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With the European release of Hideo Kojima's innovative GBA Action RPG Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand just weeks away, details of the sequel are starting to appear in Japan.

Japanese publisher Square Enix has adjusted its projected financial figures for the year ended March 31st, with net profit estimates rising 7.4 per cent while the expected figure for consolidated revenues is up 12.5 per cent.

Japanese developer X-Nauts has announced Assault Suits Valken Zero for PS2, due out on July 1st in Japan according to import folks Play-Asia. Although very little is known about the game at this stage, its relationship with the Valken series caught our attention.

While the jury's still out on whether Death by Degrees (starring Tekken's Nina Williams) will take its place alongside Ninja Gaiden or Mortal Kombat Mythologies in the grand history of beat-'em-up-related action-adventure titles, a new batch of screenshots sighted on Impress Game Watch this week aim to show that Nina's a girl with more than just dollar signs in mind.

EA has rather quietly sneaked out a PC demo of UEFA Euro 2004, its forthcoming footy title due out on every format except GameCube on May 7th - just in time to capitalise on the tournament of the same name this June. The 98.7MB demo is available from EA's FTP site, and the minimum specs are a 700MHz processor, 128MB RAM (256 on Windows XP or 2000), and a DirectX 9.0 compatible graphics card with 32MB video RAM.

Dragons! We all like the odd dragon now and then. Whether it's behind the bike sheds during lunch break or camped down at the bottom of the garden by torch-light, there's nothing quite like whipping out an eighty foot scaled reptile that breathes fire and showing it off to your mates. No wonder Square-Enix's Drakengard aims to combine our favourite scaly beasts and the developer's noted story-telling skills. In the following Q&A session, producer Takamasa Shiba, movie director Kazuya Sasahara, monster designer Taro Hasegawa, character designers Kimihiko Fujisaka, director Taro Yokoo, line director Takuya Iwasaki, art director Akira Yasui and lead programmer Masatoshi Furubayashi get together to try and establish why Drakengard (due to be published in Europe by Take-Two Interactive later this year) is that much hotter than other dragon related titles, touching on everything from the quality of the PAL conversion to the name change to how it plays. Enjoy, and thanks to Take-Two for providing the transcript...

With the exception of retina-searingly exotic visual effects, there's no surer way for a racing game to catch our attention than explosions, debris and heavily deformed cars. Carmageddon made that point with bloody aplomb, and it's been emphasised ever since by a succession of increasingly destructible ARRRGH-'em-ups. Empire is presumably hoping that FlatOut, in development at Bugbear Entertainment, can woo us in much the same way. And, in the absence of screenshots, shattering this and exploding that is all we really have to go on.

Sony has confirmed recent reports (including our own) that Jak 3 will be the last title in the critically acclaimed platform series, and put some of the leaked details we've been feasting on over the past few weeks into the correct context. Interestingly though, the wording of this week's announcement ("Jak 3 concludes the Jak and Daxter trilogy") arguably leaves it open for Sony to revive the franchise further down the line with another story, albeit without the guidance of Jason Rubin, who announced his plans to exit developer Naughty Dog at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose recently.

Muckybaby, a new developer focused on the creation of budget titles, reared its infant head today with its first project, a PC effort called Skool's Out.

As the saying ought to go, where there's a Jak, there's a Ratchet. No sooner had we finished exciting ourselves over new Jak III details this afternoon than we stumbled upon a similar haul from Insomniac Games' Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal, which has enjoyed a lot of publicity ever since those multiplayer details sneaked out last month. But what of the single-player adventure?

Last time we heard from Jak, he was celebrating the completion of a rather epic cycle that seemed to answer just about all the pertinent questions about his path through life, with his enemies vanquished and his new home of Haven City sitting pretty and free. But, of course, anybody expecting our hero to disappear quietly into the night was seriously misguided - he's disappeared from Haven City all right, but as we heard last month, his exit was rather more of an eviction than a dignified epilogue. As it turns out, Haven City rather went to hell following Jak's supposed victory, the loss of its nefarious rulers leaving a vast power vacuum that three rival factions immediately attempted to fill, thrusting Jak and Daxter into the wastelands and exile in the process.

Climax Brighton is developing a new driving game called Crash 'n' Burn, due out on PS2 and Xbox this autumn with online support for up to 16 players. The game will make an appearance on publisher Eidos' stand at E3 between May 12th and 14th, which probably explains the lack of screenshots. All we have for now is a rather fetching image [left], which could potentially be a screenshot but has almost certainly felt the warm hand of a Photoshop maestro slide over its supple bodywork.

As regular Xbox Live users will know by now, Microsoft is planning 24 hours downtime this coming Wednesday, April 21st, starting just after 6AM PDT, in order to perform a system-wide upgrade codenamed "Tsunami". Users are currently being notified of the downtime when they log on, and will be expected to download a small update when the service resumes.

EA will blow the lid on the tentatively titled "Battlefield 2" in the July issue of the American Computer Gaming World magazine, due to appear on newsstands around June 1st, according to reports. Speaking to Eurogamer this morning, EA UK would neither confirm nor deny that it planned to show the game at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in mid May, but the timing of the preview is very much in line with that sort of game plan, as veterans of the Half-Life 2/E3 2003 saga probably remember. EA is expected to officially announce its E3 plans in the coming days.

GameCube fans will be pleased to hear that Pokémon Box, the GameCube tinker toy that links up with GBA Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire title to make better use of their mutual Pokédex feature, will available as part of the Nintendo Stars Catalogue starting May 14th.

It's become apparent that a number of you are deeply concerned for the well-being of the PlayStation 2 we recently offered as a prize in our Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel competition, not to mention the five copies of Metal Slug X (PSX) we promised for the runners-up.

