After four months of fierce competition in the 3rd annual EA SPORTS Madden Challenge and the inaugural EA SPORTS NCAA Challenge tournaments from Electronic Arts, Eugene "Big Gene" Williams, Washington, D.C Champion, became the National 2004 EA SPORTS Madden Challenge Champion on Madden NFL 2005 and Jesse Hanninen, of Florida State University, is the 2004 NCAA Challenge Champion on NCAA Football 2005.

Mercenaries is a revolutionary third-person combat-action game that delivers the next level of free-form gameplay in massive interactive environments. The game gives players the opportunity to take on the role of a soldier for hire in an open-ended world. Read more to check out the new screens...

Ubi Soft has released the map editor for its stealth/action game Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. This package allowed you to create custom content for their third-person stealthy action sequel, it includes the editor and documentation, as well as a mappack with two maps (Squat and Deftech2, a new version of DefTech) created by Ubisoft internally. Read more for download links ...

Over the weekend PC Gamer organized an IRC chat with Gearbox Software to talk about its upcoming WW2 based FPS Brothers In Arms. An edited chatlog is now available for people who were not able to attend the discussion, main points are the system requirements, an upcoming demo "soon", and the announcement that PC Gamer is starting a contest where three winners can win a trip to play the game at Gearbox's offices and jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Rugby fans are used to spending their weekends huddled in the cold, watching the stars of the Zurich Premiership running about and staying nice and warm. Now you can finally take off your scarves and mittens. Digital Jesters are excited to present a taste of the authentic 3D stadiums that feature in Pro Rugby Manager 2, allowing those long suffering supporters to enjoy the same views from the comfort of their centrally heated living rooms. Read more for details ...

SuperPower 2 is the only global geopolitical simulation game which allows players to control entire countries. Players control countries in 3 major areas: political, economic and military, but this time, in a beautiful real-time 3D environment. Players build up their own countries and increase their influence in the broader world while competing against sophisticated A.I.

Oddworld Stranger's Wrath combines first and third-person gameplay with familiar Oddworld elements and an all-new engine to deliver a unique gameplay experience. Set to award-winning visuals, players will be moved by the complex and inspiring story as the Stranger comes to grips with his true nature in the hunt for the ultimate bounty. Read more for screens & trailer (thanks XboXyde).

EverQuest II returns to the culturally diverse world of Norrath in the future of the original EverQuest, with the sheer size and graphical detail greater than ever seen before. Larger in scope than its predecessor, EverQuest II will allow players from every corner of the earth to explore familiar areas and new, undiscovered territories of Norrath.

Blizzard is not only hunting down people using cheats in World of Warcraft but not also taking action against people selling items for real money of Ebay. "It has come to our attention that certain individuals are selling Blizzard's in-game property for cash on auction sites such as eBay and on personal websites. The World of Warcraft Terms of Use clearly state that all of the content in World of Warcraft is the property of Blizzard, and Blizzard does not allow "in game" items to be sold for real money." Read the full article here ...

The Conspiracy Project, a 3rd person horror/espionage game, is the most thrilling and frightening experience that uncovers the truth behind the secret plans of the government and the legal authorities. Read more for screens & trailer ...

'Desert Combat eXtended' is a mod for a mod, believe it or not. The DCX team has released an update version to be compatible with the latest DC and BF1942 v1.6. There is a full v0.8 install and an additional v0.81 patch addressing some texture problems. Read more for download links ...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Close Combat: First to Fight - Trailerpack #2
• Dragonshard - Trailer (2)
• City of Heroes Issue #3 - Trailer

Ace Combat Advance casts the player as a pilot in the United Air Defense. As the newest recruit, you must help the UAD to destroy the Air Strike Force and bring General Resources Ltd., an evil worldwide economic superpower, to its knees. Read more for details, screens & trailer ...

Massive Entertainment has released a new multiplayer map or its sci-fi RTS Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. This ReaperMoor bonus map, created by Massive's Andreas Palmgren, needs to be installed in the standalone copy in the game's Custom_Maps folder. Massive Entertainment will be releasing new maps every Friday for the next few months. Read more for download links ...

Zoo Keeper is a puzzler from developer SUCCESS Corporation that will be one of the first Japanese launch titles for Nintendo's new handheld video game system. Read more for a big batch of new screens ...

Sports Interactive has released a new path for its football management simulation Football Manager 2005. This update brings your retail game to v5.0.2 and it fixes lots of bugs and tunes the game more realistic like the player position bug. The patch is save game compatible, but to get the full out of it, start a new game. Read more for download links ...

Strategy First, Game Factory Interactive and MiST land - South are pleased to announce that the colorful hybrid of tactical strategy and RPG elements, COPS 2170: The Power of Law, has gone gold. Release is scheduled for the end of January, 2005.

SCi Games today announced the title of the next game in the Conflict series, 'Conflict: Global Terror,' due for release in autumn 2005. Developed by Pivotal Games, 'Conflict: Global Terror' is set in the very near future and focuses on the increasing threat of terrorism gripping the World.

Space Rangers 2 is a mix of intense space RPG laced with 3D RTS action planetside. 200 years after the first chapter of Space Rangers, a new, even more dangerous threat arises in the galaxy. A key planet in producing war androids has become self-aware with their own intellect and force of will, bent on conquering the galaxy one planet at a time.

StarShift is a turn-based online strategy game which takes place in a fictional universe. Each game can host up to 40 players simultaneously, and there are no limits to the amount of players on any given server. StarShift is a twisted game where you can back-stab your allies, corrupt your enemies and mess with everybody else!

TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2 picks up where the original popular action platform game left off. The cast of characters from Down Under has grown, and so has the action! Evil Boss Cass has broken out of Currawong Jail and hatched a plan to take over the world with an army of Uber Reptiles. It's up to our boomerang-wielding hero, TY, and his newly formed team of Burramudgee Bush Rescue mates to stop him!

Merscom LLC today announced an agreement with book publishers McFarland & Company for inclusion of a chapter from their book "Patton's Vanguard: The United States Army Fourth Armored Division" in Merscom's upcoming military arcade-style action game for PC, "WWII Tank Commander."

Featuring NBA legends, today's top stars, and original characters from past editions, NBA Street Vol 3 reaches new heights by making over-the-top, larger-than-life moves even bigger in this action-packed, arcade-style game. Customize your baller, build courts from the ground up, throw one down in an all-new dunk contest and go online to put your reputation to the test.

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Star Wars Republic Commando - Trailer #4

Deep Silver has released the first patch for its rts/rpg Alexander: The Heroes Hour. This versionless patch addresses a rare bug in connection with Windows2000 and includes gameplay and balancing fixes. Read more for download links ...