Astral Tournament is a magic combat simulator with the best features of "Magic: The Gathering". Long ago the Great Tournament was declared in Astral and mages from the Universe has arrived to gain the astral power. And you play for one of these mages who with the help of magical and tactical skills wants to win the Tournament. You can cast numerous spells and summon fantasy creatures to win your opponents. Besides the tournament game there is a capability of playing single duel with computer or your friend. Version 1.16 contains new computer AI and highly improoved sounds, and also enables you to play over local network.

Set in ancient China, Foo will challenge you and your competitors to enter palaces and temples before dawn, loot them for as much treasure as you can carry, and escape before the sun rises. Before setting out carefully plan what traps to take with you for your unwitting competitors - but beware, the more trap components you take in the less treasure you'll be able to carry out and the slower you'll move and react to the traps set out by other players. Foo is a unique "sneak, steal and trap-em-up" game of malicious pleasure with gameplay summarized as "Thief" meets "Spy vs. Spy", with the general feel of an animated feature crossed with the comical morbidity and brutality of "Itchy and Scratchy ".

German PCGames revealed (thanks Racedriver-portal.de, where they also snapped 30 new screens) reports that we can expect a ProRaceDriver (aka Toca Race Driver, v8 Challenge and DTM Race Driver depending on the localization) multiplayer demo on March 14th. If all of that is not enough for you race freaks you can check our previously posted 100 screens of racing madness.

Sony are once again accepting applications for the PlanetSide Public Beta Test. Those of you who have already submitted beta applications will not need to re-apply. PlanetSide is a Massively Multiplayer Online First-Person Shooter involving thousands of players fulfilling all the roles needed to wage war across the face of ten gigantic continents. The war will involve infantry, ground vehicles, and air battles in a science-fiction setting.

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. Against a backdrop of corporate, political and religious intrigue, Mace Griffin is framed for being involved in his comrades’ deaths. After spending time in prison, he becomes a Bounty Hunter, a vocation that gives him access to classified information and a means to aggressively pursue his search for the people who framed him. Today we got a load of screens, artwork and sketches to keep you busy on a boring Sunday ;)

Angels vs. Devils is an action game developed with the latest 3D Technologies, with great quality graphics and attention to detail. It welcomes the player to the world of interactive entertainment, where evil combats good and vice versa. Cleverly adapted by Enigma to give gamers the chance to achieve supreme domination over mankind, the gameplay offers continuous action and fun! Once started, difficult to stop…pow! wow!! pop! whew and yipee!!! And bountless more expressions…that’s how the game goes!!! Read more for some devilish screens as well as a trailer showing in game action ...

Planet Duke now got an updated version of the official Duke Nukem Forever FAQ. Pretty much everything known about DNF can be found in the official FAQ. If it's not there then it's probably not known. So we urge you all to check out the FAQ for all your questions. Today's update of the FAQ adds several new pieces of information including info about all the talk on shipping DNF out in DVD cases, Bombshell and whether or not she's still in the game, system requirements and more. Head on over to the official DNF FAQ now!

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 ...