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French publisher Light & Shadow Productions looks set to publish PC ports of two more of Namco's console titles in early 2004, having snapped up the rights to Dead to Rights earlier this year. Pac-Man World 2 and kill.switch are both due out in Q1, and as with DTR, will both be published by LSP across Europe and by HIP Games in North America.

Almost exactly a month after Nokia's N-Gage launched worldwide, a spokesperson for the company has stated that it is "pretty pleased" with customer reaction to the device, but that there's much to be done if it's to meet expectations.

Publisher Atari has shut its Hunt Valley development office following the completion of its most recent project, bringing an end to the studio which under its previous name, MicroProse, was responsible for several classic titles.

It's just as well we don't mind making ourselves look like tits in the comfort of our own home. After our recent humiliating Dancing Stage antics, the Sony EyeToy held no fear, if only that it's markedly less embarrassing waving your arms like a frantic Italian at some imaginary objects than playing 21st Century hopscotch.

Ubisoft has confirmed that Crytek's ambitious PC FPS Far Cry has slipped to Q1 2004, with the developer now focusing on the multiplayer aspect - hiring Chris Auty as lead multiplayer level designer (he of Inferno and Aztec maps from Counter-Strike fame) and Richard Tsao as multiplayer producer. Their goal is to create a multiplayer game worthy of comparison to what's described as the "spectacularly deep" single-player experience. Although there are few details available as to what's new and interesting (or "unique") about the game's multiplayer modes, Auty and Tsao seem confident.

Eidos and Sports Interactive have released a half-season playable demo of Championship Manager: Season 03/04 to celebrate the game going gold. SI has even been good enough to set up a BitTorrent stream for the file here, with plenty of folks seeding the game at the time of writing.

Nintendo resumed production of GameCube consoles in October according to a report originating in the Nikkei Journal. Production of the consoles had been halted in January in order to try and clear retail channels of large backlogs of stock, and with sales up thanks to worldwide price cuts and bundle initiatives, Nintendo obviously finally feels the need to make some more...

With Condition Zero being roundly slated by anybody who cares to play it, Microsoft has announced the Xbox version of Counter-Strike has also gone gold - with the emphasis firmly on the original multiplayer game.

Like a tweaked out, quadruple-grab diagonal 720 flip, PS2 Online finally seems to have taken off, with two out of the top three selling games in the UK wearing that telltale blue strip on the front cover. And wouldn't you know, it's all EA's doing, with FIFA and SSX 3 heavily advertised all over the place (including the TV) and punters flocking to "jack in" and finally embrace broadband gaming.

I like to believe I was a pinball wizard in my town. Every Friday night, there I was on the Addams Family machine down my local, pint under the table, cheering throng behind me and adoring lady friends hanging from every limb. But, actually, no. I am terrible at pinball and always have been, but this is Pokemon Pinball. I mean how hard can it be? I felt right at home.

Donkey Konga, the odd little rhythm-action game Namco is developing with a conga-shaped peripheral, may well be spun out into a series of titles according to the latest issue of Nintendo Dream. (It's a good one, isn't it?)

According to reports (I read mine at 1up), the GameCube update to the fantastic Mario Tennis series underway at Nintendo's close pals Camelot is making serious progress. In the words of Japan's Nintendo Dream magazine, it's now very much playable.

Nintendo of America has announced that the Zelda Collector's Edition bonus disc - comprising the two original NES Zelda titles, both N64 titles and a demo of Cube title The Wind Waker - will be available as part of a new US standalone hardware bundle for $99.99.

Vivendi Universal has shelved development plans for a game based on Quentin Tarantino's latest movie Kill Bill, with the company seemingly snatching up the rights earlier this year… well, just because it could: "While Vivendi Universal Games holds the interactive rights, currently there is no game in development", they said. We can't say we're particularly disappointed ourselves to be honest, having been saddened in the past by many a great film's name sullied by poor cash-in videogaming travesties. Phew eh, readers?

Do not fear, kind sir! Your casual glance at the headline as it slipped under Mouse1 may have had you thinking about some boring, oval circuit monstrosity like NASCAR Thunder - a demo of which is also out today - but rest assured that EA Black Box's Need For Speed update is far from tedious. It's actually one of the shiniest and most reflective arcade racers we've seen. A recent spin on the Xbox version made my eyes bleed.

Sony has unveiled the first concepts of its PSP handheld machine, shown as part of Ken Kutaragi's presentation at the corporation's Corporate Strategy Meeting in New York yesterday. The glossy unit clearly exhibits Sony's knack for crafting sleek-looking bits of kit, looking a bit like a cross between Apple's iPod and the Game Boy Advance (Original flavour).

