Dreamcatcher Europe has released the first patch for Streko-Graphics Inc.'s puzzle/adventure game Aura: Fate Of The Ages. This update brings your UK retail game to v1.04 but no details as to what it addresses are provided at this point. Read more for download links ..

Red Ninja: End of Honor is an action-adventure title, developed by Tranji, which will feature a variety of innovative game-play features blending action, adventure, stealth, seduction and fighting. These elements have been placed in a historical Japanese environment with an event-driven story written by famed Japanese feature film director, Shinsuke Sato.

The Honorable Sarah Curley, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Arizona yesterday approved the Tulga Games’ bid to purchase the assets of Artifact Ent, the developer of multiplayer online role-playing game Horizons: Empire of Istaria.

JoWooD's Stargate SG-1: The Alliance is the spectacular interactive game expereince that puts players in the action packed universe of the Stargate SG-1 TV series. Jowood sent us a pre-canned Q&A, but nontheless a very interesting read with plenty of new info.

CDV Software Entertainment today announced that Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, the sequel to their critically acclaimed real-time strategy title, Cossacks: European Wars, is in development and is slated to ship worldwide for the PC in April 2005.

ARUSH Publishing, in conjunction with Groove Games, today announced that the highly anticipated multi-platform video game release, "Playboy: The Mansion," will feature a diverse soundtrack including music from more than 40 artists. Players can select from eight different stations ranging from hip-hop to rock to house music, setting the mood at their virtual Playboy Mansion.

Wing Simulations has released a Building SDK for its military multiplayer shooter Soldner: Secret Wars, allowing you to create your own buildings for Soldner: Secret War’s. This package includes a detailed Tutorial, 3d Studio Max Plugins, some example files, one Testmap and the documentation. Read more for download links ...

Ubisoft has released the English demo for Blue Byte 3D RTS game 'Settlers: Heritage Of Kings.' featuring a tutorial and one single player mission. Fans will enjoy fully animated 3D technology and enhanced gameplay features, but still be able to relive the experience that makes the Settlers series such a big hit. Read more for download links ...

Midway announced today the development of Blitz: Playmakers, a new, unlicensed videogame exposing the harsh realism and troubling, behind-the-scenes stories of a fictional professional football league. Blitz: Playmakers has been in development at Midway's Chicago studio for the past year in collaboration with a writer from ESPN's controversial "Playmakers" TV series.

Hearts of Iron 2 presents tons of new features including a redesigned map and interface, updated battle mechanics, re-worked technology tree, fine-tuned diplomacy and trade system as well as gameplay details like co-operative multiplayer. To commemorate the 60th year Anniversary of the Ardennes offensive on Dec 16, 1944, Paradox Interactive has released a demo for its strategy game Hearts of Iron 2. This demo features the Ardennes offensive battle scenario. Read more for download links ...

Put yourself in a spin with Codemasters' Christmas gift – an egg-shell-hen-t bit of retro fun: the complete Commodore 64 edition of Treasure Island Dizzy from way back in 1988!

SimBin Development Team is nearing completion of the first ever official racing game based on the FIA GT racing series. GTR – The Ultimate Racing Game represents the most intense and immersive racing experience ever to grace a PC or games console. GTR is scheduled to ship in North America in late Q1, 2005 for the PC.

Matrix Games and Destroyer Studios have released a new demo for its space sim Starshatter, which includes the training campaign, Operation Live Fire, and the first five days of the first dynamic campaign, Operation Highland, along with a few single missions and a few multiplayer missions that can be enjoyed entirely for free.

Vivisector: Beast Inside developed by Action Forms (creators of Chasm and Carnivores series) is a unique mixture of 3D Action/Horror. The game blends a thrilling interactive story with intense, high-adrenaline action and immerses players in a rich and fascinating storyline.

Fight Club, a "no-holds-barred" fighting game, will portray the brutality of street fighting while encompassing the action and story elements from the movie with intense visuals, untraditional moves, and bare-knuckle destruction. If only the game was half as good as the mvie ...

Fight and evade the powerful military force of the Conquistadors, as they seek to vanquish the seas of the pirate insurgence. Only a pirate captain who masters the power of the voodoo spells, who can outwit their foes and seize the treasure, will truly be ruler over the “Voodoo Islands”. Although Koch Media announced that their game went out of beta testing several months ago, no release date is given yet.

Players of Sacred can look forward to a game world that is 40 percent bigger than before, two new characters with distinctive and stunning abilities, 30 fearsome types of opponents and plenty of additional weapons, items and armor. In Sacred Underworld, the player will be able to re-live the excitement of the entire original Sacred adventure with two new characters, the Daemon and the Dwarf; alternatively, it will be possible to continue the thrilling story of the fantasy world of "Ancaria" with existing characters. The new adventures of "SACRED Underworld" will be available in April 2005 for €24.99.

You could be one of seven winners to have their likeness appear in Vivendi's recently announced third-person action shooter, Scarface. Fill out the form to be entered for a chance to become an environmental character in the complex world of Tony Montana, one of the most ruthless gangsters ever depicted on film. Remember, "The World is Yours."

Following the recent announcement to expand its LA Studio, Climax is pleased to confirm the first new addition to the staff roster with the appointment of Bill West as Vice President of Business Development.

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 :

• The Godfather - Trailer
• Bloodline - Trailer
• Metal Wolf Chaos - Trailer
• Shadow of Rome - Trailer #6
• Still Life - Teaser

Act of War: Direct Action, developed by Eugen Systems, is Atari new action game with a storyline and game universe created in cooperation with Dale Brown, 15-time New York Times best-selling author and expert on US military, global conflict and future military technology.

Sporting around 150 playable characters, this Tri-Ace developed action RPG with hints of Star Ocean and Wild ARMs 3 puts you in control of either Jack Russell or Ridley Timberlake, both 16. Three other party members, connected to the main character through a "Link System", will join you in battle at all times.

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.

After several months Larian Studios has released a new patch for its RPG Beyond Divinity. This update brings your retail game to v1.47, addresses over a dozen fixes, and adds a few game enhancements. This patch is for all English editions of the game, excluding the Australian version. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Ubisoft today announced the launch of the official Splinter Cell Chaos Theory web site which features tons of images and information, but you can also access the Chaos Theory Experience, a Flash presentation that delivers an emotional punch by thrusting visitors directly into Sam Fisher’s world, illuminating selected details of the compelling storyline, and highlighting just how important Fisher’s work is to combating information warfare and maintaining global security. The Chaos Theory Experience will ultimately consist of six separate modules (and is launching with one); registered ubi.com recruits will be alerted by email when new modules appear.