Jaleco Entertainment has announced that "Nightcaster II: Equinox", the 3D action spell-shooter, and "Pulse Racer", the futuristic combat racer with INFINITRAX, both ship tomorrow (Tuesday) for the Xbox. Read more for details ...

The 3DO Company today announced Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Winds of War for the PC. In the second expansion to the best-selling fantasy turn-based strategy game, players battle fantastic creatures and face fierce armies across 40 action-packed maps. The Expansion Pack is scheduled to ship this Spring. Read more for details and 4 new screens ...

If you're itching to create the most unique armies ever found in a real-time strategy (RTS) game then download the Impossible Creatures trial version and play through three single-player missions, a tutorial and two "player vs. CPU" maps. The Sigma Combiner is also included, enabling you to create your own army of fearsome creatures that are generated by mixing and matching the various parts of two different animals. Fourteen animals are included in the trial version, while 50 different animals will be available in the retail product (thanks HomeLAN). After the multiplayer demo a week or so ago, here is the single player demo. Read more for links where to grab this puppy ...

Echelon: Wind Warriors is the next evolution in futuristic flight combat that delivers the latest technical and gameplay innovations demanded by today's experienced game playing audience without sacrificing accessibility for newcomers. Players fly a variety of futuristic aircraft through a number of new missions set on a spectacular continent that takes seven hours of real-time flying to cross. Echelon: Wind Warriors is expanding the futuristic universe of Echelon - the "first-rate flight-combat title that set some lofty new standards for a joystick-controlled game." Echelon : Wind Warriors is being published by Buka Entertainment. Check out the new batch of 20 screens ...

Infogrames has just announced that its hugely successful V-Rally brand is speeding onto the Xbox in April 2003. Following on from the unprecedented success of the PlayStation 2 version, V-Rally 3 on Xbox will be the definitive version of this great racer and leave other rally games trailing in its dust.

French-Canadian publisher Microids has commissioned Scandinavian game developer UDS to develop an action sports game called “Tennis Masters Series 2003” (TMS 2003) for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. TMS 2003 is the Tennis Masters Series’ official licence and the release is expected early next year.

Black Cactus' Warrior Kings: Battles is to follow in the successful footsteps of its RTS Warrior Kings, but will offer a somewhat different experience to the original title. Today the Warrior Kings Battles official site is online. The site features trailers, gameinfo, wallpapers and much more.. There is also 14 fresh new screens posted over at FactorNews.. Njoy!

When you're not cheering your favourite Telstra Premiership team on the weekend you'll soon be able to coach them and send them into battle mid week with the new Rugby League interactive game. After 8 months of development Australian company HES are in the closing stages of prgramming for a Rugby League interactive game that will feature all the big names of the Telstra Premiership. In the meantime you can try out this upcoming game by checking the freshly released demo.. Read more for links where to grab the goods ...

You are Lieutenant Kitty Hawk, a Navy SEAL and pilot whose helicopter has crash-landed on a remote island, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Kitty soon realises that escape from the island may be difficult. With the enemy defences ruling out any kind of rescue operation, Kitty must eliminate the island defences through any means possible. However, this is a stealth game, one move in the wrong direction and Kitty's history. Going out all guns blazing is not an option. Is this a real stealth game? Or should the game remain under the radar? Read more and find out ...

The UT2003 Troopers team has decided to release a public beta of Troopers: Rise of the Rebellion in the coming weeks. This beta will contain at least two Rebel Alliance player models, two Imperial player models, four weapons, and one or two original game types alongside CTF and Team DM, all played on four to five brand-new maps... They also announcing the development of Troopers: The Clone Wars, that will have, at its core, the character models, weapons, and battlefields of this often-discussed great war of the galaxy.

SpectraVideo are about to launch the Logic3 TopDrive Wheel (model number XB716) for the Xbox console - compatible with all driving software on Microsoft's fast selling uber console. The TopDrive is remarkably comfortable through its ergonomic design. Packed with an array of additional features including analog accelerator / brake pedals and vibration motors designed to bring home the whole sensation of all driving games.

Handling dirt is not a rewarding career, but you don't have to follow orders your whole life - think for yourself and Antz Extreme Racing can put you in the fast lane! You may be part of an endless extended family, but that doesn't stop you from wanting to be the best. Race to victory and help make your colony proud! Read more to find out if its worth the race...

