In a press conference earlier today Microsoft's Jim Allchin announced that its Windows Vista OS is ready and has been sent to manufacturing for public release on January 30, 2007. Windows Vista is "the most heavily tested, highest quality and most secure operating system in the company’s history."

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.

JoWooD, Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes announced that in two days time, for all those that have not yet played Gothic 3 and experienced the incredible vastness of this RPG, they will be able to dip into the living real world with the release of the Gothic 3 demo, on Friday 10 November. We will of course have it available on our fileserver network

Gitaroo Man Lives! sees the return of one of the PS2’s most popular rhythm action games, giving you the opportunity to jam with the man and save the universe all over again. KOEI announced that Gitaroo Man Lives! has reached gold status and is set to ship to North American retailers on November 14th, 2006.

AoE III: The WarChiefs is an expansion pack for Age of Empires III, adding new civilizations, gameplay elements, single player campaign, Home City enhancements, additional maps and units. Ensemble is working on the v1.01 patch, currently in final testing, which mainly addresses balance issues and a few exploits that players have found.

Agetec announce the upcoming Brain Buster Puzzle Pak for the NDS, featuring the latest and most challenging Japanese mind games including Sudoku and Kakuro, providing abundant challenges for novices and experts alike with a deep selection of added bonus materials.

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.

In Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, players will be introduced to the world of Ashan, a dark and unforgiving world, scarred by a bloody history and threatened by an apocalyptic prophecy: the Dark Messiah. These v1.1 patches address various bugs and issues with the game...

Heroes of Might & Magic V: Hammers of Fate is an add-on for last year's HOMM 5 turn-based strategy game, where players take part in a thrilling new adventure in the World of Ashan.

Atari announced that it has entered into a new three-year secured revolving credit facility with Guggenheim Corporate Funding, as the administrative agent to a syndicate of lenders, which provides up to $15 million of credit availability based upon accounts receivables.

Sonic's first next-gen adventure set in the human world! Featuring interactive 3D environments and a large cast of returning and new characters, get ready for the reinvention of Sonic The Hedgehog, in his most intense, high velocity escapade to date!

Stronghold Legends builds on the Stronghold heritage with beautifully crafted visuals and the epic legends of the middle ages. This patch brings your retail game to v1.11 and mostly addresses multiplayer issues such as improving stability, transfer system, set max amount of players, added LAN filter to the lobby and more ...

Pendulo Studios is working on a follow-up to last year's hit title Runaway: A Road Adventure, an adventure game with 3D characters with a cartoon look and high-impact visual features that include 2D and 3D in an unmatchable style.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• D.I.R.T.: The Origin of the Species (PC)
• The Winx Club: Quest for the Codex (GBA/NDS)
• My Frogger Toy Trials (NDS)
• Digimon World DS (NDS)
• SEGA Genesis Collection (PS2)
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  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Whirlwind of Vietnam is a helicopter sim that depicts the most famous episodes of the war in a movie-style way. The main events of the game are based on well-known material dedicated to the War such as We Were Soldiers, Apocalypse Now, Hamburger Hill and many others. Whirlwind of Vietnam lead designer Nikita Gerasimov gives us more details about the game ...

Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 is a WWII standalone follow-up game to the Red Orchestra mod, that introduces new gameplay and features. Bold Games and Tripwire Interactive announced that Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 is being re-released as a Collector’s Edition with a host of additional features such as new maps, vehicles, weapons, and several bonus items.

What if what you do as a player in a game impacted your real world? What is reality? .hack, a sci-fi fantasy RPG, has pursued this innovative concept in the previous 4-part series where “The World” was ultimately destroyed. Years after the events of the first .hack series, “The World” was rebuilt.

Juka, a young Alchemist, must use his power of potion creation, and master the ancient art of The Sound Staff if he is to make his way through the many quests, puzzles, and Menace Machines that he will encounter while trying to free the land of Obla from the evil Monophonic Menace.

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:

• Yakuza 2 [PS2] - Trailer #2
• RoboBlitz [X360/PC] - Trailer #2
• Medieval II: Total War - Trailer (2)
• The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King - Trailer (2)
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Super X Studios announces that it has signed a North American publishing agreement with Ubisoft for Safari Photo Africa: Wild Earth.

Arthur and the Invisibles revolves around the supportive co-op teamwork of the 3 characters, solving mysteries and overcoming obstacles. This demo allows you to check out 3 levels (Attack of the Henchmen, Betameche in Danger, and End) from the game..

Mage Knight Apocalypse is an action RPG based on the collectible miniature game from WizKids Games with a unique character leveling system and a focus on team play. The v1.02 patch adds camera chase mode, hotkeys for camera control, but most tweaks and balances units and skills.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces will put players in command of the apocalyptic battles raging in the streets of New York City between the angelic Tribulation Forces and the demonic Global Community Peacekeepers during the End of Days. Replacing the earlier beta version, Left Behind Games has released the official/updated demo, offering tutorial, 4 singleplayer missions and multiplayer mode.

Gothic 3 is the third part of the RPG legend presenting an intense, living world and a non-linear, varied gaming experience. This v1.09 Euro patch addresses an issue where trying to save a game would crash/hang the program with a memory related error message.

Although Spider-Man 3 is already in the works, SEGA revealed Iron Man earlier this week, and Take-Two bagged Fantastic Four 2, it seems that Marvel has even more game projects in the works. In its financial statement, Marvel disclosed that EA is preparing a sequel to its arena fighting game Marvel Nemesis, Konami has Marvel vs. Card Game listed, and it seems that Activision is not only working on a title based on the third Spider-Man movie, but a mysterious Spider-Man Trilogy game is also tentatively scheduled for Q4 2007.