Ensemble lets us know that Age of Empires III v1.08 is in final testing and will be available in a matter of days. The new patch mainly focuses on adding balance changes to the game. Read more for details ...

Sword of the Stars lets you explore planets, manage their empire and research new technology. This demo features unlimited turns in a 40 star galaxy, but limited to fission era technology, 2 races (Human & Tarkas), 3 difficulty settings, includes random, encounters, alliances and is multiplayer (4 player online/LAN) enabled.

Create your own fascinating world of ANNO 1701! Become a discoverer – and experience the adventure of a lifetime. Weigh anchor, sail the seven seas, explore new continents and foreign cultures. Demonstrate your strategic skills, business acumen and diplomatic finesse. Revel in the jubilant cheers of your people – but don't disappoint them!

Nintendo North America today revealed its non-Wii release lineup for the rest of 2006. While the new Wii console will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2006, Nintendo has plenty of other things to keep people busy until then, such as Yoshi’s Island 2, and Elite Beat Agents.

Epic's Mark Rein has put up a message in the Epic chat boards stating that a "BIG announcement coming next week!" While of course no details were provided, when one user hinted it might be about the release date, Mark Rein commented "maybe the announcement that is going to be made isn't what you think it is." User speculation has been rampant from GoW going gold, release date, to possibly multiplayer or other info about Epic's upcoming visceral shooter. To be continued ...

Call of Juarez is situated in 19th-century Wild West America and requires a combination of both intelligent stealth and pure shooting. Fast-paced revolver duels using historically accurate firearms, horseback riding, and memorable locations combine with top-notch graphics and an enthralling soundtrack to immerse both casual and hardcore players.

Out of the Park Baseball 2006 offers gamers the ultimate in realism with its brand new pitch-by-pitch game engine, unrivalled playability and unparalleled customization. This final v1.02 patch/demo includes several new community requested features, as well as the usual bug/crash fixes and game tweaks.

At Comic-con an EA representative revealed that, not surprisingly, an add-on for the PC edition of Battle for Middle-earth 2 is in the works. The Rise of the Witch-king is set prior to the War of the Ring, and will feature new armor, buildings, and of course units. While it seems that not too many graphical changes have been made, new powers showed off summoning an ice wolf walking on two legs. More details should follow later this week...

After some internal troubles, Project-Zero is no more and is now called gEasy Team, and has released a new patch for JoWood's Soldner: Secret Wars. This v33673 patch mainly tweaks various weapons and vehicles brought up by the community.

Earlier this year THQ announced it had acquired Atari's Stuntman franchise, with the sequel being in development at Paradigm Entertainment. The agreement included the option to eventually acquire the studio, which THQ did earlier this month. Paradigm will unveil its next-gen Stuntman 2 title later this year.