Sign up to Xbox Live on or before 31st August 2005 and you will get one of three games absolutely free! Choose from Forza Motorsport, Conker: Live and Reloaded or Dead or Alive Ultimate. If you're quick about it and are one of the first 200 to sign up you'll get all three games for free!

Black Bean Games announce today that it has reached a publishing deal with Slitherine Software, UK Ltd. under which it will publish Slitherine's Legion Arena in Europe with an anticipated launch in late 2005. Plunge into the Roman world and take part in the most famous battles of the ancient world.

Strategy First and publisher Lago today announced that they have entered into a broad Western European publishing and distribution deal covering ten of Strategy First's upcoming titles. The initial term of the agreement runs through the release of ten titles, anticipated to be distributed over the next nine months.

LucasArts today announced a new Indiana Jones video game, set for release on next-generation consoles in 2007, Star Wars Battlefront II for PSP this fall, in addition to previously unveiled PS2, Xbox, and PC versions.

Electronic Arts today announced the March launch of four new games on its Pogo.com (free) and Club Pogo (subscription) online game sites. This highly-anticipated launch will include the extremely addicting new version of Poppit!, the multi-player bingo-scratcher game of Lottso!, and two new adventurous card games, 6th Street Omaha Poker and Casino Island Blackjack.

The game places the player in the leading role of an over-the-top, John Woo inspired, Hollywood action movie, playing an undercover DEA agent infiltrating the Mexican drug cartels. The leading character has all the characteristics of a modern action film hero like Nicholas Cage or John Travolta, with a popular, vividly colourful and varied backdrop provided by the Mexican setting. Overdose is scheduled to be released on PS2/Xbox and PC in Q2 2005, at which point development for a sequel will be started (thanks HomeLAN).

In response to Gov. Blagojevich proposing legislation to ban the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to youths under age 18, the Illinois State Crime Commission and state Rep. Paul Froehlich checked to see if such games really were being sold to minors in and around Froehlich's legislative district. The Crime Commission enlisted 15-year-old Dan Shemwell to go to 15 stores Thursday. He attempted to buy "M-rated" (mature) games, including "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Despite most retailers voluntarily adopting policies banning the sale of such M-rated games to youths under 17, Dan Shemwell was able to buy games at 11 of the places he stopped. Read the full article over at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Queasy Games released a new beta of its multiplayer, action-RTS title, Gate 88. In addition to a graphical face lift inspired by abstract Japanese shmups (shoot'em-ups), players can now, at any time during the game, access a tightly integrated lobby chat (IRC client) to find other Gate 88 players. Significant improvements have also been made to the network code.

i-Deal Games developed Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire for Strategy First, which was released in Q1 2004. Upon perusal of their dealings with SF, and in light of SF's recent bankruptcy protection filing, i-Deal Games has terminated their agreement.

Aspyr today announced it has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Wideload Games, to publish its premiere title. Wideload is the new game development studio founded by Alexander Seropian, industry veteran and founder of Bungie Studios of Halo, Myth and Marathon fame. This upcoming action game, based on an original intellectual property and powered by the Halo game engine, will be published worldwide in 2005.

Sega, Nintendo and NCsoft have confirmed a major presence at Europe’s new games business event, the European Games Network, to be held at London ExCeL from September 1st - 3rd, 2004. Read more for further details ...

With two months to go, organizers of European Games Network (EGN), an industry event for everyone in the business of games, have confirmed that over 300 companies from 30+ territories around the world have committed to exhibiting or attending EGN in London, September 1-5, 2004. Read more for further details ...

Three makers of video games (EA, Vivendi & Atari) sued a Missouri company marketing software that enables consumers to make backup copies of computer games. The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York, alleges that Games X Copy software by 321 Studios Inc. of suburban St. Louis violates copyright laws by illegally cracking copy-protection systems used by game makers.

Take-Two announced today the Company has signed a binding letter of intent with SEGA Corporation to co-publish and exclusively distribute on a worldwide basis all SEGA ESPN Videogames sports titles, including ESPN NFL Football, ESPN NHL Hockey, ESPN NBA Basketball, ESPN College Hoops and ESPN Major League Baseball.

