1503 A.D. (a.k.a Anno 1503) – Return to the dawn of a New World in an epic saga of adventure and discovery. As a young lad, you've heard tales of opportunity and unimaginable power and fortune in this New World. Now grown up, you're ready to embark on and venture into these unfamiliar lands of the Renaissance world in ANNO 1503, an exciting new PC title that blends the excitement of real-time strategy with the depth of empire building. It's not only the challenging gameplay that makes 1503 A.D. something very special, it's also the carefully crafted details. The vivid gaming environment is supported by numerous cutscenes, absorbing the player even deeper into the living, breathing world that is 1503 A.D.

Activision Value, a division of Activision, Inc. and Baric/Maxwell LLC are giving gamers the opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the forces of the Union or the army of the Confederacy with the release of a new PC game "Gods and Generals." Based on the events portrayed in the feature film of the same name, "Gods and Generals" puts the player in the role of a company captain serving on the front lines and challenges them to lead a cadre of soldiers through the hellish battlefields of the Civil War. "Gods and Generals" is currently available at retail stores nationwide for a suggested retail price of $19.99 and has been rated "T" (teen) by the ESRB.

JoWooD Productions is proud to announce that March is the month of CMM in the year of Söldner: Secret Wars, the revolutionary online tactical military shooter coming to PC CD ROM in 2003. To celebrate this announcement, JoWooD Productions have created a stunning range of free and exclusive Söldner: Secret Wars wallpapers for gamers to download. Details of CMM will be announced later this month. More information on Söldner: Secret Wars can be found at secretwars.net.

Colin McRae Rally 3 is set to give PC gamers the professional rally driver experience as this massive console hit gets a special PC edition. Colin McRae Rally 3, coming to PC this summer, captures the emotions and consequences of being a professional rally champion. It's an unbelievably personal gaming experience, as you become the globe's greatest rally driver - Colin McRae himself.

GRIN and CDV today announced that Vultures official website is online.. The official homepage has a nice set of screens and also a developer diary from the Swedish developer GRIN. The screens already convey a nice, gothic mood, which is especially unique for the beat 'em up genre! Loads of arenas filled with traps and in complete 3D featuring the latest technology await you, so don’t be square and visit the official homepage! The game features motion capture animation and real-time shadows which will make your Xbox melt!

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. announced today the immediate availability of a new suite of utilities and tools designed to speed-up and simplify the creation of games animation and effects for the Sony PlayStation 2 platform. This new Platform Development Kit (PDK) for the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software brings the industry's leading nonlinear 3-D production environment directly into the hands of PlayStation 2 title developers and artists, offering them unrivalled in-context control over their art and dramatic productivity boosts.

Logitech today announced that the Logitech NetPlay Controller is scheduled to arrive on retail shelves in the U.S. and at www.logitech.com later this month for a suggested retail price of $69.95 USD. The NetPlay Controller will be on display at the Logitech booth (#1008) at the Game Developers Conference.

Nintendo and Electronic Arts today announced a collaboration on games that will include exclusive features for connected play between the Nintendo GameCube console and the portable Game Boy Advance system. The creative effort will be led by EA, with Nintendo's legendary game producer, Shigeru Miyamoto, providing input on technical game play elements.

Logitech today announced that its USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse designed for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system is scheduled to arrive on retail shelves in the U.S. and at www.logitech.com later this month. The USB Keyboard has a suggested retail price of $29.95 USD and the Optical Mouse has a suggested retail price of $19.95 USD. Both products are on display at the Logitech booth (#1008) at the Game Developers Conference.

Videogame publisher Capcom has launched a special telephone helpline for consumers scared from playing its latest title Resident Evil Zero. Available now on 08700 46 55 20 (calls charged at national rates), the line has been designed explicitly to offer comfort and reassurance to terrified gamers. Players simply ring up and listen to the two-minute recorded message scripted by a top psychologist. Once the call is completed, they should feel much more calm.

Do you remember raving away back in the day? Ever recall those awesome sweatbox raves, laced with fluorescent lazers and dirty smoke, euphoric, high-octane tunes and long-haired ravers, sporting accessories that would look better on Ali G these days? If plastic whistles, dummies, moon boots, white gloves and glow sticks revive fond memories in you then eJay salute you and have just what you need! Beep beep beep. Parp. Where's the Party? Read more for the pressrelease!

