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It's not even out in Europe yet (unless someone's cunningly broken street on it), but Xbox Live fans in the US are already getting a downloadable bonus for their copies of LucasArts/Totally Games' Secret Weapons Over Normandy in the shape of two new planes - the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk Mk. II (brimey) and the Vought F4U-1A Corsair. Be still my throbbing flight stick. And while Totally Games' Larry Holland and his team were at it they also touched up the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, improving its paint scheme for a better camouflage effect.

Fans of Sega's back catalogue can now look forward to the company's 3D Ages games - revised PS2 versions of old arcade and Master System titles with updated and occasionally even 3D visuals - being released in Europe.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Lords of EverQuest, the real-time strategy game based on its supposedly rather popular massively multiplayer game and developed by Rapid Eye Entertainment, has gone gold. According to publishing partner Ubisoft's latest release schedule, the game is now due out on December 5th.

The world's favourite boy wizard must have caused a bit of upset for the big cheeses at Electronic Arts this year. Whereas other well-behaved franchises like Lord of the Rings helpfully offer up a new movie every Christmas, conveniently slap bang in the middle of the peak-selling time for the videogames industry, Harry Potter took the winter off. With the launch of his biggest literary adventure yet taking place last summer, and his next big screen outing not due until the middle of 2004, there was no obvious media tie-in for EA to exploit.

Konami is planning to release a multilingual "International" edition of Winning Eleven 7 in Japan on February 29th according to a report on The Magic Box today.

Japanese publisher Square Enix has announced positive results for the first half of fiscal 2003, with the strong performance of its online software and US division both notable from the figures.

Given that England won the World Cup on Saturday morning, it seems rather odd that EA doesn't have a suitably glossy, authentic Rugby World Cup title waiting for the legions of fair weather patriots no doubt keen to back up their latest obsession with material goods. But, as anybody who has experienced Rugby 2004's distinctly uncharacteristic display of dodgy presentation and unfulfilling gameplay will probably feel, they really, really don't. Cue the arrival of Jonah Lomu Rugby developer Swordfish Studios, the UK firm aiming to stamp their credentials on the genre once again next March with World Championship Rugby.

If you're not planning on doing anything exciting this evening (and even I find it difficult to justify the televised Monday football fix when it's Fulham versus Portsmouth), then you might do just as well to sit yourself in front of a computer and grill Black & White 2 supremos Peter Molyneux and Jonty Barnes and their cohorts from Black & White and Lionhead Studios.

As you may have spotted thanks to your internet monitoring augmentations, an official demo of Deux Ex: Invisible War appeared over the weekend and you can now get hold of the 225MB package from all the usual suspects (including 3D Gamers who have a Torrent link). System specs are quite steep, and there are some graphics card issues to consider according to the readme file, but we're guessing that won't stop too many of you...

I went into Apocalyptica ready to give Konami the benefit of the doubt. I don't know about you lot, but the idea of sending a futuristic army of holy troopers up against the dark lord's horde of foul beasts sounded interesting to me. The fact that the dark lord had changed his name to Neo-Satan had me a little concerned, but hey - at least he's 'down' with the kids as well as the arms dealers in the future.

Clearly EG readers have very good taste, because after a week on the front-page our Mario Kart: Double Dash!! bundle giveaway secured more entrants than any other competition in recent memory.

Once again, it's a difficult week for the man with forty pounds (or sixty euro, or whatever else), and there will be casualties. Some games just won't sell, despite fully deserving to. However I really, really hope one of the games that does well is Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It is a gaming experience of such ingenuity and artistry that it deservedly ranks among the best games of the year. Unfortunately Ubisoft has signed what is no doubt a very lucrative deal with Sony to keep POP away from the Xbox and Cube until next year (they did the same for Beyond Good & Evil - another criminal decision), and given a handful of technical shortcomings it might well do to stick it out and pick it up on the 'box come 2004. But if you can't wait that long then you really won't be missing out if you buy it today - even on Sony's ageing spaceman radiator it's an experience comparable to ICO in terms of sheer enjoyment, and ICO was our favourite game of the whole of 2002.

Pro Evolution Soccer 3 is in our collective opinion the best football game on any format to date. You can read why at obscene length here, and since this is a pretty straight port, I'm not going to rehash every last detail. Instead, I'm going to concentrate on the game's transition to the PC, which is a huge disappointment in a lot of respects. Pro Evolution Soccer 3 may be a high profile release for Konami, which is not historically associated with PC gaming, but it's clear it still has some way to go before becoming a regular fixture in Windows Start Menus.

Sony Online and Rapid Eye have released their third disc-filling, 400MB-plus demo of Lords of EverQuest, this time focusing on the Dawn Brotherhood, having previously released demos focusing on the Elddar Alliance and the Shadow Realms. All three are multiplayer demos and share some common tutorials, but that's about all the specifics I've got 'ere. Still, if you fancy a bit of EverQuest-flavoured WarCraft III then you're in for a long day of downloading - better get started.

Microsoft has cut the price of Halo on Xbox in the US from $49.99 to $29.99, although is at pains to point out that this does not make it a "Platinum Hit" - the Xbox Classic budget label's US equivalent. Obviously Microsoft still wants to wring some more cash out of their biggest game, and we'd imagine they plan to give it a proper budget release around the time Halo 2 comes out next year.

