In March 2006 Japanese players will be able to sit down and play Valve's FPS Half-Life 2 in the arcades as Taito is currently working on an adaptation titles Half-Life 2: Survivor. Read more for details and screens ...

In Tycoon City: New York, players become moguls by constructing and customizing hundreds of businesses and famous landmarks anywhere and anyway they want in a bustling simulation of New York City. Players must create and improve their businesses to outclass the competition, and become rich and famous in New York City.

Empire announced today that its Xplosiv label will be publishing Razorworks' Ford Street Racing, moving the action from the racetrack to the streets of LA, control 3 team cars, give orders, switching on the fly, and will feature eighteen officially licensed Ford vehicles.

id Software has released a properly working version of last week's multiplayer impaired Quake 4 demo allowing you to try out Raven Software's sci-fi FPS. This demo offers a single-player mission from the beginning of the game where you have to clear a landing zone for the main earth forces, and 2 variations of The Fragging Yard map, playable in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Tournament modes.

Those who missed out on the early Xbox 360 mania may get a second chance this week to find the new game system in stores. Meanwhile, among those who managed to purchase the first systems, a small percentage already are shipping them back to Microsoft for repairs. Major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy ran out within hours of last Tuesday's launch.

EA today announced that Burnout Legends has shipped to North American retailers for the Nintendo DS, setting the standard for on-the-go automotive anarchy, combining the series' trademark speed, destruction and depth with new features, gameplay refinements and connectivity.

Is the video game on your son's holiday wish list too violent? What types of messages is your daughter receiving from the game she wants? Who is creating these games and what are their ethical and moral responsibilities? These questions and more will be addressed at "Video Gaming: Playing with Ethics?, which starts tonight. Read more for details ...

Heed the call of the open road, throw the gears in motion and take off in a tractor trailer. Be your own boss behind the wheel of your big rig. Meet many trucks on the road to form long convoys on your way to fame and fortune! Valusoft has released a patch bringing your retail only version of the game to v1.02 and no details are available to what it fixes, only says what it doesn't fix (ATi driver issues).

Activision announced today that it has signed an agreement with Spider-Man Merchandising to extend its exclusive worldwide publishing rights to the Spider-Man motion pictures through 2017, granting Activision the right to publish games based on subsequent Spider-Man movie sequels or new television series.

UFO: Aftershock follows directly from one of the endings of UFO: Aftermath, where the player agrees to hand over the Earth to the Alien scientists, who are trying to change the planet into a giant living organism. Cenega has released the first patch bringing your retail game to v1.1 and addressing some localization issues, but mainly fixes for bugs & crashes and balance tweaking (thanks Patches-Scrolls). Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Sony has released yet another new update for its PSP firmware, bringing it to v2.60 for the Japanese, North American and European PSP editions. The new v2.60 update adds Windows Media Audio (WMA) audio support, RSS Channel has been added as a feature under Network, copyright-protected video data can now be downloaded directly to a Memory Stick Duo, and volume adjustment has been added.

Usually we do not cover mobile phones but VNUNet seems to have a new interesting story that Nokia is stepping away from its N-Gage phone/handheld gaming device. "N-Gage is still being sold but it was not a success in the sense of developing a new category," said Antti Vasara, Nokia's vice president for corporate strategy. "We learnt that people want to play games on all devices. As such we are integrating the gaming software into Series 60 phones." N-Gage devices will still be produced by primarily for the Chinese and Indian markets.

German publisher Frogster announced that the Stalin Subway has gone gold and will be in stores December 8, 2005. The Stalin Subway is a realistic first-person shooter which is set in Stalin's Moscow of fall 1952. Iosif Stalin, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of USSR is now 72 years old, and a group of military officials of high rank decides that the Generalissimo is weak and the power can be taken away from him.

Gundam goes RPG with Mobile Suit Saga. Follow a storyline exclusive to this game, where a young man named Tresch who lives in a distant future hopes to use Mobile Suits to avenge a terrible war crime. Customize your Mobile Suit with any combination of parts and weapons you want, and your own custom paint jobs. Follow turn-based battles through 60 hours of robot-smashing adventure.

No levels. No load times. Just never-ending action that doesn't stop until you leave the game! Tony Hawk's American Wasteland gives you - for the first time ever in a Hawk game - the freedom to skate, or bike, throughout a rich, expansive open environment.

The U.S. Air Force has engaged Stottler Henke Associates to develop a software toolkit called WarCon that for the first time will enable instructors, rather than programmers, to create content for computer-based war games.

THQ has now released the full v1.41 patch for Relic's 3D RTS Dawn Of War/Winter Assault, adding unit balancing, interface enhancements, some optimizations and bug fixes. This version does NOT require the previous v1.40 patch to be installed (thanks Relicnews). Read more for detailed fix list and download links...

Nintendo's PR machine got into gear today with an early bird special, mark May 9, 2006 in your calendar as Nintendo will unveil the Nintendo Revolution. That particular day is of importance because that is the annual day when Nintendo has its pre-e3 conference at the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards), on Hollywood Blvd, kickoff at 9:30 a.m. Hopefully we'll get to see more than just a mockup, and a tv remote.

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 :

• Phantasy Star Universe [PS2/PC] - Japan Trailer
• Prey - G4 TV Trailer
• Prince of Persia The Two Thrones [ALL] - Dev. Diary #5
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

A few months back it was revealed Blizzard closed down the Blizzard North office, responsible for the Diablo franchise. While people were given other opportunities inside Blizzard, several decided to venture out. Hyboreal Games is founded by Diablo developers and former Blizzard employees Eric Sexton, Michio Okamura, and Steven Woo, and several others are said to join them shortly. While details are completely non-existent, their current, and first, project is Starfall.

EA today announced that the The Sims 2 has gone gold for the PSP and will be on store shelves by December 15th. The full 3D world allows gamers to take their Sims through the adventures of Strangetown with five brand new neighborhoods and 20 unique locations custom-built, as well as wireless multiplayer.

EA has released the first patch for FIFA Manager 06, previously known as Total Club Manager 2006. This update brings your French, German or English retail game to v1.1 and addresses a slew of fixes, enhacements, and gameplay tweaks (thanks Blues). Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

A direct conversion of the arcade fighting game, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is enhanced with additional original content specifically designed for the portable system including Wi-Fi functionality and extra gameplay modes.

Simbin has released a new patch for the German edition of their racing game GTR: FIA GT Racing Game. The update 1.5 also offers multiplayer stability for all European editions of the game, as well as a dedicated server. Read more for details ...

Valusoft has released a demo for SCS Software's latest hunting game Hunting Unlimited 3, playable for 60 minutes, including the full content of the game which you can unlock when you purchase a license key (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...