Publisher Atari has announced a net loss for its September quarter, with falling revenues being pinned on a sparse release schedule - but projections for the coming quarter, which includes the holiday season, are strong.

Guildford-based developer Mucky Foot has become the latest casualty among UK independent development studios, with the company going into liquidation after a work-in-progress project was cancelled by its publisher.

In all honesty, we weren't going to review this. We had much more important things to be worrying about. But then it snuck into the charts. And stayed there. It's still there at No.13 this week, selling its rugged little backside off as the Rugby World Cup rages in some far-flung corner of the earth, and, frankly, because of it.

The recent upsurge in Cube sales has plateued already according to this week's ChartTrack hardware report which reveals almost no change in sales over the seven day period, but there was better news for Microsoft, which witnessed an improvement of over 65 per cent in Xbox sales over the same period - a figure which means the Xbox is now outselling Nintendo's machine by over two to one.

EA's FIFA 2004 and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 3 held on to the first and second spots respectively in the UK Full Price chart this week, while there were plenty of new entries for other key titles in the top ten.

Ubisoft has signed on with American publisher ARUSH Entertainment to bring Playboy: The Mansion to European PCs and two major consoles (PS2 and Xbox presumably) in autumn 2004.

They warned us. They told us it would terrorise our very souls and slowly erode our will to live, but did we listen? Did we heed the plaintive, reasoned cry of those who know better? Did we hell. We ripped off the cellophane impatiently, pausing only to inhale the heady aroma of fresh videogame before placing the virgin DVD in the hungry disc tray. What could possibly go wrong?

Fans of SEX and BREASTS are in for a special TEAT this month when they STRIP the latest in the SCHLONG-running Smackdown series and STICK IT UP their PlayStation 2. As we learned when we COCKED an ear to our inbox yesterday, a new BRA & PANTIES mode will PENETRATE the traditional Smackdown formula, and the CLIMAX will COME when one of the girly wrestlers reaches an advanced state of undress. The WIENER will be the last lass wearing anything.

With Championship Manager on its way out of Wimbledon this year on a Bosman free, CM03/04 will be Sports Interactive's final title in the long-running, critically acclaimed and rightly revered series of stat-obsessed management sims for the PC. To be followed next year (or at least relatively soon) by a rebadged offering that nobody knows anything about yet. Well, SI managing director Miles Jacobson knows, but he's not telling us, even if he's happy to discuss the importance of sharks to the future of personal transport.

Capcom may be heading in a new and slightly more bankable direction these days, developing a game based on The Nightmare Before Christmas and even installing Jean Reno opposite the Japanese hero of Onimusha 3, but we do hope it never stops turning out games like Maximo. When the obscure little third person platformy hackandslash arrived in 2001, it dragged the Ghouls & Ghosts series into the so-called "next generation" with aplomb, giving us a hero who fought a vicious difficulty level right down to the hilt (and his trademark pink polka dot boxers). In a lot of ways it was formulaic, repetitive and it was occasionally unfair, too, but it was also an inexplicably addictive, charmingly kleptomaniacal affair designed to lure gamers into that fabled "one more go" every time the grim reaper came a-knocking. (Or at least every time you had a red skull coin to pay him off with.)

Atari has announced that fantasy action title Kya: Dark Lineage has gone gold and should be out in the US shortly. No such luck for us folks though, with February 27th the latest European date we've seen for the PS2 game.

Sony is planning to cut the price of the Japanese PS2 from 25,000 yen (€197) to 19,800 yen (€155) in an effort to boost sales towards the end of the year. That's a drop from roughly what we pay to roughly what the Yanks pay at the current rates. Reuters says the cut will take effect from November 13th.

Last week I realised two things (well, I probably realised more than two things, but none of those things are relevant to this particular snippet of text): we get sent lots more GameCube reviews than anything else, and that last week's Star Reviewer Phil Campbell is a wise and learned gamer - who already possessed a copy of Tecmo's Project Zero for the PS2. As a result, we've done a "rollover" (I think I'll copyright that), and this week's winner will be offered Phil's leavin's. And something else if they don't like the sound of it. We'll see! Unfortunately, thanks to the postal strikes, prizes may take a bit longer to turn up than is reasonable, but I'm rubbish at going outside and putting things in the post box anyway, so actual delivery times will probably remain consistent. Onto the reviews!

Following Microsoft's recent Xbox bundle initiative, which saw Midtown Madness 3 and a two-month Xbox Live subscription voucher join Halo in a £139.99 console bundle, Nintendo has hit back with a deal of its own, bundling triple-A Christmas hopeful Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and an exclusive Zelda Collector's Edition disc with the diminutive console for just £99 / €149 from November 14th.