Set in the near future, speed heads will be able to take control of one of a selection of bizarre characters and pilot a 'blade', a jet-engined, anti-gravity bike, around tracks designed to rattle nerves and brain alike. The ultimate goal is to master both the blade and 24 different circuits at break-neck speed across exotic locations such as a partially terra-formed planet and a sub-tropical jungle in a distant part of the galaxy. Evolved Games today announced the release date of Powerdrome, the fastest racing experience for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, as April 2004.

Big Huge Games, developer of the Rise of Nation strategy game, has licensed SpeedTree for an upcoming game title. "We chose SpeedTree for the phenomenal CAD abilities of the program, which we've used to create believable and compelling environments for our next game," said Big Huge Games founder and Vice President Tim Train. "This software package has saved us invaluable time. Once we had tried the free evaluation version, we knew we had to upgrade to the full product." Big Huge Games has not revealed the name or any details of the new title.

If you like your women with a sense of adventure then you're going to love the 29 levels of platform mayhem in Malice. You'll find yourself trekking through completely original environments from the Orrery, the gigantic clockwork heart of the universe, to the toxic river basin of Gloop River or the infernal Fire Fortress. What more do you want from a woman; a sense of adventure, great personality and sexy looks. Malice on PlayStation 2 and Xbox will make the perfect date when it is published by Evolved Games in March. Read more for some new screens ...

Van Helsing, the third-person action game, transports players back to the macabre world of 19th century Transylvania - home to the legendary Dracula, Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster. As the renowned monster hunter Van Helsing, players must hunt down and destroy the evil that inhabits these ancient lands before darkness engulfs the world. Van Helsing is being developed by Saffire Studios and will be available in the Spring of 2004 in conjunction with the film's release.

The storyline follows the player through the major actions in the conflict, from search and destroy missions around Danang airbase to the Tet offensive and the counterattack on Hue. A cast of AI controlled characters accompanies the player through the missions, and he learns their value and mourns their loss as the war progresses. The game will support a cooperative mode that allows the player to experience the entire tour of duty with his friends, and various multiplayer modes allow the player to experience the war from the perspective of North Vietnamese Army or Viet Cong guerillas as well as US Forces.

Battlefront has released the first patch for their recently released WWII hybrid turn-based/realtime 3D simulation Combat Mission: Afrika Korps. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and addresses the usual gameplay tweaks, bug fixes and so forth. This patch works for the US as well as European edition of the game but games saved in v1.01 can't be loaded in by the older version. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Eidos has great news for shooter fans because R-TYPE FINAL for PS2 is being shipped nationwide tomorrow, February 3rd, under the Fresh Games label, and will be in stores February 4th. R-TYPE FINAL, the highly anticipated last game of the R-TYPE series, will mark a fantastic end to a classic shooter that has managed to grow with and entertain the ever-evolving gaming industry for the last seventeen years! So mark your calendars, because on Feb. 4th, you will be zipping around in your decked-out space ship knocking crazy eco-destroying scum out of existence and saving the universe! Are you ready to make history!

The SilentHeroes team has released a new update for their BF1942 total conversion. Thids update brings their mod to v0.33 and includes support for the recent BF1942 v1.6 patch and a few other fixes and additions. SilentHeroes is developed by a group of Swedish people and the story revolves around a conflict between Sweden and Norway in 2007, which started after the US attack on Iraq earlier this year. More Scandinavian countries are planned to get involved as the mod. Read more to check out some screens & download links ...

Joan of Arc showcases a brand new state-of-the-art graphics engine. With rich, detailed terrain, the game allows real-time control and command of legions of military units, realistically depicting the mayhem and severity of medieval warfare. Joan of Arc will contain a series of individual battles as well as massive strategic campaigns between French and English troops. Read more for some new screens ...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Painkiller - Trailer
• Richard Burns Rally - Trailer
• BC - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...