Electronic Arts today announced a worldwide publishing agreement with celebrated game designer Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games. The two companies have partnered to create a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game for the PC. The new title is slated for release in 2006. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

TLK Games has released 3D Buggy Tug, 3DRT Pinball, 3D Word-Slider, and D3D Chess, four exciting and challenging Windows games that use stunning 3D effects, music and dynamic game play to bring hours of enjoyment for all family members. All the games are Release 2, meaning that they're completely debugged and totally redesigned in 3D, with new decors and music.

Radica UK and Electronic Arts today announced a co-operative partnership agreement that will bring bespoke peripheral and game bundles to the UK market.

Beginning in October 2003, the deal will see the launch of limited edition double packs featuring a leading EA release and a unique Gamester peripheral. First to market will be SSX 3 and a unique version of the Gamester Sportsboard for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, which has been developed exclusively for the title. This will be followed by versions of Medal of Honor Rising Sun for PlayStation 2 and the Xbox video game system from Microsoft with the Gamester FPS Master, which has also been designed exclusively for the title.

Earlier today we attended EA Camp 2003 and got to see loads of upcoming goodies from the EA stable o' plenty. In the next few days we will have several impressions of their scheduled titles but for now you can enjoy a massive load of screens ...

• Aliens V. Predator: Extinction
• Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII
• Battlefield Vietnam
• BIONICLE
• Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour
• Disney’s Party
• Freedom Fighters
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault Breakthrough
• Medal of Honor Infiltrator
• Medal of Honor Rising Sun
• Need for Speed Underground
• SimCity 4 Rush Hour
• The Sims Bustin’ Out
• The Sims 2
• The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King

DreamCatcher Games today announced that it will publish Enigma: Rising Tide, developed by Tesseraction Games, in North America. Controlling the battle at sea ultimately leads to a victory in any war, and Enigma: Rising Tide allows gamers to do just that. Battling as one of three factions (US, German or the League of Free Nations) players must control a naval fleet of destroyers, submarines, battleships or cruisers. Each commander must deploy suitable weapons to tackle an ever-evolving enemy, from deploying deck guns and torpedoes to launching hedgehogs, and depth charges.

Yahoo! Games, the leading online games destination, today announced the first unlimited subscription packages for their popular Games on Demand program. Now games fans will be able to enjoy as many subscription games as they want, for as long as they want, at any time. Along with the original Three Games Package for $9.95 per month, players can now choose the Unlimited Package, which gives gamers access to all subscription games with no time limit.

Expanding its diverse portfolio of licensed entertainment properties, Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. today announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Archangel Studios to develop video games based upon its award-winning, computer-generated comic series, The Red Star. Currently under development with Acclaim Studios Austin for the next-generation gaming systems, The Red Star takes place in a parallel fantasy universe, in which a mythic empire based on the Soviet Union sets the landscape for an epic battle of militarized sorcery and monolithic technology.

Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of Dark Age of Camelot, has joined forces with iGames, an association of game centers which works on behalf of independent and franchised game centers to organize promotions and to bring games and hardware into local enters. The two companies plan to collaborate on a series of online events to be held at iGames' member locations.

Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Comics announced today that Electronic Arts has been awarded the worldwide interactive rights to develop, publish and distribute computer and video games based on the world's greatest super hero, Superman. Financial terms of the deal with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Comics were not disclosed.

DreamCatcher Games today announced its full line-up for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The company will be showcasing 5 new products, including the much anticipated Painkiller on PC and Arx Fatalis on Xbox.

Matrix Games and Panther Games are pleased to announce a new partnership aimed at producing outstanding new wargames based on the critically acclaimed Airborne Assault engine. In development currently is Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich covering all three battles from operation Market Garden. This will include the battles for Arnhem (with the British 1st Abn Division, as covered in their first game Airborne Assault: Red Devils over Arnhem), Nijmegen (with the US 82nd Airborne Division) and Eindhoven (with the US 101st Abn Div). This will be the first in this series to be published through Matrix Games.