As promised, EA has released a new patch for its 3D RTS sequel The Battle for Middle-Earth 2. This update brings your retail game to v1.02 and fixes a lobby crashes, 2 desyncs, rank issue fixed and tournament reporting bug. Read more for download links ...

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.

SEGA today announced a new partnership with Obsidian Entertainment to collaboratively develop an original role playing game for PC, PS3 and X360

Publisher JoWooD, Co Publisher Deep Silver and Developer Phenomic are pleased to announce today that the highly anticipated RTS/RPG game SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars has gone gold and is on track for release in UK on April 20th 2006.

The Sims 2: Open for Business will revolve around setting up businesses and making money. You will need to strategically place employees, or fire useless workers, in order to keep your customers happy. EA has released the first patch.

AGEIA Technologies today announced that the latest version of AGEIA PhysX SDK version 2.4 will become available to registered PlayStation 3 game content developers on March 31, 2006.

Futuremark has discovered that Starforce installs a driver that runs at the highest level of access on the system, which gives it low level access to the PCs hardware and any drivers and processes. This driver runs regardless of whether the game runs, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity such as attempting to copy a protected disc. If something suspicious is detected, it forces the PC to make an immediate reboot, regardless of any other applications running and whether or not the user has any unsaved work.

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.

Philips amBX announced that it has signed agreements with Revolution Software and Sumo Digital to use its new Ambient Intelligent technology. Philips' amBX will provide gamers with the ability to use light, colour, sound, heat and even airflow in the real world during gameplay.

Star Cave Studios announced the development of its multiplatform game, Terra: Formations! In Terra: Formations, players have the freedom to select their preferred style of game play, ranging from high action First Person Shooter (FPS) to more strategic Real-Time Strategy (RTS) in a ranking system set up much like a Role-Playing Game (RPG)!

While already announced late last year, the stand-alone expansion for CDV's RTS, Cossacks II: Battle for Europe, will feature three new nations, along with a variety of new battlegrounds, campaigns and battle scenarios, both historical and hypothetical. Cossacks II: Battle for Europe is scheduled for this June.

Need for Speed Most Wanted delivers a unique, fast-paced and gripping ride in the racing genre as players build up their Rap Sheet and street cred to move their way up the Black List to become the most wanted racer on the streets.

THQ today announced a licensing agreement with Epic Games for the use of Epic's Unreal Engine 3 technology in future next gen console and PC games.

While already announced late last year, the stand-alone expansion for CDV's RTS, Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, will feature three new nations, along with a variety of new battlegrounds, campaigns and battle scenarios, both historical and hypothetical. Cossacks II: Battle for Europe is scheduled for this June.

A community update made by EA's Executive Producer Mike Verdu reveals that the Battle for Middle-earth II v1.02 patch is scheduled for next week and will address a multiplayer crash, two out of sync issues, and the problem with how games were reporting ladder results and stats incorrectly, so the ladders once 1.02 goes live. Mike also reports that server hardware has been replaced so the recent server outages should be a thing of the past.

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.

An ongoing discussion in the EA community forums regarding a stuttering issue in the PC version of Need For Speed Most Wanted concluded with the forum admin revealing there will be no more patches due to "time and resources." Although in early February the team was apparently doing some testing to investigate the issue, EA recently decided to drop all NFS Most Wanted support (thanks ve3d). On the bright side, EA promises to do better in future releases ... really ...

German publisher Frogster has released a free downloadable add-on for Mayhem Studios' Fantasy RPG Neverend, adding new battlefields, characters, animations, quests, while also implementing some bug fixes and other optimizations. Read more for download links ...

Set for launch in June 2006, Formula One 06 is the only official game of the 2006 FIA Formula One World championship and is back exclusively to PS2 and PSP. Loaded with new features and all the official 2006 drivers, cars, teams, circuits and rules, Formula One 06 is the only way to truly interact with the world's raciest sport!

THQ today announced the formation of XDG (External Development Group), a new team charged with streamlining the company's development outsourcing needs, spearheaded by Shiraz Akmal, previously director of research and development at THQ's Heavy Iron Studios

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.

Another strike against Starforce, as Bluesnews received the following, "Aspyr Media is responsible for publishing the North American release of Spellforce 2. We wanted everyone to know that Starforce will *not* be included in the retail release of this game. Starforce is being used in the demo in cooperation with the European publishers of the title, JoWood. We apologize for any inconveniences Starforce may have caused and would again like to reassure everyone that we have chosen alternative copy protection software for our final release product."

As if the StarForce copy protection isn't the center of enough controversy these days, the company decided to shamelessly promote the use of its anti-piracy application by ... linking to BitTorent to download a pirated game. Recently, Stardock's Galactic Civilizations II got attention because it doesn't use any protection but sells increasingly well, apart from a serial code required to receive free updates & patches. Apparently, StarForce feels threatened by this and, to seemingly prove copy protections are required, facilitates piracy by publicly spreading information where to download pirated games.

In SpellForce II you take over both roles, Commander of your troops and also a 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.

An update on the official Battle for Middle-earth II Web site reveals that EA is working on two new patches. One imminent patch in the next few days will address some synch issues, multiplayer crashes and a few other glitches, while another is scheduled in the next 3-4 weeks and will include balance changes, fixes for a few exploits, a change to the way game results and stats are reported for the ladders, some improvements to the game, and other goodies. We will, of course, have those patches available on our file server network when they are released.