BioWare is excited to announce that its latest Premium Neverwinter Nights Module is now for sale at the BioWare Online Store! Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast takes players on a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas in one of the most popular regions in the Forgotten Realms. Play the module by yourself or with friends, and experience new level art, new creatures, and the biggest Premium Neverwinter Nights Module yet with 8-12 hours of gameplay. It's a great value at just $9.99 USD.

During E3, Activision started a Guess The City Contest, in which the public tried to "guess" the urban setting for the True Crime sequel. That contest ended June 16, 2005, and we now have the first tidbits of information on the True Crime sequel. The city of choice is New York, there's a new main character Marcus (a black cop, as opposed to the Asian American Nick Kang in the original), and it will be more violent than its predecessor. All the footage in the contest trailers was taken from the New York setting, and this time around, you will not only have various cars and trucks at your disposal, but also be able to jack and ride motorcycles. The game also seems to sport various types of interrogation techniques reminiscent of the recent Punisher title.

While we already had the official announcement last week, Atari today released more specific game details. Faithful to the tradition of parody that runs throughout the Asterix stories, Atari's latest Asterix offering is an explosive video game crammed with surprising encounters that parody the greatest icons of the video game world and is awash with wry references to many of the great moments that have marked over 25 years of video game history.

Kylotonn and publisher Digital Jesters, who have been working closely with AMD throughout the Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport (its new official name) development and announced today that their FPS will ship with a 64-bit version that has been specifically optimised to take full advantage of the processing power of the 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 FX processor.

In a statement on the official World of Warcraft website outlaying what the future holds for WoW, Lead Producer Shane Dabiri confirmed the long rumored fact that a World of Warcraft expansion pack is indeed in the works (thanks Blizzplanet). No details were revealed, but Shane simply stated : "Some have asked about an expansion and what it might hold. I wanted to let players know that it is in the works, and we’ll release details as soon as we can."

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

• Bet on Soldier - Trailer #8
• GUN - Updated E3 Trailer
• Ape Escape 3 - Trailer
• DDR: Mario Mix [NGC] - Trailer
• War World - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Fallen Lords: Condemnation is a spectacular 3D fighting adventure set in the Afterworld, a kingdom of endless war as the Forces of Light, the Forces of Darkness and the Souls of the Purgatory battle for the precarious balance of the world.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is a new action/adventure game, developed by Simpsons: Hit & Run's Radical Games, and will feature the ultimate in destructible environments, an awesome Hulk-powered ability to weaponize any object and a massive free-roaming, fully interactive world.

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

• Road to Sunday - Trailer
• Everquest: Depths of Darkhollow - Trailer
• Officers - Trailer #3
• Adrenalin - Trailer #2
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat - Trailer #4
• Makai Kingdom - Trailer #2
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Rise of Legends is in so many ways the spiritual successor to Rise of Nations, but the long and the short of it is we got excited about doing a fantasy game. Now clearly your traditional "orcs, elves, dwarves" sort of fantasy has been—shall we say—thoroughly covered in other games, and so the story which got us excited is one where the magic of fantasy meets a world of technology. So magic and technology collide, with cataclysmic results!

Pro Evolution Soccer 5, aka Winning Eleven 9, furthers the realism, on and off-the-ball movement and intuitive control of the best-selling football series with Producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takaska and his team at KCE Tyo Inc. implementing a host of new gameplay features and aesthetic touches as he continues his quest to deliver the most realistic football title on any format.

Picking up where Serious Sam: Second Encounter left off, Sam has rocketed off towards the conquered planet of Sirius, the new home of the notorious Mental. While en route, the Great Wizards Council of the nearly eradicated Sirian civilization telepathically contacts Sam to aid him in his quest to destroy Mental and help restore Sirius. He is then sent on a quest to find the fragments of a mystical medallion scattered throughout the galaxy that will bestow Sam with the power to defeat Mental.

