UIU is a suite of several applications for 3d artists and game developers. Primarily focused on the creation of environments and environmental effects, it's a good tool that's easy to learn. All components come with a help file and quick start guide to get you up and running quickly. It includes the following tools:

Eleblend - Texture blending for terrain
Ripple Rain - Alpha channel rain and water impact ripple animation
Gradient Thief - Multicolor gradients from existing images
UT Screenshot Assistant - Quick image processing for Unreal Tournament 2003
Mosaica - From image to mosaics with matching bump maps

More about it and download here!

Entertainment software developer and publisher NovaLogic, Inc. is pleased to announce the arrival of the ultimate covert operations compilation – The Special Forces Pack. This exciting three game pack contains two of the best selling titles in the history of the tactical first person genre: Delta Force and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. Combined, these ground breaking franchises have sold more than 10,000,000 units. In addition, the pack also includes the acclaimed title Shadow Force: Razor Unit. The Special Forces Pack is in stores now, SRP $19.99

Octagon Entertainment, Inc., the video game industry’s leading agency, today announced an agreement to represent Primal Software to find a worldwide publisher for Besieger, a 3D real-time strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world. Besieger is in development for PC and is scheduled to be completed Q3 2003.

Bureau of Film and Games (BFG), a company that develops content and produces projects in multiple media with an emphasis on feature films and video games, today announced a deal in which the movie rights to the video game concept titled “Backwater” were sold to Dimension Films, a division of Miramax Films.

Codemasters is attending this year's Game Developers Conference [GDC], March 4 – 8 in San Jose, California, with a clear mandate to acquire five A to triple-A game titles. As part of Codemasters' aggressive product acquisition programme, its team is ready to meet game developers with exceptional projects to discuss global publishing opportunities. Codemasters recently won the highly-contested publishing rights to 1C's "WWII:RTS" (to be published as Battlefield Command). With a particular interest in US-centric games, Codemasters is prioritising titles for PC, PC online, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube formats.

Here is a news story on a growing gaming culture seen growing mostly in the bigger cities... As the editorial deadline draws nearer for the forthcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, more and more champions are surfacing to represent the many distinct genres of gaming. And, most interesting among the new genre are the dancing games... More about it below!

Thousands of gamers flooded the world of ancient Egypt on February 15, as eGenesis unveiled A Tale In The Desert, marking the birth of the intelligent MMORPG. A Tale In The Desert diverts from the shallow, violent gameplay that is typical of the genre, focusing instead on non-violent conflict that encourages creative thinking and ingenuity. The game is available now as a free, downloadable demo featuring 24 hours of game-time, or 30 days of service, whichever comes first. Following the trial period, the game is $13.95 per month.

The official site for Battlefield 1942 is updated with information about their upcoming v1.31 patch.. Here is the clip:

In this weeks update we're going to talk about some fixes we're working on for the upcoming 1.31 patch. While we don't have a release date for this yet, we do know what we're focusing on. Naturally, with all updates of this nature, none of these are set in stone and could change by the time the patch is released. So without further adieu, here's what we're working on for 1.31.

Wall Hacking
Parachuting Into Objects
Single Player and Co-Op Crashes
Stand Alone Server Error
Text display on-screen time

Keep in mind, we're aware of the other issues reported by our troops in the field and are working to resolve those in another upcoming patch. This patch will be coming sooner than you think!

She's beautiful and deadly. And her ironic timing may catch some men at their most vulnerable. The fourth horseman of the Apocalypse has come to Earth. Rumored to have been sighted in North America, "Pestilence" should be the last horseman according to the Book of Revelation. The 3DO Company has no comment on the widespread speculation that its upcoming game "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" may be the cause of her arrival, but has nevertheless gathered what initial information is available on its website!

Nathan Pearce from Sony let us know that they launched a new website for EverQuest Online Adventures. There is TONS of content already on the site, the TV commercial, a new gameplay movie, race and class pages, getting started guide, Welcome Letter from the Dev team, brand new forums and a lot more. Have a look!