The Inquirer is reporting that shortly after Valve's Half-Life 2 became available in most retail outlets people bringing home their boxed copy faced a majpor disappointment as Valve's Authentication Servers came crashing down and people could therefor not authenticate their purchased product. Vivendi's technical support said that fixing the problem could easily take up to three hours or longer.

Ignition has secured North American and European rights to publish Zoo Keeper, a puzzler from developer SUCCESS Corporation that will be one of the first Japanese launch titles for Nintendo's highly-anticipated new handheld video game system - the Nintendo DS.

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 :

• Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars - Trailer #3
• God Of War - Trailer #2
• Shadow of Rome - Trailer #4

Battlefront has released the first patch for their recently released WWII hybrid turn-based/realtime 3D simulation Combat Mission: Afrika Korps. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.02 and addresses the usual gameplay tweaks, bug fixes and so forth. This patch works for the US as well as European edition of the game but games saved in v1.02 can't be loaded in by the older version. Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within features a deep, mysterious storyline starring a darker, edgier Prince who is vigilant in his quest to unseal his mortal destiny. Read more for new screens ...

Chat live with Yannis Mallat on PlayStation.com today Tuesday, November 16th @ 10:00am until 11:00am (Pacific Standard Time). Website visitors will have a chance to ask Yannis questions about the upcoming Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and his involvement with the critically-acclaimed, award-winning franchise.

Slitherine are pleased to announce Legion II, its new 4X strategy game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit & eXterminate). Initial design work on Legion II began early in 2004 and the game is slated for a late 2005 release. Legion II is set in the ancient Mediterranean world and players can choose to take control of any of the major civilizations at the time including the Romans, Carthaginians, Gauls and many more.

Shocking and evil, Mortal Kombat: Deception pushes martial arts-style fighting and the Mortal Kombat franchise to new heights with an innovative fighting system, unparalleled depth and brutally intense action, lightning-fast hand-to-hand and special weapons combat, secret and returning characters, moves and combinations with new death-dealing battles and fatalities.

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 :

• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Trailer

In 'Playboy: the Mansion' you step into the virtual slippers of world-famous Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner, building Playboy Magazine and the Playboy Mansion into dynamic cultural icons. Gamers also will live the lifestyle, rubbing elbows with stunning women and popular celebrities, and share the mystique of the Mansion by hosting extravagant, exciting parties.

Midway announced today the appointment of three industry leaders who add significant depth to Midway's internal product development capabilities and are expected to be instrumental in next generation game development. Scot Bayless, former EA and Microsoft, will head Midway's Chicago studio. Denise Fulton, former Eidos and EA, will head the new Midway Studios-Austin. Stephan Martinière, an artist and visual designer brings his talents to the position of visual design director at the Chicago studio.

Electronic Arts today announced a tender offer for all outstanding shares of the Swedish game developer, Digital Illusions (DICE). The offer is scheduled to close on December 27, 2004. EA currently owns approximately 19 percent of DICE's outstanding shares.

City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios has updated its official website with a brief statement regarding last week's copyright lawsuit by Marvel Comics. "As reported by The Associated Press, Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Marvel Characters, Inc. have sued NCsoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios. The complaint is meritless. Cryptic Studios is confident that the District Court will reject all of Marvel's claims and fully vindicate Cryptic Studios in all respects."

As has been rumored the past few days, 'Half-Life 2' is indeed being sold early at various big stores in the U.S., such as BestBuy, Wal-Mart and even a few select EBGames. The lucky ones who managed to purchase a copy will get a major disappointment, as Vivendi ordered Valve to not activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers. Basically, anybody who bought HL2 can't play it yet. Valve issued a statement saying it is not their decision, but Vivendi who threatened Valve with breach of contract if they did.

Atari has released the first patch for its strategy game Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. This update brings your retail game to v1.76 and addresses about a dozen game balance issues, crash fixes, as well as interface adjustments (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for detailed fix list and download links ...

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 :

• Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault - Trailer
• Armies Of Exigo - Trailer
• Wanda And The Colossus - Trailer #2
• Painkiller: Battle out of Hell - Trailer #2
• Alida - Trailer #2

Capcom Fighting Evolution features a diverse cast of characters as well as additional hidden characters from each of the following titles: Street Fighter II, DarkStalkers, Street Fighter III, Red Earth and Street Fighter Alpha.

Merscom LLC today announced that it will distribute "Steel Saviour" on behalf of its sister company SR-71 Games. Developed by Italian team Atlanteq s.r.l., "Steel Saviour" has experienced strong sales in North America via electronic software download and at retail in Germany and Russia.

Publisher Strategy First Inc. and developer Stardock are pleased to announce that Galactic Civilizations: Altarian Prophecy Expansion Pack has shipped to retailers nationwide.

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 :

• Killer 7 - TGS 2004 Trailer
• Death By Degrees - Trailer
• Call Of Duty: Finest Hour - Trailer (2)
• Road to Fame - Intro Movie

Massive Ent has finally released the downloadable version of the first patch for its 3D RTS 'Ground Control II: Operation Exodus.' This update brings your retail game to v1.0.0.8. and adds new interface and chat options, server auto-kick functionality, balance tweaks, the usual bug & crash fixes, etc. Read more for detailed fix list and download links...

“Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict” brings the “Unreal Championship” franchise to Xbox and Xbox Live with bold enhancements to single and multiplayer gameplay including all new super-agile player acrobatics, third-person camera mode, vehicles and intense melee abilities. “Unreal Championship” fans can play as any one of 14 characters from the “Unreal” Universe, each with spectacular new Adrenaline powers that enable new offensive and defensive combos.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within features a deep, mysterious storyline starring a darker, edgier Prince who is vigilant in his quest to unseal his mortal destiny. Read more for new screens & trailer ...

Near Death Studios is proud to announce the latest update on their client software and the recent release of Meridian 59: Evolution. This update includes a new hardware-accelerated 3D graphics engine featuring a high resolution display, texture filtering, dynamic colored lighting, and many new special effects.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within features a deep, mysterious storyline starring a darker, edgier Prince who is vigilant in his quest to unseal his mortal destiny. Ubisoft sends us an in-house Q&A with the people behind the Prince of Persia: Warrior Within story, a rather secretive bunch of guys going by the name of "sekretagent."