In Alien Blast: The Encounter your mission is to defend allied planets against the alien raid. Far from the reaches of your solar system, you are alone on an assignment to battle the alien horde. As a member of the allied forces, everyone is relying on you. Most of your forces have been destroyed, and this will be your most difficult mission yet. It's up to you to defend the planet against the Alien onslaught.

WW II oriented 3D RTS game Kombat changes its name. Since now according to the common decision of developer 3A Games and publisher Game Factory Interactive this project is now called "Officers". The game keeps it's first idea and the project will realize all announced features. Now, all gamers will be able to make a career in "Officers".

Thanks to Baskins for notifying us that there is a new but unofficial patch for Saber Interactive's FPS Will Rock. This upgrade is only meant for Will Rock versions that came bundled with Gigabyte ATI video cards and brings your game to v1.2. the initial v1.2 retail patch did not work with the Gigabyte OEM game but now fixes multiplayer compatibility with the original game, as well as several other changes.

Street racing like you never experienced before: Shanghai Street Racer is -the- high energy arcade style street racer for your PC! Fast cars, dangerous tracks and reckless driving guarantee a lot of incredible crashes and highspeed action. Tired of all 3 singleplay modes? Just host a multiplay server and race with your friends! A demo for SRS is expected in the coming week ... Read more for some new screens ...

Hitman: Contracts delivers more action-packed and suspenseful missions, with a greater variety of ways to make the perfect hit and an increased arsenal of firearms and close-combat weapons. A new graphics engine showcases Hitman's 'work' in brutal detail and brings new locations to life. An improved control system and more gradual learning curve will ensure that the game is accessible to all aspiring hitmen. Hitman: Contracts is being developed by Io Interactive and will be available for PS2, Xbox, and PC in spring 2004.

Last year Sammy Studios released Guilty Gear X2 for the PS2, adding six new characters to the most unique cast ever conceived for a total 20 playable fighters, and delivers new modes like Story, Mission, Medal of Millionaires and Gallery to build on the series story of war between humans and the bio-weapon Gears. Now 'Guilty Gear XX #Reload' is coming to the Xbox, adding a number of tweaks and one new character. Read more for screens ...

Set in the near future, in a period of planetary colonisation, it revolves around a savage conflict between forces that are still loyal to Earth (the ISA) and a separatist, militaristic faction who call themselves the Helghast. The game follows your squad of four soldiers on a suicidal mission behind enemy lines, as they fight to undermine and defeat the Helghast forces following their devastating Blitzkrieg attack on the human colony. Read more to check out some new screens ...

Manhattan Chase will let you choose between the brave side of the police, or the evil side of the criminals. In short: Chase, or be chased!During (story-based) destructive chases you can use several weapons such as rockets, homing missiles, chainguns, grenades, mines, firedragon and even... an airstrike! Everything is allowed in the chase!

Set in a virtual, persistent online universe in which millions of players around the globe can participate, The Matrix Online will feature cutting-edge graphics, real-time martial arts combat and a rich storyline that picks up where The Matrix Revolutions, the third chapter in The Matrix film trilogy, leaves off. Currently being developed for the PC by Monolith Productions and EON Entertainment, the company owned by the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy...

Rival-Species reaches the next stage of development with the release of R-S v1.123, the latest complete version of Rival-Species. Rival-Species is a HalfLife mod based around the popular Warhammer 40K universe, and pits you against three possible races, the righteous fury of Imperial Space Marines, the unquestionable evil of their Chaos Marine counterparts, and the technological superiority of the alien Eldar. Read more for download links ..

Step up to the plate and master the true art of hitting with MVP Baseball 2004. An all-new hitting model allows for complete user control over all swing types as well as signature cuts from the game's best sluggers. Featuring rich new presentation, realistic player models, enhanced animations, and an immersive audio experience, MVP Baseball 2004 takes you out to the ballgame like never before.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow will bring back more of the single-player intrigue that made the original game a bestseller. With exciting new action scenes and a strong cinematic feel, the player will experience new and even more realistic surroundings. Building on Ubi Soft's strong commitment to online gaming, Pandora Tomorrow will the be the first stealth game ever to feature multiplayer online missions allowing several players to simultaneously share Sam Fisher's shadowy world of espionage.

