Numerous German-language sites have reported that Far Cry development studio Crytek have been raided by police and authorities after an ex-employee informed them of widespread software piracy at the studio. Reports indicate that the software has been used to create the game and that the value of the software, if purchased legally, would be over 1 million Euros. The home of Faruk Yerli, one of the three brothers who set up Crytek, has also been searched for illegal software.

UPDATE: Read more for Ubisoft's official statement...

During a press conference held today, Blizzard Entertainment announced plans to build a local World of Warcraft team in Europe. The team will be responsible for community relations, customer service, and technical support for the game. Additionally, they will manage the distribution and hosting of World of Warcraft on local European servers. With a regional team in place, Blizzard intends to affirm its commitment to the European game community by delivering a massively-multiplayer experience of unparalleled quality.

Already revealed in yesterday's financial results, Ubisoft is excited to announce that the Xbox, PC and GBA versions of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the new adventure from the world of Tom Clancy, is on track to ship for the end of March. Due to development issues, and the groups' commitment to making these versions the same high quality as the Xbox version, the PS2 and GameCube will launch at a later date. This date is still to be confirmed. There's a single player mode and an "incredibly addictive" online version.

Gathering announced today that Mafia for the PlayStation 2 is in retail stores in North America and the English language PAL version of the title is available in Europe.

Trauma Studios developed the popular mod* to Battlefield 1942, DesertCombat. The new collaboration is for one of Digital Illusions' previously announced projects. The Company estimates the costs for the collaboration to approximately 550 000 USD during a period of 12 months. "We understood the impact DesertCombat had quite early. This mod kept Battlefield's popularity in place during the last year, as well as helped us sell a considerable amount of games", says Patrick Söderlund, CEO, Digital Illusions.

Eidos announces it has optioned the film and television rights to its sexy and action-packed video game franchise Fear Effect to producer and director Uwe Boll and his production company, BollKG. Continuing Eidos' success in transitioning game content to film, the Fear Effect deal follows in the footsteps of bringing the hugely popular Tomb Raider video game to the big screen via Paramount Pictures. Additionally, Eidos optioned the multi-award-winning game Deus Ex to Columbia Pictures and producer Laura Zisken in 2002.

Built from the ground up to deliver the bone-crushing action of championship boxing, EA SPORTS Fight Night 2004 is an all-new boxing game that features revolutionary new gameplay mechanics and a dramatic new-school attitude to immerse players like never before. Innovative new analog Total Punch Control allows gamers to throw punches, block, bob, and weave with unprecedented fluidity and precision. The game also includes a deep create-a-player option, career mode, and online play* for the PlayStation 2 console via EA SPORTS Nation.

Electronic Arts today announced plans to publish BREAKDOWN from Namco Limited for the Xbox. Breakdown is the hotly anticipated first-person action adventure title that combines Namco's legendary fighting game experience with the best elements of traditional shooters. A thrilling science fiction storyline is revealed through its high-end, real-time rendered graphics, bringing an unprecedented level of realism to the gameplay experience. The game features intense hand-to-hand and weapons-based combat, challenging puzzles, surreal dream sequences, advanced A.I and massive, detailed environments for exploration.

Anito is a Single-Player Isometric Adventure RPG game set in 16th century Asia, in the land of Maroka. Filipino developer Anino has released the first patch for the English version of 'Anito: Defend A Land Enraged'. This patch brings your retail game to v1.02 and adresses a few crashes, bugs and tweaks. Read more for details and download links ...