Akella today announced its participation in E3 2006, being held in Los Angeles, California on May, 10-12. Akella will be showing PT Boats, Disciples III, Heavy Duty, Hard to be a God, Swashbucklers and Showdown: Scorpion. Age of Pirates and Captain Blood will be shown at PlayLogic's booth.

SEGAtoday announced that Phantasy Star Universe will be available on the Xbox 360. Phantasy Star Universe offers two complete RPG experiences – a single-player action adventure spanning multiple planets, and a robust online multiplayer component that will support Xbox Live.

Sword of the Stars is a breakthrough Space Strategy game that seeks to reinvigorate the sub-genre. Players will explore planets, manage their empire and research new technology. Sword of the Stars provides quick, intuitive play, state-of-the-art graphics and tactical combat that make the game instantly involving and rewardingly fun.

10Tacle Studios and Hungarian developer Stormregion have decided to expand their operations on the brand Codename Panzers beyond the PC by creating a tactical action game on Xbox 360 and PS3. Also in production will be a turn-based strategy game for PSP & NDS.

Scarface is a third person action shooter now coming for the first time to game consoles & PC worldwide. In a complex world filled with excess and greed, players can take the role of Tony Montana, one of the most ruthless gangsters ever depicted on film.

In Bulletproof, 50 gets caught in a web of corruption, double-crosses and shady deals that lead him on a bloody path through New York's drug underworld. Working with the unlikeliest of allies, the streets heat up as 50 Cent takes on the most dangerous crime families in the city, uncovering an international conspiracy with devastating implications.

SEGA announced that OutRun 2006 Coast to Coast has Gone Gold and the final launch count down until April 25th has started. Power your way across 15 new American themed environments from the OutRun2 SP arcade experience. Race from coast to glorious coast with a fresh new mission structure, a license mode and online play, with up to 6 players for a thrilling head-to-head journey.

Japanese magazine Famitsu reports that Namco is working on yet another episode in its Ridge Racer series, and this time for Sony's next-gen Playstation 3 console. Ridge Racer 7 will be produced by Hideo Teramoto, music by Hiroshi Okubo under direction of Masaya Kobayashi. Not many details are available yet, but it is said that RR 7 will support online multiplayer for up to 14 players. More details surely to come during next months E3, so stay tuned for our live coverage.

The all-new Sensible Soccer comes complete with lightning fast football action, mesmerising dribbling, physics defying sliding tackles and, most famously, a huge amount of unbelievable goals, that can go curling into the top corner, thanks to the outrageous levels of after-touch.

Matrix Games and 2 by 3 Games have released a new patch for their strategy game War In The Pacific. The update brings your retail game to v1.80 and resolves a host of issues and makes several improvements to the game.

Stranger is a real-time strategy game, with elements of role playing games set in a world, split in two parts, surface and a subterranean one, which are in a tenuous balance. Stranger will also feature multiplayer, although details beyond "The players may play on their own, or unite in teams" are a bit sketchy.

In a recent developer chat session with People Can Fly's Andrzej Poznanski and Dreamcatcher's Robert Stevenson, a vague mention was made of a possible X360 version. A question whether the infamous carnival level would be included in the Xbox version resulted in Andrzej saying "Oh, that one was just too much for the console. You can see en entire level there and there was just too many polys to render, but maybe on Xbox 360... :) keep your fingers crossed!" Maybe we will get more details at E3, but so far it is not included in DreamCatcher's lineup.

Joint Task Force is a story of modern war where players match superior tactics and military technology against dangerous unconventional forces around the globe. The game’s exacting attention to detail – from buildings that dynamically collapse to military vehicles modeled down to the last rivet – will create a new benchmark for modern-day RTS games.

Earlier today we attended Vivendi's pre-E3 event and one of the title on display was ... Saber Interactive's FPS TimeShift. Details about the sudden publisher change were not disclosed but it may very well have something to do with Atari's poor financial situation and the confirmation that closing studios and selling off assets were a possibility. Originally scheduled for release in May a VUGames representative did not want to speculate on its release date apart from "when we feel its ready." The Xbox edition was not mentioned at all so it may very well be cancelled.

PCGamer promised a return of the biggest RTS franchise, and in the upcoming June issue they deliver. Command & Conquer 3 is upon us, and according to the PCG front cover scans (US version, not UK) its all about a new race, new story, and a new war. Set in the Tiberium Universe, Kane is back, and apparently FMVs will be back. There are no specific details yet as to the contents, 2007 release date, but apparently an official announcement is due soon, and we will of course have coverage on it live from E3 in Los Angeles next month.

Rockstar Games announced today that Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PS2 will be in North American stores on June 6th, 2006 for the MSRP of $19.99 and will hit European retail shelves on June 9th, 2006 for EUR 29.99 and GBP 19.99 in the UK.

The Chronicles of Spellborn is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Developed by Dutch studio Khaeon Games, previously known for Alpha Black Zero, Spellborn uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine. The closed beta test is currently underway, and more people will be allowed to join in the coming months.

Seed is a new and genre-shattering massively multiplayer game featuring advanced AI, interactive story, no combat, no dungeons, no elves, and a truly mutable world. Runestone Game Development announced today that starting on Tuesday, April 25th, its beta testing program will be open for an entire week to all who apply.

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:

• World Rally Championship (PSP)
• Major League Baseball 2K6 (PSP)
• World Poker Tour (PSP)
• Take Command: 2nd Manassas (PC)
• Tokyo Extreme Racer DRIFT (PS2)
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details...

The sequel to the destruction racer is set to accelerate its way onto the PS2, Xbox, and PC in the nitrous charged form of FlatOut 2 this June, courtesy of Bugbear Entertainment and Empire Interactive, while Vivendi Universal Games will distribute the title in the U.S.

Ubisoft announced that Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the PC has officially Gone Gold! In GRAW you command the Ghosts and Special Forces equipped with the IWS in the quest to save the president of the United States, recover stolen nuclear codes and eliminate a vicious band of renegade soldiers hell-bent on unleashing catastrophe.

Full service audio production company Omni Interactive Audio today revealed they have created the immersive musical scores for several new computer game titles including: Perpetual's Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, Big Huge Games' Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends and NCsoft's Guild Wars Factions.

Since its initial revelation at the TGS 2004, SNK Playmore's Metal Slug 3D has not really been heard of. For its 10th anniversary, Metal Slug is going to try and make the jump to 3D with an all new adventure. You will be able to choose from 4 characters, and the game will allow you to customize your own weapons with items you find along your way.

Hudson Soft is working on a sequel to last year's PSP action title, Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory. Enjoy all the fun of dungeon-crawling combined with all the fun of being a robot with a gun in your head in Rengoku II: The Starway to H.E.A.V.E.N. While there has yet to be an official announcement, check these new screens ...

With Black Buccaneer 10Tacle Studios and developer Widescreen Games lead you to the mysterious world of pirates and dark voodoo powers. The real-time 3D graphics create a very special Caribbean atmosphere with light and shadow effects and turn the idyllic atmosphere of the sandy beaches into the worst voodoo nightmare.