The fastest race on earth is set to return as Codemasters announces that IndyCar Series 2005 will launch this summer, complete with head-to-head online racing for both Xbox and PlayStation 2. Officially licensed by the Indy Racing League, IndyCar Series 2005 gets a boost with a host of new features to complement the action-packed oval track racing at speeds up to 235mph! The game's new online racing will see up to 12 players getting fiercely competitive out on the circuits on Xbox, with up to 8 players on PlayStation 2.

THQ Inc. and JAKKS Pacific, Inc. today announced WWE Day of Reckoning based on the World Wrestling Entertainment license. WWE Day of Reckoning features all the action, excitement and attitude of World Wrestling Entertainment and is designed exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube. THQ and JAKKS' World Wrestling Entertainment licensed videogames have sold more than $527 million worldwide since 1999. WWE Day of Reckoning is scheduled for release in Fall 2004. Read more for details & screens ...

Konami of Europe has confirmed what football fans have wanted to hear for years: that its hugely successful Pro Evolution Soccer franchise is to make its debut on the Xbox. The first Pro Evolution Soccer for Xbox will be released in Q4, 2004, and is certain to wow an all-new audience of fans by adding the fantastic graphics sounds and gameplay that Xbox is known for to the series.

Vivendi Universal Games in association with Tigon Studios is bringing gamers an intense sci-fi experience from the point-of-view of the most wanted man in the Universe with the new videogame, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, which will be available on the Xbox. Set before the events of both Universal Pictures' upcoming summer release The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel, and the 2000 cult classic Pitch Black, which first introduced Diesel as enigmatic anti-hero Riddick, the game tells the story of Riddick's dramatic escape from the previously inescapable triple max security slam Butcher Bay, home to the most violent prisoners in the galaxy.

SCEA announced today the September 2004 release of Sly 2: Band of Thieves, a comic crime caper, action-adventure game designed exclusively for the PlayStation2. Created by Seattle-based developer, Sucker Punch Productions, Sly 2: Band of Thieves incorporates many of Sucker Punch's signature talents including award winning toon-shaded animation and art direction, visual style, immersive storylines, strong characters, and highly interactive worlds. Read more to check out some new screens ...

Digital Extremes and Groove Games today announced their partnership on a new first-person action game based on an original intellectual property created and owned by Digital Extremes. The new game, ominously named Pariah, has been quietly in production for the past two years and is currently planned for the Xbox and PC. Hip Interactive's UK division lets us know that they have signed Pariah for European distribution. Read more for details and screens ...

KnightBlade: Final Flight is a combat action game which follows the battle hardened crew of the GCV-KnightBlade, a Terran Military Megaron class carrier, into hostile territory. Commanded by April Gage, the KnightBlade is sent to a remote region of space to assist in the extraction of friendly forces caught behind enemy lines. Read more for details ...

Universal Combat: Edge To Edge is a combat action game based on various tried and proven technologies pioneered by 3000AD Inc across its Battlecruiser line of products. Taking place in a much smaller world (two space regions and four planets to be exact), the game allows players to engage in class based combat on seamlessly integrated space and planetary worlds. It features eight marine classes and two pilot classes with player access to a variety of weapons, vehicles, gunship, fighter and shuttle crafts as well as various naval vessels.

The official ANNO 1503 website has word that Sunflowers has cancelled the Anno 1503 multiplayer patch (already in development since August 2003). After more than 20 attempts they could not get the multiplayer patch/addon to work for more than 2 hours gameplay time and thus decided to call it quits (thanks Gamestar.de). You can read more about it on the German Anno 1503 website.
UPDATE :Sunflowers just sent us the English translation, read more to check it out ...

Ubisoft CBS Consumer Products and Alliance Atlantis today announced an exclusive licensing agreement for Ubisoft to publish games based on the popular television series CSI: Miami for the PC. This new CSI game is slated to launch worldwide on PC for Winter 2004-05. Read more for details ...

Digital Summoners announces the Getica project, a series of two single player RPGs placed in ancient Europe. Getica is a project that includes two 3D, third person, single player RPGs. The foundation of the games is formed by the classic concepts of the RPG: assuming a role in a story, developing the playing character, becoming part of a class, solving quests, acquiring items and special abilities. The first part is called Cult of the Elders, and will act as an introduction into the atmosphere, accomodating the player with the Getae and their culture.

PRISM: Threat Level Red is the commercial version that sets the world and environments that inspire the Army National Guard's game PRISM: Black Shield. The commercial game will feature a more detailed story line along with a unique campaign structure. The game will also feature distinct missions, unique events, unique weapons, and a few more surprises.

In a first for a Massively Multiplayer online game, the actions of players have resulted in an entirely new playable race for Horizons: Empire of Istaria. The event, which was started upon release of the game in December, was an epic achievement to free the race from their subjugation from the undead hordes of the Withered Aegis. Read more for details ...

Following on from the success of Perfect Ace: Pro Tournament Tennis, which sold 80,000 units across Europe last summer, Oxygen Interactive have announced they are to launch a sequel title Perfect Ace 2: The Championships in time for the Wimbledon Championships. Featuring new stadiums, new player models, full player editor, new game mechanics and new animations, Perfect Ace 2: The Championships offers the finest Tennis simulation yet.

Majesco Sales Inc. today announced plans to publish Super Collapse! II for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. Developed by GameHouse Studios and already a Web-game favorite with over 15 million users, the popular downloadable PC game is one of the most-played puzzle games on the Net and among the most-acclaimed Internet titles in its genre.

Sammy Studios, Inc. today announced Iron Phoenix, a team based online fighting game coming exclusively to Microsoft Xbox Live. Iron Phoenix is the first game of its kind, joining strategic team-play with weapon-based melee combat, and featuring characters, weapons and a storyline worthy of a Kung-Fu film. Read more for details ...

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...