Atari announced its intention to move into the horse-themed video game market with the unique support and endorsement of the official license from the Fédération Equestre Internationale – the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

SouthPeak Games has confirmed that Monster Madness: Battle For Suburbia has been certified as an official Games for Windows title. This certification cements Monster Madness as being compatible with a range of hardware configurations as well as guaranteeing that the game lives up to Microsoft's security and stability standards.

Cartoon Network is expanding its games distribution to next-gen videogame consoles through an new browser application developed at AFI's Digital Content Lab. Launching in late 2007 to early 2008, the new multi-platform window called "MEGA Series" delivers an interactive video and gaming experience to PS3, X360 and Wii.

Valve announced plans to deliver Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch to all owners of ATI Radeon graphics cards. Steam will automatically confirm the presence of ATI Radeon hardware and then enable immediate access to full versions of the games free of charge.

Codemasters announced that Sensible World of Soccer has been listed as one of the ten most influential games of all time at this years Game Developers Conference.

SEGA and Nintendo announced that two of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry, Mario and Sonic, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, where players will compete in events that take place in environments based on the official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Electronic Arts plans to make an equity investment in Korea-based online gaming company, Neowiz Corporation, and expand the existing co-development and publishing relationship with that company.

Major League Baseball Pitcher Curt Schilling announced that 38 Studios, LLC, will be the official corporate name of the Green Monster Games entertainment company he launched last fall.

Video Games Live is a concert event featuring music from the biggest video games of all time accompanied by a full orchestra and choir along with completely synchronized state-of-the-art lighting and massive video screens. Nintendo composer Koji Kondo will be making a special appearance at the event and is scheduled to perform one of his favorite melodies from his long and storied career.

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter, a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics.

Conspiracy Entertainment, already making titles for GBA, NDS and NGC, announced today that it intends to develop games for Nintendo's Wii gaming platform.

Boku Strategy Games announced today the termination of all contracts with Shrapnel Games. Boku Strategy Games has full ownership, rights and interest to title such as Horse and Musket, its expansion packs and sequel, Dragoon: The Prussian War Machine, Prussia's Glory, Combat Command 2 series and The War Engine.

Vivendi Games' revenues were up 15% compared to last year, primarily driven by the continued success of World of Warcraft, and the solid launch revenues in North America from Scarface, based on the classic Universal Studios film. For the first 9 months of the year revenue was up 20%, partly by continuous strong sales of 50 Cent and Ice Age 2.

The World Cyber Games 2006 Grand Final in Monza, Italy, kicks off in just six days. The WCG 2006 is planned to be the largest-scale event yet with 700 gamers from 70 countries participating, including six new countries such as Ireland and Saudi Arabia, which will send representatives to the WCG Grand Final for the first time.

FUN Technologies will host the inaugural casual games competition WorldWide Web Games (W3Games) Saturday Sept. 9. Set to air on the Game Show Network December 2, the W3Games will bring casual game players from across the world to Hollywood for a chance to turn hours of game play into one huge $1 million paycheck.

October 2nd–7th sees London come alive with a festival celebrating the very best in contemporary video games. Throughout the week there will be a series of public and industry events showcasing some of the hottest games, consoles, topics and people helping to shape the fastest growing entertainment industry.

European Goth Rock band Within Temptation,build around front woman Sharon den Adel, will rock the expo twice as they perform two mini concerts during which exclusive new Spellborn songs and platinum selling hits like 'Stand my ground' will be played. Within Temptation will perform their show in Hall 4 during the expo.

Activision Value has entered into a distribution agreement with Big Fish Games under which Activision will be the exclusive distributor of three titles for the PC.

Just when you thought you heard it all, a Canton, Ohio news outlet ran an article on a surprising trend of high pregnancies amongst teenage girls at a local high school, and partly put the blame on video games. "Whose fault is it that more than 13 percent of Timken’s girls are with child? Some would say fault-finding isn’t a fruitful exercise, but in this case, it’s critical. Suspects range from movies, TV and video games to lazy parents and lax discipline."

Vivendi Games' revenues of EUR 296 million were 24.4% higher than the prior year, primarily driven by the continued worldwide success of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft. Other solid performers in the first half of 2006 included the release of Ice Age 2, the game based on Fox movie, and continuing strong sales from backlist products including 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Crash Tag Team Racing.

Not quite sure what to make of this, but in an interview with PSM, SCEA president Kaz Hirai made a rather surprising statement about the game prices for its upcoming PS3 console. "I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say, 'PS3 games now $99.99.' I don't think the consumers expect the software pricing to suddenly be double. So, if it becomes a bit higher than 59 bucks, don't ding me, but, again, as I said, I don't expect it to be 100 bucks."

Check out the following new screens from On Games' E3 2006 lineup:

• The Legend of the Dragon - Features & Screens
• Wild Summer - Features & Screens
• PC Football 2007 - Features & Screens
• Shadows of War - Features & Trailer

On Games, Planeta DeAgostini Interactive’s producing and developing brand, proudly announces the presentation of its upcoming products at the E3 trade show. On display will be 4 new titles, PC Football 2007, Wild Summer, Shadows of War, The Legend of the Dragon. Read more for details ...

The World Cyber Games today announced that Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Games for Windows will sponsor the global tournament through 2008, providing hardware, software, and marketing support for the events.

Bigfoot Networks will bring to market the world’s first Gaming Network Accelerator card, which will allow online gamers to play their favorite games with less lag. Lag is the number one problem in online video games today, and Bigfoot Networks is the only company in the world whose sole mission is to fight lag.