Sammy Studios Inc. today announced that the sequel in the critically acclaimed Guilty Gear fighting series is coming to PS2. Developed by Arc System Works and due out in the fourth quarter of 2004, Guilty Gear Isuka promises to raise the bar on the 2D fighting game genre, one arguably set by its own predecessor Guilty Gear X2. Read more for details ...

JoWooD Productions Software AG has been granted the license to produce videogames based on the road-action Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures film Torque by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Inc. JoWooD will develop, publish and distribute the action racing videogame Torque: Savage Roads worldwide. The title is scheduled to release on several console platforms and PC in 2004.

Get your barf bag ready! Atari, Inc. announced today that a thrilling new sequel to the stomach-turning excitement of the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise will make its way to store shelves later this year. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 will take the series to new heights with brand new features including 3-D graphics, giving players complete control of views around the park, and a front seat to the action with a new Coaster Cam feature that allows players to ride the roller coasters.

JoWooD Productions Software AG today officially announced the Add-On to SpellForce: The Order of Dawn named SpellForce: The Breath of Winter. The multi award winning RPS (Role-Playing-Strategy) Game has enthralled Real Time Strategy and RPG gamers alike and has been received to critical acclaim, winning a range of awards for its market performance. Read more for details ...

'Toon Army' is a gritty, foul mouthed, wise cracking, cartoon, World War 2, FPS, battlefield game allowing both single player and multiplayer modes over a multitude of terrain's, with up to 32 players in a game. Following the misadventures of GI John Doe the player takes on the dreaded Axis powers across Africa and Europe. Read more for details, screens and first trailer ...

Rockstar Games is pleased to announce Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the next iteration in the globally successful Grand Theft Auto franchise. Developed by world-class designers Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be available exclusively for the PlayStation2 and is expected to be in stores in North America on October 19, 2004 and in Europe on October 22, 2004.

Stalingrad is a real-time strategy (developed by DTF Games) based on the modified Blitzkrieg engine. The game tells a story of one of the most dramatic periods of World War II and covers all major events from June 1942 till January 1943. The game consists out of two campaigns. During the first one players will lead the advancing German forces and after that will assume the role of a Soviet commander, whose aim is to liberate the city and smash the 6th Army of Wehrmacht

While we already revealed this last week, Game Developer Critical Mass Interactive today officially announced that it has acquired the interactive game rights to SWORD OF DRACULA, a military horror project based on the hit Image Comics series by creator Jason Henderson. CMI, which has been a part of major releases like the 2003 "Favorite Video Game" Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award winner "SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman" for PlayStation2 and GameCube, and Henderson plan to have a demo of the commandos-versus-vampires first person shooter game ready for the March 2004 Game Developers Conference in San Jose.

Midway Games Inc. today announced that the official title for the new version of the world-renowned fighting game franchise will be Mortal Kombat: Deception. Mortal Kombat: Deception is currently in development and scheduled to ship fall 2004 for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox. Read more for details...

Rival Interactive is creating a high-end, 3D, first person shooter game based on homeland defense called “Prism: Black Shield” for the Army National Guard (ARNG). The ARNG seeks to create a commercial quality game that is both entertaining and graphically rich. The game will be distributed as a recruitment tool and for increasing the awareness of the Army National Guard. In the game, players will use futuristic US military weapons, equipment and technology as part of a secret new team to combat terrorists on US soil. Players will battle individually or in teams against the game’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) terrorists and react to a wide range of homeland terrorism scenarios.

PlayStation today announced a unique partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Interactive Entertainment software, to develop a PlayStation 2 game based on the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Scheduled for release in July 2004 just prior to the start of the next Olympic Games in August, Athens 2004, The Official Videogame of the Olympic Games will be the only official licensed videogame product of the IOC on PlayStation 2.

Electronic Arts today announced that it has signed a publishing agreement with Black Hole Games, a development studio launched by Cinergi Interactive, a subsidiary of the award-winning motion picture production company Cinergi Pictures Entertainment. The new PC title, Armies of Exigo (*working title) is a grand scale fantasy real-time strategy (RTS) that leverages the studio's cinematic expertise and ability to deliver captivating entertainment to a worldwide audience. Armies of Exigo is expected to ship in Fall 2004.

Electronic Arts today announced the development of the next expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online game, Ultima Online. Expanding the world and advancing the franchise, the new title will give consumers considerable player vs. player capabilities, two additional professions and a vast new land to explore. The UO expansion pack is scheduled for release in Fall 2004. The game name has not been announced.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. today announced the second title to utilize the EyeToy camera technology. EyeToy: Groove, exclusive to the PlayStation2, is the first interactive videogame that enables players to dance in time with one of the 28 licensed songs, from such artists as Elvis, Madonna, Jessica Simpson, Jamiroquai, and Fatboy Slim, with no controller or dance pad necessary. Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment London Studio, EyeToy: Groove is scheduled for release in Spring 2004 and will be available at an SRP of $49.99 with the EyeToy USB camera or $29.99 without.

The Adventure Company today announced that it will publish Aura: Fate of the Ages on PC. Aura’s powerful story is based on an ancient legend that decrees that four sacred rings will bring great strength, power and immortality to he/she who collects them. Read more for details and screens ...

Tecmo officially announced today that the ship date for its eagerly anticipated new action title, Ninja Gaiden, for the Xbox will be Tuesday, March 2, 2004. Gaining an incredible amount of buzz since it was first shown on the E3 floor in 2002, the powerhouse title will ship out to retailers across the country in mass quantities, arriving on store shelves throughout the first week of March.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today that the popular and critically acclaimed Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank series, created and developed by Naughty Dog, Inc., and Insomniac Games respectively, will return exclusively to the PlayStation2 in Fall 2004. Read more for details and the first screen for each title ...

Free Radical Design, developer of the highly successful and critically acclaimed TimeSplitters series announces their latest game, Second Sight. Combining an immersive thriller storyline with paranormal psychic abilities, stealthy exploration and intense shooter action "Second Sight" redefines the standards for action adventure narrative and gameplay. Read more for details & screens ...

Fresh from a hugely successful Q4 of 2003, including the appearance of four titles in the top 20 budget PlayStation 2 chart in December alone, Midas Interactive are delighted to announce a publishing deal with Kuju Entertainment that will ensure that even better results are achieved in 2004. The first two games set for release by Midas Interactive under the Glass Ghost label are "GTR-400" and "Bikes 'n' Sides". Both will be released on PlayStation 2 in mid-2004. Read more for details...

NCsoft and Blue King Studios announced plans today to publish a monthly comic book based on NCsoft's highly anticipated online computer game, City of Heroes. City of Heroes is the creation of San Jose-based game developer, Cryptic Studios. The full-color, monthly comic book features the triumphs and tragedies of a trio of super-powered heroes as they fight to find their way in Paragon City, the setting for the groundbreaking game.

Funcom was recently awarded a grant from the Norwegian Film Fund to partially finance the development of Dreamfall, the long-awaited follow-up to The Longest Journey. The Norwegian government has, for the first time, actively endorsed game development, marking a welcome shift in the cultural acceptance of computer games as a medium comparable to film and television.

BBC Multimedia, BBC Worldwide's software publishing business, is set to take the BAFTA-award winning drama Spooks to PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. It's the first time a BBC drama has been developed into a computer game. The multi-format title, developed by BBC Multimedia's in-house studio, Gamezlab, will be launched in Autumn 2004, and feature all the main characters from the TV series.

What does the future of gaming look like? What are your hopes, dreams and fears? Do you wish you could influence game developers’ decisions, but feel powerless to do so? Microsoft’s “If You Ruled the Gaming World” contest gives you the power to change gaming forever. Tell us what games would be like if you ruled the world and be heard by the biggest developers and publishers in the business. Read more for details ...

Mythic Entertainment announced “Dark Age of Camelot: New Frontiers,” a free downloadable expansion that reinvents the game’s unique Realm vs. Realm combat system, where player characters from the game’s three different Realms engage in life and death struggles across numerous battlegrounds, keeps and through the expansive frontier areas. Mythic plans to make “New Frontiers” available in Q2 2004.

Matrix Games and 2 by 3 Games are pleased to announce the development of an exciting new World War II grand strategy title, Gary Grigsby’s World At War, to be released later this year by Matrix Games. Read more for details & screens ...