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Electronic Arts has finally ironed out its differences with Microsoft over the latter's Xbox Live online service, announcing that a large number of its key titles will be Live-enabled starting as early as July.

Sony's first announcement of E3 this year was that the PlayStation 2 is to drop in price to $149.99 in the United States, effective immediately - mirroring a similar drop by the Xbox at the end of March.

Square Enix has one game in development for Nintendo DS, the dual screen console set to be unveiled in Los Angeles later today, and will be demonstrating a playable version of the game at E3 when the event opens this Wednesday.

We often whinge about cheating scum, but we do hold a certain place in our hearts for Datel's Action Replay regardless, because sometimes it lets us do things with our games that we never thought possible. Just look to the Wind Waker test level code, or the way it brought us English versions of the Japanese F-Zero GX menus when we thought the text was all but lost.

Activision has issued a release this morning proclaiming that the PC version of Doom 3 will launch "this summer", following last night's impressive demonstration of the Xbox version at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference.

Every so often we joke about the possibility of a rap battle rhythm-action game. After all, the various teams behind Amplitude, DDR/Dancing Stage, Karaoke Stage, SingStar, EyeToy: Groove and a host of other similar titles have literally attempted everything else.

The capabilities of the Xbox Live service are set to be extended once again later this year, with new video chat functionality and the ability to download arcade style games being announced at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference.

There wasn't much in the way of genuinely new software at Microsoft's press conference in LA last night, but one game did stand out as being shiny (very shiny, in fact) and new - namely Forza Motorsport, a Microsoft Game Studios internally developed title which is shaping up to be the Xbox' answer to Gran Turismo 4.

Given Duke Nukem's continuing refusal to kick any ass at all for the past eight years, the world evidently needed another lantern-jawed, smart-mouthed gaming character to fill the breach. 'Serious' Sam Stone has done his bit for ludicrous firepower and insane quantities of screaming enemies with bombs strapped to their backs, but he's no match for the cigar-chomping babe magnet from Texas in the one liner strakes. Or for chicks, for that matter.

The much-delayed arrival of Halo 2 has been confirmed for a November 9th release date at Microsoft's traditional pre-E3 showcase event in Los Angeles.

UK development studio Bits Corp has been handed the contract to develop a game based on Warner Bros' upcoming DC Comics adaptation Constantine - giving them the weighty responsibility of translating iconic comic book character John Constantine to videogame form.

Remember when videogames used to be about shooting people? Or hacking them to bits with a sword, or throwing rocks at them, or even kicking them in the face in the absence of any suitable objects for bashing them about with. Not any more; for kids these days, it's all about sneaking around and avoiding their enemies entirely. Gone is the all-guns-blazing glory - it wasn't like this in my day, I tell you...

New details of Infinium Labs' plans for the Phantom Game Service have emerged, with company president Kevin Bachus revealing that the Phantom console will effectively be free, and providing the first pictures of the hardware itself.

Sports Interactive has secured the license to use the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) names in its forthcoming hockey management title, now known as NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and due out from Sega Europe this July.

It's a quiet week for new releases in Europe - largely on account of the fact that everybody in the games industry is busy preparing for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which kicks off in Los Angeles on May 12th. Before that though we have press conferences, private events and all sorts of other excitement to navigate, so the list is, for once, understandably sparse. Indeed, most of the journalists you'd expect to be writing about the games are on their way out to LA today or over the weekend, or busy "gearing up" for the show - a process which roughly translates to running around like headless chickens trying to secure all sorts of... you know... dealies.

Until now, German 'art' videos have been the only entertainment package designed to make participating men with voices like cement mixers actually feel good. Contrary to popular belief, grisly 'bear' types need reassurance as much as anyone that they sound exciting when ‘performing'. Singstar may very well be a defining moment for big men with a softer side.

Microsoft killed Rallisport Challenge. Panicked into releasing the game in the deluge of European Xbox launch titles, not only did it get lost in a ridiculously large swathe of games, but a total lack of marketing or pre-awareness effectively scuppered the game's chances. Some good reviews and word of mouth helped the title along, but the damage had already been done. Commercially it was a disaster for one of the best Xbox titles, eventually selling around 40,000 copies in the UK - about a one tenth of Halo and one eighth of Gotham.

When EA announced the first details of James Bond spin-off title GoldenEye: Rogue Agent last week, the reaction from most of us was one of disbelief. There was even some debate about whether the whole thing was an elaborate joke. The reason was EA's remarkably flaky justification for use of the GoldenEye name - made famous in gaming terms by Rare's unparalleled N64 film adaptation of the same name - which sees us controlling an aspiring henchman whose own eye was knocked out by Dr. No and replaced with a golden equivalent. Why gold? Because we're working for Auric Goldfinger, who is tussling with Dr. No for control of the criminal underworld.

