S2 will significantly improve the game - important features have been added, dynamic camber (improved simulation of suspension and different suspension types), highly detailed tyre physics and a damage model have been introduced. The LFS team has released a small update patch for the Live for Speed S2 alpha demo adding new language support, and the usual game tweaks and bug fixes.

British rally racing champion Richard Burns, who won the World Rally Championship in 2001, has died at the age of 34 after a long illness, on the fourth anniversary of his title win. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor after passing out behind the wheel in 2003. Last year Eidos released Richard Burns Rally, which was applauded as one of the best racing titles available on all platforms, widely considered better than his real-life rival Colin McRae's namesake title.

In an interview with German financial newspaper Euro am Sonntag Microsoft executive Chris Lewis revealed that it will have approximately 300,000 Xbox 360 consoles available throughtout Europe for its launch on December 2. Industry analysts' estimates of 300,000 Xbox 360s available at launch "were not far removed from reality," said Chris Lewis. After selling out merely hours after launch in North America, Microsoft expect the European launch to be equally successfull, and aims to deliver up to 3 million units within three months of launch.

German developer Silver Style, known for The Fall: Last Days of Gaia, revealed that it has signed the rights to develop a fourth installment in the classic Simon the Sorcerer adventure game. The previous title, Simon 3D by Vivendi, was heavily criticized for having outdated graphics, mainly due to the project being shelved for a few years, so Silver Style opted to develop its own state of the art 3D engine. Lead Designer Carsten Strehse said that the new title will mainly focus around logical and challenging puzzles, with barely any action parts, the controls will be similar to other point & click adventures like the more recent The Westerner and Ankh. Simon The Sorcerer 4 is tentatively scheduled for Q4 2006.

Shadowgrounds is an adrenaline-pumping action game featuring upgradeable weapons, lighting based gameplay and an epic storyline with strong characters. Finnish developer Frozenbyte released a demo allowing you to try out 2 missions (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ..

In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, players experience the adrenaline rush and harsh realities of war as never before. As a part of America’s most decorated and heroic fighting unit, The Big Red One, players work together with their squad to accomplish a variety of land, see and air combat missions spanning North Africa, Italy and Nazi-occupied Western Europe.

James Bond 007: From Russia With Love will be the first game to put players in the universe of the classic James Bond films. Set in the original 60’s Bond era, the game features movie-based missions as well as original, action-intensive sequences, a broad and deep variety of gameplay, fully-integrated vehicles, social multiplayer experiences, gorgeous women, and classic, upgradeable weapons and gadgetry with modern mechanics.

Danish developer Zero Point Software has revealed the first details of its brand new next-gen first person shooter Project IM. Currently in pre-development phase Zero Point Software has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3, and is currently looking for investors, potential publishers (thanks NoFrag). Until more information becomes available, check out the teaser screens & trailer.

Back in September we already revealed that EA was working on a third addon for The Sims 2, and today some more information trickled in. Titled The Sims 2 Open for Business, the new addon will revolve around setting up businesses and making money.

In Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the player is challenged to unravel the amazing secret of the Were-Rabbit on their day and night journey through the vast locations, pitting their wits against a shadowy adversary and frantically battling his minions in a barnstorming adventure. Naturally help is, as ever, at hand from a superb array of "cracking contraptions" concocted by that master of invention, Wallace.

Nuclear Nightmare is a dark post-nuclear single-player horror game with RPG elements independently developed by Element115 Entertainment. The development of Nuclear Nightmare officially started in June of 2005 and it's being developed using the Torque Shader Engine from GarageGames (thanks RPGDot).

Only a few thousand humans managed to escape from Earth before its collapse in 2150 A.D. They spent the next few years on the terra forming of the red planet, developing new technologies and building up new civilizations independently and separately from each other, but in the year 2160, something strange happens in this new world ....

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 :

• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Trailer #3
• TOCA Race Driver 3 (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Trailer #4
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Members of the official Infinity War forums are up in arms over the lack of support and communication from Activision and Infinity Ward, and are planning a 24 hour server boycott to take down their multiplayer servers. The people have been disgruntled for a little while because of the lack of information regarding Call of Duty 2 in terms of future support, especially anti-cheat/punkbuster integration, etc. but what made the pot boil over was a recent interview with IW's CEO claiming there is a lack of interest from the community, and no mods available. In the meantime tons of clans and its members have announced their support of the boycott.

Test Drive Unlimited challenges players online to experience the most exotic and fastest vehicles on more than 1000 miles of diverse Hawaiian roads. Gamers win races, challenges, missions and tournaments to earn credits and purchase new cars, bikes, rare performance parts, clothes, apparel, homes and garages.

Wargaming.net is now accepting applications for the upcoming Massive Assault Network 2 beta test. In beta-version players will be able to play on 4 beautiful planets (out of 24 in release version). Beta testers can now sign up (all countries are eligible) until November 30th, the beginning of the beta test.

In a surprising turn of events, a community message in the Heaven Games forums reveals that Stainless Steel Studios, previously known for Empire Earth, Empires and currently working on Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, has been shut down. Details as to what and why are not revealed, probably due to legal ramifications, but several now-former SSSI employees claimed the game is merely weeks from going gold, although its current status has not been determend. R&F: CaW is owned by Midway so the decision to have another team finish it up, or cancel it altogether, is up to them.

Electronic Arts expects the central European market to continue developing quickly and piracy to fall, EA's head of European sales said in an interview. Jens Uwe Intat told Reuters on Friday that consumers in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland who started playing games on PCs are moving to dedicated games consoles -- a sign of market maturity that also makes illegal copying harder.

French video games maker Ubisoft not only wants to remain independent but is also looking to make several acquisitions in a consolidating sector, its chairman said in a magazine interview.

Nintendo announced today that, so far, it has sold over 2 million Nintendo DS' since it launched earlier this year, selling at a rate of 100,000 units per week. Nintendogs contributes to its hand-held popularity, which has sold over 1 million copies since its European launch on October 7th in Europe. Nintendo hopes to repeat that success through the holidays with Mario Kart DS, its first Nintendo game to offer Wi-Fi gaming through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Konami of Europe has announced the second phase of its Yu-Gi-Oh! Online campaign, with a new "duelpass system" set to offer users more cards for online play.

In an interview on Steam Review, Introversion's Tom Arundel revealed that Darwinia's debut on Steam (December 14) allows them to make use of Valve's multiplayer structure and they are "currently scheduling the work / release. We also have a new multiplayer game coming out in Spring that we’ll be talking more about in the new year." Darwinia is a captivating mix of multiple genres including fast paced action with strategic battle planning, arcade, and puzzle games, featuring a novel and intuitive control mechanism, a graphical style ripped from '80s retro classics, and a story concerning a tribe of video game sprites trapped in a modern 3D game world.

Prince of Persia The Two Thrones takes the best features from The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, and combines them with new gameplay elements such as a second playable character, an intuitive Speed Kill system, outdoor Babylon environment, chariot combat and more.

Set in the untamed West of the late 1800s, GUN is a free-roaming action-adventure game that takes players to a world without laws where greed, lust and murder are rampant. As Colton White, a vengeful gunslinger, players must straddle the line between good and evil as they showdown against corrupt lawmen, a murderous preacher, renegade army psychopaths, merciless outlaws and unforgiving Native Americans, while waging war on horseback, collecting bounties, and commandeering trains.

Set within Capcom's Final Fight universe, this mission-based action game calls for players to use their street smarts and powerful fighting skills to survive the back alleys of Metro City. Classic Capcom fighting action, expansive 3D environments, and diverse gameplay await those when Final Fight: Streetwise is released this winter.