Techland has released an updated singleplayer demo for their sci-fi shooter Chrome. The demo is now up to date with the latest v1.1.1.0 code and still features the same tutorial and one full level (thanks Blues). Read more for download links ...

Activision has released its second quarter results which generally reflects some slowdown in sales/business compared to last year. It does however also reveal Gray Matter Studios' Quake 3 engine based Xbox/PC shooter "Trinity" has been cancelled (as well as Street Hoops sequel and Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2).

Call Of Duty fans will have the opportunity to chat with the Infinity Ward development team tomorrow, Nov. 7th, as well as possibly play the team at their own game. One chat is good for European fans, and one is better for North American fans. Both chats will take place in IRC channels. Read more for details where to participate...

Strategy First is pleased to announce it has signed the worldwide rights to Black Hammer Game’s upcoming turn based strategy title Supremacy: Four Paths to Power. “Supremacy: Four Paths to Power is a deep strategy game that brings something new to the strategy game genre,” says Don McFatridge, President of Strategy First. “We couldn’t be happier about our partnership with Black Hammer Game that will bring this game into the hands of strategy game lovers everywhere.”

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 :

• LotR: Battle For Middle-Earth - Trailer
• Sacred - Trailer
• Celtic Kings: Punic Wars - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

As we already revealed last week ambitious French publisher L.S.P. is looking towards 2004 with great anticipation. Two titles: kill.switch and Pac-Man World 2 from games legend NAMCO, are due for release on the PC in early 2004. L.S.P. will also be announcing further titles in the near future. Both games are published by L.S.P. Across Europe and through HIP Games in North America.

Savage Eden: The Battle for Laghaim will be launched by iEntertainment Network for closed Beta play on 14 November 2003. The original game, Laghaim in Asia, is developed by one of the foremost game companies in Korea and has over 1,000,000 registered users. Now, this extremely popular and successful game is coming to the Americas in a new and improved version! Laghaim in Asia operates with over 50,000 current users and generated sales of over $1 million USD in its first two weeks of commercial operation. People interested in signing up for the beta test should register here.

Brand new concept, TrackMania drags the player in a funny universe of track building and driving. For the first time, the player has to build his track before racing. Will he find the right way to do the best time ? He has to collect all the blocks of the Trackmania set, a truly virtual construction game enabling the creation of increasingly larger and higher tracks with a capacity exceeding 2000 blocks ! Read more for details and screens ...

Take-Two Interactive has released a demo for PopTop Software's 3D management strategy Railroad Tycoon 3. This demo contains a pair of tutorials, a single scenario/sand-box map, all set in Italy as well as an additional scenario/sand-box map set in Heartland, USA (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Codemasters has released a demo for HotHouse's tv based music show American Idol (distributed as Pop Idol in the UK). The 'American Idol' video game is a complete recreation of the TV show that you can play at home! You create, style and rehearse your own contestant, and then compete to win the Pop Idol Crown! Read more for download links...

GSC Game World is glad to inform all the fans of tooth-grinding shooters that our arcade FPS FireStarter has gone gold. The game can be expected to hit the stores very soon. Due to technical peculiarities, the game does not run under OS Windows 95, 98 and ME, while supported only by Windows 2000 and XP.

DreamCatcher Games today announced that it has shipped Pax Romana on PC. Pax Romana is an historical strategy game set in ancient Rome, designed by the creator of Europa Universalis. There are two sides to this epic game – political and strategic. The strategic side is very much a battle of cunning and well-planned military tactics, whereas the political side involves the manipulation of senators and generals alike, as politicians seek to gain military and financial power.

Can you save the world from the ICEWorm microchip? You are special agent Ethan Hunt — back to battle international espionage as the fate of the free world hangs in the balance! A microchip nicknamed ICEWorm is disabling the security systems of the world’s largest organizations, and providing free access to the highest bidder. Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to destroy the chip and prevent its creators from bringing the free world to its knees. Read more for the full preview ...

