In an attempt to boost sales and lure more video-game players online, Sony Corp. plans on giving buyers of its PlayStation 2 system a free modem device that previously cost $40.

Sony will now sell its PlayStation 2 standard with its Network Adapter, which allows video-game players to hook up via the Internet to compete with each other. The company didn't specify an exact start date for the promotion, but said it would happen over the summer.

Industry watchers had been uncertain whether Sony would offer any promotion, since PlayStation 2 sales have eclipsed competitors in the game-console arena, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox

Under license from Hasbro Consumer Products, Atari has announced plans to take one of the most popular trading card games ever created to the Xbox videogame system from Microsoft with the release of "Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds." A PC CD-ROM version of the game was also announced. Currently in development by Secret Level, "Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds" is filled with faithful translations of classic creatures, spells and enchantments from the premier trading card game in a visually stunning 3D game environment rife with real-time strategic fighting, devastating wizard arsenals and intense creature combat.

"`Magic' represents one of the best

Genre: Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Eurocom UK
Release Date: TBD

Here’s what we know.

Predator: Concrete Jungle takes place on Earth, in a city called Weyland on the west coast of the United States, in two separate chapters a hundred years apart.

In the first chapter, a young Predator has come to Earth to hunt humans. Specifically, he’s come to hunt the members of the Borgia crime family, who rule Weyland with an iron fist. 1930s-style mob violence meets alien technology in the ensuing bloodbath. It does not go well for the Predator.

A hundred years later, that same Predator, fresh from a

Men of Valor
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: 2015
Release Date: November 2004

Is it actually possible for one console to have too many good first-person shooters? We’re starting to reach that point, here.

You might know 2015 as the developers of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and its expansion pack Spearhead, published by EA. They have taken that experience, used it to make Men of Valor, another high-intensity, ruthlessly difficult, accurate-to-a-fault first-person shooter, and switched publisher to Vivendi.

You’ll be going in-country as Dean Shepherd, a black Marine, during the early stages of the Vietnam War. To fight the Vietcong, you’ll be rescuing

Riverdeep today announced the upcoming release of School Tycoon an all-new life simulation strategy game that presents kids with the ultimate fantasy ? the opportunity to rule their own school. The product combines classic "build and management" simulation with wacky and hilarious comic mischief, as kids endeavor to balance the super-cool elements they have created within their school, with the typical administrative policies and procedures required to run an orderly campus. School Tycoon will be available this fall on Windows for a suggested retail price of $29.95.

School Tycoon sends players on a mission to design, build, and master the Ultimate

Genre : Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Tranji
Release Date: Q4 2004

Thanks to my alarming ninja fetish, I’ve been looking forward to Red Ninja: End of Honor for a while now. Any game starring a female ninja will automatically grab my attention, for some strange and undoubtedly psychologically significant reason, and Red Ninja raises the ante in many significant ways.

For one thing, it is extraordinarily and unapologetically violent. The story, written by the Japanese writer/director Shinsuke Sato (Princess Blade; if you ever have the chance, check it out), is another bleak tale of a cycle of revenge, with

Flying off the top rope and into the hands of every wrestling fan, Acclaim Sports, a division of Acclaim Entertainment today announced its return to the squared circle with the spring 2004 release of Legends of Wrestling III for the next-generation systems. Currently under development with Acclaim Studios Austin, the latest installment in the series is being rebuilt from the ground up with enhanced graphics, new features, new matches, more than 70 Legends and an all-new intuitive player control scheme.

"The original concept behind the Legends of Wrestling brand continues to appeal to wrestling fans and gamers alike, as it offers

Atari is one of the world's largest interactive entertainment publishers with hundreds of award-winning titles and industry-leading partnerships with Hollywood and other entertainment giants. E3, the video game industry's largest trade show and exhibition, will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 14-16.

"Atari has been reborn with a lineup of the most entertaining and wide reaching video games available on the market," said Bruno Bonnell, chairman and CEO of Atari. "By joining Hollywood and entertainment partnerships with the industry's best collection of developers, we have positioned Atari as a leader in our industry and an innovator among