Hothead Games and Penny Arcade have teamed up to launch a new distribution platform dedicated to supporting independent game development worldwide, offering gamers an alternative to traditional boxed games that otherwise may be overlooked in a crowded retail marketplace.

War Leaders: Clash of Nations places gamers in the roles of the major leaders of WWII, including Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Political, diplomatic and economic decision making will be key to success, while sound tactical strategies will ensure victory on the battlefield. This v1.1 patch improves stability, load times, performance, AI, path finding, and more ...

SOCOM Confrontation focuses on online play and the global community and clans that support it, with support for Tournaments, Clan Ladders, and Leader Boards. Additionally, players will be able to modify their appearance through facial and physical customization.

Combat Mission: Shock Force is a tactical military simulation depicting a hypothetical near future conflict between NATO and Syrian forces in Syria. A new v1.8 patch adds 70 different changes, improvements, fixes and new features from the game graphics and effects to the tactical and defensive AI behaviors, pathfinding, spotting, line of sight, weapons and unit data and more!

Overclocked, developed by House of Tales team, known for The Moment of Silence, is a psychological thriller which uses many technical innovations and a surprising narrative approach to form an eerily real gaming experience. This patch fixes a rendering issue with the ATI HD series chipset gfx cards.

Construction Combat: Lock’s Quest is a new original adventure title game where players create a virtual world block-by-block to defend their homeland against invading enemies. With the use of the stylus players will be able to immerse themselves into the building and creating process.

A new research project by Middlesex University psychologists Miss Jane Barnett and colleagues on 292 male and female online gamers playing the game World of Warcraft concluded that people who play violent games online actually feel more relaxed and less angry after they have played.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Overclocked: A History of Violence - Launch Trailer
• Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 [PSP] - Trailer
• Doodle Hex [NDS/Wii] - Basic Concept Tutorial
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Set in New York, Rockstar is bringing its open-ended crime series to the next-gen consoles with Grand Theft Auto IV, situated around mysterious protagonist Nikolai. After the UK certification board BBFC gave Rockstar a hard time with Manhunt 2, it was going to be interesting to see what it would do with the imminent GTA IV, but apparently much ado about nothing, as it was just granted an 18+ approval rating for "strong violence, very strong language, sex and drug references."

Former Rainbow Studios employees Brad Ruminer, Dennis Booth, and Glenn O'Bannon announced they have created their own independent video game development company. Located in Arizona, TimeFly Studios will be developing games based on licensed property as well as original game concepts from action/adventure to rhythm games to puzzle games.

PowerUp Studios' NOMBZ is a 3D action shooter that challenges the player to lead a posse of survivors through a city infested with the living dead! This patch improves performance and fixes a few issues/bugs.

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, known in Europe/North America as Monster Hunter Freedom, is an expansion for Capcom's multiplayer RPG, adding new equipment, monsters, and missions. Launched March 27, Capcom announced that Monster Hunter Freedom 2G has shipped over 1 million units in Japan.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Alone in the Dark [ALL] - Trailer
• The Incredible Hulk [ALL] - Trailer
• Battle of the Bands [Wii] - Trailer #3
• The Sky Crawlers [Wii] - Trailer [JAP]
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Championship Gaming Series, the government of Wuhan and the Wuhan Hi Tech Group, announced the creation of the world's premiere eSports training center and professional gaming arena at the Wuhan Optical Valley Electronic Sports Stadium, which will also serve as the location for the upcoming CGS 2008 Pan-Asia Final.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 adds new gameplay features and more stunning visuals. Players will encounter a solo campaign that uses new tactical possibilities in various locations around Sin City, co-op and adversarial modes, while providing unprecedented interaction between the solo and multiplayer experience. Ubisoft raised its guidance for fiscal 2007-08 as its games perform better than expected, with Rainbow Six Vegas 2 selling 2 million copies.

Sony announced that it will revamp the PlayStation Store for PS3 in mid-April with a new, more dynamic look and improved navigation, as a result there will be no PSN updates until after the transformation is complete.

Cars Mater-National offers a fresh adventure set in the super-fueled world of Radiator Springs, featuring all-new international characters vying for their chance to compete against Lightning McQueen in the First Annual Mater-National Race Festival.

Set 20 years after the events of its predecessor, Star Ocean 2 also receives the full remake treatment aboard the PSP system. The title takes the next step with fully animated movies, all-new character designs, extra playable characters, fully voiced dialogue, and more.

Realtime Worlds, UK developer known for Crackdown and currently working on APB (All Points Bulletin), apparently has no trouble finding extra development monies, as it previously bagged $33 million in funding, and has just received another $50 million from Maverick Capital. Realtime Worlds is founded by David Jones, one of the original Grand Theft Auto creators and the Lemmings franchise. APB combines the open ended (online) world on GTA mixed with the combat seen in Crackdown.

Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors will meet again in an unforgettable crossover event, as a sequel is already in the works. Adding a Versus mode, characters from both franchises must team up to wage war against a new, powerful force in Warriors Orochi 2.

Black Bean's fast paced racing game SBK-08 Superbike World Championship, developed by Milestone, is the officially licensed WSBK, and will storm the next-gen consoles with brand new features and enhancements.

Bully: Scholarship Edition tells the story of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins as he experiences the highs and lows of adjusting to a new school. Eight new missions, four new school classes (biology, music, math and geography), new unlockable items and clothing, new two-player off-line minigames, new awards and Achievements.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Race Driver: GRID [NDS/PS3/X360/PC] - Trailer (3)
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

THQ announced that Volition, Inc.’s Red Faction franchise will make its open-world, next-gen debut with Red Faction: Guerrilla. Set 50 years after the climactic events of the original Red Faction, this third-person open-world action-shooter will return to Mars and once again re-define the limits of destruction-based game-play.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Too Human [X360] - Video Diary Trailer #3
• Valkyria Chronicles [PS3] - Isara Trailer
• We Love Golf! [Wii] - Gameplay Trailer
• Facebreaker [ALL] - Face Rendering Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...