EA today announced that Hugo Weaving will expand his involvement with The Lord of the Rings franchise as he assumes the role of lead voiceover talent in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II. Additionally, concept artist John Howe of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is on board to design entirely new creatures and locations of Middle-earth.

To better cope with the World of Warcraft's population growth Blizzard has just opened six brand new realms for the game in North America. These realms give players eager for a fresh start a chance to create new characters and begin adventuring in a new copy of the game world, and also gives first time players an opportunity to do so on equal footing with other players.

Microsoft today announced that retailers nationwide are beginning to sell various Xbox 360 games, accessories, and Xbox Live retail offerings in advance of the November 22 console launch. Eager fans are encouraged to check with their local retail stores for information regarding specific Xbox 360 product availability. Reports have come in that PGR3, Perfect Dark Zero, and Kameo are available left and right.

SCEA announced today that its PSP exclusive SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo is available in stores, offering brand new single-player and online gameplay which supports up to 16 players battling together in Ad Hoc and Infrastructure modes for maximum online gaming, an "Instant Action" Mode for short single-player mission replay options, and interoperability with its big PS2 brother SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs.

Blizzard today announced that its subscription based MMORPG World of Warcraft has officially launched in the region of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Players in these territories can now purchase the game at retail or download it, create their accounts, and then log on to experience the epic adventure of the Warcraft(R) series in an immersive and continually evolving online environment.

Atari and Epic Games today announced that Atari has obtained the rights to use the Unreal Engine 3 and tools for games on next-generation platforms in a multiple-licensing agreement.

Atari and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced the highly-anticipated video game The Matrix: Path of Neo is now available in stores nationwide.

SOCOM 3, developed by Zipper Interactive, captures the reality of modern day warfare, and features three Areas of Operation: Southern Asia, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe and is packed with over 10 missions, over 30 new weapons, larger maps, improved AI, allow you to drive/operate vehicles and you can now also go for a swim.

An anonymous source revealed that he interviewed Peter Molyneux recently, who not only disclosed that he's really enjoying making Fable 2 for the Xbox 360, but also divulged a few gameplay tidbits along the way (thanks CVG). Read more for details ...

Square Enix has revealed a new MMORPG called Fantasy Earth: Ring of Domination which will try to combine RTS, RPG and Action, allowing you to forge alliances, build fortresses and citadels and duke it out with your allies against huge armies. It's still a ways off, as it is only vaguely scheduled for 2005, but in the meantime, read more for new screens...

Topware Interactive, has kicked off its’ value gaming line up with 12 new releases for the holiday season. Titles such as: World War III Black Gold, Earth 2150 Trilogy, Emergency, Gorky 17, World War II Panzer Claws II, HeliHeroes, and several others. Read more for details ...

As we revealed over the weekend, Turbine, Inc. announced today officially announced it has selected Codemasters to be the online service provider for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach in Europe. Codemasters will be responsible for hosting, community management, technical support and billing for DDO: Stormreach in Europe when it launches next year.

Philips today introduced amBX, ambient experience, spotlighting a technology that will revolutionize the gameplay experience and extend the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world. amBX is a step towards a full 'sensory surround experience' and enabled games will provide gamers with the ability to use light, colour, sound, heat and even airflow in the real world during gameplay.

MMORPG is reporting that codemasters has signed a publishing agreement with Turbine to bring its upcoming Dungeon & Dragons Online: Stormreach to European gamers. After cancelling its internal MMO Dragon Empire, it seems Codemasters has gotten back into the online gaming business, a few months ago it announced RF Online and now Turbine's anticipated DDO: Stormreach. An official announcement should arrive on Monday, when Codmeasters plans to open their official DDO website.

Last week Take 2's financial results revealed a substantial delay for Bethesda's RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Over the weekend PR Manager Pete Hines posted a community update giving more insight into the reason why: "In short, the game is coming out in early 2006 because it isn't done yet. We still have things that need to be done before the game is released. So we continue to optimize, test, balance, etc. We've already gone way beyond what we did in any game previously in playtesting and balancing this game. Way beyond. But there is work that needs to be done and so development continues to go on pretty much around the clock. We will not put out a more specific date until we are certain we will be ready then. "

Enter an all-new Evil Dead experience, as Ash finds himself arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to Sunny Meadows, an institute for the criminally insane. Though better than the madness he escaped hidden within the woods, he quickly learns the evil has only become more malevolent.

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood is a role-playing game, developed by Softmax, set in Efferia, a continent populated with five races. In this world, you can use seven different types of Carta and meet a host of characters. Atlus has launched the official Magna Carta: Tears of Blood website with screenshots, in-depth gameplay information, developer interviews and wallpaper from the game. you can also check our batch of 60 screens from the other day.

Today the winners of this years Golden Joystick Awards were announced, with the celebrated title, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, stealing the show, scooping up five gongs, including 'Best Soundtrack', 'Playstation 2 Game of the Year' and the coveted award of the 'Ultimate Game of 2005'.

In Jaws, players assume the role of a Great White shark driven to a predacious frenzy by the sonic emanations of underwater oil drilling equipment. To defend their underwater territory, players undertake a campaign to drive the raiders away while simultaneously solving a series of action-based puzzles designed to thwart the player.

According to Russian online magazine GameMag, the new Crytek game might very well be titles Crysis. A babelfish translation doesn not reveal any additional details except for that it will be published by EA, which we already knew, will utilize Crytek Engine 2, and is expected fall 2006. Some additional investigative research by German fansite CrysisHQ does add extra credibility to the rumor as they have discovered that domains crysis-game.com and crysisgame.com have been registered and are owned by Crytek's CEO Faruk Yerli. Now that the cat is out of the bag, we hope more information will become available.

True Crime: New York City will follow another policeman through the meticulously re-created streets of a real-life metropolitan area. However, instead of the wisecracking LAPD detective Nick Kang, gamers will now play as Marcus Reed, a former gang member turned NYPD officer. More than 80 eclectic songs from NYC raised or transplanted bands that span such diverse genres as punk, hip hop, hardcore and rock.

Atlus U.S.A. announced today that it is bringing the PS2 exclusive action/adventure game Steambot Chronicles, developed by Irem and previously known as Bumpy Trot, to North America.

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that 50 Cent: Bulletproof will boast more than eight hours of classic, current and exclusive music from 50 Cent and G Unit. Fans and gamers will experience the 13 never-before-released tracks and remixes when the title hits stores November 22nd at an MSRP of $49.99.

Electronic Arts today announced Command & Conquer The First Decade, one of the largest PC franchise compilations to date. Scheduled for release in February 2006, the title celebrates the 10th anniversary of this innovative franchise. This special collector's edition will include a dozen of your favorite C&C games spanning over the last 10 years plus a bonus DVD of commemorative video features.

EA today announced that it is teaming up with Nettwerk Music Group to launch EA Recordings, a digital music distribution label that will bring EA's rich catalogue of wholly-owned musical compositions and remixes to Digital Service Providers (DSPs) worldwide. This initiative will deliver music clips from EA games as ringtones, mastertones or in .mp3 format to online download destinations including Apple iTunes, MSN, Yahoo Music, AOL Music, Rhapsody and others.