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Publisher THQ has announced the acquisition of Australian development studio Blue Tongue Entertainment, which most recently developed movie-tie in The Polar Express across multiple platforms for the firm.

One of the biggest criticisms levelled at the first Unreal Championship was that it was merely an average-at-best port of UT 2003 for PC that wasn't adequately optimised and didn't play to the strengths of the Xbox console. The anti-aliasing patch released shortly afterwards only confirmed the feeling that UC was rushed, not really designed for the Xbox and probably not worth bothering with. Epic got the message and has done everything in its power to make Unreal Championship 2 all about Xbox.

Sony's next EyeToy product will be "an innovative new physical exercise title produced in association with Nike Motionworks," the platform holder revealed today. EyeToy: Kinetic is in development at Sony's London Studio and should be released on PS2 in early 2005.

Having recently, um, 'beaten off' the pesky publishing company responsible for stripping down its Dead or Alive 2 girls in a successful legal action, developer Tecmo is once again going to battle on behalf of Kasumi and co. This time it's in pursuit of a Japanese company responsible for publishing info and screenshots of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball with certain graphical modifications in place - the sort, we assume, that have been peddled around the shadier corners of the Internet for the past 18 months or so.

In a move that's bound to excite those fearing Halo-related titbits might dissipate with the dissolution of Bungie's weekly development updates, the developer has responded at length to early feedback and concerns about technical issues afflicting the Xbox title - which this week became the third fastest-selling game of all time in the UK.

While the response to the game content itself has been universally positive thus far - and we're certainly sold on it - Valve Software yesterday had to address the concerns of a rabble of rabid Half-Life 2 owners whose store-purchased copies were refusing to authenticate over the Internet.

Leading videogame publisher Electronic Arts has extended its reach into the music industry, with the establishment of a joint venture with major music firm Cherry Lane Music Publishing.

Bungie's Xbox exclusive FPS title Halo 2 has gone straight in at number one in the UK charts, racking up over 260,000 sales in its first week and becoming the third fastest selling title on record in the process.

With Half-Life 2 finally in gamers' hands, and likely soon to become one of the most popular PC games of all time, Valve Software is starting to shift its attentions in new directions, some of which were outlined this week as part of GameSpot's The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 feature, which follows the game's overlong final stretch of development.

City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios has responded to reports that Marvel is suing it and CoH publisher NCsoft by describing the comic giant's allegations of copyright infringement as "meritless".

Half-Life 2 is now available to buy at retailers around the world, and has been unlocked on Valve's content delivery system Steam for those who purchased it that way. We're playing it right now.

Konami is planning to take its card-battling Yu-Gi-Oh! series online worldwide next spring, the publisher revealed this week, giving fans of the firm's multimedia property the chance to take one another on and swap cards over the Internet.

The race for the Christmas number one spot is officially underway, with ELSPA and betting firm Ladbrokes this morning announcing the official odds for this year's Christmas number one in the UK software charts.

Battlefield developer Digital Illusions CE looks set to become a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, after the leading publisher tendered an offer for all of the outstanding shares in the Swedish company this morning.

As if getting hold of a brand new Zelda adventure three months ahead of the yanks wasn't enough, Nintendo of Europe has announced it's also planning to give away six strictly limited edition gold-plated Game Boy Advance SP consoles to people who buy its new Zelda-themed handheld and Minish Cap game bundle.

Comic book giant Marvel has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Korean publisher NCsoft, alleging that players in the firm's MMORPG City of Heroes are creating characters in the likeness of Marvel heroes.

Capcom Eurosoft has confirmed that PlayStation 2 titles Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 and Monster Hunter will both feature online play when they're released in Europe next year, bringing us into line with the US and Japan.

Following more reports of retailers starting to sell boxed copies of Half-Life 2 ahead of its Tuesday release date, Valve Software has confirmed with regret that it will not be activating the software ahead of time - meaning that anybody who has been lucky enough to track down a boxed copy ahead of the release date will only be able to authenticate its contents over the Internet and start playing the game tomorrow.

The latest game from London-based developer Sports Interactive, Football Manager 2005, has become SEGA Europe's fastest selling game ever - beating all of the publisher's previous title with its excellent first-weekend sales across the territory.

Plenty has been written about Halo 2. From all angles. It's been loved, it's been hated, it's even been fingered as a piece of liberal propaganda (beware mild spoilers) by people who reckon the dynamics of the struggle between the Covenant and Earth strike a bit too close to home. But rehashing the arguments for and against it at this stage almost seems redundant. It is, as Kristan identified in his review, "a crafted, well thought out evolution of the series that will satisfy the millions of fans around the world," but one which won't soften the doubters' resolve. In other words, you're already equipped with the knowledge required to make a purchase decision, and most of you already will have.

And so it comes to an end. Or so we imagine. Jak and Daxter, having given us two massive reasons to love platform games again (not to mention an industry-wide fixation on chucking ampersands around), will be wrapping up the story of the Precursor Legacy in just under a fortnight when Jak 3 ships on November 26th. And while it'll be sad to get to the end of their adventures, having already done that we can say with some certainty that fans of the series will feel they've had their money's worth for doing so. With the game still a couple of weeks away though, we thought we'd first chat to director Evan Wells of Naughty Dog about the series' appeal, what Jak 3 does differently and what if any concessions the developer has made, and the progress of the platform genre overall. Stay tuned for a full review of the game very soon.

Leading publisher Electronic Arts may face a class action lawsuit from its own employees over unpaid overtime, it has emerged today, with a Californian law firm currently seeking certification for the class suit.

As we close in on Half-Life 2's worldwide release date of November 16th, a smattering of anonymous forum posts around the world suggest that a number of gamers have managed to secure copies ahead of time - whether through leaks, broken street dates at minor retailers, or other means - but, thanks to a decision to safeguard the code via an online authorisation system, it looks like Valve will be able to prevent the vast majority of people getting stuck into the game ahead of time.

Spaced out types keen to return to the world of X2 will be pleased to hear that Egosoft is really going for it with expansion pack The Return, due out next February. It'll only set you back £20 or so, but it seems the developer is really striving to outdo itself and give fans the sort of boost in content you'd normally expect from a full sequel.

Nintendo of America has released a list of planned US releases across Nintendo DS, GameCube and Game Boy Advance for early 2005, giving us a better picture of when certain key DS titles will emerge and clarifying the positions of a number of other important projects on other systems.

Microsoft corporate VP Peter Moore appears to have underestimated the first-day sales of Halo 2 in North America, which are reported today to have topped $125 million, while retailers in the UK are celebrating a hugely successful midnight launch for the title.

Although we feel sure you need little reminder, for the sake of absolute clarity we'd like to point out that a certain Xbox game called Halo 2 is officially released across the UK and most of Europe today, November 11th, having been released in the US and certain sections of continental Europe on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

A report this morning in a UK magazine has speculated that Nintendo plans to launch the DS handheld in late March 2005 in Europe, with a UK price point of UKP 129.99 (186 Euro), significantly higher than the equivalent US dollar pricing.

In a move not-at-all designed to spoil Konami's Xbox launch of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 on November 19th, Electronic Arts is inviting gamers to head over to Earls Court on Saturday, November 20th to take part in its FIFA Interactive World Cup on Xbox.