Digital Jesters and AMD are offering gamers moonlighting as level designers the chance to see their efforts realized as a downloadable multiplayer map for the first-person shooter, Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport. Prizes? $3,000 cash, an AMD AthlonTM 64 FX-57 processor-based system worth $3,000, as well as a full range of Digital Jesters games and exclusive merchandise.

id Software and Activision announced today that QUAKE 4 multiplayer will be unveiled at the 10th Annual QuakeCon, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas from August 11-14. In addition, QuakeCon 2005 will also play host to the first showing of DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil for the Xbox.

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. 2K Games today announced the exciting multiplayer features of Serious Sam II.

The Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack adds nine all-new multiplayer maps, additional bonus content showcases 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.

Worms 4: Mayhem is a return to the series' trademark gameplay and sees Team 17's core Worms design and development team regrouping for a game of explosive annelid annihilation. Codemasters has released a multiplayer demo with new content (including maps and weapons), and also updated code correcting some issues of the first demo. Read more for download links ...

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. This multiplayer demo features two maps ("Road to Perdition" and "Factions) in Mission and Domination modes. The demo supports up to six players in Internet and LAN play and features units from early in the WWII timeline.

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.

The Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack adds nine all-new multiplayer maps, additional bonus content showcases 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.

AT&T today announced it will will host Turbine's multiplayer games, including Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, and the critically acclaimed franchise titles Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2, from its local Internet Data Center.

Recently, there have been increasingly disturbing reports of violent crimes in relation to online gaming. A shooting at a Counter-Strike tournament, killing over an online sword incident, and gaming addiction leading to child neglect or heart failure are getting all too common these days. Today, we take a closer look at the phenomenon...

THQ's MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3 is steering towards success thanks to a unique innovation that will revolutionise multiplayer gaming. Described as 'embedded gameplay', this powerful feature blurs the line between offline and online action, making it quicker and easier than ever for speed demons to challenge each other.

StarCraft: Ghost, Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming stealth-action console game, refines the experience of StarCraft to the level of the individual soldier. Starcraft: Ghost now also features revolutionary multiplayer that combines fast and furious action with unique StarCraft elements. Apart from the usual modes, such as DM, TDM, CTF and KotH, SC:Ghost will also have a unique mode, Capture the Base. Read more for details ...

ACONY announced that it has licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 to develop an original multiplayer FPS title for PC and next generation consoles. ACONY chose the Unreal Engine 3 because it is singularly capable of delivering the next generation in graphics and physics necessary to advance online multiplayer entertainment.

Act of War: Direct Action is Eugen Systems' recently released RTS game with a storyline and game universe created in cooperation with Dale Brown. Atari has released a multiplayer demo featuring two maps (Fistful of Sand and The Last Battlefield), playable as the US Army over LAN/online, and in skirmish mode (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Myelin Media today revealed details about the online gameplay in STACKED with Daniel Negreanu. The game will feature its own sanctioned multi-table tournament system called “STACKED Masters” and will also include involvement from the seven professional players associated with the game, providing the most in-depth online play and community experience for any console poker game.

SpecForce is Techland's latest futuristic tactical shooter with a plot connected to already known Chrome. Game development has been underway for some time now, and will use an optimized Chrome Engine. Techland today revealed first details of the game's multiplayer mode, along with fresh game play footage.

Tomorrow Halo 2 fans with Xbox Live access will be able to get a sneak peek at the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack. The multiplayer expansion pack contains nine new multiplayer maps to push gamers' skills to their limits. Xbox Live subscribers will be able to preview the four maps, and by late summer, all maps will be available for free. Read more for some screens ...

Vivendi has released an updated single/multiplayer demo for MadDoc's imminent RTS Empire Earth II. The demo offers 3 of the game's 15 epochs (Renaissance, Imperial, and Enlightenment), and 3 of the game's nine multiplayer modes (Conquest, King of the Hill, and Territory Control), playable for up to 10 players. This updated demo fixes a multiplayer lag issue and adds text string to the firewall warning dialog telling user to map port 26000 (thanks FilePlanet). Read more for download links ...

Pariah focuses on a robust immersive storyline that weaves survival elements into the traditional run-and-gun style of first-person action games. Digital Extremes has released a multiplayer demo for its FPS Pariah. This demo features 3 maps (CTF, TDM and Front Line Assault), all multi-player weapons, and 3 vehicles (Dart, Wasp, Bogie). Read more for download links ...

Pariah focuses on a robust immersive storyline that weaves survival elements into the traditional run-and-gun style of first-person action games. Digital Extremes sent us an email announcing that there will be a multiplayer demo available this coming Friday, and of course we will have it available on our fileserver network. The demo will feature 2-3 playable multiplayer maps, have all weapons available (except titanium first, which is only a singleplayer weapon), 3 driveable vehicles and be about 300mb in size.

At a midnight DOOM 3 launch event in Dallas Texas, id Software's Hollenshead gave QuakeCon visitors a nice surprise by revealing that "We'll have Quake IV multiplayer to play. And because it's also the 10-year anniversary of QuakeCon, we'll have a few other surprises as well." On top of that it was also confirmed that the new IP id is working on will be yet another FPS. Whether the DOOM 3 expansion pack will make an appearance on the Xbox, remains yet to be seen, but it is being considered and tested. Now that id has made its first step into the console market, Hollenshead also gave a glimpse of the future : "I don't know if we'll be releasing multiple SKUs at the same time, but as for PS3 and Xbox 2 and so on, yes, we will continue our development effort on the consoles."

A day earlier than expected Vivendi has released the multiplayer demo for MadDoc's upcoming RTS Empire Earth II. The demo offers 3 of the game's 15 epochs (Renaissance, Imperial, and Enlightenment), and 3 of the game's nine multiplayer modes (Conquest, King of the Hill, and Territory Control), playable for up to 10 players. The demo also includes the previously released singleplayer demo but with updated content (thanks FilePlanet). Read more for download links ...

VUGames dropped us a note to inform Empire Earth II fans out there that a multiplayer demo will be released Monday April 4th. The demo will offer three of the game's fifteen epochs (Renaissance, Imperial, and Enlightenment), and three of the game's nine multiplayer modes (Conquest, King of the Hill, and Territory Control), playable for up to 10 players. The demo will also include the previously released singleplayer contentbut with updated content, new features, and the ability to set variables such as: game pace, starting resources, population cap, diplomatic settings, and weather & environment details before the game starts. Of course we will have the demo available on our fileserver network the minute its released.

Microsoft Game Studios has announced a June 28 release date for the highly anticipated Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack. The multiplayer expansion pack contains nine new multiplayer maps to push gamers' skills to their limits. The retail package also contains two new videos: an animated side-story from the single-player story in New Mombasa and a mini-documentary that includes interviews with the map designers, combat strategies and fly-throughs of the new maps. Xbox Live subscribers will get a four-map sneak peek in April, and by late summer, all maps will be available for free. Read more for details ...

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 ...