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

• Indigo Prophecy - Trailer
• Call of Duty 2 - Pointe Du Hoc Trailer
• Madden 2006 - Trailer #2
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

The newest PC Gamer issue reveals what is called the spiritual successor to Cavedog's Total Annihilation. Chris Taylor went on to form Gas Powered Games, who are now working on Supreme Commander, to be published by THQ. We unearthed a presentation document outlining what was called once TA2. We can only assume this is the same, albeit renamed, product after Chris Taylor was unable to obtain the license back from Atari, so the info might not be 100% up to date.

UPDATE : Here are some scans of the PC Gamer article.

Atari France today announced Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 : Mission Las Vegum, sequel to last years Astérix & Obélix XXL, under development at Etranges Libellules. Scheduled for European release in October XXL 2 is more of a parody as you will take up arms against the Romans in a Las Vegas type setting. Eifel Tower, Luxor and Cesars Palace are all present, but so are Larry Croft centurion, Sam Fishaure spy, and characters resembling Mario, Sonic and Roman Pac-Man. Read more for some screens ...

Further strengthening the senior management team of Activision, Inc.'s Publishing unit, Michael Griffith was named President and Chief Executive Officer and Ron Doornink appointed Chairman. The announcement was made today by Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO of Activision, Inc.

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

• Dead or Alive 4 - E3 2005 Trailer
• 187: Ride or Die - Vehicles Trailer
• Condemned: Criminal Origins - Trailer #2
• Shadow The Hedgehog - E3 2005 Trailer
• Space Rangers 2: Dominators - Trailer #2
• Spartan: Total Warrior - Trailer #2
• Tenchu: Shinobi Taizen - Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

X³: Reunion utilises a new generation game engine, developed to immerse the player into the most realistic, living universe, ever experienced. The full use of DirectX 9 technology will create dramatic visual effects and stunningly realistic starships. The economy model in X³: Reunion is more complex than any previous X game. Coupled with the massively enhanced A.L. (Artificial Life) system, X³: Reunion will present players with an ever changing, evolving universe; where a player’s actions really can shape the future of the universe.

Capcom today released the ultimate 2D brawler with Capcom Fighting Evolution for the Xbox. Capcom has brought together popular characters from five classic titles in the Street Fighter and other Capcom series, for intense two-on-two player battles. Capcom Fighting Evolution will also allow players to put their skills to the test in cross continent match ups via the Xbox Live online gaming service.

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

• From Russia With Love - Trailer #4
• Soul Calibur 3 - Character Creation Trailer
• Sudden Strike III: Arms for Victory - Trailer #2
• Crash Tag Team Racing - E3 2005 Trailer
• 50 Cent: Bulletproof - E3 2005 B-Roll Trailer
• The Sims 2: Nightlife - Trailer #2
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

HD Interactive has released a tiny registration patch for Mithis Games' real-time mission-based tactical space game Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. The authentication server of Nexus is hosted on a different IP, so for the online multiplayer portion of the game to function properly with all release versions, this registry patch must be executed. Read more for download links ...

Someone has stolen the Music Keys and released the music they held. Without the Music Keys, the unstable power of the music is wreaking havoc on the land. Mario must recover them before the chaos destroys the entire Mushroom Kingdom! The path to the keys is simple: Left, Right, Up, Down, Right, Down...

Vivendi today announced the acquisition of independent game developer Swordfish Studios, recently responsible for Cold Winter. Under terms of the agreement, VU Games will retain Swordfish Studios’ U.K.-based team of 45 development professionals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Vicious Cycle Software announced today the upcoming release of the Vicious Engine, a complete middleware solution for game development on the PS2, Xbox and PC. This exciting technology is one of the first engines to offer full support for the PSP platform.

Bringing its heritage of being the definitive cricket game series, Brian Lara International Cricket comes ten years after Codemasters launched the original Brian Lara game and over five years since the series appeared on any platform. Read more for screens or check the new trailer.