Vivendi Universal Games sets its sights on the latest edition of the popular SWAT franchise with the announcement of SWAT 4. 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 details and the first screens!

Aura is a challenging first person puzzle exploration game that uses an easy to navigate mouse driven, point and click interface. The game features vast panoramic landscapes and some of the best pre-rendered graphics adventure has ever seen (and we mean it!!). Players will need to solve a variety of ingenious fully-animated puzzles using logic, reasoning and common sense. Read more for new screens ...

Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots has marched onto store shelves in North America for an estimated retail price of $29.95 (U.S.). Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots, the expansion pack to the critically acclaimed, best-selling real-time strategy (RTS) game Rise of Nations, adds a barrage of new features to the original game.

'Silent Hunter III' will add new dimensions to the simulation experience. The player will engage in a compelling ocean environment, featuring dynamic weather, and experience the intensity of historical naval warfare. Taking the role of the U-boat commander, players will seek their enemy with sonar and periscope, attack the enemy with torpedoes, destroy them with the deck gun, or command their crew to do the job.

Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945 is the stunning World War II tactical real time strategy game from Russian developers 1C Company in Russia. The game development project has been retitled from Battlefield Command to give it prominence in a cluttered market of similar product brands. Read more for some new screens ...

Entertainment software developer and publisher NovaLogic, Inc. today announced that the squad based, large scale multiplayer combat title Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, will now be released in early summer, 2004.

Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. today announced the newest expansion to its fast-growing massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Final Fantasy XI, titled "Chains of Promathia." With a community of 500,000 players and 1.2 million active characters from Japan and North America combined, this Final Fantasy XI expansion promises to bring more exciting adventures for all levels of gamers. Chains of Promathia is scheduled for release this fall in both Japan and North America.

Epic is working on the first big patch for their recently released FPS Unreal Tournament 2004. The patch will feature a TON of tweaks, bug fixes, multiplayer & performance enhancements. No specific release date has been given, but in the meantime read more for a detailed fix list ...

TDK has released the first patch for their recently released action/adventure game 'Knights of the Temple'. No version is given for this update, which is simply labeled as Patch 1 and enhances mouse controls, mouse visibility, key binding as well as addressing save problems and occasional error after the first level. Read more fordownload links ...

In SÖLDNER: Secret Wars the player takes command of one of these special teams. As Commander he leads the small high tech army consisting of soldiers, light armoured vehicles, helicopters and VTOLs to fulfill a wide variety of mission. The Simulation of a highly complex political system creates a dynamic campaign: each decision has direct impact on the flow of the game. Read more to check some new screens ...

id Software's terrifying battle with the forces of Hell. A massive demonic invasion has overwhelmed the UAC's Mars Research Facility leaving only chaos and horror in its wake. As one of only a few survivors, players must struggle with shock, fear, and an all-out assault on their senses as they fight their way to Hell and back, in an epic clash against pure evil.

Matrix Games has released a new patch for Freedom Games's 3D WWII strategy title Squad Assault: West Front. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.80 (available for US & UK editions) and contains a number of enhancements that improve both overall and vs. AI play. Read more for details & download links ...

Rainbow Six 3 offers the most thrilling and realistic single- and multi-player counter-terrorist experience available anywhere. The PS2 version features exclusive content (single- and multi-player missions) and a very cool split screen feature for 2-player, offline cooperative gameplay.

Okami depicts a stark world devoid of colour that the player must return to its natural state. In Okami colour represents the life blood of the land and sucking this life are supernatural monsters that inhabit the surrounding areas

NCsoft announces the launch of North American commercial service for Cryptic Studios "City of Heroes" and "Lineage II". City Of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where players don costumes to become super-powered heroes, and fight against evil to save the world. Lineage II is the much-anticipated prequel to the world's most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Lineage.

Eidos has released a demo for Hitman: Contracts, giving you a chance to try out the Syberia mission (Bjarkhov Bomb) from the recently released stealth/action game. 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. Read more for download links ...

Medieval Lords takes aspiring city governors to the middle ages, combining rich city-building challenges with evolving military forces to defend against relentless attacks from neighboring enemies. A first for the genre, Medieval Lords features a full 3D engine that enables innovative new gameplay elements. The city building game genre will take on a whole new dimension when Monte Cristo Games ships "Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand” in Fall 2004. Read more for some new screens ...

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 :

• Men Of Valor - Trailer
• Van Helsing - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Crave Entertainment announced today Strike Force Bowling has reached gold master status for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox.

American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy said the Xbox was likely to overtake the PS2 on a units-sold basis for the first time ever in the United States in April. He estimated Xbox sales of 275,000 units this month, versus about 200,000 units for the PS2. PS2 sales have been falling in the United States this year, and in the just-ended fiscal year Sony said PS2 unit shipments fell 37 percent in North America. Unless Sony cuts the price on its PS2 in order to spur sales, U.S. game software makers, many of whom track Sony's fiscal year, may find sales growth targets harder to reach, analysts said. Read the full story here...

While Piranha Bytes is hard at work on Gothic 3, not much has been heard about the Gothic II: Night of the Raven expansion, andhere is why : "Bad news concerning the addon. I've talked with Plex if there will be an english version of the addon (Nacht des Raben), and he said that's a very difficult question. Many political problems are here within and it's not sure if there will be ever an english addon. this is out of the hands of JoWooD and Atari doesn't respond. Seems that the addon is temporary on ice or it died long before." (thanks RPGDot)

With the nation currently going snooker loopy thanks to the World Championships culminating this week in Sheffield, Ignition Entertainment can confirm that the much-anticipated Game Cube version of Archer Maclean's Pool Paradise will be released on 7th May 2004, at the remarkably low suggested retail price of £19.99.

NCsoft has chosen SpeedTree for use in Auto Assault, a massively multiplayer game currently under development by Denver-based NetDevil, LTD. The animated, incredibly realistic and efficient foliage generated by SpeedTree will be visible in virtually every Auto Assault level, both in town and on the highways, promised NetDevil CEO Scott Brown.