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Midnight Club II was on display on both PC and Xbox at E3, showcasing various improvements over the PS2 version. Xbox fans will be pleased to hear that graphically the game has updated vehicle models, environments, higher-resolution textures, and better effects and lighting throughout, along with the virtual pre-requisites of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and widescreen. There will even be HDTV 480p support, although if you can afford a TV like that then you can probably pay developers to make you a personal version [oi! -Ed].

All this week, Eurogamer will be on-site in Los Angeles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3. But we aren't planning to sit around chatting to publishers about how brilliant they are, swapping anecdotes about press parties and acting like we're actually cool - aside from a few pre-show press conferences, we're there to play the big games, and tell you how they're shaping up. That means our first impressions of games like Half-Life 2, Nico, Mario Kart, Halo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3. Games that matter!

Ubi Soft has officially announced the next Splinter Cell game, titled Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. The game is in development for multiple systems, as you'd expect, and will apparently feature more realistic environments and a more "cinematic" feel.

Infogrames and TimeGate have identified a major gap in the videogaming sector with the announcement that they're developing World War II RTS Axis & Allies, based on the eponymous board game. There aren't many details available at present, but directing the fates of either the United States, England, Germany, The Soviet Union or Japan, you can naturally expect to be faced with the strategic and tactical decisions experienced by generals during the war, and perhaps even change the course of history. If you like. You'll have to wait until Autumn 2004, though.

CDV has released more details about American Conquest Fight Back, the standalone expansion pack (ala Cossacks: Back to War) which is due out on May 30th in Germany. Apparently the rest of Europe can now look forward to getting their grubby bayonets on it in August.

Comments made by Sonic Team boss Yuji Naka had UK journos in a spin last week, with some taking his hopeful optimism as proof that discussions are taking place at SEGA HQ about a new console platform.

Nintendo has dropped us a line to remind us that Game Boy Player is out on June 20th - something we mentioned last week when we heard they were planning to bundle it with the Cube for €199. It'll be about €60 on its own.

Charlie's Angels is about to be translated into videogame form for the first time ever, thanks to Ubi Soft. You will be able to switch between each of the Angels on-the-fly during combat as they take on 32 different enemies across six missions. The game incorporates a "new and unique storyline", which sees the Angels going undercover to unravel a worldwide mystery and foil the plans of some criminal mastermind or other who wants to steal the world's most famous monuments. Unique. It's out 18th July on PS2 and GameCube - start saving now.

Another round of downloadable MechAssault content has made it onto Xbox Live, introducing Capture The Flag (and a couple of corresponding maps) to the proceedings along with a couple of new mechs. CTF works really well, and the two new maps are pretty good - Midtown Mayhem has one team up on a hill and another on a lower plain with hilly cover and an urban cityscape in-between. In our first game this urban playground quickly disappeared as gangs of Ragnoraks and the new Loki and Hellbringer mechs crept through it with autocannons and flamers blazing. The other map is Desert Storm, which has some narrow causeways and chokepoints, perfect for shooting up the enemy.

Whatever your personal feelings on Metal Gear Solid 2, there's no doubt that the once-revered franchise has come down in the world since that incredible trailer wowed audiences and left journalists scrambling for superlatives at E3 a few years ago - selling countless PS2s in the process. At E3 this year, not one but two MGS titles were shown, and to describe the reaction as "muted" would be an overstatement; the fact is that following the disappointing MGS2 and given the wealth of incredible stuff at the show, MGS just isn't that high on most people's must-see lists any more.

InfogramesNotAtari has made a deal with Firaxis Games, giving the Frenchmen rights to publish many of the Maryland-based developer's future works, including a newly announced Civilization III expansion, Conquests, and Sid Meier's Pirates.

Apart from a bunch of big name sequels, a new price point and a new gaming portable, Sony had a pretty quiet E3. Chortle. Actually, they announced a couple of other things which haven't had as much press, all centring around the online service - something that can only stand to benefit us third rate Europeans in the long run.

Tecmo's highly anticipated action/adventure Ninja Gaiden will launch on Xbox this Christmas - in the US, at least. All that could be seen of the title at E3 was a couple of trailers displayed by both Microsoft and Tecmo, and I'm assured by Tom that it really did look rather special. Details on the game have been kept under a particularly tight lid, but Tecmo did let on that the story is one of vengeance as Ryu Hyabusa, a notorious ninja assassin, seeks revenge after his clan is massacred by the Vigor Empire. Also, Tecmo announced but then annoyingly continued to remain tight-lipped about an Xbox Live feature that will "be like nothing gamers have ever experienced before." Gosh.

Although Winning Eleven and its many sons and daughters are by far and away Eurogamer's football games of choice, EA did manage to regain some credibility last year with its revamped FIFA 2003, combining elements of both sim and arcade titles and delivering a fairly laudable ball game. But even at that, the Vancouver-based team behind the series knew that they still had some way to go, and they now claim that this year's version - shooting for an October release date - is making serious strides in the right direction. But don't they always say that? With a 20 per cent complete build of the game at E3 last week, we had a look for ourselves.

Zelda may have been my favourite action RPG on the Super Nintendo (and, er, many systems since), but it was only a few weapon levels higher than Square's magnificent Secret of Mana, which combined real-time combat, traditional RPG magic and levelling systems and a world of endearing characters to great effect. There were and are few games which have conveyed the feel of Mana since then, but after an hour alone with Square Enix's Sword of Mana, I'm starting to think we might finally see a suitable reprise.

