EA announced today that The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II has shipped to retailers nationwide and will be in stores on March 2, 2006. This real-time strategy game offers the chance to experience Middle-earth in a way you have never seen.

INgrooves today announced it has licensed 28 hip-hop and electronic songs from its catalogue to Capcom for Final Fight: Streetwise and will produce and digitally publish the game soundtrack. Final Fight: Streetwise calls for players to use their street smarts and powerful fighting skills to survive the back alleys of Metro City.

Tortuga: Two Treasures will have players setting sail as pirate captains in search of action, adventure and of course, treasure. You play Thomas ‘Hawk’ Blythe and after you get betrayed and captured, a dramatic battle for power, romance, treasure and truth commences beneath the Jolly Roger. Two Treasures features epic land and naval battles, featuring everything from sword fights to cannon-battles.

Chibi-Robo is a gift to a little girl whose father wants her to have the best birthday ever. Chibi-Robo isn't just a toy, though. He's a household helper whose sole task is to bring happiness to his family. Chibi is only 3 inches tall, but he's capable of some impressive feats. Chibi-Robo!: Plug Into Adventure sweeps its way across Europe on the 26th May 2006.

People who have picked up their RF Online retail copy may have noticed that the manual has an ad for a yet-unannounced Codemasters game, Hasbro's Micro Machines V4. After a four-year hiatus and a move from Atari back to its original publisher, Micro Machines V4 promises to bring its own hilarious brand of mini multiplayer madness. Codemasters informed TVG that an official announcement, with more details, is due at the end of the week.

Microsoft today announced the lineup for the Windows Vista operating system, scheduled for release later this year. Vista will bring clarity to accomplishing everyday tasks, instantly let you find what you want, enjoy the latest in entertainment, improved safety of personal information, stay connected at home or on the go, and help ensure PCs are up-to-date, more secure and running smoothly.

Nirvana, Stereophonics, Jet, The Subways, Rolling Stones, The Bravery, Blur and many more are all to appear on the latest edition in its PS2 exclusive SingStar Rocks!, set for release in Spring '06.

With Act of War: High Treason, Eugen Systems and Atari are introducing a massive amount of new features and content to enhance and extend the overall experience. High Treason will expand into naval warfare with over a dozen different vessels, such as AEGIS cruisers, frigates, aircraft carriers and submarines. Less scripting, better AI and camera handling.

Independent Aussie developer Crossbean Studios, who was already working on Orb, an action/adventure with RPG elements, and Darkness, has now added a third title to its portfolio. While details remain sparse, Thorn will be a Rev-exclusive action/adventure title making use of the Free Hand Controller. Read more for details ...

Major League Baseball 2K6 includes innovative features such as a new movement system and realistic player collisions on the infield and outfield. New broadcast elements include flashback replays, and a unique player morale system will unfold the drama like never before in a baseball video game.

While The Sims 2 Open for Business is scheduled to ship Feb. 28th, it seems that certain European countries are selling the second expansion pack ahead of its official date. Inside there is a flyer already revealing another possible expansion, The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff, which is "coming April 2006" and will add a new collection of furnishing, clothing, decor and accessories to your Sims' lives (thanks SimTimes).

Apparently this, and Glamour Shopping, are booster packs, similar to the Battlefield 2 material.

EA has released a new patch for it the original 3D RTS Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth. This update brings your retail game to v1.03 and a slew of unit tweaks and a few bugs/crash fixes. Read more for detailed fix list and download links.

In this interview, Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, pulls no punches and speaks in a refreshingly straightforward manner, with none of the sugar-coating or PR "fluff" that pervades our industry nowadays. Read on, my fellow gamer, and see what Todd has to say about the future of gaming, the industry at large today, and some newly divulged tidbits on their plans for the year…

Unreal Tournament 2007 is being developed by North Carolina-based Epic Games. The game promises to blow fans away with the gameplay, modifiability and visuals that Epic's Unreal Engine 3 technology will deliver.

Condemned: Criminal Origins allows players to experience an unnatural level of psychological tension as they use their instincts, forensic tools, and melee combat to track serial killers and bring them to justice. SEGA pinned down the official release date for the PC edition to April 11, 2006.

Xbox Live members have another chance to book their place in the first ever PGR 100, fuelled by Xbox Live, by taking on the Project Gotham Racing developers Bizarre Creations in a Developer Showdown, gamers versus programmers.

Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm is turn-based (each turn consists of two 40 second phases, the first for orders, the second for reactions and targeting) and has a great PBEM system for head to head play. There is a German and a Soviet campaign and all the campaign battles can be played as set battles as well.

Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. Microsoft has released a list of 50 achievements that can be unlocked to crank up your gamerpoints.

Paraworld combines a setting never seen before with personalized unit management, bringing new life to the real-time strategy genre. Modern elements blend with primeval conditions in a long forgotten, incredibly beautiful prehistoric world. Sunflowers reveals more information about one of the four heroes, Jarvis Babbit .

The LMA Manager 2006 team have been busy compiling all of the player moves from the January 2006 transfer window ready for the second half of the season. Now all the updated transfer and player data can be accessed and implemented into LMA Manager 2006.

Guitar Hero puts you at center stage of your very own rock band, featuring unique characters, a selection of Gibson electric guitars to play and concert venues that grow in size as your music career progress. Gem Distribution signed Guitar Hero for UK distribution, scheduled for April 7th 2006.

Today Midway released its quaterly results and dispite the fact that net revenues dropped 9% it remains optimistic for the coming year with an estimated 3& revenue increase. In the subsequent conference call Midway revealed Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2007 is currently scheduled for Winter 2007 (Dec. 2006 - March 2007). End of last year Midway closed Australian developer Ratbag, but predicts it will hire an additional 100 over the coming year and plans to steamline its production by improving tech sharing amongst internal studios.

TimeShift is an innovative FPS in which players control time to complete missions and defeat foes, is in development by Saber Interactive. TimeShift will leverage first-of-its-kind gameplay abilities and functionality, the latest graphics technology, and high production values to create a truly unique action game experience.

Midway announced today the broadening of its in-game advertising strategy with a multi-year multi-game deal with Double Fusion to provide dynamic, in-game advertising exclusively to select, upcoming Midway titles, starting with Stranglehold, developed in collaboration with John Woo.

Ahead of its retail launch, EA has already released the first patch for its 3D RTS sequel The Battle for Middle-Earth 2. This update brings your retail game to v1.1 and improves stability of the game and fixes a few desyncs. Read more for download links ...