BioWare Corp. is pleased to announce that Neverwinter Nights was named the Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) on February 28 at the Sixth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in Las Vegas. The AIAS achievement award event recognizes outstanding achievement in interactive content and in the interactive community. This is the fourth time in the past five years that BioWare's products have received honors at the AIAS awards: three times for PC Role-Playing Game of the Year (Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Neverwinter Nights), and once for Character or Story Development (Baldur's Gate II). BioWare will be expanding upon the Neverwinter Nights universe with two upcoming expansion packs: Shadows of Undrentide, set for a Spring 2003 release; and "XP2," the currently unnamed second expansion pack, scheduled for release later in 2003.

Set on post-apocalyptic Earth where survival and ultimate dominance are all that matters, Devastation is a high action, teamplay oriented first person shooter. Powered by heavily modified, next generation Unreal Engine technology, it pits teams of rebelling street fighters, gang leaders, mercenaries and ex-military fighters against overwhelming armies of high-tech corporate troopers.

Hercules is delighted to announce the launch of a complete new range of its popular 3D Prophet graphics boards. This new 3D Prophet series, based on ATI's latest chipsets, features perfectly-adapted solutions for all PC users, from ultra-hardcore gaming to general family needs. As always, Hercules' aim is to provide the very best solutions for every market sector.

A few weeks ago Ubi Soft Entertainment announced plans to release Kola Cell, a new level for the highly successful videogame Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell available for download via Xbox Live. Sam Fisher fans won't have to wait much longer! The new mission for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell will be available to Xbox Live subscribers beginning March 14, 2003. UbiSoft was so kind to send us a few new screens to keep you happy ...

Pride FC pits the top fighters in the world from several different combative sports including wrestling, karate, judo, kick-boxing, and others into one ring under the same rules. The philosophy of Pride, known as ValeTudo, is the acceptance of any technique of any school of combat. Pride is the survival of the strongest. Not the strongest in a specific genre, but the strongest of all combative sports, period. Read more to know if it's a knock out or wether we got knocked out!

Slow news evening so only a few new trailers for various games were released. Instead of giving them all their own post, we grouped them and so far there are trailers for :

• PlanetSide (SOE)
• Strike Fighter (Strategy First)
• Apache Air Assault (Activision)
  
  Read more for download links ...

The official site for Vietcong is updated with new information and some weapon screens.. Read how Pterodon recreated each weapon from the Vietnam war, and their account of the work carried out incorporating each gun into the game. They've included some interesting facts about US and VC weapons as well as a number of military items taken from the game.

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that it has seen significant growth in the number of simultaneous user base and recently set a new record of 118,000 simultaneous players, almost four years after the game was launched. In addition, the company is opening a brand new EverQuest server, Maelin Starpyre, and for the first time ever, will offer full character transfers from existing servers including all equipment, acquired items and experience. Transfers are subject to certain restrictions.

BioWare has released a new patch for Neverwinter Nights, updating their role playing game to v1.29. This upgrade fixes the NPC warping issue, fixes the DM Client player display list, and also fixes an issue with tags > 32 characters Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Noticed on BluesNews that Renegade Generals has news & details from EA's Harvard Bonin on the next planned patch for C&C Generals. According to the post we could expect it early next week. Read more for details if you want to know what they are working on...

Ubi Soft Entertainment announced today that Shadowbane, the ground breaking massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game for both PC and Macintosh, has gone gold. Shadowbane has been designed and developed by Wolfpack Studios, based in Austin, Texas, and will be hosted and operated by ubi.com. Shadowbane makes its triumphant journey to retail shelves on March 25. Read more for details as well links for a new trailer ...

Project 3 has once again released a new patch for their team-based tactical shooter New World Order. This upgrades your European retail copy to v1.4, no specific details are available at this point. I would assume the recently gone gold North Americna version will be in stores as 1.4. Read more for links where to grab the goods ...

Hercules is proud to announce the release of the latest entry in its Smart TV range of TV cards: Smart TV Satellite. Designed for high-quality digital satellite reception on PC (DVB-S standard), the card features digital MPEG-2 VCR and time shifting functions and is fully Pay-TV compatible.