Nadeo has released a new patch for their 3D track building/racing game TrackMania. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.2 (beta 3) and contains New Blocks, Bugs fixed, Changed Gameplay, New menu interface. Read more for details and download links ...

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 :

• Rainbow Six 3 - Trailer
• Silent Hill 4: The Room - Trailer
• Red Dead Revolver - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Electronic Arts released the first version of the Battlecraft map editor for Digital Illusions' 3D action game Battlefield Vietnam. The editor shipped with the game but is now available as a separate download, and this initial release similarly includes a full set of Object Lightmap templates. At the same token EA has also released a new version of the Battlecraft 1942 editor v2.1 which now incorporates the Object Lightmap templates that used to be a separate download, as well as adding several dozen new features, improvements, bug fixes and other changes (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for details and download links ...

iEntertainment Network Inc announced today that it was releasing FREE to all gamers the Armored Assault World War II tank game for FREE Massively Multiplayer Online Simulation gaming (MMOSG)! Players can go to the official Armored Assault webiste to get their FREE accounts and join the FUN!

Purge Jihad 2.0.3. Purge Jihad 2.0.3 fixes several map exploits. Other changes include improvements in skills, UI, prayers, weapons, and player requested gameplay changes. Using ESD (Electronic Software Distribution), Purge Jihad is offered in both a free (unregistered) and paid (registered) mode. The free, unregistered trial includes the full game without any time limits but is simply limited to 4 classes. Registered players will have access to all 8 classes.

CCP, in cooperation with IGN/GameSpy, is offering Earth and Beyond users an upgrade to EVE Online. This is a response to the high number of inquires and downloads CCP has received during the last 48 hours from Earth and Beyond users. These users have been forced to look elsewhere for an alternative Science Fiction Online Game after Electronic Arts announced it would close down Earth and Beyond at the end of summer.

Strategy first has released a demo for Legend Studios's RTS War Times giving you a chance to try out 2 singleplayer (one from each campaign) and 2 multiplayer (LAN only) levels. Read more for download links ...

Amid surging Xbox sales and global business expansion, Robbie Bach, senior vice president of Microsoft and head of Microsoft’s Home and Entertainment Division, today announced a number of new executive appointments. Shane Kim, currently acting general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, has been named permanently to that position and will report to Peter Moore, corporate vice president. To create additional synergies between game content and marketing, Moore, in turn has been named head of worldwide content and marketing for Microsoft games and game products. Bach also announced that Mitchell (Mitch) Koch, corporate vice president, will lead Microsoft’s global retail sales efforts.

Midway Games Inc. today announced the launch of the official website for Psi-Ops. Players can now access all of the latest news and updates for Psi-Ops by visiting the official Psi-Ops webiste. The site will continue to be updated over the upcoming months, so be sure to stay tuned for the latest on Psi-Ops.

Publisher Strategy First Inc. and developer Stardock announced today that a new expansion pack for the award-winning turn-based strategy game Galactic Civilizations will be released in Q2 2004. Galactic Civilizations: Altarian Prophecy will add a host of new features, content and other enhancements to the original game to add depth and greater replayability.

Hitman: Contracts delivers more action-packed and suspenseful missions, with a greater variety of ways to make the perfect hit and an increased arsenal of firearms and close-combat weapons. A new graphics engine showcases Hitman's 'work' in brutal detail and brings new locations to life. An improved control system and more gradual learning curve will ensure that the game is accessible to all aspiring hitmen. Hitman: Contracts is being developed by Io Interactive and will be available for PS2, Xbox, and PC in spring 2004.

LTStudios today announced their new toolchain and development system Myriad – which has been specifically designed to deliver highly populated environments for Playstation 2, Xbox and PC. Myriad's sophisticated engine can manage environments teeming with characters, high volumes of vehicle traffic or any other active game content – from cars and animals to soldiers and military craft. With the addition of vehicle dynamics and physics, Myriad had recently been used to create a racing game prototype.

Publisher Graphsim Entertainment and developer Slitherine announce a publishing agreement for the North American release of Spartan, a new turn-based strategy game from an award-winning developer of strategy classics. Read more for details or check the new cinematic trailer...