The 3DO Company announced today the completion of an agreement with founder and chief executive officer Trip Hawkins that will provide $10 million in financial support to the company. A clip from announcement:

"3DO is poised to release hit games in 2003, beginning with our top-ranked High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 in February," said Hawkins. "This agreement is a big step forward on our goals of revenue growth and a return to profitability. Our confidence is growing from good previews from the gaming press for our 2003 product slate, and promising purchase order demand for our initial 2003 releases."

The story of Rygar begins with the Island of Argus being plagued by evil Titans. Armageddon has spread over the land, creating chaos as volcanoes, earthquakes, and monsters ravage the countryside. In mankind’s darkest hour, a hero rises from the ashes to defeat the Titans, rescue the princess and restore order to the land. The player will become Rygar and his legendary adventure will begin.

A series of grisly murders brings Lara into conflict with a sinister Alchemist from the past, and a secret alliance of powerful individuals shrouded in mystery. Accused of the murder of her one time mentor, Lara Croft becomes a fugitive on the run. Pursued by the police, she follows the Alchemist into a dark world of blood, betrayal and vengeance where it is up to her to defeat this unholy alliance, and stop them from unleashing their incredible powers on the world. A bunch of new character art of Lara posing (yiha) and a few familiar screens ...

Gunfighter II is an Arcade game, in which from a covered position, you have to reveal yourself, take aim and fire at you opponents. The game is light gun compatible and will contain two different game modes : Story and Arcade mode. Three different difficulty levels represented by bronze , silver and gold spurs and a set of mini shooting games each provide many hours of fun. The use of the Asura engine allowed us to implement a lot of cut sequences into the game, in order to drive the action in front. Some new screens and character art ...

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for the PC game rights were exclusively licensed from CBS Consumer Products. Based on the hit television series from CBS, the CSI game will challenge players to solve a series of crimes, acting as members of the Las Vegas CSI team. In the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation game, you become a CSI agent working alongside Grissom, Catherine and the rest of the CSI team. A classic, first-person adventure, the CSI game will test players' nerves and intellect as they question witnesses, examine crime scenes, and analyze evidence utilizing the latest in forensic equipment. Check the new batch of screens ...

ARXEL TRIBE has acquired last week the publishing and distribution rights for the French language version of Digitalo's upcoming new generation PC CD First Person Shooter DEVASTATION. Developed with the powerful Unreal engine, the game takes place in a post apocalyptic environment of rare beauty. More about DEVASTATION here!

Praetorians is an epic 3D troop based strategy game centred around the historical battles from the campaigns of Julius Caesar. Taking on the role of a Roman General you are transported back to the deserts of Egypt, the frozen lands of the Gauls and to the heart of the Empire itself, Italy... Some new shots below!

OzGN has put up a new Natural Selction tutorial on their web site. It covers Weapons, Stratagies, Buildings, Commander, Marines, Aliens, The menu, Icons and terms. "I urge players to have a look at the manual if you haven't yet, but without further ado, here are a few tips for beginners and advanced players...Being a marine is a lot less complex than being an alien, unless of course you’re the commander. When you’re a marine, you should follow orders and stay in a group. It’s not a smart idea to venture off and explore further ahead by yourself..." Read up now and become the uber NS player you've always wanted to be

Yesterday we posted up a 12MB co-op ingame movie from Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven.. Today we serve up a new 32MB single player movie that runs for 1 min and 16 seconds, showing of some ingame action from this realistic, stealth-based, ninja-action/adventure game. Read more for links!

Players engage in hand-to-hand and special-weapon combat, executing secret moves and combinations with new fatalities and deadly body blows. Lethal new warriors are added to the mix along with the return of Mortal Kombat classics -- Scorpion, Raiden, Sub-Zero, and Sonya. Hyper-realistic, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance features progressive physical damage that allows players to view the inevitable demise of their opponents while utilizing three unique fighting styles for each warrior, creating nearly unlimited fighting possibilities.

Noticed on HomeLan that the official Tactical Ops web site announced a new 20 map pack for their Unreal engine powered team shooter. The map pack is a collaboration between Tactical Ops developer Kamehan Studios and AIM-IT and also contains two new mutators: a structured single player campaign and Monster Attack. Read more for details and download links ...

Tweak Town posted up a Tweak Guide for Battlefield 1942, which brings together all the performance tweaks, tips and .con file settings, along with troubleshooting help and handy reference material like the console commands and working No-CD/blood patch links – all to make sure you get BF1942 running at its very best on your machine. Take a wander through the guide here!

