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Developer/publisher NovaLogic is recruiting keen online gamers to get regularly frazzled in a closed pre-beta test for its multiplayer tactical shooter Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising.

Square Enix has revised its profit expectations downward after revealing that Final Fantasy XII will not ship during its current fiscal year ending March 31st, 2004. Despite the promise of a PS2 re-release of Dragon Quest V before then to buoy sales, the Japanese firm has nevertheless downgraded its net profit expectation from 10.5 billion yen (€82.15 million) to 8.1 billion (€63.38 million).

Rack your brains. Phone your mates. Ask Jeeves. Whatever. But I'd like you to try and think of a game that has created a genre and gone on to hold its head high over the competition for an entire decade. Other, that is, than Super Mario Kart. For the life of me, I simply can't. No other kart racing game beats it. Nothing before or since has managed to incorporate such a tightly and memorably constructed series of circuits, complemented them with such an addictive racing model, and then risked it all by throwing in a boatload of obscure, destructive and varied power-ups. Not Street Racer then, not Bomberman Kart now, and not even the PlayStation's rather enjoyable but generally derided Speed Freaks somewhere in-between.

Evening folks. Sorry to interrupt the flow of your easygoing, mid-evening surf like this (or indeed your hungover Saturday morning surf), but I felt it was imperative that I let you in on something. Something joyous. Something that made me a very happen little gamer not five minutes ago.

To use an expression I picked up in Dublin this summer, there's going to be a lot of CRACK flying around this weekend! [Isn't that spelt 'craic'? -Ed] You can tell it's a good week for gamers because there are [counts] one, two, no, three, no, four GameCube games that are probably worth buying. If you include SSX 3 and Worms 3D, that is. But even if you don't, Billy Hatcher and F-Zero GX should be enough to tempt you out of your purple, Metroid-encrusted nest for one weekend.

F-Zero GX is nuts. Any game that can inspire the kind of blind obsession that has you glued to the gamepad for five straight hours playing the same track, heart rate at 140, pupils dilated, quit/restart technique perfected, is alright by us. Not since F-Zero: Maximum Velocity in the summer of 2001 has this kind of obsessive-compulsive madness prevailed, and frankly, I want to get this review in the bag as quickly as possible in order to get back on it. A sign of a very good game indeed.

Sony has launched a European teaser site for Forbidden Siren, the PS2 survival horror title that's just finished development at SCEI, previously referred to as Siren. The site itself isn't actually that interesting - there's a logo and a countdown along with a drone and some flickery images. All very survival horror. What actually interests us is the fact that we weren't previously aware that the title was on its way to this territory, let alone in March as was announced alongside the site launch. What makes us even happier is that a date hasn't been set in North America yet - revenge is sweet! [ducks]

Solid Snake is set to return to the Xbox once again. But don't get too excited (as if you were), he's merely joining the Xbox Classics budget range from December 5th. If you don't already own Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, this is the perfect chance to get hold of Hideo Kojima's misunderstood opus in its definitive form, featuring as it does the original title plus over 500 alternative and VR missions, as well as the Snake Tales sections - alternative takes on events depicted in the main story.

Word on the street is that one will be able to assume the identity of rapper Snoop Dogg in Activision's forthcoming True Crime: Streets of L.A. once his character is unlocked in the game's "Dogg Patrol" mode. They will then be able to roll in Snoop's custom convertible dealin' time fo' the crime or something. The car has hydraulics and everything apparently, meaning that one might be able bunnyhop through the 'hood whilst relaxing to one of True Crime's many charming rap compositions. If one were so inclined. No you're right, we are not cool.

EA has released a content filled patch for Battlefield 1942, bringing the game up to version 1.5. As well as a new Pacific map, Invasion of the Philippines, the patch brings two new vehicles: the Marines' Elco 80 PT Boat and the Japanese Type 38 coastal craft, both of which sport torpedoes, machine guns and sea mines.

Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2004 has slipped until February 2004, Atari has confirmed for us this morning. The last we'd heard, the game was on track for a November 21st launch.

What with it being Halloween and all, Majesco has announced a sequel to Nazi-stomping vampire fest BloodRayne. Developed by Terminal Reality again, the imaginatively titled BloodRayne 2 will be out on PC, PS2 and Xbox in time for next October.

Industry magnates will have more than just ECTS to worry about next year, with new trade and consumer exhibitions now set to battle it out with CMP's longstanding trade and most recently consumer destination at the beginning of September 2004.

