Just as in the "Magic" card game, in "Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds" players will choose a duelist and up to two of "Magic's" five colors -- red, green, white, blue, and black -- to attempt to reduce their opponent's life to zero. Of course, getting an opponent to zero will not be easy; players will have to utilize lightning reflexes, strategic brilliance and, on occasion, raw power to overcome an enemy. Read more for the full review ...

Bioware has released the final patch (last week there was a beta) for their 3D role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, and its addons Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.61 and addresses a massive list of changes and game tweaks, including synchronization of the previous titles to the latest addons. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

UA recently held an online Counter-Strike tournament with $10,000 in cash & prizes sponsored by ZipZoomFly. Nearly 1000 players participated and six of the top 20 CS clans played as well. Team3D and the runner up teams United5 and Deadzone were awarded prizes worth $10,000, including $5,000 in cash and $5,000 in top-of-the-line AMD Athlon 64 processors and motherboards.

Encore and JoWooD have released a demo for Phenomic's RTS/RPG game SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. The demo features the usual tutorial as well as a singeplayer map (Rift), and a multiplayer map (2-player map Ashvale). Read more for download links...

Larian Studios announced today that Beyond Divinity will officially become the new title for the latest adventure set in the Divinity Universe. Divine Divinity, launched in 2002 was critically acclaimed for its depth and level of interactivity. In Beyond Divinity, Larian Studios takes what made Divine Divinity so deeply appealing, and pushes it one step further. Using an enhanced version of the original engine, the final product delivers infinite character development, unparalleled levels of interactivity, a wide variety of enemies; tons of quests and a brand new combat system. By catering to all of these elements with equal levels of importance, Beyond Divinity will truly deliver a total RPG experience.

In the gaming industry, the free playable demo is one of the most popular and powerful tools to interest gamers in the final product. It therefore seems logical to expect publishers will maximise the game's exposure by giving the demo the widest possible release. Unfortunately this is not always the case, and sometimes a demo is given the most restricted release: to one site for several days or even a week. This hurts the industry at large much more than it can help a single relationship. Read more for the full letter ...

Slated for release in Spring 2004 for the Xbox and the PC, Race Driver 2 will provide gamers the most diverse and thrilling range of motor sports ever seen in one game. Designed as the definitive racing experience, the game will feature complete head to head Xbox Live and PC online functionality. Read more for details ...

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 :

• Spellforce - Trailer
• Hitman: Contracts - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Codemaster has released a new upgrade for their stealth/action game IGI 2:Covert Strike. This upgrade will bring your retail game to v1.3 and adds anti-cheating features and framerate optimizations. Read more for details and download links!

Microsoft Game Studios and Valve today announced that two new multiplayer maps for Counter-Strike for Xbox are now available for free download via Xbox Live. The red-hot "Inferno" and fan-favourite "Office" are the latest urban battlefields on which to stage Counter-Strike's world-famous, action-packed multiplayer gameplay.

Gamespot got word that Sony's 'Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain' has been pushed back in order to give the development team more time to polish the game. SCEA's John Garvin, creative director of Omega Strain developer Sony Bend (located in Bend, Oregon, hence the name), and Chris Reese, technical director of the studio, explained the delay in a statement. "The team took a close look at how much tuning and gameplay balancing was necessary to complete the game with our original vision intact. We then decided to take some additional time to implement that extra bit of polish into the game," the two designers said.

Bioware has released the final patch (last week there was a beta) for their 3D role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, and its addons Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.60 and addresses a massive list of changes and game tweaks, including synchronization of the previous titles to the latest addons. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

UPDATE:Patch has been pulled by Bioware, "fixed" patch coming soon. Revert back to previous install, check here.

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain is the next installment of the Syphon Filter storyline. Elsa Weissenger has come to Gabe Logan with evidence that a multinational corporation has been behind the Syphon Filter conspiracy from the beginning. Mara Aramov is connected to this consortium in some way that Gabe does not understand. But here is what Gabe does know: Mara has escaped custody, outbreaks of a deadly new mutation of the virus are appearing all over the globe, and Chechnyan rebels are selling the virus to other terrorists. Some new screens just infiltrated our offices ...

EA has released the promised patch for EA pacific's 3D RTS Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and includes the prevoiusly released multiplayer maps as well as a slew of bug fixes and game tweaks... Read more for detailed fix list & 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 :

• Far Cry - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Noviy Disk company is happy to announce the publishing agreement with a Ukrainian developer Boolat LLC, under which Noviy Disk will be publishing Lagsters world-wide. The game is stated to release in Q1 2004. Read more for details & screens ...

Xbox Live gamers have a chance to win the ultimate stocking stuffer this holiday: a copy of Ubisoft's stylish shooter XIII. In the final 13 days leading up to Xmas, December 12 through December 25, Xbox Live gamers who log on for a total of 13 hours will be entered into a contest to win a copy of XIII. For more information, please visit: www.whoisxiii.com/community or www.xbox.com.

Frogger's Adventures The Rescue goes beyond Firefly Swamp and brings a multiplayer mode to Frogger fans for the first time on next generation platforms. The series' famous "hop-n-dodge" gameplay return as Frogger travels across seven diverse worlds, searches for clues to solve challenging puzzles and avoids menacing enemies.

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 :

• Jade Empire - Trailer
• Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation - Trailer
• Massive Assault - Video Presentation
• The Sims 2 - Trailer
• The Suffering - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Battlefield Vietnam will drop players into some of the Vietnam War's fiercest battles. Fighting in theatres from jungles surrounding the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the city streets of Hue, players will choose from two well-equipped forces, the United States or the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong. Read more for 15 new screens or download the trailer (we converted them from DivX to .wmv for your convenience) showing off a bunker assault and napalm raid...

ValuSoft has released a new patch for Spoing Interactive WW2 based first person shooter Beyond Normandy - Assignment: Berlin. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.05, no details as to what exactly it addresses are available at this point (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Electronic Arts announced today that the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone videogame for next-generation consoles has shipped to stores. Harry Potter fans can now experience the magic of Harry's first year at Hogwarts with next-gen graphics and updated gameplay, including features, spells, and creatures new to this adventure.

Using the latest Unreal Technology from Epic Games, developer Zombie Games is creating an ultra-realistic game world spanning Middle Eastern cities and towns to the secret military bases in the frozen backcountry of Russia to other global hotspots in the Philippines, Bosnia and Western Europe. Check the new screens ...

GMX Media today announced that it has secured the rights to publish the PC Adventure-Strategy title – 8th Wonder in most European territories, North America and Asia. "We are glad to bring this great title to the market." Commented Barry Leonard COO of GMX Media. “We’ve had so much fun play-testing it.”

Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps is Real-Time Tactical game in full 3D with highly realistic graphics, real time shadows, localised damage effects, explosions, weather effects and much more. Missions range from recon operations in the desert and escort missions to large-scale sieges of desert fortresses. All missions start with a briefing, a recap of the historical background and a management phase.