Ignore dribbling, elderly relatives and forget about boring old repeats of movies after Christmas dinner because Eidos Interactive and Sports Interactive have the perfect Christmas present for you. The release date of the Xbox-exclusive Championship Manager: Season 02/03 has been announced as 6th December 2002.

Building on its #1 selling girls' video game brand, Dualstar Interactive, the video game division of Mary-Kate and Ashley's Dualstar Entertainment Group, and Club Acclaim, a division of Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. today announced that they have shipped Mary-Kate and Ashley Sweet 16 for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. Club Acclaim is supporting the title with an integrated marketing campaign, including targeted TV and print advertising, and cross-promotions with the Mary-Kate and Ashley brand's best selling books, videos and fashion dolls.

Twice the game as the original -- Devil May Cry 2's level design far exceeds the original. Much of the game's environment is outdoors and will include a Gotham-like cityscape and an old European town. More environments will be announced as the release date approaches! Check out the new batch of screens ...

Everyone's favorite marsupial makes his GameCube debut in his biggest adventure yet. This time Neo-Cortex has had enough. Having been defeated one too many times, Cortex has developed a Super Secret weapon to finally rid himself of his arch-nemesis, Crash Bandicoot. Cortex has been busy building Crunch, a genetically engineered super-creature designed for one thing only, to defeat Crash Bandicoot once and for all!

In Haegemonia: Legions of Iron you will explore and conquer the galaxy at the head of your fleet, plan colonisations, terraform planets, manage your resources and decide on the appropriate technological research to lead mankind where you want it to go. Diplomacy combined with a top-notch spy network will enable you to survive in a stellar system which is much more dangerous than it would at first appear. Who says that space is empty? Black Holes, asteroid fields, nebulas, cosmic clouds and wormholes, and alien races make each fleet sortie a perilous affair... We sat down with Laszlo Peller,lead designer and project manager of Hegemonia, and fired off a few questions ...

A new patch for The Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games has been released, updating the UK edition of this 3D action RTS by Eugen Systems to version 1.2. This release adds 17 new multiplayer maps, multiplayer and co-operative enhancements and fixes, and other changes. Strategy First has release a tiny patch for the just released WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron with a number of fixes for the North American version of the Paradox Entertainment developed game. Read more for detailed (and long) fix lists on both patches and links where to grab them ..

Gamers Fight Their Way Downhill In Konami’s New Extreme Sports Title For Sony PlayStation2. Konami of America, Inc. announced today that Evolution Snowboarding for PlayStation® 2 has shipped to retail outlets nationwide.

Firaxis has released a new patch for Civilization III: Play The World that fixes the multiplayer bugs in their recent turn based strategy game expansion (thanks HomeLan). Read more for detailed fix list and links where to grab it ...

Quiet on the set... and action! Join the excitement and take on the role of stuntman extraordinaire, Pepper Roni, in Island Xtreme Stunts from LEGO Interactive and Electronic Arts. The game, geared toward young gamers, will be released for Game Boy Advance, PS2 and for the PC on December 6th 2002. It's time to put the pedal to the metal and hit the road in Drome Racers from Electronic Arts and LEGO Interactive. Released for the PS2 and for the PC on December 6th 2002, this multi-terrain "anything goes" racing experience gives young racers the challenge of a lifetime as they race for the coveted Drome Championship.

The promised update of America's Army: Operations is now available, bringing this team-based tactical shooter by the U.S. Army to version 1.4.0. This release adds the new River Basin map, a new scoring system, a new Report-In feature, binoculars for team leaders, an improved Honor system, and other tweaks and bug fixes. (thanks 3DGamers).

Publisher Strategy First and Developer Auran are bringing even more fun to the MSTS experience this holiday season with Paint Shed, which shipped to retail stores nationwide today.

Enigma: Rising Tide is an exciting, massively-multiplayer game featuring fast-paced ship-to-ship battles with very high player densities. Enigma: Rising Tide will unfold a detailed backstory in which three Great Power "Empires" wage war against each other using submarines, destroyers, destroyer escorts, corvettes, tankers, merchantmen, and aircraft. The game is designed to be action-filled and easy-to-learn while providing depth of strategy and cinematic cat-and-mouse suspense. Eventually, player actions and decisions will steer the direction of the alternate history story and the evolution of the online war. A new updated demo is now available, read more for links and details.

