Ubi Soft Entertainment announced today that it has acquired all developing and publishing rights related to the Nightmare Creatures 3, Angel of Darkness (working title) video game as well as the Nightmare Creatures trademark. As a result, the development for Nightmare Creatures 3, started by Kalisto Entertainment, is now being handled by Ubi Soft. The game is slated for release on the latest generation of consoles in 2004.

In time for the release of the eagerly awaited IGI2: Covert Strike public multiplayer beta test Jolt provided a swathe of high performance servers ready for IGI2 operatives to enjoy the stealth and tactical approach of the single-player game in a hectic multiplayer environment. The success of the multiplayer demo and Jolt's resilient network and servers is demonstrated by the fact that all 10 Official servers (powered by Jolt) have been full 24/7 since the release of the demo at 14:00 GMT on January 10th. Jolt will provide servers for both the multiplayer beta test and the full game which is published on February 14 2003 for PC CD-ROM.

The Road to Rome will focus exclusively on the largely underpublicized Italian and Sicilian campaigns of WWII. Players can choose to fight on six new maps including Operation Husky (Sicily) and the battles for Anzio and Monte Cassino. Each map comes with highly detailed environments such as Italian houses, Mediterranean trees and even the Monte Cassino Monastery. Controllable vehicles are the heart of the Battlefield 1942 experience and The Road To Rome will feature eight new vehicles in addition to the more than 30 in the original title. These include the German BF-110 and British Mosquito twin-engined fighter-bombers. Also debuting are Italian and new British and German tanks and anti-tank guns. New hand-held weapons include the Italian Breda assault rifle, British Sten SMG and bayonets on rifles... Check out six new shots below!

Entertainment software publisher NovaLogic Ltd. today announced that they are looking forward to their busiest ever Q1 in 2003 with the release of three PC titles, Delta Force - Black Hawk Down, Highland Warriors and Devastation... Delta Force - Black Hawk Down will ship on February 28th, 2003, Highland Warriors on March 21st, 2003 and Devastation on March 21st, 2003.

The company also announced that a single and multiplayer demo for Delta Force - Black Hawk Down would be available at the beginning of February. More details about the demo will be released shortly.

Midway Games announced today that Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance has sold through more than one million units across all platforms between its November 22 launch and the end of 2002. The game is currently available for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is scheduled to launch in Europe in February 2003.

THQ today announced that its critically acclaimed action game Red Faction II will be coming to Nintendo Gamecube, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and PC in March. Featuring an enhanced Geo-ModTM engine that allows players to strategically alter and destroy the game environment in real-time, Red Faction II expands and builds upon the experience and technology of the original game with blistering action, an engaging storyline, highly detailed graphics and a number of multi-player options.

UBI Soft just tossed up the official Harpoon 4 website. The site includes a dozen never-before-seen images from Harpoon 4, wallpapers, detailed descriptions of your favorite submarines / jets / ships, FAQ and much more.. The current development is back on track for a March 2003 release. Here is a small game description:

The world's naval powers are now at your command! If it floated, flew, or submerged between 1984-2000, it's probably in Larry Bond's Harpoon 4. This is the ultimate simulation of modern naval warfare. Featuring over 1,000 ships, subs, aircraft, and ground formations, this real-time naval strategy game is epic in scope and detail. Maneuver your forces on a highly detailed and customizable map of Northern Europe. Plan and execute detailed attacks on multiple enemy units and watch the battle unfold before your eyes.

SMH.com reports that a Hong Kong computer game enthusiast has been found slumped dead at a terminal in a game centre after playing non-stop for hours. The 28-year-old was found slumped at his screen early on Saturday after he apparently had played the online game Diablo II since early Friday evening.

A policeman found him in the game centre shortly after 1am, five hours after he began playing the popular game, according to reports. His death at a game centre in Hong Kong's Yuen Long district came eight months after a 17-year-old game centre employee was found dead after playing Diablo II through the night.

Warnings were posted in cyber cafes around Hong Kong advising customers not to spend too long playing games uninterrupted after the death of the teenager last May. A police spokesman said today that an autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of the death of the man.

J.P.Eekels Lead Designer @ Digital Extremes posted up some information at the Infogrames forum, regarding 'Unreal Championship' Update.. Here is a small clip from his posting:

I just wanted to drop you guys a note on the planned update (fixes for exploits) and thereby opening an option for other fixes as well that we have for you.

