Volition has issued a new patch for Red Faction II, upgrading the English edition of their recent sci-fi first-person shooter to v1.01. This patch tweaks the Team Arena "Best Of" feature, reduces CPU usage when minimized, and allows the English version to run on German and French operating systems. Patches for those language editions are expected soon (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost will provide players with extremely dynamic gameplay of fast and tough combats, where players are to oppose dangerous and wise enemies, a large set of multifarious weaponry, possibility to control various machinery, incredible detailing and game world interactivity, story-driven single player with original team gameplay, a well-balanced multiplayer with numerous modes: DeathMatch, CTF, Cooperative, various team games and much more. Another Friday, another website update. Check out these screens ..

Combat Mission: Afrika Korps (CMAK) is the latest game in the award winning Combat Mission series. Based on the same engine as Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin (Wargame of the Year 2003 - Computer Gaming World), it introduces a number of important upgrades and changes relevant for the fighting in the North African deserts, the Italian mountains and the island of Crete, such as multi-turreted tanks, dust and smoke kicked up by moving vehicles and much more. Combat Mission: Afrika Korps (CMAK) moves the focus to three new regions of conflict. North Africa from 1940-43. Italy (including Sicily) from 1943-45 and Crete in 1941.

Already revealed a few days ago but now its official. Activision, Inc. and Valve, L.L.C. jointly announced today a strategic partnership that grants Activision exclusive worldwide publishing rights to upcoming games created by the premiere PC game developer. The multi-title agreement underscores Activision's commitment to partner with top development talent and will expand the company's PC portfolio.

In the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation game, you become a CSI agent working alongside Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and the rest of the CSI team. A classic, first-person adventure, the CSI game will test players' nerves and intellect as they question witnesses, examine crime scenes, and analyze evidence utilizing the latest in forensic equipment. UbiSoft has released the first patch for their recently released CSI. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and fixes minor logic bugs hindering players getting 100% scores. Read more for download links ..

Airline Tycoon Evolution gives players the chance to manage all aspects of this exciting industry, most importantly all the security measures, using sophisticated technology and the latest security tools. Players can also build and customize their own fleet of planes, use them to jet through 10 new missions or the 16 original Airline Tycoon missions, trade them over the Internet with other players and plan detailed itineraries, menus and in-flight entertainment. Spellbound has released a new patch bringing your retail game to v1.03. No specific details on what exactly it updates are available now, read more for download links ...

Capcom released some more screens earlier today. Viewtiful Joe is a super hero with all the confidence, punch and style of a million-dollar action-hero caught in the world of a Hollywood movie. No Expected release date known yet. The other titles is Mega Man Network Transmission where players will need to communicate with Lan, Mega Man and other characters to gain information that holds vital hints to overcoming various in-game predicaments. Read more to check out the screens ...

Mythic Entertainment has shipped more than 150,000 copies of Dark Age of Camelot's expansion pack: Shrouded Isles in Europe, due to strong demand throughout the continent. A week after its release in mid-February, Mythic's European distributor Wanadoo reported that more than 60 percent of the units in retail outlets had sold through their copies of Shrouded Isles. In addition, almost 90 percent of the players of the original Dark Age of Camelot have already purchased the expansion pack in Europe. Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles reached the number one spot in entertainment CD-ROM sales in France the week of release, according to GFK, a marketing company, which runs the French consoles and PC software reference panel.

Eidos Interactive has joined forces with the Government of Novistrana to offer people the chance to be included in the forthcoming PC strategy-simulation game Republic: The Revolution. An exclusive competition has been set up on the just-launched Novistrana website. Twenty lucky winners will be featured as 'Novistranian' characters and will receive a home address for their character. This will enable them to identify themselves among the thousands of inhabitants of Novistrana. 100 runners-up will also have their surnames assigned to characters in the game. All that's needed to enter the competition is simply to register on the site. The closing date for the competition is April 15th 2003. Winners and runners-up will be notified by 30th April 2003.

CM4 was released on March 28th 2003 by Eidos Interactive. The game, developed by Sports Interactive, is the latest in the best-selling series of football management games which has sold more than 3,000,000 copies worldwide since its initial launch in 1992.

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• Anarchy Online: Shadowlands (FunCom)
• Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II (Interplay)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

Mad Catz Inc. will showcase a full range of innovative video game peripherals at the upcoming SCoRE exhibition, April 13th and 14th, held at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Mad Catz will be situated on stand B44 and will highlight their recently launched Game Boy Advance SP product line, comprising of ten new accessories to enhance the GBA SP gaming experience. Further featured products will include the recently launched Mad Catz Blaster, the first light gun for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and Mad Catz' popular MicroCON range of control pads and wheels.

Stardock has released the first update to Galactic Civilizations bringing your retail game to v1.01a. This upgrade bring a few few features and playability enhancements as well as some compatibility fixes with the GalCiv Metaverse. The update can be downloaded through the ingame Starrdock Central. Read more for detailed fix list ...

