The world's favorite plumber has returned with a bang! During its first 10 days of availability, Super Mario Sunshine for Nintendo GameCube is already a smash hit, selling through more than 350,000 games. This is a total not achieved by any competitor, including Xbox's popular Halo or Playstation 2's Grand Theft Auto 3 until a month or more on store shelves.

With one of the most outstanding games of 2002, Ubi Soft is ready to lead the stealth action genre – one of the major categories of video games. Straight from Ubi Soft’s development studio in Montreal, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell adds a new award to its long list after being named Overall Best Game of ECTS 2002 - Europe’s premier trade show for interactive entertainment, before all console products.

Gigex has just put up access to downloads of a demo for Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, BreakAway and Impressions Games' now-gold isometric strategy/building game set in China. According to Gigex, "The demo includes six tutorial missions set in the ancient Xia dynasty in medieval China, three single-player scenarios set in the Shang dynasty, and one multiplayer mission." The demo is a 130 MB download (Thanks Blues).

Got Game Entertainment today announced an agreement with PAN Vision for North American publishing rights to "Adam Blaster: Atomic Enforcer," a third person, real-time 3D action/adventure for the PC. The title is expected to ship in November 2002.

NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. of DEI Racing will become the official cover athlete for the EA SPORTS franchise NASCAR Thunder 2003. Dale Jr. also contributed to the development of the game and his likeness will appear on all NASCAR Thunder 2003 packaging and merchandising.

Avault today reports that CDV Software Entertainment will release a demo of BREED at the beginning of October. The free download will contain one single-player mission and a tutorial. BREED is a science-fiction shooter with tactical elements. (Our latest screens HERE)

DreamCatcher has just informed us that the North American version of Syberia, their upcoming 3D adventure game directed by Benoît Sokal (also known as the author of Amerzone) has gone GOLD. Kate Walker, a young and brilliant lawyer from New York, has come to Europe to negotiate the purchase a famous Robot/Toy factory, but will soon have her future completely turned upside down… The game will be shipping September 9th, check a few stunnnig new screens!

In this frenetic, story-driven action game, players will seamlessly combine dynamic space and ground-based combat with exploration and investigation. Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter takes place hundreds of years in the future, where both human and alien settlers are rapidly colonizing the galaxy. The player will assume the role of an ex-Special Ops officer, Mace Griffin. Read more for some fresh screens and facts!

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom brings city builders inside the Great Wall of China. Leaving the Mediterranean behind, the city-building series makes its first foray into the Orient and immerses the player in brand new surroundings. China has existed for over 4,000 years, but its 4,000 year history has been marked with new technologies and ideas replacing – or enhancing – the old. This is the world in which the player will take the reigns of leadership and take their cities through the twists and turns of Chinese history.

Five people who have changed their names by deed poll to that of a character in a video game in a unique marketing initiative have been revealed today. The five, comprising men and women, have all changed their identities to Turok, the hero character of a new game Turok Evolution being released by Acclaim Entertainment for PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube on September 6th. The new Turoks have completed the legal formalities and instead of being known as Ross Davison, Paul Frederick Codling, Matthew Grist, Andrew Ian Boughflower and Lheila Rebeccah Oberman, will simply be called Turok. Everything from their passports to their telephone bills will now carry their new identities.

Based on the hit TV series created by Academy Award winner James Cameron. With over 30 single-player missions and 6 unique post-pulse environments, players will step into Jessica Alba’s role as Max, crusading to find her sister and her fellow genetically-altered escapees.

Free Radical Entertainment and Eidos is giving away a free Timesplitters 2 PS2 Demo CD. Head over to the official Timesplitters 2 site and sign up. (US Residents Only)

Majorem Ltd. is pleased to officially announce that they are now taking initial registration forms from individuals interested in beta testing their upcoming massively multiplayer real-time strategy game 'Ballerium'.

We just recived some new screenshots from Activison and their XBox/PS2 title, Blade II. Blade II for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system and Xbox video game system from Microsoft is the only action/adventure combat-fest that allows players to be Blade, the half-vampire, half-human superhero who lives to rid the world of vampires. 38 XBOX shots and 27 PS2 shots. Njoy!

Earlier this morning we tossed up 21 screens for the XBox version and yesterday some PC screens, now we bring you a huge gallery with PS2 shots. Take your time to load them all. Njoy!

Blinx: The Time Sweeper is a fast-paced action game featuring a cool, clever new character in wild, warped worlds. The ability to control the flow of time provides a totally new 4-dimensional gaming experience. Now the official site is launched filled with information about this game, check it out!

Yesterday we posted up a bunch of Total Immersion Racing screens for the PC version, this morning we bring you 21 screens from the XBOX version "expect a huge PS2 gallery later on today". Njoy!

Total Immersion Racing is a brand new game experience that combines the highest quality driving technology, real-world racecars & tracks and immersive gameplay. The player can choose a career path that leads from being the lowest ranked driver of a GT sportscar all the way to becoming a world champion driving a massively powerful 8 litre prototype racecar. On the way, team engineers and managers will give advice and input to guide the player. Screens and features below!

Battlefront.com tossed up a 60Mb Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin Demo. The demo contains two full scenarios playable by either side plus a playable tutorial and supports multiplayer gaming with hotseat or PBEM (Play by Email) or Network play via TCP/IP. For the Windows PC version the Demo is currently only available in English. For the Mac Demo, you can choose to download the demo in either English, French or German Languages.

Black Isle Studios tossed up a new Icewind Dale II patch (beta) that addresses a problem for those who are crashing when selecting 'Appearance' in Character Generation and/or crashing when displaying the Inventory screen. The following video cards exhibit the problem most commonly: Hercules 3D Prophet 4500, VideoLogic Vivid!XS and Video cards that have the Kyro II chipset.

1964 was the year of the Pink Panther's first appearance. Originally it was the name of a diamond stolen from an English jeweler which Inspector Clouseau was try to find in the film directed by Blake Edwards. Edwards asked a cartoon specialist, Fritz Freleng, to be the first designed for the title credits of his film. He wanted a feline which was very sophisticated but mischievous at the same time. Now Wanadoo is proud to announce the release in November 2002 on PSOne, PC and GBA of the game. Screens and story below!

Robin Hood, a new game of tactics and action, thrusts players into an amazing and realistic medieval environment where they are hauled from the depths of Sherwood Forest to the ramparts of Nottingham Castle. How about 107 merry screenshots. Njoy!

Tired of tackling the hordes of undead in your games? Simply join their side… In Ghost Master, you play an afterlife civil servant sent to Gravenville by the Haunter Committee. Your mission: manage resources to scare and manipulate people, then to discover the secrets behind Gravenville. Your control over ghostly beings will allow other ghosts to be laid to rest – therefore making the transition from the material to the ethereal plane. But helping out these wretched souls takes a bit of effort and plasm - that’s where the fun-packed scaring comes in! 27 new PC screens below!