SCI announced a new tactical multiplayer war game late on Friday called Midway (a working title), which focuses on the aerial and naval battles of the Pacific theatre of war in 1942, leading up to the titular Battle of Midway in which US forces took on the Imperial Japanese Navy despite being vastly outnumbered. It should be released on PS2, Xbox and PC in summer 2005.

Along with the various titles Vivendi-Universal Games has trailed ahead of E3, the publisher is also planning to show off a new, as-yet unannounced Monolith title which it describes as "The Matrix meets The Ring", and has released a teaser screenshot which you hopefully can see to the left of this paragraph.

Acclaim is promising to make a series of new product announcements during E3 this week, and plans to show the titles off behind closed doors to various sections of the media. Along with these new titles, the publisher will also be showing off various titles previously announced but never-before-seen in public, including racing title Juiced and 100 Bullets, an action title based on the DC Comics series, which we first caught wind off when SCEA announced various PS2 titles recently. It turns out that 100 Bullets will also appear on Xbox.

With the show kicking off in just two short days (or long ones, if you're flying halfway round the world this afternoon), BioWare has announced that it will show off Jade Empire and a pair of new products at E3 this year.

The inevitable Winning Eleven 8 for PS2 has appeared on Konami's Japanese release list for the first time according to reports, and should be out in Japan this August 5th. Details are fairly scant, but The Magic Box reports that the Master League will have 138 playable teams this time out, and will benefit from a new 'growth and decline' system so that no one single team can always be the strongest.

"Before the 1999 release of Driver, the driving action genre didn't even exist," boasts Atari in the glossy press blurb dished out at the launch of its big summer hope DRIV3R. Strictly speaking, DMA Design might be justified in raising a quizzical eyebrow at such brazen comments, having laid the groundwork with the enormously successful Grand Theft Auto 18 months beforehand - albeit a top down, rather than fully 3D take on mission-based driving mayhem.

Although Ubisoft is keeping a lid on specifics, the French firm has started to tease us with details of Prince of Persia 2 - the working title for the follow-up to one of our favourite games of 2003, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - ahead of the game's debut at E3 next week.

EA has joined the growing list of publishers shooting nine tenths of their load ahead of the E3 trade show next week in LA, announcing a huge roster of titles ranging from its key sports franchises (which remains PS2 Online enabled with no mention of Xbox Live) and film licenses (although no sign of The Godfather as yet) to EA Partners titles like TimeSplitters Future Perfect and Burnout 3, and the surprise inclusion of Lionhead's Black & White 2, currently listed for release in 2005. EA also promises to announce its support for PSP with four titles set to be unveiled (perhaps at Sony America's pre-E3 conference on the Tuesday), although support for Nintendo DS is thought to be more theoretical than actual at this point.

Stepping into the shoes of Peter Cushing and Anthony Hopkins might faze any other actor, but Hugh Jackman doesn't seem to be having any problems. Judging by the Van Helsing trailer and all we've read about Stephen Sommers' forthcoming action movie, the Australian thesp (probably best known for his work in the X-Men movies) has not only managed to create a believably remorseful anti-hero (torn apart by the fact that he rids the world of demonic monsters, but loses the repressed souls in the process), but he's even injected Bram Stoker's scholarly vampire hunter with a satisfying degree of Wolverine. We're certainly looking forward to catching up with him on the big screen later on this year.

Pitch Black. To paraphrase one of the first reviews at IMDB, it was nothing new, but it had its moments. And most of those moments involved Richard B. Riddick, Vin Diesel's eerie prisoner-in-transit, who finds himself let loose on a mysterious planet when the ship he's travelling on crash-lands and only a quarter of the crew survive. The real fun of the film was what happened when the sun went down on the remnants of the crew, but even when the final curtain fell it was clear Riddick had a bit more mileage than anybody else.

I wonder what you'll be doing on September 30th. If you're even near a PC, we'd wager you'll be spending every waking moment swishing a crowbar joyously at hordes of leaping headcrabs in Half-Life 2. At bloody last.

Of all the odd press trips in the world, none can quite come close to the culture shock endured on the THQ-sponsored 'jolly' to GSC's Kiev-based studio in the sunny Ukraine. Of course poker-faced customs officials are par for the course - ever been to the States? Even the legions of furry hat-wearing folk (with no furry hat shops, sadly) and unfeasibly long-legged beautiful women didn't phase us as such, nor the fact that they wired us up to a vodka drip and forced us to eat a selection of some of the most bizarre and inedible 'food' substances ever.