kill.switch is an innovative 3rd person action adventure military shooter that delivers true-to-life cover tactics and explosive firepower, offering players a totally new combat experience to rival the fast-paced arcade shooters of old. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is pleased to announce a further collaboration between themselves and Namco with the release of kill.switch, a PlayStation2 exclusive for the PAL market. Read more for some new screens ...

iGames Publishing today announced that the highly anticipated PC game Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi has gone gold. The first person shooter-survival horror game will thrust players into a den of bloodthirsty vampires where intrepid adventurers must use their wits as well as the classic weapons of vampire lore…holy water, wooden stakes and more, to defeat the fanged horrors. Developed by the Swedish studio, Idol FX, the game will be released for PC on October 20th in time for Halloween.

Fenimore Fillmore: The Westerner is one of the most ambitious projects of the present videogame scene in Spain. This entertaining graphic adventure, produced by Planeta DeAgostini Interactive, relies on the long experience of the game developer Revistronic. This programming group from Madrid has released several titles which have had repercussion on the international market. Its members' professional experience dates from the 8-bit-computer times. Read more for 20 new screens ...

The third installment of Microsoft Game Studios’ exclusive football title for Xbox, 'NFL Fever 2004,' redefines the console football gaming experience. Gamers will be impressed with the features of this latest version of 'NFL Fever,' with revamped artificial intelligence (AI) including significant offensive and defensive adjustments, animated NFL coaches roaming the sidelines offering situational analysis, a brand-new offensive playbook, totally reworked stadium models and 'Read and Lead' advanced passing.

Earlier today VU Games president of international operations, told Reuters the source code theft would result in a four month delay (Valve, though, has not confirmed that delay), pushing Half-Life 2 back to April 2004 (story). Now CNN reports following:

When hackers broke into the computing system of Valve Software, they stole more than just the source code to Half-Life 2. They also stole enough game maps and other components to put together a playable build of the game. Today, five days after the first leak, they have released that build.

Today's release of a playable version of the game brings Vivendi's comments from earlier today into question. Ramboz told Reuters "a third of the source code was stolen". However, with the stolen game now out, it's possible a more complete version of the source code was taken...

Shortly after the demo, Cinemaware/Capcom sends word that they have released the first patch for their recently released 3D action strategy Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and addresses 3 minor bugs. Read more for details and download links ...

After a long exclusivity period, Cinemaware has finally released the demo for their 3D action strategy remake "Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". This is a limited DEMO version which covers the introductory part of the game, the player can play the entire Sherwood Forest sequence and try to defeat the Sheriff. It ends once you open up to England.. Read more for download links ...

VU Games president of international operations Christophe Ramboz has been quoted on saying that "A third of the source code was stolen. It's serious because it forces us to delay the launch of the game by at least four months, that is to April 2004. Just the time to rewrite parts of the game." While previously Vivendi US had said it was delayed until the holiday season, with the recent source code leaked (and earlier this morning there are rumours of an actual BETA game leak) things probably got delayed further. To be continued!

HL Rally.net released some new screens (also available below) "a remodelled Subaru Impreza, a brand new Skoda Fabia, a stylish new look for the Lancer Evolution".. Half-Life Rally is a racing modification for the highly acclaimed and everlastingly popular game, Half-Life by Valve Software. Unlike most mods currently being made for the Half-Life Engine, the goal of HL-Rally is not to blast your enemy to smitherines with relentless repetition prone to excessive cheating and hacks, but to race cars and be the first and fastest across the finish line, out-running your opponents in any way possible to gain a few milliseconds on them.

Shacknews got some more details on the recent Half-Life 2 source leak from Gabe Newell (thanks Blues). Here is a clip:

1) We've taken our network connection down to pretty much a minimum. We're still finding machines internally that have been compromised.

2) The suite of tools that the attacker was using included the modified version of RemotelyAnywhere (basically a Remote Desktop-style remote admin tool), Haxker Defender (a process, registry key and file hiding tool), the key logger, and various networking utilities that allowed them to transfer files (compressors, NetCat, and FTP). We also are pretty sure they were sniffing our network to gather passwords and other information. Haxker Defender includes a file system driver that allows an attacker to have stuff on your machine that is invisible, unless you do something like mount the drive under another OS that has NTFS support.

We have determined one way of detecting some infected machines, which is using a connection viewer to detect connections to anomalous hosts external to our network.

We still don't know their entry method.

By now everybody heard about the leaked source code for Half-Life 2. While at first it was not certain these files were actually legit, it has now been confirmed by Valve's own Gabe Newell and he issued the following statement about it (thanks VE3D). Read more for the full deal ...

Immersion Corp. today released TouchWare Gaming, a breakthrough software product for the PC gaming industry that adds force feedback effects to the vast majority of all PC Windows-based games, whether they were originally designed with force feedback or not.

The Austin Game Initiative announced yesterday that official attendance at the first annual Austin Game Conference has surpassed 850 from around the world. "The game industry has a new place to meet and do business," said Christopher Sherman, Executive Director of the Austin Game Conference. "We were always confident the strength of the Conference Program, focused on massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and Mobile game development, would establish a sound educational foundation, but it is clear that senior executives have come here to do business as well." Presentations from speakers at the conference can be found at GameConference.com. The 2004 Austin Game Conference will take place in Austin September 21-22, 2004.

Unleashing the horror throughout nine levels, The Suffering features dynamic lighting that illuminates frightening visions of horror-filled exploration and frantic combat sequences. In the dark world of The Suffering, creatures attack from the shadows and emerge from jail cells, chambers, the ground and trees, surprising the player in the most disturbing ways possible. As Torque, the main character, players encounter a cast of uniquely hardened criminals, prison guards and grotesque apparitions. Check out these new screens ...

History Channel’s Battle of Britain 1940, published by Activision Value, Inc. and developed by iEntertainment Network Inc., brings brand new functionality and features to the flight simulation game market with the new AUTO CO-PILOT feature that gives players auto takeoffs, auto landings, auto formation, and auto attack. AUTO CO-PILOT makes a real authentic flight simulation accessible to all gamers without ANY flight simulation experience! Read more for details ...

Shacknews has gotten word from Valve's Doug Lombardi that the long rumoured delay of Half-Life 2. Doug's reply states" The previously announced September 30th release date for Half-Life 2 is being pushed back. We are currently targeting a holiday release, but do not have a specific "in-store" date to share at this time. We will release that information as soon as we have confirmed a new date." Not really a big surprise, especially with the flimsy Steam service, but still a rather big disappointment.

Delivering a blend of atmospheric survival horror and intense first-person shooter action, Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi immerses players in the terror of an ancient, gothic castle full of vampires. With the monstrous undead lurking around every corner, players must search through the shadowy halls and dank dungeons of a massive castle to free their imprisoned friends and family...failure to rescue the prisoners will not only result in their death, but in the resurrection of an ancient supernatural being who will threaten all of mankind. We recently checked out a build for Idol FX's upcoming title, read more to find out how it went ...

Nosferatu is a modern word derived from the Old Slavonic word *nosufur-atu, borrowed from the greek nosophoros, a plague carrier. Nosferatu - The Wrath of Malachi crosses the brooding, creepy and scary atmosphere of the successful survival horror genre, with "traditional" first person shooter action, making the game cross genre of FPS and survival horror. IdolFX has released a playable demo letting you taste some blood .. ermm the game. No specific details are available (thanks HappyPuppy). Read more for download links ...

ESPN Videogames today announced details surrounding a revolutionary new feature for ESPN NBA Basketball called IsoMotion - allowing players to control both sides of the court by locking down opponents in a one-on-one encounter. This feature will be available exclusively in the upcoming release of ESPN NBA Basketball. ESPN NBA Basketball and other ESPN Videogames titles are produced by Visual Concepts - Sega's sports developer. Read more for details ...

Rival-Species reaches the next stage of development with the release of R-S 1.0.2.5, the latest complete version of Rival-Species. Rival-Species is a HalfLife mod based around the popular Warhammer 40K universe, and pits you against three possible races, the righteous fury of Imperial Space Marines, the unquestionable evil of their Chaos Marine counterparts, and the technological superiority of the alien Eldar. Read more for download links ..

Valve Software has released the Steam update tools for the Half-Life dedicated servers. These updates will allow server admins to upgrade to v1.1.2.0, they are required if you want to keep your Win32/Linux servers in sync. These updates also address a large amount of tweaks, improvements and bug fixes. Read more for details & download links ...

In an attempt to take over the world, Dr. Calamitus has kidnapped the one person who could possibly stop him, Jet Fusion (one of the greatest spies/ movie stars)! However, he never thought that a boy genius would be brought into the picture. Jimmy Neutron has been contacted by the BTSO: Big Top Secret Organization to rescue Jet Fusion. This game will include crazy inventions created by Jimmy Neutron to battle bullies and take on the evil Dr. Calamitus. The spy element also allows the game to include secret gadgets and high-tech vehicles such as the light ray, Jimmy Bot and Trajectory that will definitely aid Jimmy on his mission to rescue Jet Fusion.

Rainbow Studios, creator of ATV Off Road Fury and Motocross Madness, returns to their heritage of motocross by developing the definitive next generation MX game. MX Unleashed is a unique blend of racing and freestyle that provides a realistic experience where the rider is now affected by real-world forces. Players can race through 50 unique tracks and explore six open worlds. Highly optimized graphics offer incredible eco-systems and texture resolution. In MX Unleashed players can select authentic gear and equipment from the top manufacturers in the world, set records, play mini games, race a helicopter - do it all on the power of a dirt bike... Check out a product sheet for this bike sim thing below!

Activision has released the v1.02 update patch for their freely available Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory multiplayer game. This update adresses various client & server sides issues, introduces the latest punkbuster anti cheat protection and various other tweaks. We now also have the updated v1.02 linux server patch available. Read more for details and download links ...

Activision has asked us to inform all the RtCW fans that a v1.02 update patch for their free multiplayer expansion Enemy Territory is going to be released later today. The new patch will adress several client & server side issues as well as weapon fixes include moving Land Mines and Adrenaline needles to separate weapon banks. Made switching to a weapon after dropping dynamite/satchel/landmines easier. Also added ability for Covert Ops/Engineer to pick up weapons from the opposing team of the same class. Fixed some issues with Air Strike detonation. Fixed XP not being given (and stats being kept) for kills with akimbo pistols. Of course we'll have the patch on our file servers as soon as its available so stay tuned!