Mad Catz announced today that its Arcade GameStick for Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox 360 and PC will ship to major US retailers for availability this holiday season. Through collaboration with Konami and PopCap Games, Mad Catz has introduced a joystick controller bundled with three full Xbox Live Arcade games: Frogger, Time Pilot and Astropop.

UFO: Afterlight is a mixture of squad based tactical action and global strategy with the gamer controlling the actions of elite ground troops, and the running and construction of an intricate network of interlinking bases while collecting resources.

Cake Mania combines a new Touch Screen element with the same fast-paced cake-baking fun that has captivated millions of online players worldwide. As an added bonus, Cake Mania for the NDS includes the full online game plus the Back to the Bakery expansion pack.

Sierra announced that Scarface: The World Is Yours has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. Scarface is a third person action shooter set in a complex world filled with excess and greed, where you take the role of Tony Montana, one of the most ruthless gangsters ever depicted on film.

Making History: The Calm & the Storm puts players in control of global conflict, combining a highly sophisticated AI with rich historical detail. The game is unique among WWII games in the way it challenges gamers to achieve economic and diplomatic victory, not just military success.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, the latest installment in the action series lets players control two different characters as they attempt to thwart a terrible plan to resurrect Dracula’s Castle and bring a reign of darkness upon the world. Confirmed release date, December 5, 2006

Saga of Ryzom developer Nevrax has gone into receivership, a.k.a bankruptcy protection, and discussions with an interested party to take over are ongoing. In the meantime, support for the game continues, customers will receive a free month's subscription, and its trial/demo uncapped, although it will not be possible to upgrade your account. Saga of Ryzom features an immersive player-driven storyline, a dynamic ecosystem, mass combat mechanics, and lush graphics.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king (PC)
• MapleStory (PC)
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Lighthouse Interactive and developer VSTEP announced that an Add-On pack is in the works for Ship Simulator 2006, which will feature a.o. 6 new ships, one of them a giant cruise ship capable of carrying thousands of passengers. All new ships are playable in the 2006 version environments and can be used to create new missions.

Ubisoft has released a new patch for its tactical FPS Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, bringing your retail/download version to v1.35, and addresses various multiplayer issues such as OGR Coop, disconnect problems, stability issues, as well as bug/crash fixes, and other improvements.