Vivendi today announced the acquisition of independent game developer Swordfish Studios, recently responsible for Cold Winter. Under terms of the agreement, VU Games will retain Swordfish Studios’ U.K.-based team of 45 development professionals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Ubi Soft has yet again released new patches for 1C Maddox's WW2 flight sim Pacific Fighters. This update brings your retail game to v4.01 (for both the standalone and merged installations) and addsa new flight model, new aircraft, new AI, new maps and plenty more. Read more for download links.

Black & White 2 includes other new elements, such as improved graphics and Miracle effects such as rivers of fire and earthquakes that yield mass destruction. The game also includes weather systems that impact gameplay; players will see the impact of a drought that scorches the arid plains of Egypt or the effect of a heavy snowfall on the Norse Mountains.

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. Developer NetDevil answers a few questions ...

Bioware has released the final patch for their 3D role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, and both its addons Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.66 and adds a new test module to the Aurora Toolset, fixes various issues and crashes, as well as several game balancing tweaks. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Coded Arms is a first person shooter in where you take the role of a computer hacker who infiltrates the abandoned virtual reality system. Gamers will use weapons and power-ups that they discover while exploring the expansive single player mode. Coded Arms will also utilize the PSP handheld system's wireless capabilities for multiplayer action for up to four people. Check the fresly launched Coded Arms website, or read more for some new screens ...

Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure combines combat, action, adventure and stealth, using a thrilling graffiti-driven framework to tell its story of self-expression and the fight for creative freedom. Atari's recent financial statement lists Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure PC and Xbox editions for 2006.

GMX Media today announced the release of its first console title Extreme 4x4. This is no typical racing game, it’s an action racing adventure which will give you the extreme thrill of racing at high speeds in dangerous territories with numerous reckless opponents!

EA has released the dedicated linux server for the recent demo for DICE's FPS sequel Battlefield 2. We reported earlier about EA banned modded servers from the master server list, and EA has finally issued a statement that this is indeed the case. "Because some server operators have hacked the time limit out of their servers or hacked access to the unlocks, we have been forced to reinforce our intended feature set by delisting the offending servers. All violations of the EULA as described above will result in a 1-week ban/delisting."

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another update for Source SDK, fixing a number of connection problems to the backend of VAC2 (Valve's anti-cheat technology for game servers). VAC2 currently only runs on servers in the beta group, but will be active for all servers very soon.. Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.