Championship Manager 4 has smashed all records for UK PC game sales, having generated retail sales of 124,627 in its first week of release, according to the official UK chart organisation Chart-Track. This more than doubles the sales achieved by the previous PC best-seller, Championship Manager: Season 01/02. This phenomenal performance has also propelled CM4 into the top three of Chart-Track's 'All-Formats' fastest-seller list, with only the two PlayStation 2 smash hits, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and The Getaway, standing above it.

ESPionage challenges players to use their most powerful weapon -- their mind -- as they try to master the first action/stealth game to integrate traditional weapons combat with extensive Psi (psychic) mind powers. Combatting a terrorist movement set to overthrow world order, Nick Geller, an elite American Psi-Operative, fights using telekinesis (lifting and throwing objects), pyrokinesis (controlling fire), remote viewing (going "out-of-body" to plan attacks), mind drain (draining Psi energy from enemies), aura view ("seeing" elements that aren't visible in the real world) and mind control (taking control of enemies) to fight against an army of programmed, psychic terrorist super soldiers that will stop at nothing to reach their goal.

THQ Inc. today announced that its critically acclaimed action game, "Red Faction II" has shipped for Nintendo Gamecube, the Xbox and PC. Featuring an enhanced Geo-Mod engine that allows players to strategically alter and destroy the game environment in real-time, "Red Faction II" expands and builds upon the experience and technology of the original game with blistering action, an engaging storyline, highly detailed graphics and a number of multi-player options.

The 1503 A.D. Web team let us know that the demo of 'ANNO 1503 - The New World' is now available in five different languages "French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Polish". All demo files weight around 190MB and consist of four playable scenarios: the two introductory scenarios "Exploration and Colonization" and "Trade and Diplomacy" teach you the basics on how to erect and maintain a functional settlement and allow you to trade with the natives and a computer player. Download links here!

Nintendo is celebrating the anniversary of the European launch of the NINTENDO GAMECUBE with the release of a very special Limited Edition Pak on May 3rd 2003. The celebratory pak will feature an exclusive platinum NINTENDO GAMECUBE and controller coupled with one of the most anticipated video games in history, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, also launched on this date. The Limited Edition Pak also contains a bonus disc featuring the original NINTENDO 64 title, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: The Master Quest, updated exclusively for NINTENDO GAMECUBE.

ARUSH Entertainment let us know that they hope to finish the promised update patch for their recently released FPS Devastation by Monday. Below is a list of things that will be included in the upcoming patch for Devastation. You will be autonotified when you go online that the patch is available, and it will be an easy install process that the system will do for you. A lot of this is MP related, but weapon sound changes and other things are SP too. The filters for the MP browsers is something that is desperately needed. Read more for details on what to expect in the patch.

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• Enter The Matrix (Infogrames)
• Wolverine's Revenge 1 (Activision)
• Wolverine's Revenge 2 (Activision)
• Ryzom (Wanadoo)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

Prepare yourself for the most emotionally involving and realistic football management game in history: Championship Manager 4 has arrived. Can you cope with the challenges of the league and the expectations of the board and fans? Can you deal with the demands of players and agents? Or will you collapse under the pressure, another mid-season casualty? Accept the challenge: take the reins at the club of your choice and lead your squad onwards. Sports Interactive has just released a patch for the retail version of their recently released Championship Manager 4. The 'Enhancement Pack 1' contains an massive amount of bug fixes, tweaks, additions etc. and according to SIGames does "not contain any database updates". Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Warning! Helmets are NOT included. Atari today sent gamers on a wild ride with the release of "Furious Karting" available exclusively for the Xbox. Developed by Paris-based Babylon Software, "Furious Karting" is an extreme go-kart racing game soaked in attitude and hard-wired with pure adrenaline.

Prepare to take the Commandos on their most deadly mission yet as you venture deeper into enemy territory in the upcoming Commandos 3: Destination Berlin. Commandos 3: Destination Berlin is the third instalment in Pyro's legendary tactical strategy series, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide. The game will be released on PC in summer 2003. Read more for features & screens

Midway Games announced today that 'ESPionage' is in development and is expected to ship in Fall 2003 for the PlayStation2, the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. "ESPionage is the First and Only Action/Stealth Game to Integrate Weapons Combat with Extensive Use of Psychic Mind Powers Including Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, Remote Viewing and Mind Control"

Sega Europe Ltd, today confirmed that it is in the process of instigating its own publishing operation to bring to market videogames for all viable gaming platforms. Sega Europe will be building up areas to look after all elements of sales, marketing and PR, to join its pre-existing development infrastructure, with the aim of maximising the sales potential of its popular gaming brands across all PAL-based territories. Previously, Sega Europe had a number of agreements with third-party publishers to bring SEGA-developed titles to market across these territories.