Freelancer Sneak Preview Contest... Microsoft posted following information today on the official site for their upcoming epic space adventure game, Freelancer. Here is the clip:

On Friday, January 24, you will be able to enter both here and at Lancers Reactor to win a Sneak Preview copy of Freelancer. We will be selecting 15 winners from our site, and 15 winners from Lancers Reactor for a grand total of 30 lucky fans. Winners will be selected via a random drawing from all eligible entries received. Contest is open to fans around the world and you will be able to enter between Friday, January 24 to 11 AM PST, Monday, January 27.

In anticipation of the ninth Annual EA SPORTS Madden Bowl, one of the most exciting events leading up to the Super Bowl, America Online and Electronic Arts today announced that AOL Games and EA SPORTS are presenting the EA SPORTS Madden Bowl Online exclusively to AOL members. By accessing a special password, they will challenge friends, foes and the pros who will participate in the EA SPORTS Madden Bowl tournament on January 23 at 6:30 p.m. PST.

Following the huge success of 2002's Pro Evolution Soccer 2 National Championship, Konami of Europe, GAME and Computer & Video Games are to embark on an all-new 'Champion's Tour', with fans of the game invited to challenge reigning PES2 champion David Sefah.

"Hover Ace" features futuristic arcade races on battle hovercraft. Combining racing at breakneck speeds exceeding 500 km/h, with intense action involving various weapons, equipment, and power-ups, "Hover Ace" offers a griping gaming experience. Taking place in a highly detailed, futuristic, science fiction environment, "Hover Ace" offers up sixteen open arena tracks, featuring full freedom of movement, interactive objects and destructible environments. Check the new batch of screens ...

City of Heroes is the eagerly anticipated superhero massively multiplayer online title developed by Cryptic Studios. The game is set in Paragon City, a modern day metropolis full of super powered villains, alien invaders and underground monsters. Players take on the roles of Paragon City's superhero defenders and will be able to create their own hero, choose statistics, skills, and powers and design their own superhero costume. Check out these new screens ...

Set in the future where Earth is little more than a burnt cinder, players must battle their way through a series of arenas in fights to the death with CPU or human opponents. Viewed in the third person, players have access to a wealth of armaments and must use cunning, stealth and high velocity weapons to defeat the increasingly tough opponents. Projectile, handheld weaponry and spell-casting are used to progress, resulting in incredible melees as Apocalyptica draws the player further in. After yesterday's nifty Apocalyptica screens, we now have a new trailer offering some CGI action of what evil game story we can expect. Read more for download links ....

The forth Vietcong character has been unveiled, CJ Hornster Staff Sargeant. Dependable, sharp-shooting and physically fit, this is one guy you want to have in your squad. (thanks GameZone) Read more to check out screens and more about this serious character..!

The official "ask LucasArts" site is updated with some information about Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb Demo.. Here is the clip:

Do you plan to release a demo for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb?

Yes, in the upcoming Xbox demo you'll have a chance to punch, whip, and kick your way through the jungles of Ceylon as legendary adventurer and daring archeologist Indiana Jones. Look for the demo on the March cover mount disc of Official Xbox Magazine, and in the coming months at Xbox kiosks in retail stores. It also will be a part of a Xbox Exhibition sampler disc sold in retail locations.

Sword & Sorcery Studios is pleased to announce that it has acquired the rights from Blizzard Entertainment to publish the Dungeons & Dragons Warcraft Roleplaying Game in cooperation with Wizards of the Coast. The D&D Warcraft RPG will translate the richness and complexity of the hugely successful Warcraft real-time strategy computer game series into a fully interactive print roleplaying game world. The game setting is designed for complete compatibility with the popular Dungeons & Dragons game system, created and published by Wizards of the Coast. In fact, the D&D Warcraft RPG will be the first game setting available for, and fully compatible with, the revised editions of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual that Wizards of the Coast will launch in July 2003.

Exclusive "Officers Club" pack available to those who pre-order the 3D RTS.. Electronic Arts announced today that, beginning this week, it will offer an exclusive Officers Club pack to players who pre-order the highly-anticipated 3D real-time strategy game, Command & Conquer Generals from participating retailers. Command & Conquer Generals will be published by EA under the EA GAMES brand Feb. 11, 2003.

CDV has just announced that American Conquest, due for release on February 14th, 2003 has gone gold! American Conquest portrays 300 years of historical conflict in North America. From the moment Columbus arrived in Newfoundland to 1492 to the War and Declaration of Independence in 1776, this game covers it all. Up to 32,000 units – a gaming record – can take part in each battle, resulting in some of the most sophisticated and epic depictions of war ever seen in a computer game. The game is unique as an educational tool as well as a great strategy game: it utilizes historically accurate weapons and strategies of the period at hand, which evolve throughout the game.

"Spellforce – The Order of Dawn", the latest game by Volker Wertich, inventor of the successful "Settlers" series, is an exquisite combination of well-known RTS elements and the best features of roleplaying and tactical games. Today JoWood released some new screens as well as a beautiful 3min trailer (in quite large divx format) showing off some in game action.

