Midway announced today that former professional football standout and Hall of Fame inductee, Lawrence Taylor, will serve as the official cover athlete for Midway's new, unlicensed football videogame, Blitz: The League. Blitz: The League exposes the harsh realism and troubling, behind-the-scenes stories of a fictional professional football league.

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.

On Wednesday July 20th, Bungie will release Autoupdate 4, a small file that updates your version of Halo 2 to mostly address cheating, strengthen security or minor, invisible bugs, but one thing you will notice right away, is that the Relic teleporter bug has been fixed, so you can no longer crouch jump to get through a locked teleporter. If you Xbox contains modded Xbox content, softmods, Action Replay saves, you will be permanently banned from matchmaking. Head on over here for more juicy details ...

Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006 is the next in the series of railroad simulators developed by Auran. Previously known as Engineers Edition, TRS2006 is being released as a full product later this year and sets new standards of realism and immersion in operating a virtual railroad. Aura has announced it will be releasing TRS2006 in September 2005.

German developer X1Software announced today that it is working on an un-official addon for Ubisoft's submarine sim, Silent Hunter 3: Seawolves will add sixty new cities across Europe, North America and the Pacific, new campaigns & missions (22 sp, 4 mp), and plenty of other enhancements. Read more for details ...

After last week John Romero confirmed his Midway exit, it seems now a second high profile developer on the Gauntlet team has quietly left Midway. J.E. Sawyer, previously known for working on Black Isle Studio's Icewind Dale series, has posted a few messages on the Mistress' Lair website that last week Friday (July 15th) was his last day, and that he was teaming up with other former BIS employees over at Obsidian where he will be working on Neverwinter Nights 2.

EA and Valve today announced that they have entered a multi-year agreement to deliver a collection of Valve games to players worldwide. The first two games to be released under this agreement are Half-Life 2: Game of the Year and Counter-Strike: Source for PC, both launching this fall. In addition, Half-Life 2 for the Xbox, scheduled for release in October, will be published and distributed worldwide by EA.

Square Enix America announced today that its PS2 exclusive Radiata Stories will ship to retailers September 6, 2005. Radiata Stories is the latest fantasy RPG developed by tri-Ace Inc., developers of Valkyrie Profile and the Star Ocean series, and takes gamers on a non-linear adventure through a fully interactive world.

Electronic Arts today announced plans to co-publish Namco's Dead to Rights: Reckoning for the PSP. Delivering the series' trademark non-stop, hard-boiled action and a gritty cop storyline, Dead to Rights: Reckoning, developed by Rebellion in the UK, is planned for release on the PSP in the winter of 2005.

Last week, during EA's hot summer night press event, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux revealed that Black & White 2 is on schedule to be released later this year. While no fixed date has been pinned down yet, Molyneux told C&VG that it will be either on Sept 27, or October 14, and a pair of demos will be released prior or simultaniously with the game's release, and consist of one or two early levels.

A movie version of Doom takes some visual cues from the world of games. In first-person-shooters, the player often looks at the world down a gunsite, and that is exactly the point of view in part of the movie, according to a clip shown at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego. The film is planned for a release date of October 21, 2005.

In TOCA Race Driver 3 race drivers will be competing in a massive variety of the world's most aggressive motorsports, complete with explosive damage effects, head-to-head online multiplayer racing and a game engine rebuilt for a greater degree of simulation. While the game itself has been pushed back from October 2005 to Feb. 2006, Codemasters revealed that a singleplayer demo, for all platforms, will be released January 2006, and a multiplayer demo to coincide with the game's retail launch.

East Front is a high-tech first-person 3D shooter. The action 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.

It seems developer Best Way is not only working on a sequel to Outfront, known in Europe & US as Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, but is currently also working on an expansion called "Saboteurs." The addon will allow you to head up a group of 6 Soviet saboteurs and carry out a number complex tasks behind enemy lines, such as capture German officers, destroy enemy radars, or take over strategic locations such as railway stations.

Sony Europe announced today a host of new features and games for SpyToy on PS2. Due for release in October 2005, SpyToy is more than just a game, it is a state of the art security system. It builds on the surveillance concept first introduced in 'EyeToy: Play 2' with a package of new and improved security features, whilst the gameplay sees you become a member of the SIA, tasked with bringing to justice a global network of master criminals.

EA is holding their summer press event today, and here is a deluge of screens from the titles that are being presented:

• Madden NFL 06 (PSP)
• NASCAR 06: Total Team Control (PS2/Xbox)
• NCAA March Madness 06 (PS2/Xbox)
• NHL 06 (NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC)
• SSX On Tour (PSP/NGC/PS2/Xbox)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (PSP/NGC/PS2/Xbox)

EA is holding their summer press event today, and here is a deluge of screens from the titles that are being presented:

• Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (NGC/PSP/PS2/Xbox)
• NBA Live 06 (NGC/PS2/Xbox/X360/PC)
• Need for Speed Most Wanted (ALL)
• The Sims 2 (ALL)
• The Sims 2: Nightlife (PC)

EA is holding their summer press event today, and here is a deluge of screens from the titles that are being presented:

• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (PS2/Xbox)
• Black & White 2 (PC)
• Burnout Legends (PSP)
• Burnout Revenge (PS2/Xbox)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (ALL)
• James Bond 007 : From Russia With Love (NGC/PS2/Xbox)

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.

Atari is returning to the universe of "The Matrix" with a new game that lets players assume the role of actor Keanu Reeves' lead character Neo and relive his most important and memorable scenarios from the complete film trilogy, including the original film. Atari announced that it plans on shipping The Matrix: Path of Neo on November 15th, 2005.

Midway today announced a number of licensing details and in game talent for LA RUSH, bringing an entirely unique experience to the reinvention of this over-the-top racing franchise. With celebrity and hip-hop talent starring as in game characters, an intense soundtrack, the latest in both concept and licensed cars LA RUSH has it all.

Not a big surprise considering its retail success, through an interview with IGN, EA revealed that its DICE development studio is working on an expansion pack for its recently released multiplayer FPS sequel Battlefield 2. While the original game is being fought out between regular grunts, BF2: Special Forces will beef up all the classes to Special Forces and add 7-8 new night/day maps (smaller troop oriented, urban environment, airport map, missile launch facility etc.), gadgets (night vision and grappler/zipline, flashbang, tear gas), six new armies (Navy Seals, British SAS, Russian Spetznaz, MEC Special Forces and two insurgent groups), ten new vehicles, and twelve new base weapons. Battlefield 2: Special Forces is expected Fall of 2005.

Microsoft announced that it has signed exclusive rights to develop and publish MMO games featuring Marvel Enterprises' super heroes, including Spider-man, the X-men and the Hulk. The deal covers massively multiplayer online (MMO) game titles developed for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 and published by the game studio. The deal is Marvel's first MMO pact, and the first title is expected in 2008.

Cenega has released a patch for the US edition of Plastic Reality's squad-based action game Korea: Forgotten Conflict demo. The patch visualizes places available or not available for the player by different mouse cursor, visualizes the "Line of Fire" when blocked, fixes a problem with a locked mouse cursor while pointing at some machines, fixes minor problems with medic's voice (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for Counter-Strike Source. Fixed model scale problem resulting in under-sized players, fixed model's feel sliding while running, and made the new Terrorist model leaner... Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.