Miles from Sports Interactive revealed some more information about their upcoming Championship Manager 4 demo in his Christmas speech. Here follow a small clip:

So, what will 2003 bring? Well, Eastside should see the light of day towards the end of the year, but there are a couple of other Sports Interactive products out before then...

The first will be the CM4 magazine (issue 2), and the demo for CM4. These will be released on Friday, February 14th.

The second will be Championship Manager 4. This is now looking hopeful for release on February 28th on PC & Mac in the UK, with non UK Eidos releases a few days later (Germany, France, Holland, Spain, South East Asia).

Read the full speech here and check out new screens here!

Planet Soldier Of Fortune posted up some more info regarding the next upcoming patch for Soldier Of Fortune II (thanks Blues). Here is the full clip:

The patch will be released in 2 versions, a full (50mb) and lite version (16mb). The Full version will upgrade any version of SoF2, with the Lite version updating 1.02 to 1.03 (Gold). So whats new I hear you ask?! Well amongst a mass of code/map updates Raven are bringing us 3 new THREWAVE MAPS. The patch will be coming to us in early January.

In SimCity 4, you don't just build your city, you breathe life into it. With god-like powers, sculpt mountains, gouge riverbeds and seed forests to lay the groundwork for your creation. Then, as Mayor, construct the most realistic city you can imagine. Your city comes alive with the hustle and bustle of construction crews, the snarl of traffic and the activity of your Sims. The game is scheduled for release on January 14, 2003.. Six new screenshots showing life, leisure, and landmarks!

The newest installation in the acclaimed stealth ninja series, Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven delivers the most realistic, stealth-based, ninja-action/adventure game ever. Coming to the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven features impressive new stealth attacks, an enhanced fighting engine, new weapons and tools, larger levels, improved character animations and new multiplayer options... Today we have some new screens and also a 12MB movie that runs for 30 seconds and showing some ingame action.. Read more for the candy!

Freedom Games & Strategy First have released a new patch for their WWI Strategy game G.I. Combat. This upgrade brings your retail version to v1.03 and adresses several multiplayer fixes, moraly adjustments and several other tweaks. Read more for detailed fix list and links where to grab the goods ...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost will provide players with extremely dynamic gameplay of fast and tough combats, where players are to oppose dangerous and wise enemies, a large set of multifarious weaponry, possibility to control various machinery, incredible detailing and game world interactivity, story-driven single player with original team gameplay, a well-balanced multiplayer with numerous modes: DeathMatch, CTF, Cooperative, various team games and much more. Read more for 4 new X-mas screens!

Etherlords II is the sequel to the innovative turn-based strategy game originally released in November 2001. Similar to Etherlords I, which was highly praised for its tactical depth and stunning graphics, Etherlords II promises to be even more spectacular, changing the emphasis of the game from simple exploration and resource gathering to a more enriching story-driven adventure.

Subsim Review, Doutel Software Services, LLC, and the Wolfpack League have succeeded in converting the Silent Hunter II multiplayer engine from rTime to Microsoft DirectPlay. As you may have experienced, the original rTime engine was notoriously unstable and players were treated to constant drops and errors. Now Silent Hunter II players can look forward to a bunch of new features! Find out more and download here!

Massive Assault is a 3D global domination strategy game from WarGaming. The game utilizes Wargaming.net’s high-performance 3D engine giving revolutionary look and feel to turn based global-scale games. The gameplay is smooth and easy-to-learn... Check out some new screens below and sign up for their concept test !

Infogrames, Inc. has announced the release of Steel Tide and Pacific Gunner, two new games for the PC, steeped in fast-paced, authentic battle action. Pacific Gunner (MSRP $19.99) brings fast-paced WWII arcade-style warfare against wave after wave of Japanese attacks in the Pacific and Steel Tide (MSRP $19.99) is high seas naval warfare at its best. The game follows the exploits of the R.M.S. Triumphant, a highly modified T-class submarine armed to the teeth with devastating torpedoes, blistering anti-aircraft and a powerful deck gun.

The official website for EA's 3D RTS Command & Conquer Generals is now online, loaded with screenshots, wallpapers and detailed information about the the powerful U.S. forces, the vast Chinese war machine, the resourceful Global Liberation Army and much more!

We at Worthplaying wish all our readers, fans and outer space visitors a very Merry Christmas. Hope Santa brought all the games you wished for, and may the coming year be merry for everybody! It's been a long year with loads of goodies, and we have PLENTY more in store for you in the coming year. Thank you for sticking around, spread the word, and let's make things even better! News will be few, as you have undoubtedly noticed, but we will do our best to round up whatever we can find. Our new/faster/bigger and better link deal is secured, and we should hopefully be seeing the results in a few days! In the meantime, Njoy the Holidays!