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.

MARCH!: Offworld Recon is a high-class innovative combination of FPS, arcade, and tactical simulation. Based on the powerful graphic engine by LithTech, it features spectacular 3D graphics, highly realistic environments and breath-taking visual effects. A new batch fo fresh screens ...

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)

Crashday is comparable with "Carmageddon" (SCI) and "Stunts" (Distinctive Software); mostly because Crashday's gameplay also concentrates on realistic stunt physics, absolute freedom of movement and the ability to create custom maps with a powerful track editor. A release might be possible in quarter III/IV 2003. Enjoy seven new shots below!

Alpha Black Zero is a upcoming 3rd person shooter, developed by Khaeon.. The year is 2366, and the SolGov Federation faces turmoil. Lieutenant Kyle Hardlaw, leader of specialized commando unit Alpha Black Zero, stands accused of multiple illegal assassinations against his own government. Release Date: Fall 2003.. Read more for some screens!

Original, provoking and rich in storyline, Yager for PC captures your imagination as you battle for your life in tomorrow’s hostile skies. But is all what it seems…? Keep your wits about you, and use what you learn, as your struggle evolves to become the fight against constitutional power, conspiracy and control. With the genre-busting mix of 3D action-adventure and air combat, coupled with the highly motivating storyline and nail-biting campaigns, Yager is next generation gaming at its finest. Release date TBA.. New screens below!

In December 2002 the German publisher Ascaron announced their latest RPG project with the title, Sacred. The German version will be released spring 2003, but no word about English release date.. Check out 3 new screens!

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.

No Man´s Land’s website now offers a nice collection of high quality wallpapers for download. The wallpapers show some of the characters of No Man´s Land, and give a little insight on the design goals that the developers at Related Designs are aiming for.

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!

Digital Extremes Press Officer, Maven Meridith Braun send out following information about the upcoming bonus pack for Unreal Tournament 2003..

They're still working hard on it. The team was a little worn out before the holidays so unfortunately they didn't get it completed in time for Santa to deliver to all the good boys and girls but they art testing this week and next and hopefully it will be out before the end of January.

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.

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)

Games development is set to get cheaper and quicker, following the announcement today of a new development tool for the Nintendo GameCube, by SN Systems Ltd, the leading provider of development tools to the console games industry. The new hardware, developed as part of a collaboration between SN Systems and Nintendo, can be used with SN's development tools "ProDG for Nintendo GameCube" to build, debug, view and optimise games.

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 ...

Dungeons & Dragons Heroes gives you a chance to taste the victory as one of four heroes. It beckons you to take a journey through the world of the classic Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, to live as one of the great ones, and to do the legendary stuff that Heroes are meant to do! Check out a few news screens ...

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 ...

The stars are coming together for a great cause ­ TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF EACH OTHER! Gotham Games has released the list of sacrificial celebs who have signed on to lend their likeness to MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch, a new game coming later this year to the PS2, Xbox, PSOne and GameCube. Based on the gore-filled, MTV claymation hit, MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch will feature digitally rendered versions of teeny-boppers, tabloid princesses and other notorious superstars. Read more for details ...