In 2002, Spyro will make his much-anticipated debut on the Playstation 2 Computer Entertainment System. In this all-new adventure Spyro will face his toughest adventure yet. Step in and foil Ripto's evil plan to capture all of the dragonflies in the land and defeat the helpless dragons before it is too late!!

It is 1588 A.D., a critical year of an alternate history hauntingly familiar yet fantastically alien to our own. Because of one fateful event during the Third Crusade, the history of this world diverged. This event, the Disjunction, ripped open a long-sealed breach to other worlds. Magic energy and powerful spirits flowed into the world, changing the lands and the people forever. We sat down with Black Isle producer Chris Parker and had a few words about their upcoming RPG, Lionheart!

Microsoft Game Studios has released an updated version of the demo for Dungeon Siege, Gas Powered Games' action/RPG. The new version 1.02d is a 197 MB download, which is 9 MB larger than the version 1.01d demo, and offers the following minor changes: "The duration for blood has been shortened and the flying debris of monsters in combat has been reduced, and in some cases eliminated." (thanks Blue's). There are also a few mirrors up on 3DGamers.

Got what it takes to become a hero? In Fire Department, experience what life is really like for fire-fighters. Choose your team, vehicles and equipment! Keep your cool when faced with high-pressure situations… Your reactions, your strategy as well as your capacity to manage a team of firemen are the keys to success. Check out this new batch of burning hot screens ...

EA let us know that they currently working on a patch for James Bond 007: NightFire that will fix some issues to better enhance your gaming experience. While they currently don't have an ETA on when the patch will be available, they are working feverously to deliver it.. (thanks Blues)

A few days ago the Managing Director of Techland signed an official contract under which the company was granted a license by Benfield Sport International, a sole owner of the Speedway Grand Prix competitions, for the production of a speedway game. Owing to that contract, for the first time in the history of the black sport, you will have a possibility to play an extremely realistic and original speedway game - FIM Speedway Grand Prix. You will become one of the real Grand Prix riders and participate in speedway competitions on the original stadiums of this year’s Grand Prix series. FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX is coming out soon. Now the officiall English site has gone live, loaded with screens, gameinfo and much more...

Battlefront.com and developer Fury Software are proud to announce the release of the eagerly awaited final patch (v1.06) for “Strategic Command – European Theater”, a turn-based Grand Strategy wargame featuring the Second World War in Europe. The patch 2.95MB offers dozens of gameplay enhancements, new features, tweaks and bug fixes and for those with the original game version it also adds full TCP/IP network and LAN support. Read more for download links and changes in v1.06..

Earlier this morning we reported that the popular CS franchise has moved developers once again, now Randy Pitchford "programmer" at Gearbox Software updated his .plan file with some more information regarding the development of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Here is the full update:

Gearbox Software suspended development of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero in July of 2002. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero introduces single player gaming to the world's #1 online action game. Valve Software has overseen development since July. Gearbox is aware of and endorses Ritual Entertainment's involvement. After developing several Half-Life games, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 and James Bond 007: Nightfire, Gearbox Software is refocusing its efforts on future technology and more interesting and innovative game play. Gearbox Software will be discussing Halo: Combat Evolved for the PC and our vision for the future of interactive entertainment at The CPL's December 2002 event in Dallas, Texas.

Any inquiries may directed to press@gearboxsoftware.com

-Randy Pitchford

Jimbo from Termite Games posted up some information on P3INT forum about a new patch v1.3 they currently working on for New World Order. Here is a clip:

1.3's main fix is memory usage and performance. Our main goal with 1.3 is that we will give the players on the minimum specs of 256 megs of ram (a 3Ghz p4 w/ GF4 doesn't really help if ram is on minimum specs) a smooth gameplay experience, just like the 512 meg users. The memory compression that we've done now also boosts performance for all that have used 512 megs of ram so far.

The 2nd goal of 1.3 is to improve networking.

The 3rd goal is to improve stability in multiplayer games. We have located and fixed several issues in the spectator-mode code.

Based on the critically acclaimed movie anthology staring Sylvester Stallone and featuring all of the leading characters from the five Rocky films – Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago and Tommy Gunn - you take on the role of the Italian Stallion and must fight your way through several single and multi-player gaming modes as you attempt to become the undisputed boxing champion of the world. Does Rocky go the distance?