ATV Quad Power Racing 2 puts you in the driving seat of powerful off-road quad bikes and then gives you that little bit extra. The fast, edge-of-your-seat arcade gameplay blends seamlessly with the outrageous tricks you can pull both in the air and on the ground. Whether you’re performing a heart attack over the dunes, an endo across the stadium or a nik nak in the swamps, you’ll always be pushing it to the limits.

Metroid Prime is Samus Aran's most immersive adventure yet. In a unique blend of exploration and extermination, Samus must infiltrate the Space Pirate base on Tallon IV, discover what their sinister scientists are scheming, and destroy their plans for galactic domination. The all-new Metroid Prime web site takes you into the Metroid universe, providing background details on the major players in the game, from lowly Beetles to the mighty Samus Aran herself. If you don't have time to scan all of the objects in the game, you can get the skinny here. Delve into the depths of the Metroid Prime universe now at metroidprime.com. The award-winning Metroid Prime is available now for Nintendo GameCube, and for a limited time you can get the game free with the purchase of Nintendo GameCube hardware at participating retailers.

As snooker fever grips the nation in the run up to the World Championships in a month’s time, Codemasters has launched a dedicated web site for World Championship Snooker 2003. Heralded by the BBC TV Snooker theme music, the online site features downloadable and streaming movie files showing off gameplay, a snooker news feed courtesy of World Snooker, and player profiles of the top professionals including Peter Ebdon, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, and Ken Doherty. World Championship Snooker 2003 features a full Snooker championship mode, a complete 8-ball and 9-ball Pool simulation, Quickplay fungames and a special Trickshot mode, hosted by John Virgo. Set to continue the series' reputation as the definitive and most complete cue-ball experience, Codemasters will launch World Championship Snooker 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC in April, just ahead of the 2003 tournament.

CDV Software today announced that their reenactment of the American Revolution has officially begun, as simulated in their upcoming "American Conquest," a historical real-time strategy title devoted to the quest for the New World. This latest in RTS features a dozen playable nations and beautiful art and animation lauded by GameSpot as "shockingly good and detailed." Read more for some nifty screens ...

There's a new Freelancer Demo on FilePlanet (subscription required), offering a sample of Digital Anvil's upcoming space game exclusively for their paid subscribers. The 154 MB demo "contains the entire first system of the game: The Liberty System of Manhattan. It includes more than a dozen bases, five ships, and great taste of the open-ended nature of Freelancer." The demo's exclusivity is enforced by way of an activation key provided to FP subscribers during the download (thanks Bluesnews).

Harbinger is a single-player action / RPG set in a fantastic science fiction universe. As one of three distinct character types, players explore the world of Harbinger - journey to the far reaches of space, battle unique foes never before seen in any medium, discover powerful new weapons and alien technologies, and uncover the dark secrets buried within the massive starship's steel walls. A new batch of screens ...

For IGI 2: Covert Strike the acclaimed superb stealth-based first-person shooter action returns, and continues the modern warfare and espionage theme of the original. The covert missions continue the career of David Jones, a former SAS soldier, now working freelance for the secret organisation, codenamed 'IGI'. IGI 2 takes place soon after the events in the previous title, bringing back key characters in a brand new story and new locations across the globe. Now that the game is available in Europe Codemasters have released the dedicated server code so you can run your own IGI2 server. Read more for download links ...

CDV Software Entertainment UK has upped the ante in its virtual War of Independence by doubling the amount on offer to entrants. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors - The Overclocking Store, Pure Digital, Saitek, Gainward and Logitech - the total value of prizes available to players competing in this prestigious online tournament has now topped an astonishing $20,000 - the largest ever offered by CDV to its players.

JoWooD Productions is proud to announce official details on the highly destructive arsenal of weapons featured in the stunning first-person shoot 'em up, Chaser, the PC game scheduled for a UK release in Q2 2003... Take that! Details of the weapons, that is.

Activision marks a new era in the historical strategy genre with the announcement of Empires: Dawn of the Modern World from acclaimed designer Rick Goodman and Stainless Steel Studios. A real-time strategy game of epic scope and breadth, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World lets players command legendary civilizations as they battle to forge mighty empires during the days of longbows and charging knights to the awesome land, air and sea battles of WWII involving Tiger Tanks, Storm Troopers, Spitfires, and stealthy submarines.

Michael Rowland Community Liaison Officer @ Codemasters posted up following information in our forum:

Just though I'd let you know that IGI 2 - Covert Strike is officially released in Europe tomorrow, Friday 21st February and on March 4th in the US. Of course we still have the many demos on the Codemasters site so if you are still in doubt, have a bash at them.

Happy gaming

Mike

UIU is a suite of several applications for 3d artists and game developers. Primarily focused on the creation of environments and environmental effects, it's a good tool that's easy to learn. All components come with a help file and quick start guide to get you up and running quickly. It includes the following tools:

Eleblend - Texture blending for terrain
Ripple Rain - Alpha channel rain and water impact ripple animation
Gradient Thief - Multicolor gradients from existing images
UT Screenshot Assistant - Quick image processing for Unreal Tournament 2003
Mosaica - From image to mosaics with matching bump maps

More about it and download here!

