Can today's PC hardware stand-up to the increasingly complex and intense computer games of tomorrow? Although game designers continue to push graphical detail and performance, hardware manufacturers are testing their wares against the existing standards of yesterday. Until now... Leading game and technology developer Epic Games today unveiled the Unreal Performance Test 2002, the first and only game benchmark indicative of the future of gaming.

As promised last night, the demo from Freedom Force, Irrational Game's now-gold superhero game, is now available for download from FilePlanet (registration required). The demo is available as a large version (87.4 MB) and a smaller version (56.1 MB), the difference between the two being that the larger version includes the music.

NVIDIA's Drivers Page now offers new version 28.32 "Detonator XP" drivers for Windows 95/98/Me, Windows XP/2000, and Windows NT (thanks Blues). As is always the case with these reference drivers, no technical support is offered, as they are to be used at your own risk.

Forget the sun block next summer - it looks like being a mud-spattered June for Gameboy Advance/PS2 gamers. Leading interactive games publisher, Infogrames, has announced that it's driving the hugely successful V-Rally brand out of the garage and onto Gameboy Advance/PS2 in June 2002; and with 4 million units already sold in the series, it's a welcome return for one of the most realistic rally games yet seen.

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it is working closely with Sony Online Entertainment, Inc. to optimize two upcoming online games developed by Sony Online Entertainment. Star Wars Galaxies, to be published by LucasArts, and PlanetSide will be among the first wave of games optimized for NVIDIA's GeForce4 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), resulting in a gaming experience rich in crisp 3D graphics, unique visual effects and some of the most realistic, life-like images ever seen in an online game.

BAM! Entertainment today announced that it will publish futuristic racer WipEout Fusion and 3D action adventure Dropship: United Peace Force for the PlayStation 2. This expanded relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe enables BAM! Entertainment to bring the games to the North American market this summer. Just last month, BAM! announced that it will bring North America the critically acclaimed racing title WRC: World Rally Championship for PlayStation 2.

Zona, Inc., the Massive Multi-Player Online Game (MMOG) server and network solution provider, today is announcing that the company has joined the Microsoft Corporation Xbox Tools & Middleware Program for MMOG middleware development. The Xbox Tools & Middleware License gives Zona, Inc. the right to develop an Xbox version of Terazona, the highly scalable, secure, fault-tolerant, total server and network solution for Xbox online games. Terazona is capable of supporting tens of thousands of users on a server and drastically lessens the time-to-market for online game developers.

Mindscape is proud to announce an exclusive publishing agreement with Project 3 Interactive for the adventure game ’Schizm: Mysterious Journey’ on DVD-Rom and PC CD-Rom. The popular adventure game has already been launched as localised versions across Europe and the agreement with Mindscape secures distribution of the English version in the UK and Ireland.

A new Lara Croft for a new generation. We already told you some preliminary facts about yesterday and today Eidos Interactive and Core Design officially announce the return of the world’s most famous video game character in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. The game will be released on PlayStation 2 and PC towards the end of 2002. Of course we added some screens for all you Lara fans out there to drool over and a photo of the official Lara model, Dutch beauty Jill De Jong.... boy oh boy ;)

Update: We just added 15 extra new screens to the article.. Enjoy!

History Patch, patched all versions of the settlers IV to newest version 1090. This SETTLERS IV improves some gameplay and balance issues, costs of certain trojan resources and some "userfriendly" interface fixes. Grab the patch HERE!!

Are you one of the many people eagerly awaiting the BATTLE REALMS World Editor? You are an inspired map designer? Then the next BATTLE REALMS Contest comes as a gift from heaven! In two weeks the large Mapcontest for Ed Del Castillo's popular real time strategy game will kick off. More details on the conditions of participation are given on the official BATTLE REALMS page. Do not delay, grab the Battle Pack 2 and start experimenting with the high performance World Editor NOW.

Midway Sports Asylum, the sports brand of leading software industry publisher and developer Midway Games Inc., announced today that RedCardTM Soccer, an 11-on-11 (including goalies) adrenaline-style soccer game is in development for next-generation systems. RedCard Soccer is scheduled to ship in spring 2002. In case you did not see the massively spread screens before .. here's ohh an odd 100 or so to go showing off players, ninja's, monkey's and all kinds of weird stuff.

Xbox Controller S is Microsoft’s answer to gamers that wanted more choice, and a controller that better suited their style of play. Smaller than the standard Xbox controller and featuring a new button layout, Xbox Controller S allows gamers to choose the controller most comfortable to them.

MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology is an ultra-realistic bike racer for the Xbox and PC, which puts you, the player, behind the handle-bars of some of the meanest, fastest, most thrilling machines on two-wheels. Today THQ send us a bunch of new PC screens that you can check out below. Scheduled Release Date : June 2002.

