Konami of Europe is to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the legendary Le Tour de France cycling competition with an all-new simulation of the racing tournament for PlayStation 2. Entitled Le Tour de France: Centenary Edition, the game will be released to coincide with the 2003 tournament.

Rockstar Games is proud to announce that Midnight Club II for the PlayStation2 is shipping today to retail stores in North America. Midnight Club II is the sequel to the best-selling, Greatest Hits PlayStation2 launch title Midnight Club. Read more for details...

Midway Sports announced that it has refocused its league-licensed sports products to appeal to a broader sports gaming audience. NHL Hitz Pro, the re-invented version of the NHL Hitz franchise, is in development and scheduled to ship in fall 2003 for the PS2, the Xbox, NGC & GBA. Midway Sports also announced that it has refocused its league-licensed sports brands to appeal to a broader sports gaming audience. NFL Blitz Pro, the reinvented iteration of the popular NFL Blitz videogame franchise, is scheduled to ship in fall 2003 for the PlayStation2, the Xbox & NGC. Read more for details ...

SEGA today announced "Virtual On Marz," a blazing-fast mech combat game exclusively for the PlayStation2. "Virtual On Marz" casts gamers as a member of "Marz," a Robotic Special Forces unit charged with keeping peace in the galaxy. Players are thrust into the pilot's seat of a giant mechanized battle Virtuaroid as they blast through dozens of missions, defend allied bases, attack enemy convoys and fight alongside other Virtuaroids in explosive 2-on-2 battles. Read more for details and the first few screens ...

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that hard rock front man (Black Flag, Rollins Band), actor ("The Chase," "Johnny Mnemonic") and spoken word artist Henry Rollins has signed on to voice the role of Mace Griffin in the upcoming video game "Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter." The sci-fi action game will be available second quarter 2003 for the Xbox, the PlayStation2 and GameCube.

Artifact Entertainment has signed an exclusive agreement with Digital Bros, a digital entertainment group from Milan, Italy, to acquire the European online hosting rights for Horizons: Empire of Istaria, the next-generation 3D online epic adventure; the most anticipated online game among European players. Scheduled for North American release in Fall 2003, Horizons will also be distributed by Atari in Europe.

THQ today released "Disney Princess" for Game Boy Advance. Based on the Disney Princess characters in Disney's animated classic films "Cinderella," "The Little Mermaid," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Sleeping Beauty," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," the game is now available at retail outlets nationwide.

Warning! Helmets are NOT included. Atari today sent gamers on a wild ride with the release of "Furious Karting" available exclusively for the Xbox. Developed by Paris-based Babylon Software, "Furious Karting" is an extreme go-kart racing game soaked in attitude and hard-wired with pure adrenaline.

CITY interactive announces that their development team has already started working on new title called Aces WW I - working title. Development has started last year and CITY is planning to have the title ready for sale at Q3 2003. Aces of WWI - working title creates a new genre: the flying sim action adventure. People responsiple for that project are working with great enthusiasm in order to achieve very detailed reconstruction of original models and the ground, like in the best simulation games and provide high feel of reality. City wants to interest not only flying sim fans but to target all action game fans and hopes to receive enthusiastic response from special interest press all around the world. (thanks Blues)

Sega Europe Ltd, today confirmed that it is in the process of instigating its own publishing operation to bring to market videogames for all viable gaming platforms. Sega Europe will be building up areas to look after all elements of sales, marketing and PR, to join its pre-existing development infrastructure, with the aim of maximising the sales potential of its popular gaming brands across all PAL-based territories. Previously, Sega Europe had a number of agreements with third-party publishers to bring SEGA-developed titles to market across these territories.

Summitsoft announced today that its eagerly awaited Empire of Magic is on schedule for a May 1st release. Promising a masterfully crafted blend of strategy, role playing and story driven adventure, Empire of Magic takes a different approach to strategy games. "We have received a tremendous amount of interest on Empire of Magic by the gaming community," said Bruce Lowry, President and CEO of Summitsoft Corporation. "By throwing away traditional resource management found in most strategy games and replacing it with intense story rich scenarios and interactive role playing dynamics, Empire of Magic offers an exciting and fresh twist to the strategy genre."

Atari has shipped the latest installment of the hugely successful "V-Rally" racing series -- "V-Rally 3" -- to the Xbox. With more than 4 million units in the series sold to date, "V-Rally 3" -- already a hit on Sony PlayStation2 -- promises to be the most authentic rally racer on Xbox.

