Rockstar Games is pleased to announce that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is making its way to the Xbox. Developed by world-class designers Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox and PC will be in stores in North America on June 7th, 2005 and in Europe on June 10th, 2005.

LucasArts and Sony Online have made the joint decision to increase the investment in the game development team. LucasArts and SOE are adding more people to all parts of the development team including production, project management, programming, design, art, community and QA. Over 20 new people are being added to the SWG team this month. Read the full newsblurb over at the official SWG website...

Hearts of Iron 2 presents tons of new features including a redesigned map and interface, updated battle mechanics, re-worked technology tree, fine-tuned diplomacy and trade system as well as gameplay details like co-operative multiplayer. To commemorate the 60th year Anniversary of the Ardennes offensive on Dec 16, 1944, Paradox Interactive has released a demo for its strategy game Hearts of Iron 2. This demo features the Ardennes offensive battle scenario. Read more for download links ...

Put yourself in a spin with Codemasters' Christmas gift – an egg-shell-hen-t bit of retro fun: the complete Commodore 64 edition of Treasure Island Dizzy from way back in 1988!

Nevrax announced the release of the next chapter in the ever-evolving massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Saga of Ryzom.

Vivisector: Beast Inside developed by Action Forms (creators of Chasm and Carnivores series) is a unique mixture of 3D Action/Horror. The game blends a thrilling interactive story with intense, high-adrenaline action and immerses players in a rich and fascinating storyline.

Players of Sacred can look forward to a game world that is 40 percent bigger than before, two new characters with distinctive and stunning abilities, 30 fearsome types of opponents and plenty of additional weapons, items and armor. In Sacred Underworld, the player will be able to re-live the excitement of the entire original Sacred adventure with two new characters, the Daemon and the Dwarf; alternatively, it will be possible to continue the thrilling story of the fantasy world of "Ancaria" with existing characters. The new adventures of "SACRED Underworld" will be available in April 2005 for €24.99.

Restricted Area is an action-based roleplaying game with realtime combat, which combines a fascinating gameplay similar to Diablo 2 with innovative technology, tactic-shooter elements and a dark future scenario. Read more for a few new screens.

The international release of the racing simulation GTR – FIA GT Racing Game is scheduled for the beginning of 2005. Due to continuous advancements in development of the product within recent months, publisher 10tacle studios AG and developer Simbin can announce several enhancements as well as additional features for the upcoming version. Read more for details and screens..

Digital Jesters has released a new patch for Cyanide's 3D sports/action game Chaos League. This patch brings your retail game to v1.07 and fixes rmatch replay compatibility, addressed a game freeze after touchdown and a bad team value display issue. Read more for download links ...

UEFA Champions League will offer followers of the beautiful game the opportunity to guide their chosen club from qualification anxiety through to big night glory. It will add an element of the unexpected allowing lower league teams into the glamour world of European football. Throughout the game, players need to negotiate 50 unique and challenging on- and off-field missions successfully to take control of their UEFA Champions League destiny.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update that optimizes the Half-Life 2/Steam filesystem to reduce game launch and level transition time, as well as 2 minor Source SDK tweaks and a few fixes to Steam itself. Read more for details ...

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an eagerly anticipated first-person horror adventure based on the award winning RPG from Chaosium that in turn is based on the writings of the acclaimed American horror author H. P. Lovecraft...Some new screens showing just how dark some of those corners are.

The official Chaos League website has been updated with an announcement that Cyanide is working on an expansion for its sports/RTS game, titled Sudden Death. "The Chaos League Expansion Pack will be going under the name of "Sudden Death" and will provide Chaos League with not only a whole host of improvements but also the possibility of three new races to play as. Chaos League: Sudden Death is penciled in for a Summer 2004 launch in the UK."

Stardock Entertainment has released a free campaign for users of the expansion pack to its award-winning strategy game, Galactic Civilizations. The campaign, called "Prelude to War," sets the back story for Galactic Civilizations II which is due out at the end of next year.

In a financial statement issued today Elixir revealed a few new project, amongst which Evil GeEnius 2 : "Following the successful release of Evil Genius with Vivendi Universal Games in October, Elixir Studios is currently in full production of its next major title, under contract with a market-leading US publisher. Conceived and signed 18 months ago, the as yet unannounced original game is scheduled for release in 2006. Elixir's other teams are currently working on plans for an Evil Genius sequel as well as a prototype for a next generation console IP."

Electronic Arts today announced exclusive licensing relationships with the National Football League and PLAYERS INC to develop, publish and distribute interactive football games. These five-year agreements -- which EA negotiated separately -- give EA the exclusive rights to the NFL teams, stadiums and players for use in its football videogames.

Developed by Mad Doc Software and due for release in the first half of 2005, Empire Earth 2 will build upon the award-winning formula of its predecessor by adding features requested both by casual game players interested in a brief spin through history and by more hard core gamers who demand a real-time strategy game that will challenge them for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours. Check out these exclusive screens ...

Metal Gear Acid, created by world-renowned developer, Hideo Kojima, will be released for SCEA's PSP handheld video game system. Metal Gear Acid will redefine handheld action gaming as this all-new stealth adventure game in the definitive tactical espionage series takes the Metal Gear experience outside the living room and directly into the hands of gamers.

Team Ninja has created the ultimate Dead or Alive fighting experience, Dead or Alive Ultimate, by coupling the original version of Dead or Alive with a completely redesigned Dead or Alive 2 on the Xbox to create one of the first 3-D online fighting games to date. Both games will be Xbox Live multi-player compatible enabling you to test your fighting skills against a vast community of gamers from around the world.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update that addresses a Securom fix (by removing the Securom disc check routine), but also a few changes to the Source Dedicated server and HL2 Deathmatch. As usual, all you have to do is restart steam and the update will happen automagically.

Through an interview over at C&VG Lorne Lanning revealed that Oddworld Inhabitants is already working on an all new IP Citizen Sage. Currently developing Oddworld Stranger's Wrath for EA, the new title will be set in the near future and deal with current issues like "martial law and the diminishment of civil liberties." Citizen Sage is under development for current as well as next gen consoles, no release date is mentioned.

Oxygen Interactive announced today that UK developer Kuju is working on a new FPS 'Conspiracy: Weapons of Mass Destruction.' Using the Fire Warrior engine, Conspiracy: Weapons of Mass Destruction, is under development for PC, PS2 and Xbox, and is scheduled for March 2005. Read more for details and the first screens ...

Syberia II, the sequel of the 2002 Adventure Game of The year, is currently in development at the developer/publisher Montreal-based studios. Syberia II will be the second and final installment of Kate Walker's joint adventures with Hans Voralberg. Syberia 2 will be making a European appearance on the PS2 January 20, 2005. No mention whether this edition is also scheduled for US consumption.

Nintendo today announced it will increase total shipments of Nintendo DS to North America by 40 percent, to 1.4 million systems before the end of the year. Due to the system's popularity, many retail stores across the country are reporting shortages, and the initial batch of 500,000 units all but sold out a week after Nintendo DS launched on Nov. 21.