The Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack, now avaiualble for $19.99 (U.S.), adds nine all-new multiplayer maps, previously unreleased footage including an animated feature highlighting an unseen battle in Old Mombasa and a mini documentary showcasing the creative process behind the new multiplayer maps. The map pack disc also contains the Halo 2 Auto Update, providing non-Live gamers with the ability to enjoy recent gameplay enhancements and improvements, as well as all previous Xbox Live updates.

Today Ubisoft announced that Trollz: Hair Affair for Nintendo Game Boy Advance will be available in fall 2005. Trollz: Hair Affair is a magical action/puzzle game featuring the Trollz and their world of fashion, friendship and magic.

CDV USA today announced that the Blitzkrieg Anthology, the ultimate WWII strategy collection, has rolled into North American retail outlets today. The Blitzkrieg Anthology packs a wallop of gameplay enjoyment in the form of the original Blitzkrieg game, two of the game's most popular expansion packs; Burning Horizon & Rolling Thunder, and the brand-new Iron Division expansion. Blitzkrieg Anthology will provide hours of enjoyment for strategy gamers, as they employ more than 200 diverse vehicles and combat units in over 150 challenging single- and multi-player missions straight from the pages of World War II history.

Ensign Games releases DreamStripper 3D, a new PC game using lifelike Hollywood technology. In DreamStripper you totally control the dancer. You decide how she dances, what she wears, even the music she dances to!

IncaGold is pleased to announce that it has acquired the German-language rights to three titles from InterActive Vision Games, Red Skies Over Europe, Chain of Command and Chain of Command: Eastern Front.

Capcom today released killer 7, a stylized, post-modern action adventure game for the PS2 and Gamecube. Featuring distinct characters, striking cel-shaded visuals and dark imagery, killer 7 chronicles the connection between two men whose intertwined paths develop into a complex tale of altering personas and a menacing force that has paralyzed society.

Digital Jesters have snapped up the rights to publish the latest instalment of Cycling Manager series in the UK. The Cycling Manager series has been leader of the pack for the last four years and this latest instalment is already leaving the peloton trailing behind with a multitude of new features and a brand new title, Pro Cycling Manager.

SpecForce is Techland's latest futuristic tactical shooter with a plot connected to already known Chrome. Established to fight crisis situations that threaten the Federation's peace, equipped with the latest combat gear, Specforce is the Federation's elite rapid reaction force. This demo contains one of eleven missions. Read more for download links ...

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One unites players in the chaos of battle fighting as part of a squad in the legendary and decorated “Big Red One,” the American 1st Infantry Division. As part of the famed "Fighting First," players are drafted into a variety of historic Big Red One missions that take them across land, sea and air from the invasion of North Africa, through the battle for Sicily, and all the way to D-Day in one continuous storyline.

Developed by Strangelite Studio, the game is based on the Starship Troopers movie in which you will take the role of an elite 'special forces' trooper in the Mobile Infantry spearheading the assault against thousands of intelligent enemy bugs, emulating the best scenes from the movie and a whole lot more!

War Leaders: Clash of Nations will expand upon the RTS genre by placing gamers in the roles of the major leaders of WWII, including Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Political, diplomatic and economic decision making will be key to success, while sound tactical strategies will ensure victory on the battlefield.

What would happen if Hitler had been assassinated early on in WWII and the German war engine came under control of a new regime? Digital Reality and CDV aim to answer that question in War Front: Turning Point, bringing gamers an "alternate reality" strategy game. Gamers will be exposed to a whole new WWII timeline, new battles and a variety of secret and experimental weapons.

The 10th game in Koei’s epic strategy series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms X comes to the PS2 with all of the history, complexity, and gameplay options fans have come to expect from the series. Create your own officer, or play one of the many characters from the novel series, and rise from humble warrior to powerful sovereign. Use duels, debates, battles and full-on military campaigns to increase your power and become a living legend.

Nexuiz is a free 3D deathmatch game that is simply first person shooting reduced to the very basics with perfect weapon balancing. Nexuiz uses such technology as curved surfaces with its detailed maps, bumpmapping, realtime shadows, 64 player support, and an advanced model format. This 1.1 adds new features include bots, new level, new gamemodes, many bug fixes and weapon balance changes, on top of the original 17 maps, 28 playable characters, and 10 music tracks.

The government-owned clinic started taking patients in March and occupies the top floor of a two-story building on campus of the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital in the heart of the Chinese capital. A dozen nurses and 11 doctors care for the patients, mostly youths aged 14 to 24 who have lost sleep, weight and friends after countless hours in front of the computer, often playing video games with others online. Read more over at CNN's report ...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Ultimate Spider-Man - Trailer #2
• 187: Ride or Die - Weapons Trailer
• Huxley - Making of Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

SCi today announced that Bill Gardner will join the company as CEO US Publishing and a member of the Management Board. Gardner will lead the US publishing office in San Francisco, including publishing, sales and US support teams, working closely with the other members of the Plc and Management Boards to ensure an aligned global strategy.

Legacy Interactive has released a new update patch for its TV Series based strategy game ER. This patch fixes several memory leaks, and addresses an issue where AMD Thunderbirds would lock crash on startup. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

The newest PC Gamer issue has some rather interesting information about Ritual previously cancelled but recentle resurrected SIN 2. Ritual CEO Steve Nix revealed that they have been talking to Valve for several years now regarding to release periodic installments for SIN 2, every 3-4 months, starting winter 2005, but up until now they have not been able to find a publisher, so Valve's Steam delivery system would be very suitable (thanks Eurogamer).

ZOO Digital Publishing has released the first patch for Climax's RPG Sudeki, addressing several graphical and sound problems, various controller conflict and miscellaneous language issues for French, German, Italian and Spanish. Read more for download links ...

The series famous for relentless intensity is returning bigger, better looking and more frantic than ever before. Sam Stone is back to rescue the universe one bullet at a time against overwhelming hordes of time traveling enemies in Serious Sam 2. Built from the ground up with a completely new engine, Serious Sam 2 will be a shot of adrenaline to the hearts of first-person shooter fans across the world. This is serious!

Codename: Panzers, Phase Two will bring armchair generals to the war-torn battlefields of Africa, Southern Europe and the Balkans where they will fight as the Anglo-American Allies, the German-Italian Axis or the Yugoslavian resistance. A complement of heroes, both new and familiar, will be the players' alter egos in dozens of new missions as they attempt to lead their troops to victory.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

The fourth game in the PC strategy series that has sold over five million copies, Sid Meier's Civilization IV is a bold step forward for the franchise, with spectacular new 3D graphics and all-new single and multiplayer content. Civilization IV will also set a new standard for user-modification, allowing gamers to create their own add-ons using the standard Python and XML scripting languages.

In Company of Heroes gamers will experience the journey of the brave men of Able Company in a deep single-player campaign that begins with the invasion of Normandy through their fight across Europe, all set against the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game. Company of Heroes' completely destructable environment means no two battles ever play out in the same way.