As a holiday gift to Stronghold fans worldwide, Firefly Studios has released Castle Attack 2, a free, fun and terribly addictive downloadable mini-game that gives you a small glimpse at the world of Stronghold 2. Defend your stronghold from maurauding invaders until your castle is finally built. Use burning logs, boiling oil and archers to fend off the enemy.

Buena Vista Interactive today announced that it will publish Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge for the PS2 and Xbox in North America. The games will release in October 2005 along with BVG’s previously announced Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King title for GBA. Capcom will publish the PlayStation 2 title in Europe in 2005.

Created by Texas-based Gearbox Software, Brothers in Arms is the most realistic and authentic WWII shooter ever. While other WWII games have sugarcoated the war experience, Brothers in Arms is based on a true story and will immerse gamers into the gritty, uncensored and emotionally-charged side of war. Ubisoft has launched the official Brothers in Arms website, featuring previously release screenshots, trailers and game info.

In this new episode, you lead Team Rainbow, the world's most elite counter-terrorist unit, as they are called into action and unfamiliar territory to battle a bioterrorist threat. Stakes escalate as they are personally targeted by an evil terrorist organization. Used to protecting the lives of others, Team Rainbow must now embark on a mission to fight and save some of their own.

Publisher Strategy First and developer Mayhem Studios are happy to announce that Shadow Vault has shipped to retailers nationwide.

Battle of Britain 2 "Wings of Victory" recreates the fierce and famous air battles southern England in 1940. The game delivers explosive fun for veteran and casual gamers alike, and occurs over a vast and living world below which will be forever known as one the world's most decisive moments in history.

World Snooker Championship 2005 will be launched at next year's World Championship in April 2005 on the PS2, Xbox, and PC formats. In addition to this, Blade is delighted to announce that it is developing World Snooker Championship for Sony's PSP.

Infinium Labs will demonstrate its flagship Phantom Game Service, built on Microsoft's Windows XP Embedded technology, in the Microsoft booth No. 7145 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Thursday to Sunday, Jan. 6 - 9, 2005.

As promised, Starbreeze has now released the level editing tools for its action game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - Developer's Cut. This v1.10 toolset includes the Riddick GDK which allows you to edit the Riddick levels, but also requires you to have the latest Ogier level editor (v1.3), Starbreeze's game engine (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

Codename: Panzers thrusts players into the high-powered battles of World War II offering real-time combat rampages with awesome 3D graphics. CDV has released a multilanguage patch for its WW2 based RTS, addressing several singleplayer/multiplayer issues as well as a new feature which allows you to upload a score and compare it with other players' highscores. Read more for download links ...

Matrix Games and X1 Software announced today that Case Blue, the first of two expansions due to release this week for IL-2 Sturmovik (compatible with the ACE Expansion pack), is now available for sale from the Matrix Games website.

Based on the DC Comics/Vertigo Hellblazer graphic novels, the supernatural thriller Constantine tells the story of John Constantine, a man who has literally been to hell and back. Constantine is being developed by Bits Studios and is based on the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures film starring Keanu Reeves, due in February 2005.

Based on briefings and scenarios supplied by S.A.S. veterans, The Regiment is a tense, accurate simulation of close quarters combat. Lead four-man teams in assaults on terrorist strongholds. Rescue hostages held at gunpoint. Recreate the deadly climax to the Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980. Fight battles in Britain's corridors of power in a daring rescue at the Houses of Parliament or tackle the nightmare scenario of a terrorist takeover of a subway system.

THQ announced a new Dawn of War mapping contest which will allow fans of the game to submit their own creations to be judged by Relic developers. Read more for details ...

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced that Bandai Visual Co. has joined the consortium that is currently almost 100 members strong and comprised of consumer electronics and PC manufacturers and content developers. With this announcement, consumers can expect to enjoy a rich high-definition library of Japanese animation, or Anime, and movies on a Blu-ray Disc.

Enthusia Professional Racing is a PS2 new racing game, developed by KCES, designed to bring all of the white-knuckle energy and thrill of car racing to life, Enthusia features groundbreaking gameplay mechanics, enhanced physics and pixel-perfect graphics to deliver an unprecedented racing experience.

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 :

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl - Trailer
• Darkwatch - Trailer

With its touch screen, wireless communication and voice recognition abilities, the dual-screened Nintendo DS offers video game fans innovative new ways to play. Each unit comes with an embedded communication program called PictoChat, as well as a demo version of Metroid Prime Hunters that features both single- and multiplayer action.

DDR Ultramix 2 combines fun, excitement, competition, choreography and physical interaction into one game. By accessing the enhanced Xbox Live support, players can compete head-to-head with other dancers nationwide, conduct online tournaments, upload content and download new songs, steps and characters. Also boasting a bigger music library than ever before, DDR Ultramix 2 includes exclusive songs, new game modes and content exclusively for the Xbox.

In Battlefield 2, players will choose to fight for one of three military superpowers: the United States, China, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition. Armed with the latest modern weaponry, players can take control of any of the game's 30+ vehicles to engage in major conflicts with over 100 players in some of the largest online battles on the PC.

Activision has released a Call of Duty: United Offensive Map Pack contains 8 new maps: 2 brand new, original United Offensive maps (mp_peaks and mp_streets, and 6 Call of Duty maps updated to support the Capture The Flag and Domination game modes. Read more for download links ...

Activision has released the first patch for Troika's RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. This update brings your retail game to v1.2 and addresses a number of known issues, including fixes for the Society of Leopold quest, keys and keycards disappearing, the use of Protean (Level 5) and Fortitude at the same time, and various other gameplay updates. Read more for details and download links ...

VU Games today announced an agreement with Encore which includes the assignment of the Hoyle games license and a worldwide perpetual license for certain family entertainment software content and technology.

Cox Newspaper is reporting that a teenage girl who was photographed topless, apparently during Spring Break at South Padre Island, is now one of the topless image prizes in The Guy Game. The problem is, the girl was 17 when she was photographed, and is now suing Take 2, Sony and Microsoft as she claims she did not give consent.

Electronic Arts has released the first patch for Black Hole Games' 3D RTS Armies of Exigo. This update brings your retail game to v1.2b and adds some optimizations, varous crash and bug fixes and other enhancements. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...