Spells of Gold is a role-playing game with strong trade influence from BUKA Entertainment. The game is set in the world of fantasy, inhabited by humans, beasts, undead ones and other creatures. The universe of the game - Lokatrienn - is large indeed. It consists of a number of separate worlds. Each one has several cities, which represent isolated economic and political systems. The Hero is able to transit from one world to another through special space Gates, called Portals. His main activity is trade, that is buying goods in one town and selling or exchanging them in another. For this purpose the Hero has got a special item - a Magic Sack of Monroke. Thanks to it, he can easily carry a vast amount of goods.

Encore and JoWooD, an Austrian game publisher and developer, today announced that "SpellForce: The Order of Dawn" has begun shipping to retail stores in North America.

Three Hollywood heavy hitters have lent their talents to the much anticipated stealth-action game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. Joining the development team are Michael Ironside (Sam Fisher), Dennis Haysbert (Irving Lambert) and Lalo Shifrin (Composer, Original Theme). Read more for detailed information...

European videogame publisher L.S.P. announced today that Hip Interactive Corp. completed the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of L.S.P. Hip Interactive Corp. is a leading North American provider of electronic entertainment products. In fiscal 2003 Hip generated sales of Cdn $361,3 million, producing net income after taxes of $11 million.

Space Hack is a sci-fi RPG/action title with Diablo-inspired gameplay mechanics. The storyline puts you on board of a quite 'peculiar' spaceship, trapped inside a space warp. Being a tough guy, whose axe is almost as quick as his wit, it's not surprising that you promptly find yourself confronting angry monsters, one wave after another. Space Hack is scheduled to be released in first half of 2004. Rebelmind just informed us that they have reached Alpha (playable) stage, and sent us some screens to celebrate it.

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it will be the main sponsor of the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC). NVIDIA also participated in the official press conference that took place in Paris last week. Read more for details ...

Take 2 UK has released a demo for Illusion softworks third person tactical shooter Hidden & Dangerous 2. You lead a small squad of Allied soldiers deep behind enemy lines, to carry out secret missions during World War II. The demo features a single mission, 'Operation Overlord: Blade Dancer', from the full game. The dedicated server files have also been released (thanks Blues). Read more for download links ...

Full Spectrum Warrior is based on a light infantry-training simulator designed by Pandemic Studios for the U.S. Army as a tool to reinforce Army doctrine and squad tactics amongst troops. Full Spectrum Warrior is a squad-based, tactical-action game that delivers the experience of squad level command in the heat of battle. Check out the new screens...

Today it was THQ's turn to disclose their financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2004, which ended December 31, 2003. Besides listing which title did well, and which didn't, the statement also reveals that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost would now be called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, and that the Xbox version of Full Spectrum Warrior has been rescheduled from March 2004 to June 8, 2004, while the PC version is scheduled for September 2004. Read more for details ...

As Scryer, players must conquer a programmed super soldier army and its psychic agents while using Psi powers. In addition to Psi capabilities, players have access to traditional weapons such as handguns and automatic weaponry. As players strategically navigate seven huge immersive levels within four distinct compounds, they encounter multiple ways to solve missions, which greatly adds to the replay value. Read more to check some new screens or download the trailerpack (5) ...

EA has released another patch for Black Box's street racing game Need For Speed Underground. This update #4 (Euro/US editions available) will correct the black screen NOS effect with certain video settings. Read more for download links ...

Jowood has announced a new Spellforce patch is expected to go online by the end of this week, containing –apart from the usual bugfixes- substantial additions and changes that are mainly following requests by the community. There will be an additional difficulty level for experienced gamers, item sort functionality and improved hero equipment management. On top of this, we have added over 30 new bindstones to the game, making travel that much quicker and easier. With these changes SpellForce will remain a challenge even for experienced gamers. Read more for some new screens ...

Already revealed in yesterday's financial results, Ubisoft is excited to announce that the Xbox, PC and GBA versions of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the new adventure from the world of Tom Clancy, is on track to ship for the end of March. Due to development issues, and the groups' commitment to making these versions the same high quality as the Xbox version, the PS2 and GameCube will launch at a later date. This date is still to be confirmed. There's a single player mode and an "incredibly addictive" online version.