Tri Synergy announced today that Bandits: Phoenix Rising, shipped to retail outlets nationwide. Bandits: Phoenix Rising immerses players into a vast, desert wasteland, where they must control a cannon-mounted combat car in order to defeat heavily armed enemies and ultimately defend their gang. Bandits: Phoenix Rising is rated T (Teen) with an SRP of $29.99.

CDV Software today announces its new website is live. The new portal is designed to integrate the newest information on CDV's games and the company site. The new website features a very user-friendly navigational structure, as everything is a three page click away from the main site. Currently the site contains five categories: games, shop, company, investors and support.

Mad Catz Inc., the world's leading third party manufacturer and marketer of video game accessories, today unveiled their extensive range of accessories for the Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo's latest handheld console. All accessories, comprised of ten innovative products, will be available in Europe at the end of March. Mad Catz has timed the introduction of these accessories, retailing from £3.99 - £19.99, to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo GBA SP.

KOEI Corporation today announced plans to release G1 Jockey 3, for the PlayStation2. G1 Jockey 3 captures of all the excitement, action and splendor of one of America’s most beloved spectator sports, thoroughbred racing.

Already known but finally official, Tri Synergy announced today that Purge, an online-only title that delivers a compelling combination of first-person-shooter gameplay and role-playing character development, has gone gold. Developed by Freeform Interactive LLC, Purge immerses players in a strife-torn world that blends science fiction and fantasy. In Purge, players will find themselves engrossed in a war between two opposing forces, the Order (humans genetically modified to scientific perfection) and the Chosen (religious believers who reject all forms of technology). Read more for details and a batch of fresh screens ...

Activision and Disney Interactive today announced a new video game that gives skateboarding a magical twist. Designed to appeal to children and teens ages 6 – 14, Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure will use cutting-edge technology from Activision’s latest Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 engine to allow characters from three beloved animated films: Walt Disney Pictures’ presentation of Pixar Animation Studios’ “Toy Story 2,” “Disney’s Tarzan” and “Disney’s The Lion King” to skateboard just like the pros in their respective worlds for the first time. In addition to these characters, the new game includes a Create-A-Skater option where players can customize a youthful skater’s “look” by selecting clothing and accessories. Furthermore, as an Activision first, the company is holding a nationwide casting call search for 10 real kids who will become digitised characters in the game.

Ubi Soft Entertainment, one of the world's largest videogame publishers, today announces more details on the packaging of its upcoming titles to be released in Q1 2003: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six3: Raven Shield, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. The company decided to follow the trend initiated by the DVD movie industry and to propose to its customers qualitative and innovative packaging as well as Limited Edition versions of their games for the fans.

This is quite simply a genuine match made in heaven! eJay Entertainment GmbH, one of the world's leading providers of music software, has teamed up with Ministry Of Sound's infamous record label Data Records to promote DJ Sammy.

Interplay Entertainment Corp. announced today the company has sold all future interactive entertainment publishing rights to the "Hunter: The Reckoning" franchise to Vivendi Universal Games. Interplay retains the rights to the previously published "Hunter: The Reckoning" titles on Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. The "Hunter: The Reckoning" franchise is a property of White Wolf Publishing Inc.

Jaleco Entertainment announced today that it is developing and will publish Goblin Commander: Unleash The Horde, an innovative action-strategy game for the next-generation consoles set in an epic fantasy universe. A fourth quarter release is planned.

Publisher Strategy First and developer Stardock are pleased to announce the availability of Stardock Central to players of their upcoming 4x space strategy game, Galactic Civilizations. Stardock Central is a program that consolidates software updates, message boards, chat, documentation updates, and more into a single easy-to-use program.

WorthPlaying is giving away goodies from Ubi Soft. Enter the sweepstakes and have a chance to win one of 5 PS2 Reign Of Fire (PAL) games or 5 Reign Of Fire watches & 5 mousepads... Sign Up Here!

GRIN and CDV today announced that Vultures official website is online.. The official homepage has a nice set of screens and also a developer diary from the Swedish developer GRIN. The screens already convey a nice, gothic mood, which is especially unique for the beat 'em up genre! Loads of arenas filled with traps and in complete 3D featuring the latest technology await you, so don’t be square and visit the official homepage! The game features motion capture animation and real-time shadows which will make your Xbox melt!