Making History: The Calm & the Storm puts players in control of global conflict, combining a highly sophisticated AI with rich historical detail. This updated demo has been pulled due to an installation bug, a proper version is expected shortly...

The entire Worthplaying staff would like to say "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to our readers all around the world. We hope everybody has a wonderful holiday, loads of good food, and a joyful time with friends & family. May Santa bring you all the games you wished for, but above all, stay safe! Our news coverage will not slow down, but the news itself might be lacking. If there is anything worthy of your attention, you can be sure to read it here ...

Infernal is a third-person action adventure that is set in a present-day scenario, with stunning environments and strong characters. The story relates to the eternal conflict between good and evil, confronted in supernatural intelligence agencies.

Mysterious and tiny creatures, the titular Elebits have been the source of the world's power for the past 10,000 years. While humans and Elebits have always lived in harmony, these friendly beings love to cause trouble, and it's up to players to track them down and put an end to their mischief.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in the Caribbean islands of the 18th Century. You play a bold sea captain, master of your own ship and crew, as you seek glory and adventure across the trackless deep.

Total Extreme Wrestling 2007 allows you to take on the role of a wrestling promoter and steer your company to the top. Grey Dog Software released a limited-time demo allowing you to try out the entire game and be permitted to continuously repeat one month of game time.

SCEA announced the North American release of Gran Turismo HD Concept, available for free download on the PS3's PlayStation Store. Polyphony Digital Inc's driving game features an all-new course for players to be the first to drive a Ferrari on a PS3, as well as the option to select a car from nine other manufacturers including Infiniti, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki.

Late November Saga of Ryzom developer Nevrax announced it had gone into receivership, a.k.a bankruptcy protection, and discussions with an interested party to take over are ongoing. It has now been announced that German pulisher GameForge has taken over Nevrax and its portfolio, including Saga of Ryzom featuring an immersive player-driven storyline, a dynamic ecosystem, mass combat mechanics, and lush graphics.

Space Empires V completely updates the user interface, and takes the player into a real-time rendered 3D universe. Watch space battles play out in glorious detail with realistic effects. Expand, Explore, Exploit, and Exterminate in a huge, living, breathing galaxy.

Legend of the Dragon is a 3rd person action game with RPG components, featuring fantastic martial arts movements from the TV series. As in the series, players will find Twelve Signs of the Ancient Chinese Zodiac, each with its own temple, and each temple with its own guardian.

In Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007, challenge the world's top golfers in all-new PGA Tour Mode, featuring training sessions, practice, and The FedEx Cup. Hone your skills in the all-new Shooting Gallery, then play as or against 11 players, including John Daly, on 12 championship courses.

Step up as the lead blocker to create a hole, and then take control of the tailback and smash through, overpower, or slash away from would-be tacklers as you fight for every yard. Innovative rushing controls give you a game-breaking ground attack featuring all-new jukes, cutbacks, and the distinct running styles of your favorite backs.

In Crysis, shooter fans will face a new kind of gameplay challenge requiring adaptive tactics and customization of weapons and armor in dynamic, hostile environments as mankind struggles to survive in the face of a horrific alien invasion.

Diver: Deep Water Adventures is a mix of 3D tactical strategies and first-person adventure action. Biart has released a new patch, bringing the French retail version to v1.06 and fixes mission 14, video playback, BCD control, mailbox log and various other bugs.

G-Stars will publish Flyboys Squadron, a single player game combined with an MMOG that puts the player in the pilot seat of a Nieuport 17 biplane to participate in exciting World War I era missions inspired by the Flyboys movie.

Weigh anchor, sail the seven seas, explore new continents and foreign cultures. Demonstrate your strategic skills, business acumen and diplomatic finesse. Revel in the jubilant cheers of your people – but don't disappoint them. This v1.01 patch is for the UK/French versions and updates gfx on the G80, improves unit balancing, multiplayer, and fixes a slew of other issues.

Ever wonder how Santa Claus manages to work his way down chimneys way too small for him? Or how he seems to stop time in order to visit all of the world's good boys and girls every Christmas morning? LucasArts and TT Games know the answer: Santa Claus is a Jedi Knight whose amazing Force powers allow him to pull off such spectacular feats.

While details are as good as non-existant, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic developer Arkane Studios and the art Director of Half-Life 2 are working on an all new project, The Crossing, powered by Valve's Source engine. According to 1UP this game, if pulled off successfully, could create a new genre of gaming, as it merges singleplayer with multiplayer in what is being called crossplayer-FPS. The Crossing will be cover story on the next Games for Windows issue.

Thrillville queue-jumps previous theme-park games with its access-all-areas pass to adventure and enjoyment, placing a fully interactive and customisable amusement park at your fingertips, allowing you to experience the joys of creating and playing within their very own theme park.

The Shield, based on the TV series, is a 3rd person action game in which you take on the role of Mackey, the tough, street-savvy leader of the Elite Strike Team, a special police unit located deep within the crime-riddled trenches of Los Angeles. Executive Producer Rob Sandberg tells us more about the game ...

With LFS S2 important features have been added, dynamic camber (improved simulation of suspension and different suspension types), highly detailed tyre physics and a damage model have been introduced. The LFS team has released a new update for the LfS S2 alpha demo adding stability, several fixes, and an in-game autoupdate function.

BioWare is bringing an enhanced version, high-resolution graphics and new visual effects, of Jade Empire to the PC. The original, story of Jade Empire is injected with new monsters, weapons, combat styles, new challenges, and special items to discover.

Sacred 2 is a deep fantasy RPG where players are immersed in an epic journey through the medieval-like kingdom of Ancaria. Highly action-oriented, Ascaron's Sacred 2 features pitched battles and a wide range of enticing quests.

Silverfall is a fantasy-style 3D action RPG that casts players into a world torn between science and nature. Monte Cristo has released the first patch bringing your French retail game to v1.13 and adds various optimizations, UI changes, multiplayer fixes, and other tweaks.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• C&C 3: Tiberium Wars [X360] - Trailer
• Ar Tonelico [PS2] - Trailer #2
• Sacred 2 - Trailer #2
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar - Trailer #5
• Battlestations Midway [X360/PC] - Gameplay Trailer #4
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...