3DO send us eight new Playstation One in-game screens from their upcoming title, "Sven Goran Eriksson's : World Cup Manager". As exciting as Manager's can be ;)

CDV updated some of their webpages with new screenshots on their upcoming blockbusters "Sudden Strike II", "Divine Divinity" and "Breed". Since they are all over the place we slapped em together for you puppies to enjoy ... so check them out!

NCsoft Corporation, the world's largest independent online game company, today announced Lineage II, the prequel to the most popular online game in the world. With more than four million subscribers and 330 thousand concurrent users, Lineage set the standard for subscription-based online games. Lineage II promises to advance the world of Lineage by adding an amazing array of features, graphics, gameplay, fantasy and depth.

Irrational's Ken Levine announces that a playable demo of their recently completed superheroic tactical combat RPG is slated for released tomorrow on FilePlanet. A subsequent post refines that into two demos, one with music (around 90 MB) and one without (75 MB), while another post by Crave associate producer "Primetime" offers even more details: "Tomorrow means around 8:00 AM PST. You'll have 2 choices to download...1 is about 58MB without music and one is 90MB with. There are 2 levels of the game and the character creator. You will be able to create a hero and use it in the second mission."

The game is coming out on the PC as well as the PS2, though Smith says that the core mechanics of both versions will be exactly the same. "We have one team working on both versions of the game, but we do focus on the two different platforms separately and try to maximize the individual strengths of the PC and PS2," says Smith. "There will be little elements that will be different, but 99 percent of the game is essentially the same. Visually, they'll be close as well, but there are certain things that each machine is better at." The PC will obviously have a higher resolution, whereas the PS2 version of The Angel of Darkness will likely benefit from more precise control.

PC Game Central's Lost Continents Q&A talks with Travis McGeathy, community manager for Lost Continents, VR1's upcoming pulp-inspired MMORPG. Warcraft III Q&A on Atomic Maximum Power Computing talking with Blizzard's Bill Roper about Warcraft III, their upcoming role-playing infused RTS sequel. There's a Freedom Force Q&A #5 on RPG Vault with another in their now-trademark series where one question is posed of a group of developers, this one talking with some of the folks at Irrational Games about their now-gold superhero game. GameSpot's Vampire Hunter Q&A talks with Dave Hagewood, president and founder of Psyonix, and Will Nevins, the game designer for Vampire Hunter, their upcoming Unreal-engine vampire action game. There's a new HoveRace movie on 3D Gamers showing off gameplay in GSC Game World's upcoming hovercraft combat racing game. On a related note, there is a HoveRace Q&A on Blue Monday discussing the game with Oleg Javorsky, PR Manager at GSC GameWorld. Voodoo Extreme's Neverwinter Nights Q&A chats with Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-CEO of BioWare to discuss their upcoming D&D RPG.

Majesco, one of the fastest-growing publishers of interactive entertainment software, today announced Black & Bruised for the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube. Developed by Digital Fiction, Black & Bruised is scheduled for release across both game consoles this holiday.

Get the PlayStation2 controllers ready for the super sexy heroine, Cate Archer. The Operative : No One Lives Forever for PlayStation2 has gone gold and the warehouse is preparing to ship to stores nationwide. Now you will be able to play the "Action Game of the Year" winner - The Operative:No One Lives Forever - on your PlayStation2 console gaming system. Plus don't forget the four extra missions exclusive to the PS2 featuring Cate Archer in her younger days as a thief. The Operative: No One Lives Forever for PlayStation2 will be available in retail locations after April 16, 2002 for a suggested retail price of $49.99.

We mentioned the rumor yesterday and today the story has been confirmed with Korean developer Phantagram, who are picking up the reigns of the RTS, rights to which are owned by Infogrames (who are not forthcoming with any detail on this at this point). Infogrames picked up the rights to Total Annihilation after purchasing GT Interactive, who published the original game, which was developed by now-defunct Cavedog Studios (thanks blues)

Many Hoppy Returns! Frogger, one of the most enduring of the ‘old school’ classic video games, is to make a welcome return as Konami of Europe resurrects the amphibian hero for a new PS2 title: "Frogger - The Great Quest". Hop on over to the screens ;)

We already knew this a few days ago, but here is the official announcement. Infogrames announces release dates for two of the most highly anticipated sequels in the Unreal family of action games. "Unreal Tournament 2003," who won numerous awards, is poised to deliver non-stop multiplayer action starting this summer. And, "Unreal II," sequel to the blockbuster hit "Unreal," will bring single-player story-based action to new heights when it ships this winter in time for Christmas.