The second release of the Musashi series makes its debut on the PS2 featuring exhilarating, fast-paced, action-packed gameplay utilizing manga shaded graphics. Like a true samurai, Musashi's powers of observation will pay off in the heat of battle as he channels this energy to learn his opponents' techniques. A new mode of his protective services has also been employed, in which he literally carries his characters to safety.

Rising Star Games is set to release a new take on third-person action adventures with the beautiful hack-and-slash epic Swords Of Destiny. Heading for the PS2 in the summer, Swords of Destiny is further example of Rising Star's commitment to bringing quality Japanese software to the European market. Read more for details and screens ...

EA and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today they have secured an all-star cast for the Batman Begins video game. The game will feature the voices and likenesses of Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Liam Neeson (Henri Ducard), Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane), Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), all reprising their roles from the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures film directed by Christopher Nolan.

Developed by Irrational Games, SWAT 4 allows players to take control of a squad of up to five police officers tasked with performing dangerous operations such as high-risk arrests, hostage rescue and counter-terrorism. Read more for new screens and concept art.

TimeShift is an innovative first-person shooter in which players control time to complete missions and defeat foes, is in development by Saber Interactive for the PC and Xbox. TimeShift will leverage first-of-its-kind gameplay abilities and functionality, the latest graphics technology, and high production values to create a truly unique action game experience.

Within Sacred Underworld, adventurers can look forward to a vastly increased game world, two brand new characters, a whole arsenal of exciting new weapons and hordes of new opponents to use them on. Launching 15th April 2005, Sacred Underworld is available as an expansion pack for Sacred (£19.99) or as Sacred Gold, combining both the original game and the expansion (£29.99).

UC 2: The Liandri Conflict continues the Unreal franchise on the Xbox and introduces an evolutionary new gameplay style to the traditional FPS genre: acrobatic melee combat. This sequel also features new single-player and multiplayer gameplay, person camera mode and intense melee abilities. Unreal Championship fans can play as any one of 14 characters from the Unreal universe, each with spectacular new Adrenaline Powers that enable new offensive and defensive combos.

In an interview with Newsarama.com comic-book writer Greg Pak revealed that he is working on a new comic by the name of Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects, what he discribes as "a cool crossover miniseries which throws a team of classic Marvel characters against a team of brand new superheroes created by the brilliant folks at EA." Developed by EA Canada, Marvel vs. EA was first revealed last year and has been kept on a low profile since, but it seems the veil is being lifted slowly. The console fighting game will put superheroes from the Marvel universe against all new and ficticious superheroes created by EA specifically for this product. Not much more is being revealed for now, but check out the interview for some more comments.

Mythic announced that the game's Realm vs. Realm (RvR) clustering patch resulted in one of the largest battles ever seen in an MMORPG. Last night, players participated in a massive RvR combat session where more than 1,500 characters simultaneously fought one another on a single battlefield.

Jesper Kyd, composer whose credits include soundtracks for the Hitman series, Freedom Fighters and the cinematics for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, today announced he has partnered with Nile Rodgers’ Sumthing Else Music Works record label and Sumthing Distribution to release the original soundtrack from the video game Robotech: Invasion.

Can you smoke Schumi? Grow your racing career as you burn rubber against different opponents throughout the world until you may finally smoke the fastest of them all. Test your reflexes, and your mettle, on 17 intensely realistic tracks spanning the globe, from the U.S. to Cuba to Japan to Europe.

Future Games, previously known for Black Mirror, is working on an all new horror/adventure game, Nibiru: Messenger of the Gods. You take on the role of Martin Holan, an Thechz archeologist working in France sent to investigate a newly found secret tunnel apparently made by Germans during the second World War. Nibiru is a 2D adventure featuring 80 locations, over 30 NPCs, and 50 pages of narrative. People who can't wait for the English wewbsite, can head on over to the German version and check up on some wallpapers, trailer and other game information.

Ubisoft announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Bandai to publish Lumines for the PSP. The critically acclaimed music and luminary action puzzle Lumines is slated for release in the United States in March 2005. Read more for details and screens ...

The Sims 2 University is the first expansion pack for the highly-acclaimed The Sims 2, giving players of The Sims 2 the ability to watch their Sims become young adults and put childhood behind them as they settle into an all-new college town to live out their ultimate college fantasy. The Sims 2 University also celebrate Valentine's Day...

NovaLogic today announced the introduction of ‘Boot Camp’ stat based games on their NovaWorld game servers to further increase the playability of Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising and the expansion pack Joint Ops: Escalation for new gamers to the franchise. Similar to ‘Newbie’ zones in MMORPG’s, ‘Boot Camp’ games will allow new players to gain experience and get familiar with the way the game is played, without being easy targets for more experienced players.

Cossacks: Napoleonic Wars returns one of the most successful strategy games of the past years to the real-time battlefield - with reinforcements: Meet Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and probably the most ingenious strategist in European history! Enter the battle on the side of one of 10 great European nations and rewrite European history in six exciting campaigns. In case the 60+ screens from yesterday weren't enough, here is another 13..

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a squad-based first-person shooter that lets you explore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 3-man squad of Republic Commandos, your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14 intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you will face more than ten brutal enemies. LucasArts has announced that Star Wars: Republic Commando has gone gold and is expected in stores March 1, 2005 (and a few days later in Europe).

Right after its financial results last year, Atari shut down Unreal 2 developer Legend Ent., and a few months later Deer Hunter powerhouse WizardWorks was next. This year is not looking any different as Atari revealed its still dropping financial results and to no surprise, decided to close down its publishing studios in Santa Monica, CA and Beverly, MA, and moving the functions handled by those studios to Atari's HQ in New York. On top of that the results also reveal that Liquid's Dragonshard and Deep Shadows' Boiling Point have been delayed until fiscal 2006, anywhere between April 2005, all the way to March 2006. We tried to contact Atari for comments but so far no replies.

Whereas its prequels offered first-person role-playing and strategy role-playing experiences (respectively), Shining Tears is an action role-playing game, featuring real-time battles and cooperative multiplayer game options. Read more to check out 40+ new screens ...

Still Life lets you play the role of FBI agent Victoria McPherson. Situated in Chicago, you are on the heels of a serial killer, much like your grandfather did 60 years earlier in Prague (Microids' Post Mortem). By means of flashbacks and timewarps, you will travel to locations like Eastern Europe to interrogate suspects, or North America, to scrutinize dead bodies.

Pointsoft has released a demo for Babylon's street racing game RPM Tuning, giving speed freaks a chance to try out 2 QuickRace tracks (Beach Race and Downtown Cup 3), or try your luck with 2 Adventure mode missions, with 3 available cars. Read more for download links ...

Valusoft has released the first patch for SCS Software's latest hunting game Hunting Unlimited 3. This update brings you retail game to v1.2 and fixes visibility problems. Read more for details and download links ...

As part of its ongoing support for the games industry EM Media is delighted to announce the funding of a substantial development in conjunction with Climax's Online studio based in Nottingham. The development will consist of a slate of games based on Climax's Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) engine Leviathan.

Ubisoft today reveals three additional titles currently in development for the Nintendo DS.

• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (spring 2005)
• King Kong (holiday season 2005)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory