It has been a bit quiet around Vietcong developer Pterodon, and after several months, the reason has been revealed. As it turns out, Pterodon has been acquired by fellow Czech Republic developer Illusion Softworks nine months ago. Technically, Pterodon still exists but is merely a shell company. All employees were moved to Illusion and are working on Enemy In Sight, recently sold off by ailing Atari to a yet-unknown publisher.

Russian publisher/developer 1C Company announced today the opening of its British office in July 2006, led by industry veteran Peter King, previously active at Activision as Business development and Emerging Markets manager, and Novalogic as European Sales Director.

Sonic The Hedgehog melds top-tier animation production values with next generation art, physics and game design to create the most intense, high velocity Sonic adventure yet! Featuring interactive 3D environments, a large cast of new and returning characters, and a blistering sense of speed, get ready for the reinvention of Sonic The Hedgehog!

Ritual has released another developer diary, in blog format, with information and media for the new Arena mode update coming soon, details for an upcoming patch for Sin Episode 1, information about their statistics tracking website, SDK / Developer Wiki information, SiN Episode 2 details, and an E3 2006 summary of events.

Microsoft today announced that X06 will be held on 27th and 28th September this year. It was also revealed that the glamorous, cosmopolitan and cultural city of Barcelona will be playing host to this year’s exclusive event.

EA today officially announced the next installment in the Need for Speed franchise, Need for Speed Carbon. Scheduled for release in November 2006, NFS 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.

Ignition announced today its plan to release the PSP exclusive 3D role-playing game Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light in Europe. Blade Dancer is one of the first RPG title for the PSP that adopts a dynamic multi-player system. Gamers can now play an RPG with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials takes players deep into the Splinter Cell saga. Experience all-new missions and objective exclusive to the PSP system, and discover the untold story of Sam Fisher through flashbacks to various missions from the entire Splinter Cell franchise, including Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent.

Heroes of Might & Magic V benefits from the features and characteristics that established the success of the initial saga while offering a wealth of innovations such as a highly immersive scenario, a variety of appealing factions, modern 3D graphics, a revolutionary tactical combat system, and a story-based campaign mode.

As promised, Take 2 has released a demo for 3DRealms/Human Head's upcoming sci-fi FPS, Prey. The single/multiplayer demo features approximately one hour of gameplay time, as well as two multiplayer maps and countless hours of gravityless action.

Welcome to the fight, soldier… The deafening thunder of artillery fire echoes the pounding heart in your chest as you wade onto a beach littered with the bodies of your fallen comrades. In front of you - 8 square miles of rugged volcanic island, broken by the weapons of war, and occupied by hostile Japanese forces. Welcome to hell on Earth.

The Chronicles of Spellborn is an MMORPG set in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Developed by Dutch studio Spellborn International, previously known as Khaeon, Spellborn uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine. TCoS Producer Erik 't Sas talks about the current state of the game and what to expect in the near future!

Diabolik Evil's Origin is a new 3D point 'n' click adventure game in works over at Italian development studio Artematica, previously known for titles such as Martin Mystere.

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:

• Titan Quest - Trailer
• Hellboy [PSP/PS3/X360] - E3 2006 Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Perimeter: Emperor's Testament, expansion pack to last year’s award-winning RTS, will feature all new & updated graphics, tons of new units and structures, a new soundtrack, and a total of 25 new missions.

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.

Codemasters will be releasing a demo for its miniature racing game Micro Machines v4, giving you the opportunity to race against 3 additional people on three tracks set in a kitchen, a chicken coop, and on top of several unidentified rooftops. There will also be a quick battle singleplayer mode against AI. The demo will be available on our fileserver network tomorrow at 5PM PST (2 AM Euro time)

Reuters reported that a federal judge has agreed to an appeal made by video game industry groups, thereby prohibiting Louisiana from implementing its new law, which prevents sales of violent games to children under the age of 18. The legislation, which fined violators up to $2,000 and/or one year in prison, was signed into law last week by Governor Kathleen Blanco.

In Gods and Heroes, players become classic heroes of the ancient world, born of immortal blood. As a scion of the gods, each player will have the opportunity to pursue his destiny through a series of Epic Quests that will span all levels of gameplay, over time commanding amazing God Powers and acquiring famous weapons and treasure of myth.

DreamCatcher Games today announced that it will publish First Battalion for Windows in North America. Join the ranks as you take command of the First Battalion and lead your forces into one of the most intense and important wars in history! From the streets of Stalingrad to the beaches of Normandy, you will experience some of the greatest battles of World War II.

IDV announced today that it has added eight more developers to its growing list of SpeedTree customers. Midway, People Can Fly, Koei Canada, CD Projekt and several others have gone on record as users of SpeedTree for its wind effects, foliage editor, and dynamic LODs. SpeedTree 4.0 was also released, promising a host of new features. Read more for details ...

To commemorate its official fan community reaching 3 million registered users, BioWare announced today the "3 Million Member Celebration," which will feature prize giveaways. Goodies include an NVIDIA- and Microsoft-sponsored ultimate gaming system, X360 premium bundles, and NVIDIA 7800GTX 512MB graphics cards. Contest ends August 21st, so enter now!

Originally announced during E3 2006, but known under the working title Kirby DS, Nintendo seems to have finalized the name to Kirby: Squeak Squad.

Bullet Witch is an action adventure taking place in the exceedingly bleak near future of 2013. Civilization is on the brink of extinction after demons begin appearing on the earth, and the player wades into the fray as a witch named Alicia.