RedOctane today announced its Be A Guitar Hero Competition. Bands nationwide are invited to submit original music for potential inclusion in Guitar Hero the innovative new video game scheduled for release on the PlayStation2 in the fall of 2005.

Microsoft has sued four online retailers in California and Virginia for selling pirated software after having received complaints from consumers and businesses who had purchased software from those outlets.

Joint Task Force is a state-of-the-art military RTS with a contemporary setting. The game will consist of 20 missions that will take us to 5 different parts of the world such as the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkans.

Actor and self proclaimed gamer Vin Diesel is said to have signed on to star as Agent 47 in the upcoming Hitman movie, in the works over at 20th Century Fox. No director has been assgined yet but the movie will be produced by Charles Gordon (Daybreak Productions, Die Hard) and Adrian Askarieh (Prime Universe Productions, Spy Hunter), with a helping hand from Eidos' Paul Baldwin. It is also rumored that Vin Diesel's game production company Tigon Studios is in talks with Eidos and IO Interactive regarding the Hitman license and might lend his voice to a future Hitman title, its release coinciding with the aforementioned movie.

Inon Zur is writing the musical score for NCsoft's new online action game Exteel. Zur has composed music for titles such as PoP: Warrior Within, Men Of Valor, Socom II and Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest, and his orchestral scores are featured in the promotional trailers for movies such as Kingdom Of Heaven, The Pacifier and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Mythic Entertainment today announced that Steve Perkins has joined the company as Director of Marketing. A seven-year veteran of the computer and videogame industry, Perkins recently served in the same capacity at EA leading the marketing for numerous titles, including the "Battlefield" franchise. In his new role, Perkins will oversee all aspects of strategic marketing including advertising, promotions, PR and the management of Mythic's relationships with key marketing partners.

20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures are teaming up to make a feature film adaptation of the Microsoft video game Halo. Negotiations still were under way late Thursday, but under the deal, Universal will take domestic rights and Fox will handle international.

World Forces: War on Terror is a tactical, arcade style RTS, which is set in the very near future, utilizing the modern weaponry of tomorrow.

The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, relating to the proposed GameStop-EB Games merger, has ended. The merger transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005, although it remains subject to approval by stockholders of both companies and other customary closing conditions.

Paradox Interactive today announced that it will be publishing the sequel to Galactic Civilizations, Galactic Civilizations II, in Europe. The title is scheduled for release around Feb 2006.

Techland announced today that the english version of Chrome SpecForce has gone gold. The game has been sent for replication now. Official date of english version premiere will be revealed soon. Chrome SpecForce is a Sci-Fi shooter set in a far future. You become Bolt Logan, a member of the elite SpecForce military unit. Your mission - to battle terrorist factions on the desolate planet of Estrella.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge is an action-adventure game that continues the story of Jack Skellington and his arch-nemesis, Oogie Boogie. Players take on the role of Jack, who must battle bizarre and vicious enemies in order to stop the diabolical Oogie Boogie from kidnapping the leaders of all the holidays.

Matrix Games and Mark H. Walker are very pleased to announce that Lock 'n Load: Band of Heroes is now available for a special pre-order price of $64.99 via the Matrix Games online store.

A bill before the California Assembly to ban the sale of violent video games has been shelved because of a lack of support and therefor Assemblyman Leland Yee has deactivated his bill, for the time being, after failing to muster enough votes for it to pass the full Assembly.

JoWooD Productions announced today that they have secured the vocal talents from the original team of the long-running TV series Stargate SG-1. Each of the actors will be playing the console version of their characters in the game and adding their unique characteristics to the role.

In DF: BHD players will take on the role of an elite Delta Force Operative as they participate in a number of daring raids against the oppressive Somali warlords in and around Mogadishu. Black Hawk Down brings the intensity of Modern Warfare to Xbox and PS2 with a range of intense single player and multiplayer missions.

Today Ubisoft officially opens its door in the provincial capital where it intends to invest 75 M$ CAD and create 200 jobs within five years. Ubisoft will start with 75 jobs in Quebec City this year. The new production studio will be located in the heart of the Saint-Roch district at 390, Charest East.

Whiptail Interactive today announced that Restricted Area, its critically acclaimed action/RPG, has shipped to retail stores nationwide. Restricted Area has been a highly anticipated game in the U.S. since its release last year in Germany.

In an interview with EuroGamer, Remedy's Petri Järvilehto said that they were looking into the possibility to offer its upcoming next-gen title Alan Wake through a system similar to Valve's Steam. Fans of boxed games can rest assured though, as Remedy is only looking into it as an "option," while its main distributiuon will be done through the conventional boxed copy method. Petri also said that he thinks a digital only distribution is still a ways off.

This summer, Lead Pursuit LLC, in association Graphsim Entertainment Inc., brings the spirit of Falcon 4.0 back to life with a totally updated simulator for 2005. Falcon 4.0: Allied Force pushes the boundaries once again for today's demanding gaming enthusiast on June 28th.

Fonix Speech announced an agreement to continue to deliver Fonix voice command technology to the Xbox 360. Fonix Speech is an integrated communications carrier providing telecommunications services and value-added speech technologies

Gamers can dominate the tuner racing underground with new features and gameplay only made possible by the NDS. Utilizing the handheld’s touch screen technology, gamers can create their own custom vinyl designs in the "Design Studio" and apply them to the car for a unique tuner racing look.

Matrix Games announced today that Titans of Steel: Warring Suns is now available to purchase via digital download. Digital download provides a fast and secure way to get this classic mech combat game, without having to deal with the costs and waiting times for shipping.

Further establishing the Getting Up brand as a true representation of authentic graffiti culture, Atari and Marc Ecko today announced the involvement of over 65 well-known graffiti writers in the highly anticipated video game, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.