Mad Catz Interactive today announced the anticipated release of SharkByte featuring the official cheat codes for the critically acclaimed spy thriller, Splinter Cell, a Ubi Soft Entertainment game for the PlayStation2. The first SharkByte release from Mad Catz, since acquiring GameShark earlier in the year, will launch the week commencing April 7, 2003 and will retail for $9.99 US

GameSpyDaily got word from Aspyr Media that it will publish Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 for both the PC and Mac. Full details will be released tomorrow, but we do know that the game will offer just about all the great features of the PS2 version along with support for up to eight players online or via LAN. No word yet on the official release date, but Aspyr says that a demo and a trailer are in the works, though didn't specify when they would be made available. Read more for details & screens or check out the mini website.

Priest is a multiplayer, head-to-head combat game that introduces controversial themes in a Wild West setting. It is an action-horror RPG (role-playing game) that creates a grim and gruesome ambiance while providing a healthy dose of gory, violent action. In a departure from the scores of medieval fantasy games, Priest is set in the midst of a lost land of the American Wild Western Frontier. Priest follows the trials of Ivan Isaacs, a disillusioned former priest who sold his soul to battle the evil fallen archangel, Temozarela. Combining elements of both classic simulation and action games, Priest introduces a unique player vs. player/NPC structure and item/pet fusion system to create an FPS-like role-playing game in an entirely new genre. Read more to check 60+ screens...

Ubi Soft Entertainment today launched a new website for the upcoming turn-based strategy game, Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria. The new site lets Warlords fans get the latest information on the game, download media such as screen shots, movies, and Warlords-themed wallpapers, and connect with other players.

Diversions Entertainment, Inc's One Must Fall: Battlegrounds will ship in Q2 2003. One Must Fall: Battlegrounds promises to deliver the next-generation of hand-to-hand robot action-combat bringing players the most intense and visually stunning 3D fighter on the PC. Building on the growing popularity of PC fighting games, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds features unique, out-of-this-world characters; stunningly detailed graphics; lightning-paced and fluid gameplay; and a unique 3rd person fighting point of view. Today we got some more nifty screens and a game trailer...

The worldwide interactive video game publishing rights to "American Idol," the smash-hit reality television show, have been secured by game publisher Codemasters. Under the license from FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment, joint owners of the blockbuster reality entertainment format, Codemasters will launch an "American Idol" video game this fall for the PlayStation 2 and PC. Read more for details and a few screens ...

Get into the ultra-fast lane at Codemasters’ dedicated web site for IndyCar Series, the official game of the most intense motor racing championship.. IndyCar Series is coming to PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC this June and the site will fill any petrolhead’s tank with information and visuals from both the game and the sport itself. For those new to the sport the site is packed with background on the IndyCar Series and also profiles the drivers and 29 cars featured. There are also maps, detailed information, and downloadable movies of the 14 challenging circuits from the series. With the title offering a fresh style of racing gaming, players will be able to get ahead of the pack by registering to try out the playable PC demo, which will be released ahead of the game. With its incredible high speeds, dangerous close pack racing, skilful on-track manoeuvres and challenging drivers, IndyCar Series will debut in June 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC.

Disciples II: Guardians of the Light is a stand-alone expansion that lets you dive into the fantastical world of Disciples II as either the Empire or the Mountain Clans. Disciples II: Servants of the Dark is a stand-alone expansion that brings you into the never-ending quest for supremacy as either the Undead Hordes or the Legions of the Damned. Read more for details on both titles.

From the developers of the award-winning Europa Universalis I and II and Hearts of Iron, comes the all-new Europa Universalis Crown of the North. Crown of the North takes place in the years between 1275 and 1340 in a time where nobility and the church held all the power and Sweden was about to launch into its only civil war. Play as Norway, Sweden or Denmark and plot to change the historical legacy of a region seldom explored. Read more for details and some small screens ...

Atari and Reflections Interactive announced today that the release date for Driver 3, the highly anticipated third installment of the smash hit Driver franchise, has been moved to Spring 2004. The game was previously slated for release during the 2003 Holiday season.

The Sydney Mystery is a mystery adventure game fully photographed on location in Sydney, Australia. The full game features over 240 scenes, 17 real Sydney locations, and 11 characters. Your uncle, a retired private investigator, has been kidnapped, and as his niece you must explore this rich world, talk to an intriguing cast of suspicious people and ultimate solve the mystery. The official website has been updated with a whopping 47 real life screens and Twilight Software was so kind to send us a few exclusive one's. Read more to check them out ...

Noticed on HomeLAN that Namco has licensed the popular Half-Life modification Counter-Strike for use in its new chain of Ledzone entertainment centers, Impress Game Watch reports today. Namco's original version of the game will be called "Counter-Strike Neo," and the company plans to release a test version this month. CS Neo is substantially similar to the latest version of the game for American PC gamers, but it incorporates a more simplified interface and a detailed tutorial mode to acclimate inexperienced players to the game. Namco's setup is built around two-on-two games, but its facilities are able to accomodate larger games, and the company hopes to host competitive events sanctioned by the Cyberathlete Professional League in the future.

