Pirates of the Burning Sea is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in the Caribbean islands of the 18th Century. You play a bold sea captain, master of your own ship and crew, as you seek glory and adventure across the trackless deep.

A community post in the VUG forums reveals that Irrational (although its Australia division, not Boston as the original) is working on an expansion pack for SWAT 4. The yet untitled addon will feature seven new maps, missions (one in a warehouse with lots of sniper hideouts while you rescue people from an office bombing), new pistols and machine gune, but also long-range grenade launcher, sniper rifles (previously only for the squads' designated sharpshooter), night vision goggles, glow in the dark sticks, and 10-player coop. The expansion is scheduled for February 2006 (thanks 10-David). Official announcement expected soon ...

Electronic Arts and the GRAMMY Foundation today announced GRAMMY Pro Session: Video Game Music And Sound Design. The GRAMMY Foundation's Pro Session series gives students an insider's view into careers in the music industry.

BFNation is reporting that EA will be taking steps against groups renting Ranked servers for the sole purpose of 'padding' their stats, and that such behaviour will not be tolerated. Stats will be stripped from usrs, but also their clan members if they seem to have anomalous stats. Hosting partners will be asked to move the clan to a non-ranked server and not be allowed to lease another Ranked Server from said partner. If they switch to another hosting partner the server's IP itself will get blacklisted from the validated list.

In Crash Tag Team Racing players will be able to fuse two cars together on the fly to form a super vehicle outfitted with a turret gun with the all-new "clashing" technology. Players can continue their adventures on foot with out-of-car action, allowing them to traverse an amusement park-like world where they can interact with other characters, collect items and complete mini-missions.

NCsoft announces that the latest Issue #5: Forest of Dread update has gone live, and is available at no extra cost for existing subscribers to download right now. Issue #5 features a thrilling new Zone for heroes to explore – the mystical Croatoa, which is populated by monstrous new villains such as the giant Fir Bolg and the legendary Tuatha de Dannan. A new epic Task Force is also available in Croatoa for heroes to complete.

Lionhead Studios and Activision announced today The Movies Online, a community website where aspiring moviemakers can upload and share their motion pictures created with The Movies on the internet! Located at www.themoviesgame.com, the site will launch a virtual film festival for aspiring film-makers when the game ships this fall.

The Adventure Company today announced NIBIRU: Age of Secrets for PC has shipped to retailers across Canada and the U.S.

Illusion Softworks, known for the Hidden & Dangerous, Mafia and Vietcong series, revealed Chameleon, already in the works since 2002, is a 3D action game using an updated Mafia/H&D2 engine, and playable from 1st and 3rd person perspective. Not many details have been disclosed since, but today we have the first screens (thanks Unrealik).

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is an action-packed thriller set in a large and varied game world mixing gritty reality with imaginative fantasy. The game features three worlds, three distinctly different playable characters, and exciting action-adventure gameplay wrapped in a mature, exhilarating, and innovative storyline.

Nintendo announced todat that Dancing Stage: Mario Mix launches across Europe for GameCube 28th on October 2005. Forget the Macarena and definitely don't get caught disco dancing - this year, people will be busting a move to the sounds of the Mario Beat.

Midway Games today announced that it has secured the U.S. and Canadian publishing rights for Earth 2160, the highly-anticipated sequel in the top-selling and critically-acclaimed EARTH series of real-time strategy titles. The game is scheduled to be published in the U.S. and Canada this November for the PC.

Codemasters announced today that The hugely anticipated Xbox edition of Operation Flashpoint, the most realistic and complex military combat simulator, will launch in November as Operation Flashpoint: Elite complete with online play over Xbox Live, Codemasters confirmed today.

In Paradise City, developed by Sirius Games, formerly known as Media Mobsters, you take on the role of Luca Valerio experiencing how the living city with its civilians, businessmen, law enforcers, traffic jams, gangs and hordes low-life create perfect scenery for an opportunistic “businessman” with big ambitions (thanks Blues).

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for its online delivery system Steam. This update adds Blue Shift game & icon, updates drivers for Source games, and adds support for H-L1 High Definition model pack. Read more for details, or just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

East Front is a high-tech first-person 3D shooter, which takes place in an alternate universe where the fascist Germany won in the Second World War. A soldier of the German Resistance, Karl Stolz, turns out to be involved in the deadly play of mysterious powers, and at stake is control over the entire world.

Blitz: The League exposes the harsh realism and troubling, behind-the-scenes stories of a fictional professional football league. Blitz: The League is being developed by Midway's Chicago in collaboration with a writer from ESPN's controversial "Playmakers" TV series. Blitz: The League goes behind the glitz and glamour of the game through a revolutionary campaign mode that explores the on-field violence, off-field fallout and front-office politics of professional football.

Namco and Sony BMG Music announced today that the companies have settled a complaint filed by Namco alleging that sounds from its video game Pac-Man were used in the song of a Sony BMG artist. The song cited was "Game Over," by Sony BMG recording artist Lil' Flip from his album U Gotta Feel Me.

In Real Time Conflict: Shogun Empires, players take on the role of one of two brothers who are engaged in bloody combat in feudal Japan. Overtaking nearby territories and amassing fearsome armies, only one warrior will be able to survive the deadly feud to realize his ambitions and claim the title of Shogun.

Lionhead has put word on the official Black & White 2 website that the game is amost finished and announced the actual launch dates. "The Black&White 2 team are proud to announce the official pack shot of the game! You can find it here. The game will be released in stores on September 30th in the US, and October 7th in Europe. This is official. We are almost finished."

Electronic Arts and Nintendo announced today a partnership that brings the Nintendo All-Stars -- Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach -- to the Nintendo GameCube version of SSX On Tour, scheduled to launch this fall under the EA SPORTS BIG brand. The game is being produced by Electronic Arts Canada in Vancouver, BC.

Video game publisher Atari said on Friday it signed a deal to sell its Humongous Entertainment studio business for $10.3 million to Atari's controlling parent, France's Infogrames Entertainment.

Funcom announces that Dreamfall: The Longest Journey has been rescheduled to launch in the spring of 2006. The highly anticipated adventure title was initially slated for a Q4 2005 release. Now Funcom has decided to allow for additional months of development. This ensures the highest possible quality while making sure the game reaches the market in a more favourable timeslot. The game will be released simultaneously on Xbox and PC.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in the Caribbean islands of the 18th Century. You play a bold sea captain, master of your own ship and crew, as you seek glory and adventure across the trackless deep.

War Leaders will expand upon the RTS genre by placing gamers in the roles of the major leaders of WWII, including Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Political, diplomatic and economic decision making will be key to success, while sound tactical strategies will ensure victory on the battlefield.