Codemasters announced today that it's bringing Softmax's fantasy RPG Magna Carta: Tears of Blood to Europe, scheduled for release in October. Featuring over 50 hours of game play with a story that unfolds through amazing CG cut scenes and fully-voiced dialogue.

UFO: Aftershock follows directly from one of the endings of UFO: Aftermath, where the player agrees to hand over the Earth to the Alien scientists, who are trying to change the planet into a giant living organism. The Council of Earth and their followers take refuge on an orbiting satellite prepared for them by the aliens, but not all the survivors of the original invasion where re-located.

By now everybody knows Microsoft's next gen console will use an ATI GPU instead of the current NVIDIA powered Xbox. The question on a lot of people's minds was, will there be backwards compatibility? While Sony and Nintendo already announced that its new consoles will be able to play previously released titles, Microsoft was quiet on the matter and only at E3 did we get a vague "best-selling Xbox titles would work on the Xbox 360." 1UP finally got some more information as it seems that Microsoft has bought a technology license from NVIDIA to allow the X360 to emulate using the IBM PowerPC CPU's. Several "patches" will ship on the X360's HD at launch, while and others will be made available through Xbox Live at a later date.

Auto Assault combines vehicular combat with role-playing elements. Players explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis and even tanks. Players battle other players both in arenas and in epic race vs. race wars for control of the regions in a devastated Earth.

Destineer today announced it has signed a strategic development agreement with In-Q-Tel, a private venture group funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Its previous title, Close Combat: First to Fight, was created with the help of more than 40 active-duty United States Marines and is based on their recent combat experiences.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is an Action/Adventure title driven by both intense single and multi-player action. Similar to the recently released Mortal Kombat: Deception, background interactions (i.e., acid pits, living trees, spiked ceilings, etc.), multiple new fatalities, and action-based puzzles will also play an important role in the player’s quest for an “outstanding” victory.

XPLOSIV Games celebrate Hello Kitty's 30th birthday by announcing their forthcoming European release of the officially licensed 'Hello Kitty' game. Hello Kitty Roller Rescue, the first, officially licensed Hello Kitty 3D-action-adventure game, is scheduled to be released by Xplosiv Games across Europe on all console formats on September 9th 2005

RedOctane today announced its Be A Guitar Hero Competition. Bands nationwide are invited to submit original music for potential inclusion in Guitar Hero the innovative new video game scheduled for release on the PlayStation2 in the fall of 2005.

Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor, this flight combat game puts players in the middle of some of the most intense naval conflict in WWII’s Pacific Theater. Check out the new screens, or download the new video showing ingame footage...

Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 Xbox auto-update 1 is now available. This update includes the following features: fixed the looping machine gun sound, the second local player on a client machine can now use voice chat, in multiplayer, killed characters more consistently play the correct death animation, a client's view of other player's orientation is now much more accurate. This update will take place automatically when you connect to Xbox Live and is only applicable to online players.