Electronic Arts today announced the release of The Sims Unleashed, a new add-on disk to the top-selling PC game of all time, The Sims. As fans of The Sims know, there has always been something missing from their virtual neighborhoods... pets. In The Sims Unleashed, players can now add pets to their Sims families. An all new expanded neighborhood featuring parks, pet stores, cafes and markets will give the Sims and their new pets a variety of places to sniff, explore and meet their new neighbors.

Shipping To Retail In Late October, "Outlaw Golf" Also Features Outrageous Commentary by `The Daily Show's' Steve Carell and the Most Advanced Golf Engine Delivering Graphics So Rich Players Can Smell the Cut Grass. Golf has never been more exciting! A new golf game will be shipping in late October for the Nintendo GameCube complete with strippers, biker chicks and the most advanced golf gaming engine ever made.

Today, NOLF2.com opens its new website and hopes to become one of the centers for all things related to No One Lives Forever 2. The site contains news, info, cheats, links, downloads, forums and everything else a fan of this soon to be hit needs. They also planning on hosting community sites, such as modding, skinning, mapping, etc.

IGI 2: Covert Strike sees the return of IGI’s award-winning stealth-based first-person shooter action and continues the modern warfare and espionage theme of the original. The covert missions continue the career of David Jones, a former SAS soldier, now working freelance for the secret organisation, codenamed ‘IGI’. The spiralling plot will take Jones through Russia, across Libya and into China in three linked campaigns, as he infiltrates a wide variety of locations including military airbases, harbours and secret government installations. Each mission expands the plot and is sequenced with impressive animated scenes that continue to absorb the player in the game’s carefully constructed narrative.. 17 new screens. And this time it stands for "Institute for Geotactical Intelligence", not I'm Going In.

JoWooD’s first-person RPG, Arx Fatalis, has just gone gold and will be out in North America in late October. Arx Fatalis is a first-person RPG, which plunges the player into an amazingly complex fantasy world. Arx Fatalis combines intelligent story line with impressive medieval surroundings. The user-friendly interface allows the highest interactivity possible. Arx Fatalis creates a state of intense immersion that allows the player to feel that all his actions have a direct consequence in the Arx game world. (Check out our preview HERE)

The official site for SimCity let us know that Maxis is moving the launch of SimCity 4 and The Sims for the PS2 to January 2003. Here is the scoop:

We know you're looking forward to both games and that this might be a disappointment. You should know that both titles are looking great and are a blast to play. Moving them to the beginning of next year will give us the opportunity to do a little extra fine-tuning and polishing of the games. We'll also be revamping SimCity.com and posting the most up to date information regarding both games on our websites. Thanks for your continued support and be sure to visit TheSims.com and SimCity.com for the latest details.

The 20th Anniversary edition contains background material covering the twenty years of historic Dragon's Lair game releases, press clippings, interviews, merchandise, biographies including previews of the upcoming Dragon's Lair 3D release. Game improvements include increased video quality, optional hint or expert mode, authentic scene order and resurrections and an option to play the original game or play Dragon's Lair with the new-found scenes. The Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary Special Edition Box Set which includes Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II:Time Warp for DVD (compatible with PS2/XBX). Njoy the golden oldie screens!

At tonight's X02 event in Seville, Microsoft Corp. announced European pricing and availability for its Xbox Live service, a comprehensive online game service fully dedicated to fast-action, always-connected broadband gaming experiences.

It would not be a REAL Xbox event/presentation if MicroSoft themselves did not have a big lineup of titles to introduce to the public. We got info and screens on : BC, Fable, Fishing Live Online and Sudeki.

Eidos Interactive and Sports Interactive announce that the latest installment of the best-selling football management simulation Championship Manager is to appear exclusively on the Xbox video game system from Microsoft. Championship Manager: Season 02/03 is currently being developed by Sports Interactive and will release this Christmas.

Xbox today unveiled the latest must-have Xbox games in its growing portfolio of titles. Nearly 200 games will be available this Christmas in Europe and 300 more are in development - great games, and lots of them, means Xbox is poised for an exceptional Christmas season, New Year and beyond. Xbox offers more - more power, more excitement and more fantastic gaming experiences - and the games line-up shown at X02 demonstrates that difference beautifully. We got screens from Perfect Dark 2 & Kameo: Elements of Power. Njoy!

