Videogame publisher Capcom has launched a special telephone helpline for consumers scared from playing its latest title Resident Evil Zero. Available now on 08700 46 55 20 (calls charged at national rates), the line has been designed explicitly to offer comfort and reassurance to terrified gamers. Players simply ring up and listen to the two-minute recorded message scripted by a top psychologist. Once the call is completed, they should feel much more calm.

NO RULES, NO BOUNDARIES! FOUR ON FOUR EXTREME FOOTBALL... Urban Freestyle Soccer takes the sport back to its street roots with teams competing against their rivals for the right to be crowned Kings of the Streets. Build your own team and make them a force to be reckoned with ready to annihilate all comers. Attitude and aggression are just as valuable as skill. battleground for the duration of the match. No offsides and limited boundaries ensure flowing gameplay and fierce, frantic competitive matches.

BioWare Corp. is pleased to announce that Neverwinter Nights was named the Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) on February 28 at the Sixth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in Las Vegas. The AIAS achievement award event recognizes outstanding achievement in interactive content and in the interactive community. This is the fourth time in the past five years that BioWare's products have received honors at the AIAS awards: three times for PC Role-Playing Game of the Year (Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Neverwinter Nights), and once for Character or Story Development (Baldur's Gate II). BioWare will be expanding upon the Neverwinter Nights universe with two upcoming expansion packs: Shadows of Undrentide, set for a Spring 2003 release; and "XP2," the currently unnamed second expansion pack, scheduled for release later in 2003.

Hercules is delighted to announce the launch of a complete new range of its popular 3D Prophet graphics boards. This new 3D Prophet series, based on ATI's latest chipsets, features perfectly-adapted solutions for all PC users, from ultra-hardcore gaming to general family needs. As always, Hercules' aim is to provide the very best solutions for every market sector.

A few weeks ago Ubi Soft Entertainment announced plans to release Kola Cell, a new level for the highly successful videogame Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell available for download via Xbox Live. Sam Fisher fans won't have to wait much longer! The new mission for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell will be available to Xbox Live subscribers beginning March 14, 2003. UbiSoft was so kind to send us a few new screens to keep you happy ...

Slow news evening so only a few new trailers for various games were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• PlanetSide (SOE)
• Strike Fighter (Strategy First)
• Apache Air Assault (Activision)
  
  Read more for download links ...

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that it has seen significant growth in the number of simultaneous user base and recently set a new record of 118,000 simultaneous players, almost four years after the game was launched. In addition, the company is opening a brand new EverQuest server, Maelin Starpyre, and for the first time ever, will offer full character transfers from existing servers including all equipment, acquired items and experience. Transfers are subject to certain restrictions.

Project 3 just let us know that there will be a New World Order official demo for the U.S. release, and it will be available within a couple of days. The demo will feature the Druglord Villa level which was in the E.U. release plus a completely new map called Restaurant. Both maps will be in the U.S. release, while E.U. players will have the opportunity to add the map to their full game by a separate download. The demo will have both singleplayer and multiplayer modes included. And of course we will have it available right here for download. In the meantime check out the revamped Project3 website.

BioWare has released a new patch for Neverwinter Nights, updating their role playing game to v1.29. This upgrade fixes the NPC warping issue, fixes the DM Client player display list, and also fixes an issue with tags > 32 characters Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Noticed on BluesNews that Renegade Generals has news & details from EA's Harvard Bonin on the next planned patch for C&C Generals. According to the post we could expect it early next week. Read more for details if you want to know what they are working on...

Ubi Soft Entertainment announced today that Shadowbane, the ground breaking massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game for both PC and Macintosh, has gone gold. Shadowbane has been designed and developed by Wolfpack Studios, based in Austin, Texas, and will be hosted and operated by ubi.com. Shadowbane makes its triumphant journey to retail shelves on March 25. Read more for details as well links for a new trailer ...

Project 3 has once again released a new patch for their team-based tactical shooter New World Order. This upgrades your European retail copy to v1.4, no specific details are available at this point. I would assume the recently gone gold North Americna version will be in stores as 1.4. Read more for links where to grab the goods ...

Hercules is proud to announce the release of the latest entry in its Smart TV range of TV cards: Smart TV Satellite. Designed for high-quality digital satellite reception on PC (DVB-S standard), the card features digital MPEG-2 VCR and time shifting functions and is fully Pay-TV compatible.

