Valve announced that it is frantically trying to put the finishing touches on Episode One for preloading to begin May 1st. "The past couple of days have been spent with the team adding commentary tracks. Hopefully it will be interesting for people to gain some insight into our development processes. It's pretty hectic around the office, but it is always a lot of fun to be so close to shipping."

The North Country Gazette is reporting that Jack Thompson has filed a harassment suit with the U.S. District Court of Southeastern Florida against the Florida Bar, of which he is a member. Said suit claims that the Bar is harassing Mr. Thompson for over a year and a half by investigating baseless complaints filed against him by disgruntled adversaries, in particular lawyers representing Take2/Rock* and Howard Stern. Mr. Thompson feels his constitutional rights have been violated and is seeking one million dollars for damages.

Tyrone McMillan was convincted to seven years in jail for leading police on a high-speed chase through two counties on August 5th of last year. After 55 minutes of hot pursuit he crashed into a few cars, injuring a police officer, all because of a parole violation. McMillan later told police he thought he could outrun them because he played the PlayStation video game Grand Theft Auto.

While Microsoft ran an Xbox Live free for all last month, it was restricted to North America, so Microsoft Europe announced today it will host a similar weekend for EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting Monday, May 8th, at 08:01 and ends Monday, May 15th, at 07:59.

It seems Starforce may be losing one of its biggest supporters, as Ubisoft announced today that Nival's upcoming RPG Heroes of Might & Magic V will not have the controversial, and much disliked, Starforce copy protection, instead Ubisoft opted to use "an alternative protection." If this means the longtime Starforce supporter is shying away from using it in general or just a one time experiment is not disclosed.

BFME 2 takes part in the North where a battle is raging between Sauron's forces vs. elves and dwarves. It will be possible to create/customize your own hero, apart from known figures such as Arwin, and become more powerful as you progress in the game. While BFME was all land based, the sequel will also take the action on the sea, naval battles included.

In 2003 Tantalus Interactive and Kemco collaborated to produce Top Gear Rally on GBA, and now both companies are extending this relationship will see the creation of an original racing title for the DS, leveraging Kemco’s popular Top Gear brand.

Fireglow team is now developing a next generation game engine (codename: Sudden Strike Next7) and the first game based on this engine, which now is officially named 'Sudden Strike III: Arms For Victory'. Fireglow plans to develop several other games based on this engine in different setups related to war conflicts.

Commandos Strike Force takes you right into the heart of the action from a first person perspective. Take control of the three members of the 'Strike Force' unit, each with their own play style. Eidos has released the fist patch bringing your retail game to v1.2, but no details as to what it fixes are available at the moment.

Rush for Berlin is a tactical real time strategy game, set on the European battlefields of World War II, during 1944-45. The player's goal; to capture the German capital, as either the British/US/French alliance or the Red army of the Soviet Union.

The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript is a major adventure and investigation game, the first game created about the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. It offers players the opportunity to grapple with the mysteries of the codes hidden within the works of the great Italian genius.

Rush for Berlin is a tactical real time strategy game, set on the European battlefields of World War II, during 1944-45. In a desperate race against the clock to capture the German capital, as either the British/US/French alliance or the Red army of the Soviet Union, players will have the edge on the battlefield with their Officers.

In SpellForce II you are Commander of your troops and front fighting hero, solving quests and overcoming obstacles as in classical RPGs, but also leading armies as in an RTS. North American players craving an epic fantasy gameplay experience will be rewarded on April 24 when Aspyr releases SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars.

In something that looks eerily familiar to Sony's legal woes with Immersion, The Register is reporting that Lucent is going to court with Microsoft for alleged unauthorized usage of its MPEG2 decoder in the Xbox 360. Back in 2003 Lucent had already tried to sue Microsoft for the same reason, but was unsuccessful due to a technicality (typo in the patent's wording), which has since been adjusted. The complaint was filed with the US District Court in San Diego on March 28.

As we alluded to yesterday, Mithis Entertainment no longer exists, and instead Most Wanted Entertainment, now an internal development studio over at HD Interactive, has taken over development of Joint Task Force, with former Mithis project manager Zsolt Tatrai as managing director.

Telltale today announced a new pricing model for its episodic titles. Effective immediately, all episodes in the Bone series that sell through Telltale's digital distribution channel will sell for $12.99, to align with current models in other entertainment media.

Graffiti Entertainment announced today that they have signed an agreement with Vision Studios for North American publishing rights to Strike Force Red Cell, a soon to be released FPS for the PC and X360. Strike Force Red Cell is counter-terrorist game where you fight against terrorist in a real world first person shooter environment.

Rush for Berlin is a tactical real time strategy game, set on the European battlefields of World War II, during 1944-45. The player's goal; to capture the German capital, as either the British/US/French alliance or the Red army of the Soviet Union.

Fireglow team is now developing a next generation game engine (codename: Sudden Strike Next7) and the first game based on this engine, which now is officially named 'Sudden Strike III: Arms For Victory'. Fireglow plans to develop several other games based on this engine in different setups related to war conflicts.

Alten8 announced it has signed a deal with P.M. STUDIOS to publish Etrom : The Astral Essence in most European countries. Etrom is a 3D Action-RPG game has a Deep and involving Storyline set in a dark, futuristic, "neo-gothic" world where technology and a fantasy Middle Ages collide.

A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Undercover Mystery Shopper released today shows dramatic improvement in retail enforcement of computer and video game ratings over the past five years, a result applauded by video game retailers trade group Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA).

Rush for Berlin is a tactical real time strategy game, set on the European battlefields of World War II, during 1944-45. The player's goal; to capture the German capital, as either the British/US/French alliance or the Red army of the Soviet Union.

Myelin Media today announced that its Texas Hold 'Em game, Stacked with Daniel Negreanu will feature interoperability between the PS2 and PSP, allowing you to play continue a single-player game, or multiplayer, cross-platform.

In SpellForce II you are Commander of your troops and front fighting hero, solving quests and overcoming obstacles as in classical RPGs, but also leading armies as in an RTS. Your character is supported by up to 5 heroes who can be summoned at special monuments - these will become available in stronger versions as you progress and reveal more of the epic storyline.

Pursuit Force is a fast-paced arcade-action game, that fuses driving and combat mechanics to create a unique gaming experience for PSP. Pursuit Force follows the misadventures of a rookie Police Officer tracking down five criminal gangs across an entire fictional state in America.