Amon, Raven Shield dev team member, has released his Raven Shield 'ZEN' map. According to the official German and Italian Raven Shield web sites, this Zen map along with his previously released Close Quarters Map (included in the map-pack) are now considered "official maps." Download this map here (1.3MB) !

H.A.R.M. is back with only one obstacle to thwart their quest for domination: Cate Archer, the beautiful but deadly UNITY operative who foiled their last nefarious plot. The world’s most deadly assassins are summoned with one simple objective: kill Cate Archer. Meanwhile, the United States has uncovered a top secret Soviet project that, if successful, could bring about a third World War. Can Cate Archer avert a nuclear holocaust and simultaneously stay out of H.A.R.M.’s way? Sierra has just released a multiplayer demo offering three maps from the full game. Available modes are : Co-Operative, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Doomsday modes. The package includes a dedicated demo server so you can host your own game. Read more for download links ...

Kenn Hoekstra send out word that he posted an update on the RavenSoft forums giving some more details about what we can expect in 'Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy'. ReavenSoft is working on the title for LucasArts (NA) and Activision (world wide). He gives details about multiplayer, engine, AI and so on .. Check it out!

Gameindustry reports that Square's online experiment doing well despite all the stumbling blocks.. The first official add-on disc for Square's PS2 online RPG, Final Fantasy XI, has debuted at the top of the Japanese charts with week one sales of over 90,000 units, proving the continuing popularity of the title. The add-on pack, Vision of Ziraat, is priced at 3980 Yen (€30), and sold 92,000 copies according to official figures, while a bundle featuring the full game and the add-on pack entered the charts at number 31 with unit sales of about 4,500. According to Media Create's figures, FFXI has sold 150,000 units to date, meaning that around 60 per cent of players picked up the add-on in its first week on release - indicating that there's still a very keen level of interest in the game, which Square Enix charges a monthly subscription fee to play.

The fourth part of the 'VIETCONG' diary provides you with an insight into sound, speech, and music. Sounds interesting? You can read the developer diary here. (thanks Unrealik)

Auravision LLC, a pioneer computer peripheral developer, today announces it has signed Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, the three-time World Champion Gamer from the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), to endorse his own line of Gaming products and other lifestyle merchandise. Fatal1ty (spelled with his signature number one as the letter i) will be present in Auravision's E3 booth in Kentia Hall #6656.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. is mulling a bid for the videogames business of Vivendi Universal SA, which the French media conglomerate has put up for sale to reduce its borrowings. Take-Two Interactive, based in New York, would make a bid for VU Games with financial partners, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE) announced today that its latest title for Pocket PC, EverQuest: War on Faydwer, will be available for download on April 28 for $19.99. This title marks the third installment of the on-going EverQuest saga on Pocket PC.

Years after the Higarans reclaimed their Homeworld, there is still no peace. Now a new war, a prophecy, and a deadly new enemy threaten to make the recent journey home all for nothing. In Homeworld, you helped them reclaim their home. Now, help them reclaim their destiny. In addition to the engrossing single player experience, Homeworld 2 allows competition with five other players via a LAN or over the Internet. Homeworld2 also will support mod groups by making the tools to create your own content available via download at www.homeworld2.com. Developed with the RTS community in mind, the game technology includes robust support for mods and high levels of customization. Read more for download links ...

OMF: Battlegrounds promises to deliver the next-generation of hand-to-hand robot action-combat bringing players the most intense and visually stunning 3D fighter on the PC. Building on the growing popularity of PC fighting games, OMF: Battlegrounds features unique, out-of-this-world characters; stunningly detailed graphics; lightning-paced and fluid gameplay; and a unique 3rd person fighting point of view. Today we got a brand new game trailer the wrath of new robots such a Chronos, Mantis and Katana, who have yet to be seen in any other Diversions movie like this kind. The movie will showcase new fighting techniques for each robot, as well as some of the fighter’s individual special and super attacks that are enhanced as the game action intensifies. Also highlighted in the new movie are the new arenas space station and volcano.

Publisher Strategy First Inc. and developers Paradox Entertainment and Slitherine Strategies announced today that their new strategy title, Chariots of War, has gone gold.

Linden Lab announced today that its private beta test of Second Life is now open to the general public. Second Life is a burgeoning new online society, shaped entirely by its residents. Participants can explore a constantly-changing 3D world, create anything they can imagine, connect with friends and acquaintances, and compete for fame and fortune. The public beta follows a successful limited beta test that has been in progress since November 2002. Beginning today, anyone who wants to become part of this exciting, emerging world can begin their "Second Life" by registering at www.secondlife.com.

