EA is introducing a new Need for Speed version that drives the racing/tuner series in a new direction, where you’re thrust to compete head to head against the best street racers in a multitude of racing showdowns. This v1.1 brings your retail game to v1.1, adding LAN multiplayer capabilities.

38 Studios, founded by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, announced that Michael Kosenski has been appointed Vice President of Product Development. Kosenski will oversee all aspects of the game development process, working closely with President and CEO Brett Close, Vice President of Creative Development Scott Cuthbertson, and CTO Jon Laff.

Soldier of Fortune Payback continues with the organization know as The Shop where players take on the role of a hired mercenary, blasting their way through high-intensity combat situations in the world's most dangerous hot spots in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

Combat Mission: Shock Force is a tactical military simulation depicting a hypothetical near future conflict between NATO and Syrian forces in Syria. Battlefront has released a new patch, bringing their download/retail version (not the Paradox edition) to v1.05 which includes over 65 new game features, fixes, improvements and all new modding tools!

Consumer analysts at Turner Investment Partners concluded that casual games are catching the eyes (and fingers) of women, baby boomers and even seniors, giving video games the potential to be "one of the few retailing success stories in what may be a lackluster holiday shopping season." The company fails to mention the real casual games from companies like PopCap and Bigfish Games, and instead touts several high-profile companies of which it just happens to own shares.

Earlier this week, Harmonix accused Activision of blocking its software patch to make the PS3 version of Rock Band compatible with the GH3 peripherals. Today, Activision responded by issuing a statement blaming Harmonix for not accepting an "agreement" that would have allowed the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band.

Soldier of Fortune Payback continues with the organization know as The Shop where you take on the role of a hired mercenary, blasting their way through high intensity combat situations in the world's most dangerous hot spots. Activision has teamed up with the GGL for the Ultimate Mercenary Tournament, with $15,000 in cash and prizes and an all-expense paid trip to New York City.

Need for Speed ProStreet boasts impeccable precision and impressively detailed photorealistic graphics, effectively transporting you to the center of the action. It pushes the "Autosculpt" technology to a new level, allowing you to directly impact your car's performance for the first time as well as personalize its appearance.

MapleStory is an online adventure game that centers around the "Maple World," allowing players to combat monsters and develop their characters' skills and abilities in an immense platform-inspired persistent world. MapleStory Europe launches a three week long celebratory event that's full of festive fun, excitement and monsters dressed in Santa hats.

More than half of Codemasters' 2008 U.S. line-up will be created by in-house teams or development studios based in the U.S., including Spark Unlimited, inXile Entertainment and Liquid Entertainment. The line-up features games that span hard-core, casual and online content across next-gen platforms, PCs and handhelds.

Team Fortress 2 is a class-based, multiplayer team warfare game, delivering new game types, a signature art style powered by Valve’s next-gen animation technology, persistent player statistics, etc... Valve's Kerry Davis has revealed a new patch for TF2 has been submitted to Microsoft for validation (usually takes 1-2 weeks) fixing exploits, bugs, bandwidth usage, stats reporting, as well as adding new maps, which is also expected on PC.

Daring stunts, spectacular crashes, thrilling criminal cases: All fans of the racing genre will easily fall in love with the newest game originating from the original RTL TV-Show “Alarm for Cobra 11”. Synetic's Andreas Leicht gives us a few more details on the Euro racer ...

Majesco announced a partnership with multimedia musician and game designer, Masaya Matsuura, and New York artist Rodney Alan Greenblat, creators of the PaRappa the Rapper series, to develop and publish an original music-based game that will bring their engaging gameplay and distinctive art style to the Wii.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune brings players into a world ripe with realism and unexpected juxtapositions. A fallible hero akin to those depicted in pulp-adventure genre films, Nathan Drake brings a humanity and believability never seen before in video gaming, enabled entirely through technology advancements.

Korean online game developer and publisher Gravity, best known for Ragnarok Online, announced the formation of San Mateo, California studio L5 Games, and hired several former Blizzard North employees who held leadership roles in franchises such as World of Warcraft, Diablo and the StarCraft and Warcraft series.

THQ's Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is an add-on for Gas Powered Games' 3D RTS, following the epic story of the original game in the aftermath of the Infinite War. GPG has released the first patch, fixing a few bugs and balancing a bunch of units.

Devil May Cry 4 is the fourth installment in Capcom's action series starring gunslinging demon hunter Dante, and introducing a new hero, Nero, who possesses a demonic arm that can pull in enemies or use them as projectiles. Capcom will release a DMC 4 demo on PSN and XBL early 2008, featuring new protagonist Nero and the awesome power of his Devil Bringer.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an Online Action RPG, mixing a deep, story-driven single-player experience and a massive and brutal multiplayer end-game brings forth the ultimate representation of the Age of Conan. Getting ready for launch, Funcom/Eidos have invited more than 10,000 beta players.

Wizards of the Coast, known for Magic The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, announced an agreement with UK developer Stainless Games to produce an exciting new online downloadable game.

Nival Online, IT Territory, Time Zero and Nikita Online announced that they creating the largest player in the online entertainment market in Russia, Astrum Online Entertainment, allowing them to formalize a united strategy in regards to their activities and also utilize their combined experience and infrastructure.

BigWorld Technology announced an agreement with Sierra Online to use the BigWorld Technology Suite in the development of an upcoming, yet un-announced, PC MMO.

FM2 features authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, photo-realistic graphics, 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, licensed tuning and plenty of customization options. Turn10 is prepping new premium content to be released Friday, Dec. 7. The car pack (400 points) will include 11 new vehicles, a mix of high-end exotics, classic rally cars and muscle cars. The track (100 points) is a remake of the Road America circuit.

Dell and Blizzard have joined forces to bring gamers the XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition notebook. "Starting" at $4,499 it features emblazoned with custom WoW artwork, inside and out, exclusive rare bonus items and a backpack filled to the brim with game-themed extras are also part of the unique experience.

Forge of Freedom allows players to refight the American Civil War from either side in this grand strategy wargame. This v1.10.10 fine tunes the historical accuracy and game balance, and optimizes the AI.

After launching its new casual games-focused studio doublesix, Kuju today reveals NiK NaK, led by industry veteran Kevin Holloway and dedicated to making excellent games for young players to enjoy on all formats.