Spelling. Grammar. Punctuation. Brevity. What? Oh we're not lecturing you, gentle reader, we just thought we might put those words up there as we admire them greatly. Moving on - this week's reader reviews seem to swing between the surreal and the controversial, with semi-regular contributor Virgil Scott picking up the "Star Review" award (a copy of Whiplash for the PS2, if he wants it) after inadvertently reminding us of something funny we saw on the television last night. Meanwhile, a chap called Robo_1 extolls at length the supposed virtues of James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (for the record, our problem with the "freefall" sequence wasn't a lack of signposting, but a complete lack of any guidance whatsoever). Perhaps most interesting though is marilena's dissection of Knights of the Old Republic, which says, in short, that it's a bit empty and boring (despite awarding it 7 marks out of 10). And of course there's this week's contribution from the ever-prolific Kami. Expect more from him next week. And us.

A new system for providing information about videogames is set to be introduced in Japan shortly, with the Computer Entertainment Rating Organisation creating nine new ratings covering a wide range of mature or objectionable content.

Oh for crying out loud. What's wrong with April 16th? What is so unspeakably repulsive about this particular Friday that makes it such an unattractive proposition for the launch of a new game? It's not as if the tens, if not hundreds, of games currently down for April 30th and thereafter couldn't have come out this week, and just look at the quality of the competition! Any two-bit garden-shed publishing firm could claim a decent chart position on a week like this! All it needs a bit of creative marketing and packaging decent enough to tempt impulsive gamers out from behind their wallets, as they traipse disappointedly through GAME this lunchtime in search of something to buy.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is it? Ah well. It's easy to get indignant about yet another ticked box on a list of '80s TV shows to plunder, but it's such an inevitability in the current creative vacuum that there's a temptation to just roll with it and see what happens. So we decided we would. Just this once. It only took us until the Konami logo disappeared to realise our mistake, but by then it was too late - we were caught up in an introductory sequence of such piercing dreadfulness that it took us a full 30 seconds afterwards to regain our senses and stem the flood of tears gushing from our disbelieving eyes.

Say what you like about Metroid Prime (we'd prefer that you say it was magnificent, but that's neither here nor there), there's no doubt that it's done wonders for the career of one Samus Aran. From her beginnings in a 2D game which left her gender in doubt right until the very end, young Ms. Aran has come on in leaps and bounds (often off the heads of frozen enemies) and is now probably one of the most bankable stars in videogames. John Woo wants to make a movie with the power-suited vixen in it - and since so many videogames have spent the past decade stealing ideas unashamedly from the self-same Mr Woo, there can hardly be any higher praise than that.

Following on from last month's three-track single-player demo, Codemasters has been in touch today to announce the release of the PC multiplayer demo, which features three different tracks and cars and support for up-to-12 players over the Internet or via network connection. The 115MB demo is available from the Downloads section of the official TOCA Race Driver 2 website. TOCA 2 is of course due out on PC and Xbox next Friday, April 23rd, and will feature online support on both platforms. Rather encouragingly, it's picked up some very healthy review scores to date.

Developer Factor 5, which was responsible for the Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike titles for the GameCube, will not be developing any further software for the Nintendo console and has started work on other platforms.

As noble an intention as 'open-ended gameplay' is, Hitman: Contracts is both blessed and cursed by its refusal to lead the gamer by the hand. As good as it sounds on paper to give the player the freedom to attempt their objectives as they see fit, it's a hefty risk to leave people with a joypad in hand and a headful of ideas. But while Contracts takes time to appreciate, somehow it gets away with it. As much as it can come across as trying to be all things to all people, and less than the sum of its parts, Io succeeds by always remembering that games are supposed to be fun. Contracts is never less than fun, no matter how many times you tell yourself that it's neither the most convincing stealth experience nor the most clued-up action game. It's an odd blend, but like Peanut Butter and Jam on toast, somehow it works.

Electronic Arts and Swedish developer DICE have announced Battlefield: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2, the Battlefield series' first foray into console gaming. Currently in development and scheduled for a late 2004 release, the PS2 Online enabled title is also the first official Battlefield release set in the present day, with previous PC-only instalments in the series sticking to historical conflicts (namely World War II and Vietnam). You can see the first screenshots of the game here.

Ubisoft has announced an exclusive long-term licensing deal with the US Army, which gives the French publisher the right to develop and publish games based on the successful America's Army PC FPS title. Ubisoft plans to release an America's Army title on consoles in summer 2005, emulating the feel and features of the PC titles.

British developer Mobius has been bought out by US publisher Take-Two, with the studio - previously responsible for the GBA version of Max Payne - being renamed to Rockstar Leeds but retaining its focus on handheld platforms.

Nintendo has officially confirmed the line-up for its second run of Famicom Mini titles - NES titles ported to the Game Boy Advance and manufactured in limited quantities to help commemorate the NES console's 20th anniversary this year. The second run of titles consists of Mario Brothers, Clu Clu Land, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew, Dr. Mario, Dig Dug, Adventure Island, Makaimura (Ghosts n' Goblins), Twinbee (Stinger), and Mystical Ninja Goemon.

Support for PS2's innovative EyeToy peripheral continues to grow, with the announcement in Japan this week that Sony is working on an Ape Escape-inspired, simian-fuelled mini-game title called Saru EyeToy (screenshots), while Konami is working on the tentatively-titled EyeToy: Sport (due out on July 15th) and Bandai is planning a kids EyeToy game called Kaiketsu Zorori: Mezase! Itazura King (due out April 28th).

Ahead of its anticipated E3 unveiling this year, scans taken from subscriber issues of the latest American Game Informer magazine have shed some light on Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 2, confirming the presence of a rumoured four-player split-screen mode.