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NovaLogic has delayed the release of its multiplayer PC first-person shooter Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising until the second quarter of 2004, despite having beta tested the game online with members of the public towards the end of 2003.

The third game in the venerable Thief series will be called Thief: Deadly Shadows, an EB Games product page briefly proclaimed this week, before returning to the game's working title, Thief III, when eagle eyed gamers stole the link away and pasted it all over the place in anticipation.

After it became apparent last year that Dead or Alive Online was considered a working title by developer Tecmo, at some point we've spent at least a few minutes vaguely wondered what it might end up being called. (And we're sure that fans have been eagerly debating such things. Or at least we're kind of genetically inclined to suppose they have been.)

Sometimes, the best games are the ones you spend the most time shouting at. Maximo was a lot like that, blending hackandslash third person combat with basic, enjoyable platform game design and wrapping it in a sometimes-impenetrable blanket of difficulty. For those who took to it, it remains one of Capcom's biggest triumphs on the current generation of consoles - an ideal realisation of Ghosts'n'Goblins in 3D. For those who couldn't get past its irksome camera issues and the consistently unforgiving design, it ranks as one of the developer's least enjoyable releases.

Namco's multi-platform Dead to Rights spin-off, Extreme Force: Grant City Anti-Crime, has been cancelled. According to a Namco spokesperson, who cited "time constraints" as the main reason for the game's cull, the decision to cease development was made in December.

Although it's not much use to European audiences just yet, LucasArts and Planet Moon have released the first downloadable Xbox Live extra for comedy shoot-'em-up Armed & Dangerous.

Xbox exclusive hackandslash RPG Crimson Sea will be getting a PS2 exclusive sequel before the end of the year, publisher Koei has revealed this week. It's due out in the US on March 30th.

Sales of videogames consoles in the UK dropped by 1 per cent by units and 15 per cent by value during 2003 according to ChartTrack's annual hardware figures.

A PC expansion to Infinity Ward's World War II-based first-person shooter Call of Duty could be with us before the end of the year if a rather barren posting at US games retailer GameStop is anything to go by.

Ed Fries, vice president of games publishing at Microsoft Game Studios and second only in the Xbox hierarchy to Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach, is leaving the company to pursue other goals after 18 years of loyal service.

Action RPG Restricted Area's German developer Master Creating has cancelled its publishing agreement for the game with 4am Entertainment for what the developer calls "a major breach of contract", which may lead to a court date for 4am.

1UP reports this week that Nintendo is planning a series of 8-bit NES remakes for the Game Boy Advance. According to a recent newsletter from 21010.net, the Famicom Mini series of games will go on sale in Japan starting February 14th, with 10 classic NES games on offer for 2,000 yen (€15) each.

Having learned (or thought we learned) some more about the mystery product Nintendo plans to unveil at E3 - it could be movement based, and it could be backwards compatible with existing software, for those who missed out - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has given us some more cryptic clues by way of an interview with Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

A report on Reuters this week highlights the growing problem of online gaming addiction in South Korea, where 11 million of the country's 48 million people enjoy broadband Internet access - the highest penetration rate for high-speed services in the world.

Valve has enlisted the services of digital content delivery specialists Limelight Networks to host Steam's platform servers, and make provisions for the distribution of its online content.

Along with Knight Rider 2, Davilex has also unveiled a game based on 80s TV series Miami Vice this week. Another Universal Studios license, Miami Vice is due out on PS2, Xbox and PC in Q4 2004, with UK studio Atomic Planet on development duties - having previously worked on the likes of Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing for Codemasters and the GBA port of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo for Capcom.

The latest update to Microsoft's Xbox release schedules has revealed further slippage for both of the console's big forthcoming RPG titles, with UK developed games Fable and Sudeki now not due until summer.

So, kids, what is important in life?

With Metroid: Zero Mission due out in April on Game Boy Advance (and even sooner in the US), Nintendo's promotional machine is starting to purr into life. Well, I say purr, but due to lack of use it's more of a guttural choking noise these days.

Dutch publisher Davilex has announced a follow-up to Knight Rider - The Game, which did surprisingly well following its PS2 and PC release in November 2002, shifting more than 170,000 units in Europe. Knight Rider 2 is once again set to appear on PS2 and PC, with a worldwide release penned for Q4 2004.

Back in early December, word got out that LucasArts was working on a Battlefield 1942-alike multiplayer action game set in the Star Wars universe for PS2, Xbox and PC. Such a game has been long overdue. Despite the best efforts of developers like Factor 5 and Totally Games on the space combat front and Pandemic Studios on the ground, the series has only ever flirted with complete military pandemonium, and the prospect of stripping down to rags and fighting the ultimate battle for freedom, or donning one of those shiny white helmets and fighting for the glory of the Empire, is forever creeping into our thoughts.

No doubt reacting to the company's 58-million euro loss, Vivendi-Universal CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou has leapt into action and shaken up the struggling games division, replacing VU Games chairman and CEO Ken Cron with a new chairman (Rene Penisson) and separate CEO (Bruce Hack, who helped negotiate the $14bn sale of Vivendi's entertainment assets to NBC).

Eagle eyed readers of Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine are busy arguing over a column from Toshihiro Nagoshi, head of Sega's Amusement Vision division - the team responsible for such gems as F-Zero GX and, of course, the Super Monkey Ball series.

French publisher Ubisoft has acquired French developer Tiwak in a deal which has been consolidated since late December 2003, Ubi announced yesterday evening. Tiwak, based in Montpellier, currently employs 17 people and has previously worked on prehistoric adventure title Tork for Xbox, although that project was canned by Microsoft in April last year. Microsoft originally promised to help Tiwak find another publisher, but the announcement offers no hint that the Redmond behemoth had anything to do with the deal.

Embattled German publisher CDV has unveiled its line-up for 2004 and slightly beyond, which finally promises to deliver long overdue first-person shooter Breed in February, an expansion for the same in the third quarter, as well as a feast for strategy fans and fans of "alternative" forms of entertainment to boot.

EA has kept its unbroken streak at the top of the UK charts, as Need For Speed: Underground held on for its third straight week at No.1, fighting off a concerted challenge from Rockstar's GTA Double Pack which moved up from No.7 to No.2 on the back of its recent Xbox release. To complete the national obsession with car racing, The Simpsons: Hit & Run occupied the No.3 position.

Being locked in your own cursed pad is something I can relate to. A typical day here at EG generally doesn't involve a whole lot of outdoor activity unless we need emergency supplies, and issues with the sticking front door meant that a recent birthday turned into a farce as no one could get in or out. True story. The fact that Silent Hill 4: The Room appears to have been based on the life and times of Eurogamer can only be a good thing.

Microsoft hopes to achieve one million paid Xbox Live subscribers by June 2004, having seen more than a million game sessions per day for a whole week over the Christmas period.

Amongst various other things unveiled at Konami Gamer's Day, the publisher stripped off to reveal WWX: Rumble Rose for PlayStation 2. Due out in November and set to make an appearance on the company's E3 booth, it's a women's wrestling game developed by KCET in partnership with Yuke's (they of SmackDown fame) and the CG maestros on Polygon Magic's VSL Team.

With The Sims Bustin' Out at the top of the Game Boy Advance charts as I type, Electronic Arts has announced a further handheld version of the new Sims game, this time for Nokia N-Gage, due out in the first half of 2004.