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"Eastern Europeans drunk on freedom". That pretty much sums up what to expect from the latest Getaway title, the pseudo sequel that started life as an expansion pack and to all intents and purposes is exactly that. Dispensing with the East End old school violence of 2002's original and running with a more sinister, but somehow more faceless Eastern European theme, it's once again a semi-linear romp through a series of missions (22 this time) that don't quite match up in terms of intrigue, atmosphere or the tension that infused Team Soho's massive debut success.

"If you think you've got what it takes to be or beat the likes of Ferguson, Wenger, Robson and Mourinho, put your tactics to the test..."

20th Century Fox has announced that it's to launch five of its movies on the new UMD disc format used by the PlayStation Portable this summer, with further titles due to be announced later in the year.

You're going to read two types of review of this, written by two types of people. Type 1 is the rubbish type written by lazy hacks who haven't seen wrestling since ITV stopped showing it in 1988. They will speak in clichés, mentioning men in lycra, thigh-slapping, the fact that it all "looks a bit gay" and will name-check the only two wrestlers they've ever heard of - Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. Both of those men are dead. This is a Type 2. We know about post-1988 wrestling and can tell the difference between JBL and Garrison Cade by looking at their elbows.

Fans of Disney's swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will have no less than three gamess to choose from next year, following the announcement that Bethesda Softworks is hard at work on PotC: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for PS2 and Xbox.

Codemasters has revealed a few more details about its forthcoming cricket title Brian Lara International Cricket, which is due out on PS2, Xbox and PC this July.

May 20-22 is officially WarBirds 2005 weekend, according to developer iEntertainment - which means you'll be able to try out their PC flight sim for free.

Michael Ironside, otherwise known as the voice of Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell series, has signed up to star in a game based on forthcoming TV show Ice Planet.

With Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 E3 plans set to become a lot more apparent later tonight (see here), the company's PC division has taken the opportunity to spit out its own line-up of Windows-based games for the show, and it's certainly a promising catch.

We've found life in the desert. We've learned why Sig was in Haven City. We've found out who's behind the latest Metal Head incursions. We've met the precursors. We've unmasked Mar. After nearly 40 hours in front of Naughty Dog's trilogy of PS2 platformers, we have said goodbye to Jak and Daxter, and although the developer insists that it hasn't closed the door on the multi-million-selling duo, it's difficult to see how any further tales from Jak's world could muster the same gravitas. There are no more mysteries. This is the end. And it's not quite the end we expected.

Another week, another Japanese RPG review. It's one of the busiest few months we can remember for the genre; admittedly, our pals across the pond are faring rather better than we are, with the likes of Baten Kaitos and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne gracing their shelves but showing no sign of reaching European shores, but for a change, we're not being too badly done by. Star Ocean 3 may have suffered in the conversion to PAL, but at least it got here; and Tales of Symphonia is out today, giving Cube owners a shot at one of the finest RPG titles ever, albeit a few months after most American gamers got their hands on it.

Following the recent announcement of a publishing agreement between SEGA and Silicon Knights, the developer has signed a deal to license Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for use in all its next-gen titles.

"Jump anywhere, climb anything and smash everything!" screams the blurb on Radical Entertainment's forthcoming console title The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. In a gratuitous attempt to prove that the angry green giant is the most powerful superhero of them all, Radical Entertainment is readying a relentless display of comic book carnage that takes The Hulk's superhuman strength to new extremes.

With the world's biggest videogame trade show, E3, just around the corner, publishers are starting to vie for our attention. Among them is Activision, whose second World War II-themed Call of Duty first-person shooter is due out later this year. As a little teaser prior to the game's full E3 showing next week, the publisher has released the following brief question-and-answer session with two of the game's military advisors - decorated US Army veterans Hank Keirsey and John Hillen - who discuss the significance of the desert tank battle that took place at Toujane as part of the Africa campaign. This transcript is published unedited.

