The European Commission found in March 2004 that Microsoft had violated antitrust laws by competing unfairly. It fined the world's largest software company a record 497 million euros ($613.1 million) and also ordered it to share information with rival makers of servers used to run printers and retrieve files, an issue known as interoperability. Microsoft announced today that it will release a version of its Windows operating system without the Media Player application on June 15 to comply with European Union anti-monopoly rules.

Vision is the next stride forward in the evolution of modern role-playing games. Exceptional graphics, true-to-life NPC behavior and a finely tuned balance between raw action and deep story development are the essential elements that will make the title irresistible to RPG fans.

With The Sims 2 Nightlife, players will be able to take their Sims out to hit all the swanky hot spots in the all new downtown location and spice up their lives with an all new dating gameplay and a new life goal focused on pleasure seeking.

Restricted Area is an action-based roleplaying game with realtime combat, which combines a fascinating gameplay similar to Diablo 2 with innovative technology, tactic-shooter elements and a dark future scenario. Whiptail has released a v1.09 hotfix patch addressing a minor bug where the text in the Starter application option window was wrong (thanks Blues).

A few weeks ago, we reported on the killing of an MMO player over the sale of a virtual sword. Today, the BBC is reporting that Qui Chengwei has been given a suspended death sentence for the crime. The suspended sentence means Qui could spend the rest of his life behind bars, although it could be reduced to 15 years for good behavior.

EA announced today that Raymond Felton, point guard for the 2005 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Champion, North Carolina Tar Heels, will serve as cover athlete and spokesman for NCAA March Madness 06, scheduled to be released this fall.

MotoGP4 is the latest installment in the acclaimed motorcycle racing series, featuring realistic bike physics, licensed riders and motorcycles and adrenaline-pumping multiplayer races, the game promises to be the most complete motorcycle grand prix simulation ever.

Gamers now have one million more reasons to play the sci-fi action video game, Advent Rising, as Majesco launches its Race to Save Humanity million dollar play-and-win contest tomorrow at 8pm EST/5pm PST exclusively on Xbox Live. Each week a clue will be released, read more for the first hint.

Eidos in conjunction with Highway 1 Productions, takes an unrelenting look at urban street crime in its upcoming action video game 25 To Life. 25 To Life is being developed by Avalanche Software and will be available for PS2, Xbox and PC. Read more for new screens..

Trinigy today announced that future versions of its Vision Game Engine will fully support Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Far Cry Instincts takes the PC version's signature locations, Full-Action Response A.I. (F.A.R. concept), and unprecedented view-distance, and combines them with improved gameplay scenarios that will challenge players to utilize an even broader range of strategies and survival tactics to uncover the many secrets within the beautiful, but deadly islands. Today we have an interview with Ubisoft's Scriptwriter and Game Designer Patrick Redding giving us more insight in FCI's game dynamics.

Dutch publishers Xing Interactive announce the release of Winter Sports Extreme, a magnificent snowboarding game which, logically, will be released in mid Summer! On the 14th of July the game will be available at 9,95 Euro and the currency equivalents in non-Euro countries. Winter Sports Extreme has beautiful 3D graphics and enough gameplay to last you til you can grab a board and do the real thing in Winter!

Perfect Dark: Zero is the prequel to the hugely popular and critically acclaimed Perfect Dark. Set in the year 2020 — years before the original hit game — Perfect Dark: Zero reveals the origins of Joanna Dark, one of the most lethal special agents.

Combine fully-automatic, weapon-equipped vehicles with highly detailed and interactive urban environments and you have Full Auto, the most destructive racing action ever experienced in a video game. This racer allows players to choose from a wide selection of unique vehicle designs and arm them with any combination of machine guns, cannons, and other deadly weapons.

Captured, conveniently forgotten, tortured, and left for dead, MI6 agent Andrew Sterling awaits execution in a Chinese prison. The story begins when a mysterious friend from his past rescues him, setting off a chain of events that could rock the very foundations of global security and wreak chaos on a worldwide level.

Atari today announced that James Caparro has resigned his position as Atari's President and CEO, effective immediately. The board of directors appointed current Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Bruno Bonnell, to act as CEO on an interim basis.

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 :

• City of Villains - Dev Interview & Gameplay Trailer
• Formula One 05 - Trailer
• Pursuit Force - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Far Cry Instincts is a technically advanced gaming experience built from the ground up using the kind of cutting-edge technology that Far Cry fans will recognize from the PC title. Far Cry Instincts will ship for consoles in September 2005.

Spring 1945: World War 2 is drawing to a close and the Russians and Germans are caught in a furious battle for a devastated Berlin. The cold war starts... As a sniper, recruited by the OSS (former CIA), it is the beginning of a lonely stealth mission in the Russian territory. In development since 2003, Sniper Elite is a sniping/stealth game due to be released on PS2, PC and Xbox.

Blitzkrieg II is created with a new focus on fast-paced gameplay, a strategic layer and new tactical opportunities. A completely new engine takes WWII into full 3D where players can command famous aces and units, strategically plan battles in multiple theatres, choose their reinforcements and use a wide range of new unit types such as aircraft and ships. Nival Interactive is now accepting beta test sign-ups, and the actual multiplayer testing will run from June 13-27.

RedOctane announced today that In The Groove, the high-energy, next-generation dance video game, is shipping to retailers nationwide and will be fully distributed on store shelves by June 17, 2005.

Nintendo announced today that it would establish 1,000 WiFi hotspots in Japan by the end of 2005 where owners of its DS portable game machines can play games with others online for free.

Activision is not only working on a Call of Duty sequel for the PC, but also on a sequel to last years Call of Duty: Finest Hour. Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One will be set during World War 2, has a tentative holiday season release date. Previously Activision mentioned it would be showing "two" new Call of Duty products, so besides the CoD2 for PC, this may be the second one.

CDV today announced that they have secured the publishing rights to Hammer & Sickle, a PC gaming title set in the award-winning Silent Storm universe, and currently in development by Nival Interactive.

Blizzard has released a new update for its MMORPG World of Warcraft. This update adds two PvP battlegrounds, Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley, as well as a long list of gameplay tweaks, bug fixes, balancing and so forth. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...