Eidos Interactive has joined forces with the Government of Novistrana to offer people the chance to be included in the forthcoming PC strategy-simulation game Republic: The Revolution. An exclusive competition has been set up on the just-launched Novistrana website. Twenty lucky winners will be featured as 'Novistranian' characters and will receive a home address for their character. This will enable them to identify themselves among the thousands of inhabitants of Novistrana. 100 runners-up will also have their surnames assigned to characters in the game. All that's needed to enter the competition is simply to register on the site. The closing date for the competition is April 15th 2003. Winners and runners-up will be notified by 30th April 2003.

NDL, a leading developer of 3D graphics technology for the computer and video game industry, announced today that it has issued a publishing license of its Gamebryo 3D graphics engine and toolkit to DreamCatcher Interactive. The agreement, which covers multiple game platforms, will allow DreamCatcher's development teams around the world to create unique and compelling computer games for the PC, Xbox, PlayStation2, and GameCube.

PowerVR - a division of Imagination Technologies - is pleased to announce that it will support Crytek's Polybump technology with the PowerVR MBX embedded core. The combination of PowerVR MBX and Polybump can enable the high-end techniques found in the latest games titles, like real per-pixel lighting, even on embedded and mobile devices. Support for Polybump is featured in the PowerVR MBX SDK (Software Development Kit) available to PowerVR MBX licensees and third-party software developers.

CM4 was released on March 28th 2003 by Eidos Interactive. The game, developed by Sports Interactive, is the latest in the best-selling series of football management games which has sold more than 3,000,000 copies worldwide since its initial launch in 1992.

Planet Prison, is a thrilling tactical strategy game which takes you, a stranded starship captain, into the depths of space where an empire controls a planet of prisoners enslaved for evil purposes. It will require a variety and a large range of skills and resources to overcome the evil forces of a mean and powerful empire in single or multiplayer game modes. Today we cornered NumLock Software lead programmer Alexander Filatow and asked some annoying questions ...

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

• Anarchy Online: Shadowlands (FunCom)
• Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II (Interplay)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

The skies darken as Harbinger enters a solar system, dwarfing planets and leaving devastation in its wake. Entire civilizations are cleansed, planets eliminated. The majority of the survivors fill the ship’s work camps. Those less fortunate are released to the laboratories where vicious experiments eventually rid them of their sanity. But a few have escaped and formed an underground society deep within the forgotten levels of the behemoth. Equipped only with what they can scavenge, the denizens of the wastelands must resist the relentless patrols sent for them. A ship this size has many places to hide and much technology to exploit.

EA and Westwood Studios have released another patch for Command & Conquer Generals, bringing their brand-new 3D real-time strategy game first to v1.05. This upgrade addresses stats recording inaccuracies, some exploits and gameplay bugs, general balancing issues, and more (thanks Bluesnews). Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

JoWooD Productions is proud to announce that March was the month of CMM in the year of Söldner: Secret Wars, the revolutionary online tactical military shooter coming to PC CD-ROM in 2003. Söldner: Secret Wars features Customisable Multiplayer Modes, an easy to use set of options that provide an unprecedented level of configurability within multiplayer games. A wide variety of different game scenarios can be set up with just a couple of mouse-clicks, the interface offering as simple or as detailed a customisation level as required.

Championship Manager 4 has smashed all records for UK PC game sales, having generated retail sales of 124,627 in its first week of release, according to the official UK chart organisation Chart-Track. This more than doubles the sales achieved by the previous PC best-seller, Championship Manager: Season 01/02. This phenomenal performance has also propelled CM4 into the top three of Chart-Track's 'All-Formats' fastest-seller list, with only the two PlayStation 2 smash hits, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and The Getaway, standing above it.

Mindware Studios has completed its first demo for Cold War and will soon be seeking a publisher for the game during the next few months. Cold War will put the player in the role of Matt Carter, an American reporter caught in a web of intrigue and conspiracy in the Soviet Union during the 80's. The game will emphasize stealth (much like IGI2 and other recent tactical shooters), and will take you to Eastern European historical settings such as the Red Square, Chernobyl and Baikonur. Read more to check the screens & trailer

Silent Storm is a true 3D game combining turn-based tactical combats and role-playing set against the background of the WWII. As the war rages on, you will lead a squad of elite troopers deep behind enemy lines to perform secret missions and prevent a disaster the true scale of which could be fully appreciated by neither of the involved parties. A new trailer got released, read more for download links ...

Acting as an elite soldier, players of “Vietcong” command the A-team, part of the U.S. Special Forces, in realistically represented Vietnamese environments. Players will lead as many as six expertly trained soldiers through 20 dramatic missions, and follow a storyline that captures the danger, fear and unpredictability of the war itself. The full-featured multiplayer mode also allows gamers to play as U.S. Special Forces or Vietcong soldiers and to battle over specially designed levels. Take 2 has sent out an interview with Pterodon Development's Project Leader Jarek Kolar. Read more to check it out!