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Capcom's annual Vegas shindig is normally an announcement fest, chock full of exciting-sounding games that we won't get to play for 18 months (hello Ressie 4!), but this year was an altogether more sane affair, with just one previously unannounced title; a gory hackandslash affair with a difference (probably) by the name of Shadow Of Rome.

"I have good news and I have bad news."

Speaking during an Epic/NVIDIA chat session last week, Epic Games' Mark Rein shed some light on when the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo will be released, demo contents, and the status of the Linux and Mac ports.

Better late than never, Sega Amusement Vision's Toshihiro Nagoshi has told Famitsu Weekly in Japan that an Xbox version of classic arcade slugfest SpikeOut is on track for release later this year.

Fans of brainless carnage, headless suicide bombers and the roar of a galloping werebull, will be pleased to hear that Croteam's wisecracking poster-child for indiscriminate prehistoric slaughter Serious Sam is set to make a return this spring on PlayStation 2 and GameCube, in an original new episode dubbed "The Next Encounter".

The PS2 is hardly suffering a platform game shortage. Over the past few months alone we've seen the release of Jak II: Renegade, Ratchet & Clank 2 and Prince of Persia, all of which raised the bar in different areas, and all of which any self-respecting fan of the genre either owns, or has marked down on their shopping list just above toilet paper and Doritos. Looking further back, there are plenty of other, equally indispensable platformers available on the system, some of which have even made it onto the budget PS2 Platinum label, removing yet more of the barriers to purchase. Quite frankly, there's a feeling around here that any newcomer hoping to compete would need to offer more impressive tech and visuals, license attachment of some description, or something genuinely new and innovative in order to catch our attention. Then again, it's nice to be proved wrong once in a while...

Eidos has officially unveiled the internal development team that will handle future versions of Championship Manager following the publisher's split from Islington-based Sports Interactive.

Adding to widely accepted speculation that the Xbox and PS2 will see price cuts to $129 ahead of the E3 trade show in May, an American analyst has now suggested that the Xbox will drop to $99 before autumn.

We knew that the adventure genre was practically dead, but someone at Russian development studio MiSTland/Saturn+ took that a little too literally when they came up with the concept behind horror investigation title Midnight Nowhere.

Capcom promised this week to unveil a European release date and firm online plans for Monster Hunter (working title), another PS2 title that featured at its Las Vegas editor's day event.

Also on display at Capcom's Las Vegas event this week was Megaman X Command Mission, the Cube and PS2 RPG set within the Megaman X universe, which the developer/publisher revealed would be released in the autumn alongside Megaman Battle Network 4 on GBA.

Capcom has officially unveiled the next instalment in its Megaman Battle Network series at this week's editor's day event in Las Vegas (which, before some bright spark cheerfully points out, we clearly weren't invited to). Megaman Battle Network 4 is due out this autumn throughout PAL territories in two versions - Red Sun and Blue Moon - once again aping the dual-release strategy familiar to Pokémon fans.

And so it ends. The first truly barren spell of the year has come to a close, prompting the release of a thumbless-handful of new and ported titles across the board. Meanwhile, fans of continuity will be pleased to hear it's cold but not snowing outside my window.

Thrustmaster and Konami have teamed up to bundle a shiny new dance mat with next month's Xbox release of Dancing Stage Unleashed (Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix in the States, where it came out in November 2003), and all the usual £39.99, too (although Amazon seems to list it for just £29.99 at the time of writing here).

EA's latest big movie adaptation is to be the Halle Berry-driven Catwoman project, which is due to line up alongside a number of rival blockbuster hopefuls in summer 2004, according to reports that we picked up at C&VG, despite a rather lacklustre response to early shots of Oscar-winning Berry posing as the PVC clad stiletto moggy - originally played by Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992's Batman Returns.

True Crime: Streets of LA, Activision's fairly successful Grand Theft Also adventure through an enormous precision-mapped Los Angeles, is on its way to the PC.

In a gaff reminiscent of a similar foul-up at E3 last year, Capcom updated its official website for Killer 7 a day ahead of its Las Vegas editor's event this week, heralding the announcement of Killer 7 for PS2 in addition to the existing GameCube version, which is due out in winter 2004.

Afterburner, the original "front light" solution for Game Boy Advance owners in the pre-SP days, has been discontinued according to Internet reports. Despite launching a new $25 price point for the product earlier in the month, it seems manufacturer Triton Labs has now ceased production, with an Afterburner reseller commenting on the official forum that he was this week told no more would be made available.

It's being reported today that Microsoft plans to celebrate the second anniversary of the Xbox launch in Europe by releasing a limited edition "Crystal Pack" Xbox, featuring a clear white casing and two matching controllers.

Although we don't normally comment on the launch of official game websites (unless they're, you know, really blindingly good, which isn't often), the newly launched home for those keen on DreamCatcher/People Can Fly's Painkiller offers more than just a few downloadable MP3s, trailers, wallpaper and feature lists (though it does have those).

DRIV3R may have slipped into Atari's next financial quarter, and wiped a chunk off the publisher's share price, but in the end if the promotional juggernaut continues at the pace set by Ridley Scott Associates' first episode of DRIV3R-inspired film short "Run the Gauntlet", then shareholders should have very little to worry about in June.

Vana'Diel could be rocked to its foundations in the next few months, as the Final Fantasy XI development team rolls out a new area, new player-versus-player (PvP) gameplay features and potentially even a second expansion pack.

Following yesterday's confirmation that the latest Medal of Honor and Sims instalment have been delayed (story), EA UK has updated its charming new press extranet with a selection of new release dates for some key titles that had previously basked under the cowardly blanket of "Q1 2004".

Sega's Sonic Team is busy working on a PS2-exclusive adaptation of manga classic Astro Boy, under the direction of Yuji Naka, the publisher announced this week (obviously not content with unveiling just the one cartoon collaboration), and plans to release it alongside a handheld version in the summer.

Activision has canned the GameCube version of motocross title MTX Mototrax, but reports suggest the title may be revived in the future - presumably of the PS2 and Xbox versions score big at retail.

Following his surprise appointment as the president of Infinium Labs, Kevin Bachus spoke candidly with gi.biz in an exclusive interview about the controversial company and its plans for the Phantom game service.

Digital Reality has released a 167MB demo of its 3D tactical real-time strategy title Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps, which contains one mission ("Desert Spirit") from the Axis campaign included in the final game.

Publisher Akella has acquired the rights to Avalon Style's role-playing FPS Sabotain: Break the Rules (formerly Fist Of The Empire) from beleaguered German publisher CDV, which decided not to proceed with the game's release in 2003.

Square Enix's latest "International" edition re-release for Final Fantasy X-2, which retains the Jap voiceovers, adds new job classes, quests and other foibles, and is due out next month, will be the final Final Fantasy X game.

British Students! Depressed about Uncle Tone's top-up fees? Feeling poor? Want a £10,000 cheque for a day out in Manchester playing videogames? Yeah, me too, but for some reason this one's entirely at your pleasure, as Microsoft kicks off its nationwide search for the UK's ultimate student Xbox gamer.