Increasingly bold and interesting US publisher Majesco has unveiled its E3 line-up, headlined by next-gen games from Terminal Reality/Clive Barker and Swedish dynamos Starbreeze and backed up by plenty of interesting current-gen and handheld content.

US publisher Majesco has secured the rights to develop a game based on Steven Spielberg's Jaws, and plans to release one on PS2 and Xbox in summer 2005 - to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the film's original opening.

Stormfront Studios, the Californian developer of Atari's forthcoming hackandslash-with-esteemed-voice-talent-like-Patrick-Stewart title, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, is working on a PSP title and a major movie tie-in, and planning next-generation products too.

Japanese giant Nintendo is set to focus strongly on the handheld market at E3, with a new revision of the GBA hardware and the unveiling of the DS online service set to take centre stage while Revolution - the Japanese firm's highly anticipated next-generation platform - is consigned to a video presentation.

SCI Games has revealed that it has a new game called Overdose in development at an unnamed Scandinavian studio for release in 2005, and has also commented on next-generation consoles and online gaming services, as part of a strong financial report for the year ended 30th September 2004.

Ubisoft plans to release four Xbox 2, five PSP and three Nintendo DS titles within the next 12 months, the publisher revealed today as part of its latest financial statement.

Speaking at a business writers' convention in the United States, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has confirmed that the next-generation Xbox console will launch this year, and once again promoted the new system's multimedia capabilities.

A solid indication of the timeline for the launch of Nintendo's next home console has emerged from memory firm MoSys Inc, which has revealed that it will supply memory for the system, with "mid-2006" touted as the launch date.

Major UK online retailer Play.com has announced that it is suspending sales of imported US PlayStation Portables, pending discussions with SCEE, but imports of the console are believed to be reaching unprecedented levels.

However discerning we like to think we are, there are times when guilty pleasures barge our resolutely held principles out of the way like a bowling ball through skittles. It's a little harder to have too many contrary opinions as a game reviewer, when every mildly differing score seems to turn into a witch-hunt. God forbid that anyone should have a difference of opinion eh? So, as much as it'd be the easiest thing in the world right now to reel off a one thousand word diatribe against Need For Speed Underground 2, bloody EA has gone and confounded expectations yet again.

This game has the best-fitting title of the year. It wasn't meant that way, but it's appropriate nonetheless.

Nobody has done more for the reputation of the humble worm than Team 17. Over the past decade, the Yorkshiremen behind the world's most anarchical turn-based strategy game have bolstered the unassuming annelid's credentials to such an extent that gamers arguably get more of a rise out of them than the average invertebrophile - and that's an achievement not to be squashed idly underfoot.

The Australian Outback is exactly as you'd expect it to be. It's flat. It's red. It's full of talking animals. The last bit isn't strictly true, but then anything's possible after you've been baffled by nothingness and 50-degree Celsius heat for a few days. Tasmania's a little different to the rest of it, being covered in rainforest and rocks, but "different fish, same bucket," as the talking animals would say. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is as Australian as they come.

I haven't seen the sun for an eternity.

Another year, another 15-hour masterpiece to hang proudly in the platform shooting gallery. How does Insomniac churn them out so quickly? Three in as many years is the kind of prolific output that has the partners of hollow-eyed development team members posting wearied accounts of sweatshop working practises and preparing a multimillion dollar lawsuit to redress the balance. Let's hope the Insomniac collective doesn't have to live up to their names in order to roll yet another one off the production line.

It was inevitable that at some stage Sony would recognise the hit potential of releasing a first-person shooter to take on the might of Halo - the surprise is that it's taken fully four years of the PS2's lifespan for a first party candidate to emerge. But let's not beat around the bush here: Killzone doesn't hold a candle to any of the FPS greats despite the bewildering level of hype heaped upon it in the run up to its release. Sure, it looks great in the screenshots, but just wait until you play it. You'll soon have all the evidence you need to come to the rapid conclusion that Guerrilla's efforts occasionally crawl out of the war-torn mire, only to get crushed under the rubble of their own failings.