Guitar Hero II arrives with a new track list, new venues and additional play modes – including the ability to transform the original controller into a rhythm, lead or bass guitar. Several readers have sent in confirmed sightings of Guitar Hero II at their local (so far Alabama) Wal-Mart. Earlier this week Wal-Mart already leaked the hidden/bonus tracks. Red Octane is aware of the matter but reiterated GH II's official launch date is November 7th.

Galactic Civilizations II takes place in the distant future, when mankind has become a space-faring civilization and must contend with other extraterrestrial powers for domination of the galaxy. Stardock has released a v1.40x patch that adresses some memory leaks, but mainly general tweaking and balancing.

SCEA announced that it will sponsor the eighth-annual Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, Louisiana. On October 28th and 29th, 2006, the musical event at New Orleans' historic City Park includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, Wu-Tang Clan, The Flaming Lips and more

While Activision will not finalize other financial results for Q2 until after the internal review regarding the grant practices it is being investigated for, it did release preliminary numbers. Net revenues for Q2 dropped from $222.5M to $188.2M, but it still exceeded expectations as earlier projections had estimated for a mere $130M, so Activision actually performed 45% stronger than anticipated.

SEGA Europe revealed that according to the UK Chart-Track panel of retailers Football Manager 2007 bagged a hat trick on its debut weekend. The number one spot in the UK PC chart, top of the UK all-formats chart, and the UK’s third fastest selling PC game ever.

Death to Spies a 3rd person stealth-action title pitting one covert agent in real-life missions from WWII. Smersh is the Russian for "Death to Spies" and was the name of a set of counterintelligence departments in the Soviet Army formed during World War II.

Turbine announced today the release of a 3rd free content module for its MMO Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. The Demon Sands module will add PvP, an increased level cap, more solo-play, and an auction house to the game!

Destruction matters in this next generation of high speed combat racing and the music does too! Pseudo Interactive has implemented licensed music in such a way that each main rival the players battle against will have a dedicated song, and that song will become increasingly louder the closer players get to their rival.

The development team best known for the Fight Night franchise opened a new studio in downtown Chicago, and is currently working on three games for the PS3 and X360 including the hip-hop lifestyle game, DEF JAM: ICON, as well as a licensed title and a new IP in the fighting videogame genre.

Gears of War blends the best of tactical action games with the best of survival horror titles, thrusting gamers into the harrowing story of humankind's battle for survival against the Locust Horde, creating cinematic, high-definition visuals so intense and powerful, it feels like the gamers are controlling a blockbuster action movie.

AVA is a new online FPS, developed by Korean Redduck, using Epic's Unreal Engine 3. While details are very minor, the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter lookalike is currently scheduled to go into closed beta in December. Until we have more info, check out the first screens ...

Heart Of Osiris is not a sequel to last years point & click adventure Ankh, but a standalone expansion pack. Ankh: Heart Of Osiris is situated in the same environment as the original but now lets you play the game from a different perspective and character, the Pharaoh himself.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault adds an all-new 4-player cooperative play, improved enemy behavior and tactics, and new vehicles and weapons for campaign mode. Command the most feared Special Forces team ever assembled through a single, massive Area of Operation with varied missions spanning across multiple diverse regions.

2K and Valve today announced an agreement to bring a collection of 2K PC games to Steam, starting with Civ III, Civ IV, Shattered Union and Sid Meier's Pirates.

Ubisoft released its sales numbers for the 1st semester 2006-07, and while the 1st quarter was up 13% (from €153M to €172M), the 2nd quarter was down 7% (€102M versus €110M). Overall results exceeded expectations, but more importantly, Ubisoft revealed Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is in development and scheduled for Q4 2006-07 (Jan-Mar 2007), while Assassin's Creed and Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway have been delayed until fiscal year 2007-08 (anywhere from Apr 2007-Mar 2008). Seven additional Wii titles are in development, bringing the total of games for Nintendo's next-gen console to 14 by the end of March 2007.

The Grand Final of the World Cyber Games concluded after four days of intense gaming, with Team USA bringing home the gold in Project Gotham Racing 3 on the X360, but the Grand Champion title for the World Cyber Games 2006 was awarded to Team Korea, who reclaims the title after four years.

Guilty Gear Judgment offers players two great games in one gameplay experience: the fast paced arcade fighting of Guilty Gear X2 # Reload plus a brand new, side-scrolling play experience in Guilty Gear Judgment.

Bleach is a Wii exclusive anime hack & slash game making full use of the Wiimote to control your characters movement and attacks. Currently only announced as a Japanese Wii launch title, no information for Europe or North America is available at this point.

Pandemic Studios announced today the creation of a 2nd development team at its Brisbane, Australia studios. Pandemic is poised to build on the success of its Australian operation, which has grown over its six year history from a dozen to nearly one hundred employees.

Ubisoft plans to release a Prince of Persia bundle in time for the holidays. Prince of Persia: Trilogy will combine Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones in one package. Scheduled for release October 27, 2006, all for the standard price of a regular game, it unfortunately only seems to be on PS2.

In a recent interview with Swedish magazine Kong, Avalanche CEO Christofer Sundberg revealed that, due to the success of the original, they are already working on a sequel. Although Just Cause 2 will see the return of undercover agent Rico Rodriquez, the game will no longer be situated on an island, but rather in a VERY large city environment. So far chris only confirmed that the game will be on PS3 and X360, and of course no estimated release date was given.

The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king enhances every existing feature and offering players the chance to command the rise of evil in Middle-earth while experiencing the epic battles that took place before those depicted in the films.

To celebrate the upcoming Emergence Day, several lucky gamers will win the chance to play Epic's Gears of War prior to launch, and party with celebrities living and dead at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 12:01 a.m.

The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king enhances every existing feature and offering players the chance to command the rise of evil in Middle-earth while experiencing the epic battles that took place before those depicted in the films.

Sierra and NovaLogic today announced that they have entered a co-publishing agreement for the PS2 exclusive first-person shooter Delta Force Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre.