Gamers will delve into a more mature, consistent fantasy universe that will appeal to fans of all fantasy genres. Heroes of Might & Magic V will benefit from the features and characteristics that established the success of the initial saga while offering a wealth of innovations such as a highly immersive scenario, a variety of appealing factions, modern 3D graphics, a revolutionary tactical combat system, and a story-based campaign mode.

Atari has released a new patch for the Euro edition of RCT3: Wild!, which corrects any issues that may arise from installing the Wild expansion pack before installing Soaked. If you install the Soaked expansion before installing Wild there is no need to install this patch.

The community has released an unofficial German to English patch for Heuristic Park's action/RPG Dungeon Lords. This update brings your English retail game to v1.4 and adds new weapons, skills, hot keys, optimizes multiplayer, as well as the usual gameplay tweaks, crash/bug fixes, etc. Read more for details and download links ...

A few months ago, Bethesda disappointed a large portion of the community when it announced that TES IV:Oblivion was not going to make it as a launch title and delayed the game until March 2006, saying that more time was needed for polish. Spanish site players4players claims there is more to it, as a confidential source told them that the real reason was a little bit more interesting. Oblivion had already been finished, but upon arrival of the official Xbox 360 dev kits, they realized the machine was more powerful than originally anticipated. Bethesda then decided to delay the game for optimization, especially of the graphics.

4Kids Entertainment and Pokemon USA announced today that they have agreed not to renew the Pokemon representation agreement set to expire on December 31, 2005. Beginning in 2006, Pokemon USA, Inc.'s in-house licensing group will handle all Pokemon licensing outside of Asia.

Combine fully-automatic, weapon-equipped vehicles with highly detailed and interactive urban environments and you have Full Auto, the most destructive racing action ever experienced in a video game. This racer allows players to choose from a wide selection of unique vehicle designs and arm them with any combination of machine guns, cannons, and other deadly weapons.

Delivering original gameplay was a dominant goal of GSC Game World team when creating the fantasy trilogy Heroes of Annihilated Empires. Playing HoAE you'll be able to pump up a selected hero in a common RPG manner, as well as build up cities and recruit massive armies, as traditional for RTS games. The first episode of HoAE is expected to ship in September 2006.

In each mission of Faces of War, players will be leading a squad of 6 soldiers in a full 3D environment. Through the decisive European battles of World War II, they will be in command of Allied, Soviet and German troops. With innovative new in-game features, two battles will never be fought the same way. Check the freshly launched official website or read more for ew screens & trailer...

Stoked Rider featuring Tommy Brunner' is an unique action-freesports game for PC, the first freeride snowboarding game inspired by Alaska's impressive peaks, presented in a unique 3D cellshaded graphical style. Tommy Brunner is one of the most experienced backcountry and big mountain snowboard riders in Europe, and has a string of horrifically impressive injuries to go with it, including a broken back!

Shortly after previous update Firaxis has released another, large, patch for Sid Meier's Civilization IV. This update brings your retail game to v1.52 and includes numerous optimizations for memory usage that should help performance on all machines but are tailored to especially improve performance on machines at or near the minimum specification. Read more for download links ...

Several weeks ago we revealed that EA would start its BFME II multiplayer beta test mid December, and EA just announced it has now gone live. People who pre-order the game can join in and check out the sequel before anybody else, until the game ships somewhere early 2006. This online multiplayer beta includes two out of the six factions (Dwarves and Goblins), playable on two brand new maps (Harlindon and Withered Heath.) If you haven't done so yet, you can pre-order at EBGames or Gamestop.

Battlegoat has released a new patch for its strategy game Supreme Ruler 2010. This update brings your retail game to v4.4.1 and 30-player North America map, an extra mission (East to DC), new scenario (United States), 50 new units, and many small tweaks to the game to improve its performance and its playability.

Stranger is a real-time strategy game, with elements of role playing games set in a world, split in two parts, surface and a subterranean one, which are in a tenuous balance. Stranger will also feature multiplayer, although details beyond "The players may play on their own, or unite in teams" are a bit sketchy. Check the fresly launched official website or read more for new screens ...

Blizzard has released yet another new Warcraft III map, this time called "Bomber Command"... Map info: "Warring Marines have taken over Icecrown Glacier. Command your bomber force to destroy your opponent's town while scrambling to defend your own." This is a small map size and the suggested no. of players is 3v3. It is based on the "Icecrown Glacier" tileset. Go download it here!

As the only game that offers an open, fast-paced driving action-movie experience, Driver: Parallel Lines features an unfolding storyline of double crossing and revenge. Set in a photorealistic interpretation of New York City, players take on the role of a notorious 18 year old who, free from conscience and rules, is the most sought after driver-for-hire in town.

This Call of Duty 2 update is recommended for Win2K/XP users with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enabled processors, multiple processors, or systems with a dual core processor. This update will bring any supported version of Call of Duty 2 up to v1.01, and will not affect pure server, nor your ability to join or host multiplayer games with v1.0 players.

The Battlefield 2 expansion pack planned to be launched during spring 2006 is now replaced by two booster packs. The change means slightly lower project revenues during the fourth quarter 2005 than during the third, due to a lower development budget. The anticipation though is that this will be compensated by higher royalty revenues during the first six month 2006.

Valve unveiled a 64-bit version of its Source game engine technology today. The first 64-bit Valve games released will be native 64-bit versions of Half-Life 2 and Lost Coast, and have been developed to take advantage of AMD Athlon 64 FX processor-based systems - the ultimate 64-bit gaming platform for PC enthusiasts.

EA today announced that the French postal service, La Poste, has honored The Sims franchise with an official postage stamp. Published in limited edition of 3 million units, Les Sims is one of 10 stamps in the "Heroes of Videogames" collection featuring the industry's most beloved icons. The set will retail for 2.65 euros (approximately $3.09 USD) and is available now in French post offices and through La Poste's website at http://timbres.laposte.fr/eng/

Empire has released a new patch for Strangelite's FPS Starship Troopers, bringing any Euro/US retail game to v5.24 and adds 4 new deathmatch maps (Bait, Duel, Hill, Offensive), three new coop maps (Bait, Psiops, Stronghold), the usual crash and bug fixes, but also new shader option and several new features. Read more for detailed fixlist and download links ...

Strategy First and Russian publisher 1C Company announced today that “Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath” has shipped to North American retailers nationwide.

UFO: Aftershock follows directly from one of the endings of UFO: Aftermath, where the player agrees to hand over the Earth to the Alien scientists, who are trying to change the planet into a giant living organism. Cenega has released the first patch bringing your retail game to v1.2 addresses some v1.1 issues, tactical mode problems, several stats displays and Polish localization.

Frame City Killer is a next-generation action game for the Xbox 360. Featuring astoundingly detailed graphics powered by the Unreal Engine 3 and immersive, non-linear gameplay, Frame City Killer is set to deliver an intense gaming experience this holiday season in North America and Europe.

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War will challenge players to develop their high-flying reputations while facing off against rival pilots in white-knuckled dog fights. Read more for details and screens ...

MVP 06 NCAA Baseball is being produced by Electronic Arts Canada in Vancouver, B.C., and will celebrate everything that makes NCAA baseball unique -- aluminum bats, intense action, and stadiums filled with school spirit and packed with passionate fans. At bat today is a pre-canned interview with EA producer Ben Brinkman.