Although Unreal Championship can be patched to fix exploits, this is not by all means an easy task. I will not go into detail here other then saying that it is not the same situation like updates for PC based games. I will also go on and say that we do listen to our public and are in fact working hard to make sure that you have an awesome time playing our games.

So, I will have you know that there is some substantial work put into the upcoming patch that will fix some exploits that people have listed on this board. Some things were known (stats for instance) and some things just came up through the woodwork.

Follow this link to see what they currently working on! (thanks GameSpy)

Whew! Three giant adventures in one tiny package! The Rugrats team up with The Wild Thornberrys to bring you the excitement from around the world... Read more for features and 10 screenshots!

Colonies is a multiplayer FPS game with strategy and RPG features. Unlike other FPS games Colonies goal isn't always destroying your opponent. The game gives the player the opportunity to defeat his opponent with scores of technology or resource mining... Check out game story and some ingame screens below!

The official site for American Conquest, a real time strategy game from CDV, is updated with new screens and wallpapers. The high-quality pictures for your desktop are offered in different designs, colours and resolutions.

Grom, CDV’s latest action adventure by the Polish development studio Rebelmind, has all the trappings of a Hollywood production and is fully packed with adventure, real time action and an intriguing story, set in the fascinating locale of Tibet. The mystique of ancient cultures and wild conspiracy theories is mixed with the turbulent background of the Second World War – Get a taste of what you can expect by downloading the new trailer from Grom's website.

Kronos, the Sudden Strike II mapserver admin, has finished another map-pack: altogether there are 53 maps (single and multiplayer) ready for download!!! The pack, composed by the Sudden Strike Community, is about 16 Mb large and will definitely cover many additional hours of playing pleasure... Download links here!

LucasArts Entertainment has updated their Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic site with Tatooine Features. The RTX Red Rock site is updated with new Wallpaper, Art and Screenshots. The Gladius official site got Scrolls, Arena and Equipment Update..

I saw on the official Unreal 2 forum that "Unreal Brand Manager" from Infogrames posted up some information about release date for Unreal 2.. Here is the clip:

Soon is the day it hits the shops - Feb 4th here in the US of A and I think the 7th for the excellent Europeans.

The official site for Battlefield 1942 is updated with some more information about the Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome expansion pack. There will be two new armies: the French Free Forces (no, they don't just surrender) and the Italian Army. There are 6 new maps, 8 new vehicles, and 3 new hand weapons. More about it..

Black Isle Studios, a leading developer and publisher of console and PC role-playing game products is looking for talented 3D artists, particularly with experience creating models and texture maps for natural and architectural environments. Read all of the details and find out how you can join the Black Isle team over on the Black Isle Employment page!

Black Isle Studios, Reflexive Entertainment and RPGCodex are pleased to present a chat with members of the Lionheart development team on Wednesday January 15, 2003 "Wednesday January 15th 2003 at 5:00PST (8:00 EST)". Here are all details:

Lionheart Chat Channel - #lionheart (fans using IRC clients can connect to channel #lionheart on the GamesNET network. Direct your IRC client at one of the following servers, on port 6667, and then enter the channel using /join #lionheart)

The official Korea: Forgotten Conflict site (a upcoming 3D tactical RTS/action game with a Korean war backround) is updated with the first information about medic Sarah ‘Honey’ Parker.. "She is a very professional nurse, who asked to be moved from a MASH troop to this Commando unit".

It seems things went pretty smoothly ... The DNS server are being updated, so some people will be able to get on quicker than others. You can always try worthplaying.com (drop the www), that resolves faster for some reason. If there are any problems or little glitches you notice then feel free to email somebody from the staff (or the webmaster). Lets get rolling ...

With the aid and powers of the titan Prometheus, Will Rock rampages through Lost Olympus, seeking the safe return of his love, Emma, and revenge for the murder of his mentor, Dr. Headstrong. Prometheus, fusing his spirit into Will’s able body, seeks to wage a bloody vendetta against the god Zeus, who robbed him of physical form long ago. UbiSoft send out a new batch of screens, read more to check them out!

As you have undoubtedly noticed, the Worthplaying site has been slow lately. Due to our rising popularity and increase in traffic, our current link can no longer handle the pressure so we have been in negotiations with a larger provider. In the next few days the news updates may be scarce, and you might noticed some downtime as we are moving a backup to the new system. All to serve you people better, are't we a nice bunch of lads. Lets just hope things dont explode in our faces ;)

Noticed on FileShack that Konami has issued a patch for the US edition of their recent third-person horror survival game, Silent Hill 2. This small patch addresses a problem with "sound looping while playing." Read more for download links ...