ESPN Major League Baseball raises the bar with Power Pitching, Online Gameplay and a stellar ESPN presentation featuring Jon Miller and Karl Ravech. A new name, a new season, a new way to play! ESPN Major League Baseball will include voice-chat support for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox, as well as the only complete online league experience for PlayStation2 owners. Read more for some new screens ...

'Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow' will bring back more of the single-player intrigue that made the original game a bestseller. With exciting new action scenes and a strong cinematic feel, the player will experience new and even more realistic surroundings. Building on Ubi Soft's strong commitment to online gaming, Pandora Tomorrow will the be the first stealth game ever to feature multiplayer online missions allowing several players to simultaneously share Sam Fisher's shadowy world of espionage. Read more for some new screens...

Big Huge Games, developer of the Rise of Nation strategy game, has licensed SpeedTree for an upcoming game title. "We chose SpeedTree for the phenomenal CAD abilities of the program, which we've used to create believable and compelling environments for our next game," said Big Huge Games founder and Vice President Tim Train. "This software package has saved us invaluable time. Once we had tried the free evaluation version, we knew we had to upgrade to the full product." Big Huge Games has not revealed the name or any details of the new title.

Sphinx is an enchanting adventure filled with mystery, action and a deep, compelling storyline. The game is set in an entirely original universe that is styled upon ancient Egypt where players will embark on an epic quest exploring new worlds, uncovering dark secrets, interacting with hundreds of fantastic creatures and discovering new abilities. Travelling the world via magic portals to foil the evil plans of Set, players will guide Sphinx on a journey requiring all his wits, agility and special powers in an attempt to find the stolen mystical crowns of Egypt.

Jesper Kyd (www.jesperkyd.com) is following up his work on the award-winning soundtracks for IO Interactive’s Hitman series and Freedom Fighters (recipient of GameSpot’s 2003 Best Original Music in a Game Award) with an entirely new original score for Hitman: Contracts. Music composed and produced by Kyd is also featured in the debut movie trailer for Hitman: Contracts.

This Mercury News article has more details on Microsoft's next-gen Xbox which according to the "rumors" will feature three 64-bit IBM processors, as being used in the Apple's G5, an ATI processor that'll rival the upcoming R400, 256/512 MB DDR RAM, either DVD or Blu-Ray DVD format discs, and most shockingly of all no hard drive. TeamXbox, known for their often spot on inside sources & rumors, reveal more on the graphical side of things with revelation of HDTV visuals with full screen Anti-Aliasing, etc. More details to be found on TeamXbox's Sunday coverage (thanks Cesar).

Despite the recent closure of Legend Entertainment by Atari, the Unreal II: XMP community remains strong. During the months leading up to and following the release of XMP, a group XMP beta testers and community members have been working on a pack consisting of top-notch third-party XMP maps (9 of them) and mutators. Read more for details and download links ...

ShrapnelGames has released a new patch for Malfador Machinations' space action game Space Empires: Starfury. This update patch brings your retail game to v1.15 and addresses a slow of bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, new features and tons of other goodies. Read more for details and download links ...

Full Spectrum Warrior is based on a light infantry-training simulator designed by Pandemic Studios for the U.S. Army as a tool to reinforce Army doctrine and squad tactics amongst troops. Full Spectrum Warrior is a squad-based, tactical-action game that delivers the experience of squad level command in the heat of battle. Check out the new screens...

The world's intelligence services suspect the evil terrorist organizations. These criminals would have created a new molecule capable of modifying human DNA. By reinforcing agression and strength genes, they create a new breed of superwarriors. Only the CT Special Forces can defeat such powerful enemies. You will need to lead your team through the most dangerous and demanding missions. Use your skills and all the modern weaponry available! Put an end to the threat of terrorism!

'Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow' will bring back more of the single-player intrigue that made the original game a bestseller. With exciting new action scenes and a strong cinematic feel, the player will experience new and even more realistic surroundings. Building on Ubi Soft's strong commitment to online gaming, Pandora Tomorrow will the be the first stealth game ever to feature multiplayer online missions allowing several players to simultaneously share Sam Fisher's shadowy world of espionage. Read more for some new screens...

Empire today announced that it has signed the rights to publish a special anniversary edition of Space Invaders for PlayStation 2 in Europe and North America, for its early 2004 line up. In addition to this, Empire has also signed worldwide rights to publish Space Invaders '95 for PC CD-ROM later in the year. Read more for details and screens ...