Square Enix announced today that a new concert for the Final Fantasy video game franchise will be performed in Los Angeles at Universal Amphitheatre. The concert will be conducted by Grammy award winner Arnie Roth and performed by the World Festival Symphony Orchestra and the CSUF University Singers, with special appearances by The Black Mages and additional guest performers who will be announced at a later date.

God of War is a new action/adventure game developed by SCEA's Southern California studio previously known for developing Twisted Metal. You play as a yet unnamed hero, surrounded by Greek mythology. Hacking your way through hordes of enemies by means of swords and Spawn-like chains you are on a quest to kill the Greek "God Of War", Ares. Read more for a few new screens...

Five more game developers, Bizarre Creations, Second Life, Ternary Software, Imaginary Numbers, and A Hero's Journey, have chosen SpeedTree to ensure that their games will meet the incredible new environmental standard SpeedTree is driving worldwide. SpeedTree delivers low-polygon, highly realistic trees and plants, with adjustable wind effects, seamless LOD transitions, and a library of hundreds of tree models from more than 100 species.

Majesco today announced it will publish the video game adaptation of the popular comic book series, The Darkness, for the next generation of consoles. Scheduled for release in 2006, The Darkness is being developed by Starbreeze, the acclaimed development studio behind the top-selling video game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

Coffee Tycoon lets gamers build a coffee empire. Starting fresh with one store, players customize their coffee business by giving it a name and choosing a logo and store design. From there, they'll choose a city to start their coffee empire, maybe New York or L.A., or if they're really daring, the coffee capital of the world: Seattle! Read more for download links ...

As we already revealed over the weekend, SimBin and 10tacle Studios today announced another free expansion pack, the "King of Ovals". This pack adds three new fictional tracks in the style of American oval circuits to the existing selection of tracks in GTR. Oval racing in a GT car is a unique challenge, and provides the player with an interesting variation from the FIA-GT seasonal circuits. Each of the new tracks is designed to present the player with a different characteristic of oval racing, and the AI behaviour is adjusted to suit the new conditions and keep the player challenged.

Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees is the next addition to the popular online Star Wars gaming experience. Episode III Rage of the Wookiees, available to current players two full weeks before the movie launches as a digital download, adds a whole slew of content taken directly from the highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith movie, including the adventure planet of Kashyyyk, home to the Wookiees.

The ideal choice for a night in with the girls, a rainy afternoon with the children or some after-hours entertainment with the lads, 10 Pin: Champions Alley takes the popular pastime of bowling out of the lanes and into the living room. This is the perfect party game for up to eight players, a standard PS2 and a single controller.

Spy vs. Spy is one of MAD Magazine's longest-running and best-known features. For nearly four decades, the Black Spy and White Spy have been building their bizarre, elaborate contraptions in an endless parry of "Joke and Dagger." Award-winning cartoonist Antonio Prohias fled Cuba one step ahead of Castro's authorities at the height of the Cold War. He ended up in New York, where he began working for MAD. Since 1961, his Spies have been silently turning tables on each other in crazier and ever-more bizarre schemes of one-upmanship.

Set directly following the events of the first game, Boktai 2 sees vampire slayer Solar Boy Django and Master Otenko, the Messenger of the Sun, returning to Django's home town of San Miguel, after having dispatched the vampiric undead in Istrakan, the City of Death. However, all is not well in San Miguel, and the Immortals – the force for evil fought in the first game – have unleashed a spell to transform the populace into shambling zombies.

Midway announced today that NARC has shipped to retail outlets nationwide for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox at an MSRP of $19.99. A mission-based 3rd-person action game, NARC is set against a stylized, modern-day backdrop of the War on Drugs.

Offering over 40 fully-licensed and faithfully replicated club and national teams, players can tinker with tactics, formation, line-up and training before each match. Pro Rugby Manager 2 displays each bone-crunching tackle, each heart-in-mouth drop kick and every maddening pass and dash to the try-line in such glorious, motion-captured detail, it rivals anything TV coverage can offer. This demo features a friendly game between the Northampton Saints and Toulouse, playable in singleplayer mode, but also LAN and online multiplayer.Read more for download links ...

