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Various sources this week report that Xbox Live is about to benefit from a keyboard adapter, in line with what Live service director John Thomson said last August about including the keyboard option "for game developers who aren't interested in incorporating voice chat features". According to C&VG, the adapter is going to be made available in the US for virtually nothing via Xbox.com, "for use exclusively with Phantasy Star Online".

Fresh from the release of a freely downloadable expansion campaign, Ensemble Studios has announced a full-blown expansion pack called Age of Mythology: The Titans, so-called because it lets players call upon the might of the Titan gods (such as Atlas and Cronus). The expansion will also introduce a fourth culture, the Atlanteans, to existing Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythologies, with 12 new scenarios, 12 new god powers, 18 new human units and 10 myth units and online multiplayer support thrown in for good measure. With the pack due out before the end of the year in the US, it shouldn't be ages to wait over here either.

Back in August last year, we got very excited about Square's plans to release a new Seiken Densetsu (Mana) title on the GameBoy Advance, after we heard that it would be a new title and not some questionable old rehash. In fact, "excited" is probably an understatement. "So happy we pranced around the office with red streamers in our hair operating an imaginary ring menu magic system and calling ourselves Sprite" is closer.

Ubi Soft has revealed a few details of the PC and console remake of 80s classic Prince of Persia. Most intriguing is the effort to create an extremely detailed animation system, and a physics system capable of animating hair, clothing and wall hangings in real time.

Also from GameSpot this morning comes news of the promised 'enhancements' to the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country. As previously reported, these take the form of a couple of mini-games with two player functionality. However, they sound as uninviting as Mario Advance's so-called multiplayer. They are Funky's Fishing (catch as many fish as possible within a given time limit) and Candy's Dance Studio (a simple rhythm-action game). The report also confirms the addition of stat tracking, unlockable character art and a save-anywhere feature. Perhaps most interesting though is a Donkey Kong attack mode, which will measure in-game performance according to various factors and perhaps even add some replay value to this otherwise fairly limited package.

Mother 1, 2 and 3 (that's the Earthbound series in North America) are now GBA-bound, according to a Nintendo advert showing on Japanese TV screens at the moment. GameSpot reports that Mother 1 and 2 are scheduled for release on June 20th in the region, although it's not clear if they will be a compilation title or separate releases, with Mother 3 in development. We never got our hands on the 16-bit Earthbound back in the day, which was a source of much resentment for us (believe you me), so the prospect of a re-release, whether domestic or as eminently importable US releases, is very exciting. Mother!

It's true, we don't normally indulge in "rich media", and we're pretty sure you can guess why. Still, there are occasions, particularly with games that we like, that we feel compelled to break with tradition. War of the Monsters is one such game, due out this Friday, and held in pretty high regard around here. So, since you're beginning to wonder what we're alluding to, here are a couple of QuickTime VR files showing off scenes from the game in three whole dimensions. Or thereabouts. That's here (730KB, Kineticlops shocking Congar) and here (550KB, Ultra-V attacks Robo-47 from behind). These come courtesy of our chums at PlayStation.com, who actually have a total of 12 of the things, with more coming in the week.

ChampMan 4's reign at the top has lasted just two weeks, as Ubi Soft's all-conquering Splinter Cell finally hit the all-important No.1 spot, some 19 weeks after its initial Xbox debut.

InfogramesNotAtari has decided to push the Dragon Ball Z franchise with the announcement of a new adventure RPG for the GameBoy Advance based on the popular franchise.

Sega of America has announced a new, GameCube-exclusive title called Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, currently in development at Sonic Team under the direction of Sonic creator Yuji Naka. It's the first new platform game and character from Yuji Naka and Sonic Team since the Saturn era, Sega tells us.

What with the concerning announcement this February by Activision that the single-player element of Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was to be dropped, it's been left to developer Splash Damage to salvage the remains of the game as a free multiplayer download.

Oooh, more patch news. Next up is Ubi Soft's Raven Shield, the first patch for which fixes the quite infuriating CD-key issues that cropped up when trying to play the game online, along with a few other multiplayer issues. Head on over to the official Raven Shield website for a nice list of mirrors.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Japan, Nichiho Marumo, president of Japanese production company Gaga Communications, spoke of his company's work on the forthcoming Tekken and Onimusha movies, which we probably knew about but had certainly forgotten at the time of writing.

Quicksilver has released a patch which addresses a number of balancing issues in its space strategy title Master of Orion 3. The 678k update is said to rebalance the combat and starship construction elements in the game, and improve military AI. Other alterations include changes to weapon costs and ranges, research costs, and race abilities. You can download the patch directly from Quicksilver here

Rogue developer Running With Scissors sneakily slipped out a demo of its forthcoming gore 'em up, Postal 2 on Saturday. Naturally, we jumped on the chance to see what the fuss was about and give our antisocial side, which has been eerily absent since we conquered our GTA3 addiction, a proper workout.

