Earlier today Xbox.com and Microsoft's online multiplayer service Xbox Live were down for maintenance and a possible upgrade. Now that the downtime is over, Microsoft introduces us to its newest features, My Xbox Message Center, which allows you to send msg's to other Xbox Live members via your PC.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (PC)
• Seed (PC)
• Gallop Racer 2006 (PS2)
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details...

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World picks up right where Dungeon Siege II left off with an all-new campaign mode, a new playable race, more items to discover and a brand new multi-class character development system. Dungeon Siege II: Broken World will require the full version of DS II

Sony Online Entertainment today announced details on its latest plans for EverQuest II, which include a new expansion pack, Echoes of Faydwer, featuring an all new playable race and an adventure pack introducing an Asian flair to the popular massively multiplayer online game.

Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. This v1.1 beta patch (only for English versions of the game) addresses various bugs, crashes, quests and plugin issues.

Take Command: 2nd Manassas explores the titular 1862 battle of the American Civil War, which proved to be the pivotal engagement of the Northern Virginia Campaign. MadMinute Games has released the first patch bringing your English / German retail game to v2.40 and addresses various gameplay issues, fixes bug and game crashes and scalable resolution and more ...

Entropia Universe today announces the introduction of an ATM card system that connects directly with real-world Versatel machines internationally, for easy access to the conversion between virtual and physical currency, allowing Entropia members to conveniently access virtual PED (Project Entropia dollars) and transfer it into "real" cash.

GTR features all the cars, drivers and tracks from two full FIA GT Championships and challenges casual racers to become world-class drivers.

Activision and Infinity Ward announced plans today to wage a campaign of new content for its WWII-based FPS Call of Duty 2 with the release of nine multiplayer maps on Xbox Live online gaming service. The first four maps (2 free, 2 paying) will be available for download this spring, and the remaining five maps (paying) will be released in July.

Eidos Interactive announced today that it is bringing Tomb Raider: Legend on all current Nintendo platforms, and will faithfully capture the detail and breadth of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend currently available on other platforms.