Today a team of game industry veterans announced the launch of Skylab Entertainment, a new game development studio in Austin, Texas. Skylab's founders include original team members from game developer Ritual Entertainment and publisher Gathering of Developers. Skylab Entertainment is dedicated to developing the next generation of interactive entertainment for tomorrow's gaming systems, and is hard at work on their first, unannounced title.

As the country gears up for Spring Break, Nintendo heightens the anticipation for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP (GBA SP) through a marketing initiative targeting teens and college students, as well as an advertising program highlighting the "Brilliance" of GBA SP. In advance of its March 23 launch, GBA SP will begin to make appearances via extensive print and broadcast advertising, plus consumer sampling cameos at some of the nation's coolest "hot spots."

Now is your chance to fulfill Dr. John Hammond’s dream by successfully designing and managing the ultimate dinosaur theme park. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis allows gamers to create the most amazing theme park he world has ever seen. As the first ever fully 3D action-sim, Operation Genesis gives players two games in one. Either build the ultimate dinosaur theme park or engage in 12 action-packed missions that will truly test your gaming skills. Dream it. Build it. Survive it. This truly is Jurassic Park... your way! We had a near final build and decided to let loose the dino's! Read more and find out what happened next!

WorthPlaying today announced the winners of Lord Of The Rings : The Two Towers music cd's (Enhanced cd's with exclusive 2 sided, printed collector's cards, screen savers, "The Two Towers" trailer, score, music video, and more) and 5 NTSC (region 1) Undercover Brother DVD's, starring Denise Richards..

After colonizing more than 60 sectors of the Milky Way, humanity thought it had the galaxy to itself. Humanity was very, very wrong... Electronic Arts today announced that Earth & Beyond, the first online role-playing galaxy, has launched an epic story that will allow players to be the heroes in a struggle that will determine the fate of humanity.

The next generation of Pokémon games are bigger, better, and more addictive than ever before! Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire feature an all-new storyline, awesome new Pokémon and the same great RPG gameplay that has made the series so successful. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire are both scheduled to be released on March 17, 2003.

Already available in Europe since last week, Codemasters announced today that the company’s stealth-based, first-person shooter, IGI2: Covert Strike, has shipped to North American retail outlets nationwide - with a SRP of $39.99. The sequel to developer Innerloop Studios AS’ award-winning Project IGI: Institute for Geotactical Intelligence, IGI2: Covert Strike boasts an action-packed single player campaign featuring enhanced AI; a diverse range of weaponry; and a newly implemented save system.

Tri Synergy announced today that Bandits: Phoenix Rising has gone gold. This “Mad Max”-style action game for the PC in set in a desert wasteland of territorial clans. Players will battle cannon-mounted vehicles, while defending their gang and seeking glory, for their clan. Developed by Grin Inc., BANDITS will blast its way onto store shelves on March 25, 2003. The game is already available in Europe for several months.

Releasing simultaneously with the “X2” feature film, X2 Wolverine’s Revenge is the only PlayStation 2computer entertainment system, Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance and PC action-adventure that allows players to assume the role of Wolverine. After discovering that a deadly X-Virus has been activated within Wolverine’s body, the player has 48 hours to acquire the antidote from the evil organization that not only gave them the disease, but also their mutation. Read more to check out some new screens ...

Rainbow Six: Raven Shield features a brand new Tom Clancy storyline in which Team RAINBOW is led all over the world in a string of dramatic operations. The game will utilize graphics technology provided by the next-generation Unreal engine to power 15 new single-player missions that include the discovery of a cache of biological weapons and stopping an armed gang from terrorizing a London bank. We now have the English version of the SP demo so read more for details and download links ...

Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced a deal with Infinite Interactive to publish Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria, the next installment in the extremely popular series of fantasy turn-based strategy games. Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria is expected to ship in Q4 of 2003.

YouPlayGames today announced that it has signed an exclusive deal with id Software and Even Balance, Inc. to offer Return to Castle Wolfenstein as the premiere title available through the company's new skill-based online gaming service. YouPlayGames is pioneering the world of professional online gaming by bringing massively popular multi-player licensed titles into homes and providing everyone with the chance to make money while playing their favorite computer games.