Hold the phone, put down the cat, stop piling china precariously on the sideboard and get a load of this: Dantooine will be the tenth planetary environment in Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, LucasArts' MMORPG set (and apparently developed) in a galaxy far, far away. The other nine include Tatooine, Naboo and Yavin 4. Any other queries are best directed at this exhaustive FAQ.

It's Good Friday this week, which has something to do with Easter, but more importantly is a bank holiday. This means we'll be running away and hiding on Thursday evening, and won't return until we've gorged ourselves on chocolate bunnies and beer. Hrm, we could even try drinking the beer from the chocolate bunnies! Anyway, what all this means is that there is widespread confusion - and outright panic - amongst paranoid gamers petrified that their favourite boutique will be shut and unable to sell them Lego Drome Racers or some crap. Fortunately, our local GAME (a microcosm for the games-flogging retail society, we'll have you know) claims that they will be ignoring the occasion to flog games anyway. "BloodRayne," they tell us, "is this week's big title".

Tom forced me to say that Scientists at Dublin's Media Lab Europe have developed a type of computer game that responds to input generated by the player's breathing. Sensors are quite literally attached to the player's body which measure the movement of their waist and ribcage, determining how the character in the game moves.

GameSpot (there it is!) reports that Human Head Studios is seeking developers with skills enough to handle a Doom III engine title, because apparently one of their upcoming games, which apparently hasn't been announced, will apparently use it. Or so we hear. Maybe they'll mention it at E3.

Have you got what it takes? Has anybody ever had what whatever it is apparently takes? Because we hear this a lot, and nobody ever elaborates. If we were cynical, and some people would say we are, we might think of it as some sort of filler cliché for bored public relations people to use on Fridays. Or Thursdays, since this one is a day old. But we digress…

Following Microsoft's decision to halt development on Tiwak-developed platformer, Tork, the developers have responded by stating that they intend to continue developing Tork until it's finished, and it looks like Tiwak will be able locate another publisher willing to release the title.

Microsoft Game Studios has announced and released screenshots for its first hockey title on the Xbox, NHL Rivals 2004.

Buka Entertainment has released a demo of its helicopter arcade-action title Red Shark. From what we can gather, the game puts you in the pilot's seat of a time travelling Ka-50 helicopter, in which you're tasked with altering the outcomes in past conflicts to affect the future. Or something like that.

You may have spotted that the list is a bit lopsided this week. That's thanks to the efforts of Microsoft, whose Xbox Classics line launches today, vomiting forth a collection of older titles at a new price point of £19.99 - some classic, some crud. For the benefit of those who haven't kept in touch with the format since March 14th, 2002, here's a rundown of the ones we'd recommend, the ones we'd probably buy, and the ones we'd have destroyed:

This week, we offered you the chance to win five copies of the recently released Delta Force - Black Hawk Down for the PC, along with five copies of the book by Mark Bowden, and five Delta Force-emblazoned floppy hats. Competition for these items was fierce, let me tell you now, but in the end there could only be five winners, and in no particular order they are: John Sulby, Kevin Reid, David Kiernan, Johnathan Rowlands and Ed Marchant. We'll be in contact with each of the winners shortly.

Ignition Entertainment is set to release nine new GameBoy Advance titles at the surprisingly low price of £14.99. The first of these to be released is World Tennis Stars, which is available now.

Codemasters is going football c-c-c-razy or something with its intention to expand its team-specific Club Football games on Xbox and PS2 to some 17 titles, each one officially licensed and headlined by a major European club.

Vivendi has announced today that the licensed game of The Hulk movie will be in stores on June 13th, a few weeks before the film opens in the UK on July 18th.

The winners of the previously reported PlayStation 2 Creative Award have been announced this week. Apparently the judges - including artists Marc Quinn and Dinos Chapman, SCEE's VP of development Phil Harrison, and Chris Sorrell, Creative Director at Studio Cambridge - were completely split on the decision of who the winner should be, and have subsequently announced two winners.

The American Conquest looks set to continue. No no, not that, but GSC Game World's intricate strategy sim for the PC, which looks set to get its first expansion pack very shortly. "American Conquest: Fight Back!" is due out in Germany on May 30th, with international release dates to be announced shortly, and you'll even be able to play it without the original game, which is nice of them. As well as five new nations to control, the game promises a complete new battle mode, with 10 single and multiplayer maps, 50 new units and 25 new missions in eight campaigns. Note to EA: this is how you do an expansion pack!