Hello. Long-running multi-Nintendo format turn-based strategy series Fire Emblem is finally heading to the US, and subsequently probably Europe as well, on the GBA. "And about time too", says Tom. The game is apparently very much in the same vein as EG favourite Advance Wars, but with a tangy RPG flavouring as your units gain experience points and level up in various battle ability statistics. Lovely. Anyway, you will (probably, remember) be able to get your mitts on it in the Autumn.

Incredibly, Tecmo took some time out to actually talk about one of its games during its "DOA Girls: From Bare Fists to Bikinis" presentation at E3. While the Tecmo bikini ladies brought a corner of the South Hall to a regular standstill thanks to lecherous basement-dwelling ball-jugglers like Tom, the developer shed some light on the forthcoming Dead or Alive Online. It is apparently Tecmo's intention to bring a perfect rendition of the "sublime" Saturn original to the Xbox alongside a completely redesigned Dead or Alive 2, which is where the online component comes in, coupled with DOA3-surpassing visuals and "scenes portraying the familial relationships between certain characters". Oh and some new costumes.

Were it not for Rare's forced defection to Xbox exclusivity, we'd probably be playing Kameo on GameCube by now. Ah well, such is the nature of multi-million dollar business deals. We did, however, get treated to a four-level demo of the game at this year's E3, which gave us a neat glimpse into possibly the most interesting and accomplished of the trio of Rare titles debuted at the Exposition.

World War II games. Two things that the world isn't exactly short of at the moment. But World War II role-playing games? Now there's something you don't see every day. We give you, Another War.

Another interesting E3 debutant this year was Mario and Luigi on the GBA (screenshots), which sees the brothers team up for the first time, in an epic action-oriented RPG. An evil witch steals Princess Peach's voice and replaces it with explosives, and when the pair turn up and find out what happens, they run into Bowser attempting to kidnap the princess. Again. Mario, Luigi and Bowser, in an unprecedented move, decide to unite in order to track down the witch, following her into an unknown neighbouring kingdom.

The PC version of Lost Toys' criminally overlooked Battle Engine Aquila will likely be bundled with the GeForceFX2 (aka NV35, or 'GeForce4 Ultra Ultra') thanks to a deal with OEM specialists Vector OEM, the Guildford-based developer announced at E3. Assuming that manufacturers choose to go for it, you should be able to get your hands on it if you plump for NVIDIA's latest kit from the end of May. The GeForceFX2 PC version of the game was on display at NVIDIA's booth at the show, and includes improved water and explosion effects, and generally enhanced performance. Commenting on the deal, Lost Toys' MD Jeremy Longley says the developer is "pleased with the results".

Squenix released the first details of its upcoming “profound tragic saga” Drakengard at E3 this year. Developed by a team which has a combined resumé including Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Bust-a-Groove(!) and Ace Combat, the game is an RPG adventure which sees the player as Kyme, a young prince attempting to rescue his sister from his Empire-besieged kingdom. The twist is that his only hope of rescuing her is to form a dragon pact, for which he sacrifices his power of speech (that’s part of the deal).

Nintendo is continuing the tradition of re-releasing vaguely enhanced Mario titles on the GameBoy Advance, finally treating gamers to the fantastic Super Mario Bros. 3, one of our favourite NES games. We had a quick go on it during E3 and it looks just as it should do, with all eight worlds, various bosses, Koopa Troopers wandering around the maps and such. We can't wait for the excuse to play through it again.

No surprises at the top of the UK sales chart this week, as Atari's Enter the Matrix pushes Legend of Zelda off the top spot - and there are strong showings for GTA Vice City on PC and Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Xbox.

Sony is expected to announce that it's to cut the price of the PlayStation 2 in Europe at last, with the console dropping from €249 to €199 in a move which brings the hardware price in line with the Xbox and GameCube.

As you may have gathered during the show, Konami's jungle-based Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is set to be a PS2 exclusive, and due out during 2004. It's safe to say that all who saw it enjoyed the massive 12-minute E3 trailer, but the game's reception wasn't quite up to the air of awe-filled expectancy swirling around ECTS and E3 a few years ago when MGS2 was still some ways off. But that score still does strange things to us.

When Microsoft parted with $375 million to wrench Rare from Nintendo's clutches, it sent shockwaves across the industry, or at least had done several months previously, and spelled out the lengths that Redmond is prepared to go to capture market share in the console war.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is pleased! Pleased to announce that EyeToy is going to be called "EyeToy: Play" and released with 12 games included during the month of July. As you may have seen at PlayStation Experience in August (or at E3 just last week), EyeToy is a system whereby a USB camera interprets the player's actions in a number of cute little mini-games, all of which your truly sucks at.

Whilst we were busy playing games and pretending to find people funny and/or interesting, Sony and Microsoft announced their respective US price cuts. Sony led the way, cutting the cost of PS2 to $179.99 in order to "clear inventory" ahead of the launch of a revamped unit in line with the new Japanese model, which includes a built in IR receiver and cuts Firewire support amongst other things. And of course Microsoft quickly followed suit, announcing a matching reduction to $179.99.

Although we didn't get the chance to play it [which is shorthand for 'it looked the same' -Ed], SCEA and Zipper Interactive had SOCOM II: US Navy SEALs waiting for us on the show floor this year. Created "in association with Naval Special Warfare Command" (the cat's truly out of the bag these days, isn't it?), SOCOM II will offer a mix of 12 single player and 22 online missions similar to its predecessor, dragging the player and other elite special units across treacherous terrain in Algeria, Albania, Brazil and Russia amongst other countries (not Iraq?).