Immersed in a series of increasingly frantic missions, you - playing the part of Hawk, the pilot of the prototype Battle Engine, codenamed Aquila - take part in a saga that sweeps across a ravaged globe. You alone must pilot the fearsome Battle Engine Aquila, a behemoth war machine and the single most destructive unit on the battlefield, capable of patrolling from the ground or attacking from the air. One-on-one you can destroy most individual enemy units, but you cant take them all out single-handed - there are simply too many of them! Read more for the full review ...

Set within a world of treachery, nobility and milk (yes milk), Once Upon A Knight delivers powerful gameplay — while never taking itself too seriously. It features extensive play with a comprehensive real-time strategy mode and exciting RPG modes. Throughout, Once Upon A Knight mixes hardcore depth and detail with a clever, tongue-in-cheek sensibility that appeals to a broad range of gamers.

Microsoft Corp., beset by widespread criticism of security flaws in its software, on Wednesday put up a bounty to track down the authors of two computer bugs that choked the Internet earlier this year. Microsoft offered two $250,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Blaster worm and the SoBig.F e-mail virus, which infected more than half a million computers, crashed thousands of systems, and snarled Internet traffic across the globe in August and September.

This went under our radar earlier today/yesterday but LucasArts just let us know that the official Armed and Dangerous web site has gone live. Armed and Dangerous is LucasArts' upcoming Action-Action title coming out on the Xbox and PC in early December. The site is full of new and exciting content and you should consider it a resource. So turn up the volume on your computer, and take a look! You can also check our recent 'Armed and Dangerous' preview...

Xbox Live, the world's most intense unified online gaming service, just hosted its hottest weekend ever. This past Sunday, November 2, Xbox Live set new usage records. On that day, 83,652 unique users spent 262,268 hours on the service -- or more than three hours per user. Sunday's most-played Xbox Live game was "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3" with 24,478 gamers signing in for battle. At one point, 6,731 gamers played the game simultaneously.

Ritual Entertainment has released the Star Trek Elite Force II source code giving you the change to create single & multiplayer mods for Raven Software's shooter Star Trek Elite Force II. Read more for details & download links ...

Ubisoft has released the first patch for Infinite Interactive's strategy title Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria (US version only). This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and mainly addresses a few crashing issues and other bugs. Read more for download links ...

Atari today announced that the Magic: The Gathering ­ Battlegrounds for the Xbox and PC has gone gold. Developed for Atari by Secret Level, Magic: The Gathering ­ Battlegrounds is set for a November 18th release date. Magic: The Gathering ­ Battlegrounds is based on the incredibly popular trading card game created by Wizards of the Coast. The game is filled with faithful card game translations of classic creatures, spells and enchantments and presented in a visually stunning 3D game environment rife with real-time strategic fighting, devastating wizard arsenals and intense creature combat.

Eidos today officially announced that the Xbox & PS2 versions of 'Legacy Of Kain: Defiance' have reached gold status and are expectedf in stores November 12th. The next chapter in the epic Legacy of Kain series is a cutting-edge action/adventure game featuring more action then ever before. Take control of two powerful and highly evolved vampires: Kain, an all-powerful demigod, and Raziel, a demonic angel of death. Each equipped with a legendary sword, Kain & Raziel must battle through a world loaded with conflict and intrigue as they attempt to unravel their destinies and defeat the dark forces that seek to condemn their world to eternal damnation.

Microsoft Game Studios and Valve today announced that Counter-Strike for Xbox has gone gold and will arrive on store shelves on November 18 for an estimated retail price of $49.99 (U.S.). Counter-Strike makes its explosive console debut exclusively on Xbox and Xbox Live. Counter-Strike on Xbox will be the most graphically advanced version of the series to date and has a host of Xbox-exclusive console content, including seven never-before-seen multiplayer maps, one new counter-terrorist team, one new terrorist team and downloadable maps via Xbox Live.

German developer Interactive Strip is at it again with Airline 69: Back To Casablanca. After their last erotic trip in Wet: The Sexy Empire, distributed by CDV, they are now selfpublishing "Airline 69: Return to Casablanca" under Redfire Software. Featuring Penthouse model Sasha Woman this erotic/comic style game, tons of exocitc locations & adventures. Read more for some screens or download the trailer. Beware: Adult content.