Set for the first time in the Pacific Theatre of Operations from 1941-1944, Medal of Honor Rising Sun gives players a sense of the courage it took to fight the Japanese from Pearl Harbor to the shores of the Philippine Islands. Players will assume the role of Marine Corporal Joseph Griffin, as he survives the attack on Pearl Harbor, leads the assault of Guadalcanal, and finally rescues his brother from a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines. Read more for some details and screens ...

In the past week the registration for the public beta phase of the online strategy game Tactical Commanders was started with a contingent of 10.000 beta test accounts. In view of the fact that today this mark was broken, the Tactical Commanders Team decided to set up additional servers to raise the number of possible beta testers to 20.000!! Interested players will be given the chance to apply for the beta test till the end of may. The beta test of the so called Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy Game (MMORTS) will be started in june for all german and english speaking areas. Register for the beta test, right here.

Criminals of Gotham City Beware! Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu for the PlayStation2, Xbox, the Nintendo GameCube and GameBoy Advance. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu makes history as the first video game to debut a brand new Batman character, the villain Sin Tzu. Ubi Soft, DC Comics and Warner Bros. have partnered to showcase the talents of renowned comic book artist, Jim Lee, as the creator and character designer for Sin Tzu. Jim Lee is America's best-selling comic book artist of all time and is currently the artist on the monthly DC comic book BATMAN, which is the nation's #1 comic book. Read more for details and the first screens!

THQ Inc. today announced that it has entered into a two-property, multi-year publishing agreement with world-renowned PC development studio Relic Entertainment Inc. Creators of critically acclaimed real-time strategy (RTS) titles Homeworld and Impossible Creatures, Relic is regarded as a leader in the RTS genre. Homeworld won PC Gamer magazine's "Game of the Year" honor in 1999 and has franchise sales of more than 1.3 million units worldwide since its release. The first of the two projects included in the agreement is currently in development at Relic and scheduled to release in the second half of 2004. More details on this project will be released later this year.

Silver Creek Entertainment announces the release of Iraqi Most Wanted Solitaire, a free Windows PC Solitaire game combined with the sought-after Iraqi most wanted playing cards that details the Iraqis that the US military is searching for. This solitaire game includes all of the cards from the infamous most wanted deck given to our armed forces. The game makes use of the latest advancements in PC technology to provide America's most played computer game, Solitaire, in a fresh new way.

Illustrating its power as an independent content publisher, SEGA today announced its fall and winter lineup of nearly 20 entertainment and sports games to be featured at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2003. SEGA's E3 2003 lineup features a bold and diverse array of titles for the PlayStation2, Xbox, GameCube and the GBA.

Update: We just added screens for about every game in the list, so enjoy!

Nicely Crafted Entertainment Ltd. ("NiCE") today announced that they will be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. NiCE is visiting E3 in association with the Department of Trade and Industry and will be showing their Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy game Time of Defiance on stand 2340, as well as showing off one of their next generation products behind closed doors.

Warthog plc Monday announced that it has been commissioned by Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) to create a multi-platform video game based around the classic science fiction TV series, Battlestar Galactica. This is the first time that the franchise has appeared on a games console. The interactive game, for PS2 and Xbox, is a story-driven space action- adventure. The game will be released in Q3 2003.. More info about this game and screens here!

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• GTA: Vice City (Rockstar)
• Sims: Superstar (EA)
• Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (Vivendi)
• Fair Strike (Buka)
• Battle Mages (Buka)
• 
  
  Read more for download links ...

EVE is a world far away from mankinds original habitat, planet Earth. How far away, and where, no one knows. Humans got there through a natural wormhole, and gazing upon a sky never before seen, were completely unable to determine the whereabouts of this new world. From the system of New Eden, where the gate of EVE that once led to the old world lies, humans expanded in all directions at a great pace, exploring and colonizing.

Forget what you know about first person shooters. Walk a week in the Postal Dude’s shoes. Freely explore full 3-D open ended environments. Interact with over 100 unique NPC's including Gary Coleman, marching bands, dogs, cats and elephants, protesters, policemen and civilians, with or without weapons. 'Postal 2' is all about choice; experiment with everyone and everything. And remember ...it's only as violent as you are! So does Postal 2 live up to all the hype? Read more and find out!

SC2 features seven distinctive modes of game-play including: Arcade, Vs, Time Attack, Survival, Team Battle, Practice, and the console exclusive, Weapon Master. Weapon Master is a "complete the mission" mode combined with an RPG twist. In this mode, the player can collect and equip their character with up to 200 different weapons, thus adding a deeper level of strategy to every new battle. Check out 20 new Xbox screens ..

Austrian publisher JoWooD has signed a deal with Bigben Interactive which will see Bigben taking over publishing duties on 21 new titles for the PC, PSone and PS2 platforms in Germany, France, Benelux and Switzerland. Among the titles covered by the deal are Spellforce and Soldner: Secret Wars on the PC, while the "Giant" series of simulation games is also covered in the back catalogue of titles signed to Bigben.