While rumors were already floating around during E3, and more recently its Party 2005, Square Enix today issued a statement on its official website, that Final Fantasy XII producer Yasumi Matsuno will be taking a step down from the development due to health reasons. While he stays on the project as supervisor, Akitoshi Kawazu will take over as executive producer. The statement also clarified that FFXII is just one step away from completion, and is on track for its March 16 release date, as announced earlier today.

Namco is still pluggin away at Tales of Legendia, and the next installment in the Tales of RPG series has already been revealed. Luke is the lone son of a noble family who lost his memories when he was a kid during an invasion by an enemy country. He grew up spoiled and naive and has learned how to use a sword as a hobby. Tia lost her parents and has been raised as a warrior and priestess of the Lorelai religion, and uses a mysterious form of ancient power called Seventh Sound.

Vietnam Combat: Enemy Territory, under development at Exozet Games/Provox, is a Vietnam military turn-based strategy game that it will unveil at the Leipzig game convention in Germany. Not much details are available at this point, so read more to check out some screens instead.

For the first time in many years the Northern Hemisphere Rugby nations are now on equal billing with their Southern Hemisphere counterparts and the competition for the top position has never been so close with even the minnows of the International scene coming up with shock results. Rugby Union has never been so competitive or so popular, even at club level.

UK computer games distributor Contact Sales is pleased to announce that it has signed a distribution deal with Tesseraction Games to distribute the eagerly anticipated updated PC version of Enigma Rising Tide - Gold Edition in the UK and Scandinavia. The product will be available in late August 2005 and published under the Tesseraction Games label.

The ingame auto-update fixes several minor sound issues and adds Windows 64-bit edition support, as well as new game modes and racetracks have been added. The new tracks will range from volcanic islands and icy lakes, to off-road racetracks and original tracks optimized for multiplayer racing. The brand new multiplayer modes include: Return The Flag, Jamboree and Destruction mode, ensuring even more fast paced online fun (log on via All Seeing Eye). Invictus Games also included a car building devkit.The kit makes it possible to import your own car or edit original cars to your own taste.

F.E.A.R. is an intense combat experience with rich atmosphere and an engaging story presented entirely in first person. Be the hero in your own blockbuster action movie. As part of a classified strike team created to deal with threats no one else can handle, your mission is simple: Eliminate the intruders at any cost. Determine the origin of the signal. And contain this crisis before it spirals out of control. Vivendi is giving away 1200 beta keys on their freshly re-launched FEAR website.

Scooter War3z delivers a surprising combination of high-speed racing, crash'em up action and death defying ragdoll stunts. Discover the dark but alive world of Scooter War3z, taking place in a free-roaming city featuring several interconnected neighborhoods, where it's all about winning. Team 6 has released a demo for its scooter racing game allowing you to try out 4 scooters and one racing track, but no stunt-area. Read more for download links ...

While Battlefield 2: Special Forces has barely been announced and is not yet available, European online retail store World of Games seems to reveal that there is already a second addon for DICE's online shooter in the works. While the product listing does not have any specific details, or even a product name apart from Battlefield 2 Addon 2, it does however list the new addon as scheduled for March 2006. Truth or not, time will tell....

The player takes the role of Maximillan, the leader of "Bounty Hounds" – a ruthless band of mercenaries. The mission is to engage in battle with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI) spread across planets and unfold a sinister plot between a corporation and ETI that threatens to take over the world.