Dungeon Siege II returns players to the beautiful fantasy land of Aranna, but it is a land scarred by civil war, where the lines between good and evil are blurred. Players must lead an elite battle party against Valdis, a vicious marauder determined to return the world to order, no matter the cost. Microsoft has updated its product release list reflecting a change in release date, from the original spring 2005 it has now been postponed until late summer 2005.

ArenaNet and NCsoft today announced that Guild Wars will be available across Europe in a special Collectors Edition. In addition to the game itself, the Guild Wars Collectors Edition will contain a full-colour art book, the official music sound track, a Logitech headset, three months' free subscription to the Speakeasy: Teamspeak service and an exclusive in-game item, the Divine Aura.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory tells the conspiracy-ridden story of black ops agent Sam Fisher as he explores the world of international espionage. The game will offer a high adrenaline experience thanks to never seen before close range attacks, a totally open level design, a completely immersive and interactive environment, and challenging advanced AI. In addition, it will offer the best graphics in this generation of games and a unique, collaborative multiplayer mode available for online and offline.

Set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside. As the story unfolds, the player (Baker) must choose between the success of his mission and the lives of his men – his brothers in arms.

Akella is making yet another pirate game, after Sea Dogs and Pirates of the Caribbean, it is now time for the Age of Pirates. Known in Russia under Corsairs 2, this AoP will be distriuted under that name in Europe and North America. No details or planned release date are known yet, but at least there are some new screens ..

Vietcong Red Dawn is a new official add-on for Vietcong. The add-on was released throughout the UK with the cover DVD of the latest PC Gamer issue, and it was only a matter of time before somebody was going to upload it online, ahead of its official March 25th release date. The addon contains a new Vietcong cooperative campaign, new multiplayer maps, one new single player mission, AI bots for the multiplayer mode, and completely new theme music (thanks NoFrag). Read more for download links ...

TrackMania Sunrise, the legitimate heir to the throne, is shifting up a gear. Sunrise moves faster, handles better and features improved air-control – vital for making the massive jumps – to ensure that gameplay never moves at anything less than fast. And it's all about the gameplay.

Winning Eleven 8 will once again raise the bar for the critically acclaimed series with even more in-depth gameplay, improved realism and increased control. The game features more teams, players and stadiums than ever before, including all the teams from the Italian, Spanish and Dutch leagues under the official license.

The latest issue of Nintendo Power seems to reveal quite a few of interesting facts. In a listing of upcoming Namco titles it seems that last years hit title Katamari Damaci might be making an appearance on the NDS, but also EA's Goldeneye Rogue Agent is scheduled. Further more there are also the first details about Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, to be published by Majesco. AoE II will of course utilize both screens, bottom will show the game map for playing and controlling the units, while the top view will be used for game info and characteristics. The game will feature 5 civilizations, 15 different buildings that can be constructed and upgrade, 50 unit types, and also wi-fi multiplayer for up to 4 people, which is said to be powered by GameSpy.

Dave Jaffe, creator of the 'Twisted Metal' franchise and the upcoming PS2 action adventure title 'God of War,' will meet with fans at EB Games' Universal Citywalk Store on Tuesday, March 22nd from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.'God of War' puts players into the role of Kratos, an ex-Spartan warrior, as a story unfolds in ancient times with various plot twists that take them through explosive aggressive gameplay, fused with traps, stunts, and story-driven puzzles.

While North American racing fans are still waiting for the retail launch of the initial GTR: FIA GT Racing Game, Simbin has revealed that they are planning to release a 'King of Ovals' addon. The free expansion pack will feature three ficticious NASCAR-style oval racing circuits and is scheduled to be released soon, most likely as a download patch. German gamers already had a similar surprise a few months back when 10tacle & Simbin released the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa expansion, which included eight new cars.

World Snooker Championship 2005 offers gamers the ultimate simulation of the beloved game. As you might expect, this game has all the big names, but this time there's simply a lot more than any snooker game gone before. More features, options, game modes and faces to make this the ultimate must have snooker title for any serious fan.