At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to the island of Madagascar. When their vessel capsizes off the coast, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.

Dutch developer Team6 has now released a 'final' demo for their car racing game, Manhattan Chase, which lets you choose between the brave side of the police, or the evil side of the criminals. In short: Chase, or be chased! The single-player demo features one mission and also has a multiplayer option (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Spring 1945: World War 2 is drawing to a close and the Russians and Germans are caught in a furious battle for a devastated Berlin. The cold war starts... As a sniper, recruited by the OSS (former CIA), it is the beginning of a lonely stealth mission in the Russian territory. In development since 2003, Sniper Elite is a sniping/stealth game due to be released on PS2, PC and Xbox May 2005.

Barely out in stores, premiere's in the UK today, Eidos has already released the first patch updating Championship Manager 5 with all the latest player stats and addressing various interface issues, fixing match engine problems, and another ton of fixes and gameplay adjustments. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

After Dustin Browder left EA for Blizzard and Skaggs stepped away for personal reasons, a third former Westwood employee has left Electronic Arts. Adam Isgreen, lead designer on Red Alert, Tiberian Sun and Firestorm, and most recently Multiplayer Design Director for Goldeneye Rogue Agent, has announced he will be leaving EALA and is moving over to Petroglyph, a studio comprised of several other ex-Westwood employees, who is currently working on Star Wars Empire at War for LucasArts. "After spending 2 years out at EA after Westwood was consolidated, with several abortive attempts to get a new C&C off the ground, EA and I have parted ways." Read more details over at PlanetCNC.

MCV is reporting that UK development studio Blue 52 has closed its doors after failing to secure enough cash to pay for company overheads, MCV can reveal. The forthcoming release of Stolen, Blue 52’s highly-regarded stealth sim, to be published by Hip Interactive at the beginning of April, has not been affected. Sources close to the London-based developer indicate that a small team has relocated to alternative premises to complete work on Stolen, and that the company is set to rise from the ashes as a new business initiative, Curve Games Studios, with the same core staff later this year.

Drawing on the heart-racing intensity and widespread appeal of tournament poker and off-road racing, Majesco today announced Texas Hold 'Em Poker and ATV: Quad Frenzy, two new titles for the Nintendo DS scheduled for later this year.

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.

Digital Jesters has released a single player demo for Digital Reality's 3D RTS game 1944: Battle of the Bulge. The game lets players act against the Brandenburger Regiment, landing behind enemy lines. From there, the game journeys to the River Meuse and to Bastogne, where the Americans launch a counterstrike with the massive force of its air supremacy behind it. The game then continues to Operation Northwind, the last German offensive. 1944: Battle of the Bulge reaches a climax of epic proportions with the Allied attack at the Rhine, ending at the battle of Remagen.