailing Atari to a yet-unknown publisher.

Russian publisher/developer 1C Company announced today the opening of its British office in July 2006, led by industry veteran Peter King, previously active at Activision as Business development and Emerging Markets manager, and Novalogic as European Sales Director.

Sonic The Hedgehog melds top-tier animation production values with next generation art, physics and game design to create the most intense, high velocity Sonic adventure yet! Featuring interactive 3D environments, a large cast of new and returning characters, and a blistering sense of speed, get ready for the reinvention of Sonic The Hedgehog!

Ritual has released another developer diary, in blog format, with information and media for the new Arena mode update coming soon, details for an upcoming patch for Sin Episode 1, information about their statistics tracking website, SDK / Developer Wiki information, SiN Episode 2 details, and an E3 2006 summary of events.

Microsoft today announced that X06 will be held on 27th and 28th September this year. It was also revealed that the glamorous, cosmopolitan and cultural city of Barcelona will be playing host to this year’s exclusive event.