A major number one best seller for PlayStation 2, the PC edition features more cars on track in every race and adds qualifying rounds to the cut-throat career championships. A superior graphics engine will deliver the close contact, and often dangerous, racing in dramatic detail. TOCA Race Driver delivers a racing experience packed with 42 real touring and sports cars, 13 championships and an incredible 38 internationally renowned race circuits. New to the PC edition are the introduction of a qualifying round to championship races; in Australia's championship players will experience the 'Shoot out' qualification system. Call it Toca Race driver, Pro Race Driver or DTM Race Driver, these 100 screens are for one and the same game, njoy!

Harbinger is a single-player action / RPG set in a fantastic science fiction universe. As one of three distinct character types, players explore the world of Harbinger – journey to the far reaches of space, battle unique foes never before seen in any medium, discover powerful new weapons and alien technologies, and uncover the dark secrets buried within the massive starship’s steel walls. In human words think Diablo in a Starcraft environment! Read more to check the Harbinger Flash Trailer...

EA and Westwood Studios have released another patch for Command & Conquer Generals, bringing their brand-new 3D real-time strategy game first to v1.03. This upgrade brings more fixes and improvements related to multiplayer. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Splinter Cell will grant players access to the highest echelons of national security, where shadowy operatives have the freedom to do whatever it takes to safeguard America. In Splinter Cell, the player controls Sam Fisher, a field operative of a secretive "black-ops" NSA sub-agency called Third Echelon. Sam Fisher is geared up to infiltrate high-security strongholds, seize critical intelligence, destroy threatening data and neutralize the enemy - all without leaving a trace. It's been over a month since the first batch was released but as you can see from the shots, it was definitely worth the wait!

Infogrames has released a new patch for Sunstorm Interactive's hunting game Deer Hunter 2003. This upgrade brings your retail copy to v1.23 and fixes a boatload of bugs, memory leaks, exception faults, clipping issues etc. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Praetorians is an epic 3D troop based strategy game set amidst the political machinations of an emerging Roman Empire. Gamers will be transported back to the dusty battlefields of Egypt, the combat theatres of Gaul and finally to the heart of the Empire itself, Italy in the crusade to become Emperor. After yesterday's "FilePlanet only" (requireing a Filepmanet acct/key) Praetorians multiplayer demo, there is now a "free" version allowing you to do as the Romans do in this imminent 3D real-time strategy game by Pyro Studios. This multiplayer demo offers the Crossroads level playable on LAN and the Internet, as well as in Skirmish mode with up to three CPU controlled players. Read more for download links ...

Devastation developers Groove Games seem to be working on another titles called "CTU : Marine Sharpshooter". One Shot One Kill. You are a Marine Sharpshooter, member of the elite Counter Terror Unit, a covert American military force waging a silent war against terror across the globe. Dropped behind enemy lines, you have uncovered a terrorist plan to construct a nuclear weapon and detonate it on American soil. You must follow the plot from the desserts of Afghanistan through the Russian winter and into the jungles of a small south Pacific island. Armed with an arsenal of authentic sniper weaponry, your only assistance is provided by your observer, your eyes, ears and close quarters machine gun. Make every shot count, your country is depending on it (thanks HomeLAN).

Splinter Cell has barely started showing up in stores and as promised by UbiSoft, they have just released the first patch for stealth action game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. This upgrade brings your retail version to v1.1 and fixes a Radeon 9700 rendering issue, a "static wall/floor fire" texture issue, and some more bugs. Read more for details and download links ...

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell sets new standards on the PlayStation2, immersing gamers in a deadly world of shadowy conspiracies and heart-pounding intrigue. State-of-the-art technology including the true-to-life dynamic lighting and shadow system, and new weather and ambient environment effects such as hazy heat, reflective surfaces, sea waves and depth and focus blurring, make Splinter Cell one of the most visually enticing titles on the system to date. Ubisoft has now confirmed that the Playstation 2 version of Splinter Cell (developed by UbiSoft Shanghai) will be released April 8, 2003.

Tri Synergy announced today that Knight Rider has gone to gold master. Slated to ship at the end of March 2003 for PC, this retro title is based on the classic 80’s TV series featuring Michael Knight and Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT). Also check out our Knight Rider preview, posted earlier today!

Octagon Entertainment, Inc., the video game industry’s leading agency, today announced an agreement to represent Primal Software to find a worldwide publisher for Besieger, a 3D real-time strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world. Besieger is in development for PC and is scheduled to be completed Q3 2003.

A major number one best seller for PlayStation 2, the Xbox/PC edition features more cars on track in every race and adds qualifying rounds to the cut-throat career championships. A superior graphics engine will deliver the close contact, and often dangerous, racing in dramatic detail. TOCA Race Driver delivers a racing experience packed with 42 real touring and sports cars, 13 championships and an incredible 38 internationally renowned race circuits. New to the Xbox/PC edition are the introduction of a qualifying round to championship races; in Australia's championship players will experience the 'Shoot out' qualification system. Call it Toca Race driver, Pro Race Driver or DTM Race Driver, these screens are for one and the same game, njoy!

Just noticed on Bluesnews that there is a new version of Netscape available for download. Go to this FTP directory where you can download Netscape 7.02 versions for Windows, Mac as well as Linux. Thanks to FileFlash for bringing this to everybody's attention!