The Ultimate Trainz Experience has arrived – get onboard now! Publisher Strategy First and Developer Auran are pleased to announce that the Ultimate Trainz Collection has shipped to retail stores nationwide.

Fans of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind now have much more to explore and do with The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal, an expansion pack for Morrowind PC that is in stores just in time for the holidays. Both Morrowind and Tribunal were developed by Bethesda Softworks using NDL's 3D graphics engine and development toolkit, known for providing game developers with the tremendous flexibility they need to create environments unique to their games.

EA today released a new video from Sim City 4, showing of some of the highlights of creating landscapes from the game.. Hit the read more link below to find out more about this game and where to download this 3.13MB Quick Time movie!

Super Bubble Pop is a colorful, fast-action, pulse-pounding puzzle adventure, incorporating key elements of some of history's most classic games. Super Bubble Pop showcases stunning 3D graphics and light-sourced, environment mapped models that surpass anything available in the genre today. Read more for some facts and a few screens on each platform ...

Publisher Strategy First and Developers Maple Leaf Tracks are happy to announce that they have entered into a publishing deal to bring the MSTS Add-on Sandpatch to the North American market in early 2003.

Continuing to strengthen its senior management team with proven expertise and leadership, Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. today announced that it has appointed Marc Metis to the position of Senior Vice President of Brand. Reporting directly to Edmond Sanctis, President and Chief Operating Officer of Acclaim North America, Metis will be responsible for managing the company's existing product franchises, as well the ongoing creation of new brands.

NASCAR Thunder 2003 surrounds you with the emotion, sound, fury, and risks of the high-speed, high-drama career of a NASCAR star. Feel the adrenaline rush, intensity, and passion of being a NASCAR driver on a quest to become a NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion. Take on various real-life scenarios, complete with dramatic pileups, walls of smoke, and constant door-to-door, three-wide racing, to test your nerve and improve your racing skills. Build a racing legacy over the course of 20 drama-filled seasons. This demo contains the Talladega Superspeedway track and is 82MB to download. (We previously posted some screens here). Read more for download links and details ...

Konami of Europe is delighted to announce the first fruits of its acquisition of leading Japanese developer Hudson Soft, with the release of Bomberman Kart for PlayStation 2 in Q1, 2003. The publisher will also be unveiling additional Hudson titles, with Pinobee for PSone and Pinobee and Phoebee for Game Boy Advance to follow later in the year.

THQ today shipped PHANTASY STAR COLLECTION and ALTERED BEAST: GUARDIAN OF THE REALMS for Game Boy Advance. PHANTASY STAR COLLECTION, a compilation of the first three Phantasy Star games released by SEGA, and ALTERED BEAST: GUARDIAN OF THE REALMS, are available now at major retail outlets nationwide. They also today announced that Rugrats Royal Ransom for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and Nintendo's GameCube is available at retailers nationwide. Rugrats Royal Ransom represents THQ's 18th and 19th Rugrats releases in the long-running, top-selling kids' franchise.

As the Xbox Live consumer beta draws to a close, thousands of gamers in the UK, France and Germany have had the chance to experience the fun and excitement of the only comprehensive online game service fully dedicated to fast-action, always-connected broadband gaming experiences. And now the fun really begins, as the Xbox Live Test Drive starts its engine and gets ready for the green light on 30th November.

Published by Xicat Interactive and Developed by Kuju, Lotus Challenge is the first truly complete driving game. The game features licensed vehicles from the famous British sports car company Lotus. Included are the Esprit (made famous by Roger Moore's James Bond), the Lotus 7 (made famous in the classic TV series The Prisoner), as well as all the hottest new models such as the Elise and 340R, vintage classics, F1 Lotus Racing vehicles, and even concept cars from Lotus Design. The game also features stunning graphics, exquisite lighting and weather effects, realistic damage modelling and a pumping soundtrack provided by cutting edge electronica/breakbeat artist Hybrid. Release Date: March 2003.

Acclaim today announced it has begun shipping Legends of Wrestling II for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Legends of Wrestling II features all new match types and more than 65 superstars, including Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Bruno Sammartino, Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, Sid Vicious and Jerry "The King" Lawler. In addition, the game also features the late comedian Andy Kaufman, who will defend his Inter-Gender Heavyweight Championship.