Brian Reynolds' critically acclaimed Rise of Nations is follow in the footsteps of all great strategy titles and receive an expansion pack, Throne and Patriots, which should be released in spring 2004.

If you're a game developer who fancies making something a bit innovative for your next project, one of the most tried and tested routes to this goal is by combining two well established genres into a single game, hopefully bringing the best of both worlds to the mix. It's a hit and miss approach, but the hits can certainly be worth the effort - Deus Ex, at heart, is just a combination of first person shooter gameplay and RPG mechanics.

"Sega has decided not to continue with the Vectorman project at this time," a spokesman for the publisher has told IGN this week, confirming rumours that have been floating around the Internet unguarded.

Hear ye, hear ye! From this day forth, Michel Ancel is no longer "the creator of Rayman". From now on, he is "the genius that brought us Beyond Good & Evil". In his latest game, the veteran designer's skills as storyteller shine like never before, as he introduces us to a cast of memorable and endearing characters, binds them to a gripping narrative and, most importantly, throws them into a compelling and open-ended adventure that satisfyingly blends a potentially incoherent mix of gaming styles without ever frustrating the player. Cast out amongst a slew of Christmas blockbusters, BG&E rises above them all and leaves an indelible impression.

November 18th has come and gone, and Valve's legions of fans have no doubt noticed by now that Counter-Strike: Condition Zero has been made available for purchase neither over broadband content delivery system nor in regular gaming retail channels.

Those cunning tricksters over at Konami will be releasing Castlevania on the PS2 next February, on Friday 13th to be exact. Do you see what they've done there? The game has been created by Koji Igarashi and the team responsible for the other much-loved Castlevania games, with the series' PS2 debut forming a prelude to the previous titles.

When was the last time you had a good slash with someone, eh? How long has it been since you hacked up with a friend? The answer to this is probably: "Last Saturday night actually," but it could also be "God, not since... blimey, not since Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance!"

In anticipation of the release of Firefighter F.D. 18 on the PS2, Konami Europe has released some details to go along with our gallery of screenshots. Players, as firefighter Dean McGregor, become involved in a mysterious outbreak of fires around the game's huge city setting. During each firefighting mission, an "intelligent" camera tracks players as they face chemical explosions, backdrafts and flashovers while attempting to rescue trapped survivors in locations that vary from towers blocks to a luxury cruiser. All this while getting involved in a "twisting plot" surrounding the mystery of the fire eruptions, and some "interaction" between McGregor and a TV reporter. Crikey! The game is due to hit the shelves in April 2004.

Galaxy Andromeda, formerly Imperium Galactica 3, has been rescued from obscurity by European publisher HD Interactive and rebranded for the second time. Having been abandoned by embattled German publisher CDV, there didn't seem much hope for Andromeda, but thanks to HD Interactive the game will have another shot at release late on next year under its new name - Nexus.

According to a report at 1UP, the latest issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream includes mention of a new Kirby game as part of its Nintendo staff Q&A column. No further details were discussed - not even plans for the format - but the news will nevertheless come as something of a surprise after Kirby creator Masahiro Sukurai resigned from his position at Nintendo first party HAL Laboratory in early August.

Acclaim has added another face to the assembled mass of "Legends" for the third in its Legends of Wrestling series, details of which have been discussed previously right here. So who is this new face? None other than "one of wrestling most controversial and mysterious wrestlers", Jake 'The Snake' Roberts! Yes. "I have been lurking in the shadows waiting for the right time to resurface" said the man himself, images of whom can be viewed at the game's official site, as well as that Polaroid to our left in which he is assaulting several of my bandmates. 'Grrr', I expect he was saying there.

Codemasters has released a demo of World Championship Snooker 2003, the PS2 version of which we reviewed in July where it pocketed a rather respectable 7/10. The 90MB demo will allow you to step into the shiny shoes of Ronnie O'Sullivan for a spot of snooker or pool in the Games Room, and have a pop at some of John Virgo's trickshottery. Smashing.

Yeah yeah, we know it's been out for a few weeks now (or a few months if you picked it up on import), but it’s always worth reviewing the really good ones that got away, eh? Anyone who played the 2001 original will remember it was (and is) among the best handheld games ever released, somehow managing to make turn-based strategy gaming accessible to the most hardened opponent of the oft-impenetrable genre.

Believe it or not, this is the eleventh time I've had to introduce a selection of short reviews from our beloved readers. Astonishing. So, in the interest of keeping me awake, I've decided to undertake a bit of rebranding. We're going for a slightly 'higher brow' approach, and shall be calling on you lot to respond in kind. We've retired old Mrs. Bertrund (we've already found her a nice spot in the garden next to a tree) and introduced a brand new front-page image. Martin is already out scouting locations for our next "shoot" and interviewing possible candidates to replace the old dear's increasingly blurry visage as the public face of the stuff wot you lot send us. It's an exciting change, and not simply an idea I had five minutes ago that will probably fall apart by this time next week. Enjoy.

Japanese giant Nintendo has announced a loss for the first half of 2003, as expected, and has reiterated its plan to launch an innovative new game product next year - with an official unveiling expected at E3.