The game is developed on original high-tech engine The Firestarter Engine, which uses the possibilities of the latest accelerator generation GeForce 3, 4. Among the engine possibilities are work with outdoor and indoor areas, coloured dynamic lighting, dynamic shadows, vertex and pixel shaders, T&L, procedure textures, various classes of particle system-based effects, interactive and destructible level objects, realistic physics, high-polygonal character and monster models (up to 5000 of polygons), skeleton animation. The official website has been updated (thanks Unrealik)with 3 new screens, read more to check them out

Sega has released a first trailer from AM2's gun-shooter Virtua Cop. The latest installment in the series is running on a Chihiro board which is based on the Xbox chipset and will feature Bullet Time-style slowdowns which can be activated with a pedal (thanks Evilavatar). Read more for download links ...

Noticed on Bluesnews that the German Anno 1503 Homepage has word that "Die Demo ist da," or that the German demo version of SUNFLOWERS' city-building trading strategy prequel is now available. This playable demo version for Anno 1503 contains four different game modes and scenarios. In two introduction games the player learns the first steps of establishing a settlement, discovering of civilizations, the trade with natives and the setting-up of commercial routes. When the two introduction games are successfully completed, 2 new scenarios ("settling" and "fight") will unlock. Read more for links where to download it ...

Dance to the beat of crazy music and play 150 levels of bubble popping action in this 3D puzzle game. Make your move and work quickly to take out the bubbles before they take you out. With rocking soundtracks and fast-pace game play, Super Bubble Pop is a bubble based action puzzler game where the idea is to quickly and efficiently clear the grid of bubbles to advance to the next stage while gaining as many points as possible.

Total Immersion Racing is a driving game with an emphasis on the highest quality driving technology linked to compelling and immersive gameplay. The player can choose a career path that leads from being the lowest ranked driver of a GT sports car all the way to becoming a world champion driving a massively powerful 8-litre prototype. On the way team engineers and managers will give advice and input to guide the player. Empire and Razorworks have just released a new patch for the Total Immersion Racing US edition fixing a few DirectX related issues. Read more for details and download links...

Strategy First, leading worldwide publisher and developer of PC games, is happy to announce they have signed a publishing agreement with German developer German Railroads to bring two new add-ons for Microsoft Train Simulator to the North American market.

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is based on Cinemaware’s hit game Defender of the Crown, first released in 1986 on the Commodore Amiga and subsequently to a variety of platforms where sold over 1,000,000 units worldwide. Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is a re-imagining of the beloved classic, with a deep storyline, a rich cast of characters, and the same commitment to stunning graphics and unique, varied gameplay that first made Cinemaware famous. Check the new batch of screens ...

To further promote their upcoming action/stealth title IGI 2: Covert Strike, Codemasters has just released a new trailer showing off some graphical bliss of what to expect in the full product. The Scope video showcases IGI 2: Covert Strike's incredible visuals, with detailed internal locations and massive outdoor environments with vistas rendered as far as the eye can see. Read more for download links and check it out!

EVE ONLINE is a new breed of computer game. Played online with thousands of other players, EVE draws people into what is essentially an alternate universe set some time far in the future in a place one can only dream of. SSI and CCP have just released a 2 min in-game action trailer showing off the plans and intentions of an ambitious player in the world of EVE. Read more for links to check it out!

Need one doing? The chaps behind Prisoner of War reckon they've got just the thing... Wide Games, the ambitious developer of the best-selling PS2, Xbox and PC smash, Prisoner of War, today announces a move into licensed products and conversions. Building on the success of POW - the only unlicensed, non-sequel game in the top ten last summer, Wide Games has recently completed a GameCube conversion, and is now working an Xbox/PC port for a major US publisher.

With just under one month to go until the February 14th launch of IGI 2: Covert Strike, gamers can today experience covert action IGI style with launch of the single-player demo of Codemasters’ stunning stealth-based shooter. This standalone PC demo is now available for download.. Read more for download links and also a all-new IGI 2 video entitled “Scope”.

Resident Evil Online is set in Raccoon City and seems to feature gameplay typical of the series, but it will allow up to four players play together at once. There are eight characters -- including a police officer, plumber, journalist, and surgeon -- each with his or her own skills. Cooperation is a big part of the online game's design. Player characters can interact by exchanging weapons, helping another player get up, or by providing a steady shoulder for a wounded character to lean on. However, players can't always rely on the security of a group and may start a scenario separated from each other. There are also nonplayer characters in the game that players can talk to for information, including those characters that weren't selected by players. Read more to check out the trailer ...

American Conquest, is the latest masterpiece from the makers of Cossacks, the undisputed champions of several-thousand-unit combat. Spanning the moment Columbus set foot on America to the American War of Independence, players must shape the future of the continent through over 50 missions spread across eight campaigns. Check out the new screens, showing off the battle at Fort Duquesne in 1754 during the Indian/French War. Read more to check them out ...