The GBA will be the rest home of 2D platformers forever. Publishers will never tire of churning the things out and, in some respects, gamers will never tire of gobbling them up like mad, leaping, platform-digesting bears or something. And here's another one of them. Thanks to THQ's contribution, Rare's dynamic duo Banjo and Kazooie make a welcome return to a Nintendo platform.

Activision has acquired Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward a week before the firm's critically acclaimed World War II-based first-person shooter launches for the PC, the publisher has announced.

Take-Two (surely Rockstar?) has confirmed that the next GTA game will be released in Q4 2004. According to reports, Take-Two executive veepee Cindi Buckwalter told attendees at a New York City technology conference that the game will be released "in the back half of '04, Q4," although she wouldn't be drawn on the name - despite widespread internet rumours of a Las Vegas or Los Angeles-based title (please, not another flat one!).

We'd like to start today by making it clear to everybody out there that we never said Billy Hatcher was for kids. That's simply not true. We were just somewhat bowled over by the childishness of everything from the characters, enemies and presentation to the environments, activities and soundtrack when we first took a look at it earlier this month. The infuriatingly catchy "la la, la la, la-la, la la" theme is still dancing around our head like Teletubbies in Ibiza.

Earlier this month we nipped over to sunny Slough to the offices of Activision to chat to BioWare, who were busy demoing the forthcoming PC version of Xbox favourite Knights Of The Old Republic.

Sony Online Entertainment has launched the first PlanetSide expansion pack, Core Combat. The pack opens up underground caverns that house ancient alien technology and weaponry that can be put to use by any of the PlanetSide's three empires. It introduces "urban style" combat in underground cities, as well as more mission objectives aside from the usual capture-and-hold style of the original game.

Project Gotham Racing 2 has gone gold and is scooting off at high speed for duplication, Microsoft has announced this week. The game is definitely on track for its November 28th release date.

It's Halloween this week! Hooray! For those of us who aren't 12 years old, this means buying up huge quantities of suspiciously expensive sweets and using them to bribe the neighbourhood kids not to egg our houses - something they generally end up doing anyway. The little shits.

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that the inaugural Gran Turismo 4 Awards will be taking place at SEMA (the Specialty Equipment Market Association) car show in Las Vegas next week, where Polyphony Digital director Kazunori Yamauchi will be on hand to present various awards to impressive new cars.

Guerrilla, the Amsterdam-based studio formerly known as Lost Boys Games, has signed a development deal with British publisher Eidos for a new third person action game which is set to be released on three major platforms next summer.

"Why can't anyone make a decent Simpsons game?" has been the plaintive wail of millions of gamers for over a decade now, tired of being fed licensed pap year upon year. With such a fantastically rich property to draw upon, it's almost criminal that various developers over the years have been able to get away with this systematic trashing of the brand. The depressing thing is every one has sold very well; Simpsons Road Rage has sold over 1.8 million in the last year alone for gawd's sake. What about this year's model?

Vivendi has announced details of Van Helsing, a third-person action title based on Universal Pictures' forthcoming eponymous action-adventure flick. The movie from writer-director Stephen Sommers - responsible for The Mummy and The Mummy Returns - returns to draw inspiration from the studio's classic horror back catalogue. Again.

The latest Xbox promotional effort from Microsoft in Japan has been unveiled, with the country's well-respected Famitsu magazine set to covermount the Music Mixer software in its January edition.

Football is a funny old game. Which is a bit strange, really, because it shouldn't be. After all, it started out as a serious sport; a combative, highly charged encounter between 22 men with excellent limb control.

The PlayStation 2 version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has gone gold and is in production, and assuming some kind of major disaster doesn't occur between now and the 21st November, we should see it in the shops. Then. Which is good because we've heard lots of nice things said about it. PC and GBA versions will make it out before the end of this year, with Xbox and Cube versions to follow in January (annoyingly) so we should expect more exciting gold announcements for those very soon as well. Hold onto your… Persian things.

Nintendo has press released the release date for Mario Kart: Double Dash, confirming what it said previously - that we'll be getting our hands on it in Europe on November 14th. The game launches in Japan and the US the same week.

If there's one thing you can say for Acclaim, it's that they never seem to give up. Despite a critical mauling for both previous Legends of Wrestling titles, the publisher hasn't thrown in the towel and has instead this week announced plans for its resurrection next year in the hands of a new developer, and with a new figurehead, the erstwhile WWE world-title holder, the Ultimate Warrior.