Activision, Inc. is looking for a few good console gamers with the announcement that the company's highly acclaimed first-person action game, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, will be migrating onto the Xbox(tm) video game system from Microsoft. The Xbox version of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix will feature all of the over-the-top gritty action found in the PC version including visceral multiplayer combat, which will be available via Microsoft's Xbox Live. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix for the Xbox video game system is being developed by Gratuitous Games and is currently rated "RP" Rating Pending by the ESRB.

Just noticed on Bluesnews that there is a new Ghost Recon patch available. Not available on the official website yet this patch updates your Ghost Recon v1.3. This patch addresses various fixes and tweaks (memory leaks, multiplayer exploits etc.) and the entire thing comes at a whopping 47 MB. Read more for a detailed fix list and links where to grab it.

It is quite the shipping day today. The Ghosts are back and ready to storm the island of Cuba! Ubi Soft Entertainment announced today that Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder ships today for the PC within the United States. We have also have word a Red Storm developer chat will be held. Read more for all those goodies!

Microsoft Corp. today announced it has purchased U.K.-based Rare Ltd., one of the world's leading video game developers, further demonstrating Microsoft's commitment to providing the most innovative interactive experiences available on its Xbox. Rare has been the mastermind behind some of the most popular video games in history, including such global multimillion sellers as "GoldenEye 007," "Perfect Dark," "Banjo-Kazooie" and "Donkey Kong 64." Under terms of the $375 million cash transaction, Rare will today begin creating exclusive console gaming blockbusters for Xbox.

Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced it has shipped Super Bust-A-Move 2, for the PS2. Super Bust-A-Move 2 is the latest version of the hugely popular Bust-A-Move franchise featuring challenging puzzles, a fun cast of characters and highly-addictive gameplay appealing to gamers of all ages. Super Bust-A-Move 2 for the PlayStation 2 is rated E for everyone and has an MSRP of only $19.99!

Earlier we announced that Infogrames, Inc. shipped Big Air Freestyle, an extreme motocross game for the Nintendo GameCube, to European stores, and we just been informed they have also shipped the game in North America and we can expect it to appear on store shelves this week.

Well, we are all eagerly awaiting the Unreal Tournament 2003 release due on the shelves in a matter of days. We had the chance to check out a late beta build and so the time is right to knock up a preview article. Needless to say that we had lots of fun and this is the proof!

Electronic Arts today announced that the massively multiplayer online role-playing galaxy, Earth & Beyond, shipped to stores in North America. The game is being developed by Westwood Studios and will be published under the EA GAMES brand.

Sierra Entertainment, Inc. today announced that the Tribes Aerial Assault videogame has shipped to retailers nationwide. Created exclusively for the PlayStation2, the Tribes Aerial Assault game is one of the first to use Sony Computer Entertainment America's network adaptor for PlayStation 2 for online play over the Internet, allowing up to 16 players from around the world to compete with, and against, each other in the same game.

Telewest Broadband has announced ahead of the start of Microsoft's X02 event in Seville, that it is an official broadband network partner for the European launch on 14th March 2003, a year after the launch of the console in Europe. Xbox owners will need a starter kit to get going, which will retail at around £39.99. It contains an Xbox Communicator kit, subscription to the Xbox Live network, and two free online titles. Consumer beta tests of Xbox Live are set to take place with 3,000 gamers in the UK, France and Germany from 30th October, with an open beta test scheme launching on November 30th.

Now on Friday September 27th 2002 at 5:00PST/8:00EST you can get all the latest news directly from members of the Lionheart development team. Don't miss your chance to talk to the development team in another Lionheart Development Chat. All details HERE!

Rock Solid Studios recently announced the licensing of their RSSTech to Codemasters to power Dragon Empires. Today they send us the first screenshots from the RSSTech. Read more for the candy!

Creative Technology Ltd. the worldwide leader in digital entertainment for PC users, today announced several key breakthroughs in PC audio with the introduction of the new Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound cards.

Vivendi Universal Publishing (VU Publishing) and Crave Entertainment today announced the signing of a worldwide publishing agreement granting VU Publishing's Games division (VU Games) exclusive rights to the multi-platform release of Whirl Tour. Scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter 2002, Whirl Tour offers players a unique combination of action, extreme sports and adventure-based game play. The title will be available for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation2 computer entertainment system.