Computer and video game software sales set a new record in 2004, reaching $7.3 billion, according to final data compiled by the NPD Group. Halo 2, one of the best-selling titles of 2004, took in more revenue in its first day of sales than any movie has ever taken in its opening day. In addition, Nintendo sold over 1 million units of its new handheld game system, Nintendo DS, in North America by the end of 2004, a mark that took Apple's iPod 19 months to achieve.

Epic has released the Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition Bonus Pack which includes six new characters, three new vehicles (the Paladin, the Cicada, and the SPMA), and four unique new Onslaught maps. Unreal Tournament 2004 must be patched to version 3323 to use this bonus pack. Read more for download links ...

Epic has opened the Mod Author Support site on the Unreal Developer Network. This portal contains helpful resources and links for people creating modifications for Unreal Tournament 2004.

Today Epic Games and OC3 Entertainment released tools, samples, and documentation for Impersonator. Epic integrated a licensed version of the Impersonator speech and facial animation tool from OC3 Entertainment, making it easy for mod authors to create realistic and emotive talking characters. Impersonator support is integrated directly into the UT2004 game editor, UnrealEd, once UT2004 is patched to version 3204. Read more for download links ...

NCsoft Corporation today announced its exciting lineup of games for next month's E3. The games on display will include Guild Wars, the much anticipated Tabula Rasa from gaming pioneer Richard "Lord British" Garriott and the smashing, fast-paced, Auto Assault from the developers at NetDevil. NCsoft will also be showing off the visually stunning Lineage II and City of Villains, the first major expansion to Cryptic Studios' highly anticipated City of Heroes comic-book-inspired online game.

Interplay Entertainment Corp. and Vivendi Universal Games announced today that Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel will ship to retail on January 13, 2004. The action-adventure game will be available for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox.

Factornews seems to have gotten their hands on some information regarding various Unreal titles. According to some E3 booth schedule Unreal Tournament 2004 will indeed be shown at E3, as well as an Unreal 2 Xbox version and Unreal Assault (formerly known as Reloaded) for the PS2. The Unreal 2004 title is scheduled for the second half of this year (thanks VE3D). I guess we'll find out more at E3...