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 Arwen, 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.

Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software announce Forge of Freedom, a new American Civil War strategy game. More than seven-score years have passed since the start of this conflict that pitted state against state, brother against brother and broke the chains of slavery.

Pompolic: Call for Heroes, developed by Quotix Software, is a third-person action game with RPG elements placed in a fantasy world.

THQ and JAKKS are working on WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 enabling players to experience the intensity of being a WWE Superstar like never before with key updates and new game play features. While originally the 2007 version was scheduled for PS3, THQ Germany's site admin Max Steller revealed that this year's edition will most likely not make it to Sony's next gen console and that the development team would rather concentrate their resources on the three other platforms.

Spider-Man: Battle for New York allows gamers to take on the role of their favorite Super Hero, Spider-Man, and one of his famed nemeses, Green Goblin, in an original storyline which builds upon their legendary comic book rivalry.

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.

Atari announced today that the Xbox 360 edition of its upcoming next-generation racing game Test Drive Unlimited will retail for US$39.95, and it plans to release monthly car packs featuring six or more cars, complete with genre-specific radio stations, beginning six weeks after launch on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and will challenge players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

JoWooD today announced the first expansion for its action/rpg sequel, SpellForce 2: Dragon Storm, offering more of the original’s entertaining and seamless blend of RTS and RPG gameplay. The expansion pack will be released in Winter 2006.

THQ today announced the formation of its new California based development team, Incinerator Games, comprised of veterans of the Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show projects from Sony's 989 studios, as well as the Midnight Club franchise from Rockstar.

Avistar Communications today announced that it has entered into an agreement to license CPI's patent portfolio to Sony. Under the license agreement, CPI granted Sony a license for the field of video-conferencing, covering Sony's video conference apparatus as well as other products including video-enabled PC and PlayStation products.

In an effort to stop its slipping market share and become more competitive, Intel announced today that it will be cutting 1,000 manager jobs worldwide. Since 2005 Intel has steadily lost ground to its rival Advance Micro Devices, and Chief Executive Paul Otellini stated : "This step is important because it addresses a key problem we've found in our efficiency analysis: slow and ineffective decision-making, resulting, in part, from too many management layers."

Fasten your seatbelt and be prepared for the race of your life as Formula One 06 brings players a brand new gaming experience, allowing you to get closer to the sport than ever before, and take part in the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship and truly interact with the sport.

he Star Wars Galaxies online game series is designed to immerse players in the rich Star Wars universe. Star Wars Galaxies will feature dynamic role-playing ground-based adventures across multiple planets in the classic Star Wars timeframe. With SWG: Battle for Restuss LucasArts is trying to appeal to high level players with new quests and content.

For Liberty! is a turn based computer strategy game for the PC, covering two wars of independence - the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the Rakoczi War of Independence in Europe 1703-1711. The For Liberty! Demo features a hypothetical southern campaign from April to October 1780. Most gameplay features are enabled in the Demo, except for multiplayer, and you can even play the tactical battles!

Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and will challenge players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

Xbox Live Marketplace is now featuring a playable demo of EA's real-time strategy, The Battle for Middle-earth II. The demo features an introductory level; the first mission from the single-player evil campaign, which allows you to play as a Goblin or Elf; and a multiplayer map. Simply sign in to Xbox LIVE from the Xbox Dashboard to download the free demo.

EA has released mod tools for The Battle for Middle-Earth 2 allowing the community to create and mod their own content. This package includes 3DS Max 7 Autodesk plugin, a W3D Viewer, an Asset Cache Builder, as well as documentation and tutorials to get you started.

Earlier today EA held its Studio Showcase 06 where it presented its lineup for the rest of the year and beyond. Valve's Gabe Newell blew our socks off with the announcement that TF2 will be included as multiplayer portion with Episode 2, and even a full singleplayer game called Portal.

ATI Technologies announced today that Microsoft has chosen ATI's H.264 decoder for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, bringing users sharper, more true-to-life visuals and smoother playback of high-definition content, up to six times the resolution of traditional DVDs all on a single disc.

Turbine announced today the release of a second free content module for its MMO Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. The Twilight Forge module features a new story module consisting of a series of adventures culminating in an epic encounter against a legendary foe, the Warforged Titan.

EA announced today that actress Emmanuelle Vaugier will star in Need for Speed Carbon. Developed by EA Black Box, Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and challenges players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

Joint Task Force is a story of modern war where players match superior tactics and military technology against dangerous unconventional forces around the globe.

Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and will challenge players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

The Interactive Software Federation of Europe held a panel discussion involving consumers, publishers and developers of video games throughout the European Union. Participants including parents’ representatives heard a panel of independent experts, including psychologists and media specialists, express their views about the impact of videogames on players, especially the younger ones.