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Blizzard has released a trailer of in-game footage taken from StarCraft: Ghost, the PS2, Xbox and Cube tactical action title announced at this year's Tokyo Game Show. Ghost puts players in the role of elite stealth unit Nova, as she uses her sophisticated arsenal of physical and psionic abilities to take out targets. The DivX format video weighs in at 13.1MB (with a 33.9MB QuickTime version also on offer for Mac users), and shows mostly in-game footage of Nova racing around, sliding down ladders, sneaking around sci-fi environments slicing and dicing hulking footsoldiers. You can find it on Blizzard's excellent Ghost website, which has been up since the original announcement.

Internet download centre Gigex is serving a 132MB demo of Surreal Software's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This being the book adaptation to be published by Vivendi, rather than EA's film adaptation. There are no details on what's included in this PC sampler, but at that size we'd imagine that it's playable, so if you like a bit of Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn in the morning, you could do worse than to check it out, but beware, that link launches a pop-up, rather than functioning like a respectable website.

Nintendo has been harping on about the Metroid Prime/Metroid Fusion link-up capabilities for a while, but now the publishing giant has relented and explained just what a link cable can add for Metroid nuts, and there are two major benefits.

Not for the first time, peripheral manufacturer Datel claims that its GameCube import boot disk, the fabled Freeloader, is finally on the verge of release. Reputed small-time importers GoblinDirect bring us Datel's "definite, 100 per cent" assurance that Freeloader will ship to punters within the next fortnight. If you're willing to buy into this particular claim, then you can answer Datel's cry here by signing up for one of Goblin's various bundles.

As has been known for a while, Microids France is working on a licensed adaptation of fifties chariot-racing spectacular Ben Hur, starring a bloke who will no doubt resemble Charlton Heston (despite our best efforts to have him removed - last time we employ apes, that's for sure). Microids has this week released a few more details (and screenshots) of the game. The developer has realised many of Ancient Rome's majestic coliseums, mixing legend with history and taking us from Pompeii and Olympus to the Pantheon and Guizeh. Players will have to wield all manner of weapons and spells in these brutal exhibition races, fighting across more than 17 tracks to become King of the Arena.

The UK is about to be hit by another freak storm. After winds of up to 90mph battered central and southern parts of the country for most of yesterday, Independent Television (ITV) executives are set to gust through gaming during a regular prime time TV slot in early 2003, investigating the LAN phenomenon and following various 'pro' gamers (one of whom just insured his fingers for £375,000) to the World Cyber Games in Korea. "Lan Jam" also promises the Games Master-esque sight of "the cream of the kid's gaming world" competing against one another for prizes "and, more importantly, the respect of their peers."

Delta Force - Black Hawk Down has been set back to Q1 2003 by publisher NovaLogic. "We feel that we need to invest some additional time in polishing the title to make sure that when it does hit the streets, it will be a benchmark for the genre," says president Lee Milligan. "We know that a number of fans will be disappointed with the delay, but they can be sure that the game will be worth the wait."

Today marks the release of sci-fi MMORPG spectacular Neocron, and as you well know, we recently teamed up with publisher CDV to offer you a bumper Neocron goodie pack and 10 copies of the game. As much as it pains us to give them away, our hand has been forced, so it gives me contractual pleasure to reveal that the grand prize winner, who takes home a pack containing the game, cap, T-shirt and other trinkets, is none other than Rob Wilson, who correctly guessed that the game is set in the 28th Century.

EA has let us know that a single player demo for James Bond 007: Nightfire will be made available from the official Nightfire website beginning October 30th. However, you can jump the queue and pick it up right now (if you have 147MB of hard disk space to spare) from FilePlanet. The demo comprises the Japanese Estate level, in which Bond finds himself trying to defend the turncoat Mayhew from the evil Raphael Drake's local henchman.

Vodafone yesterday launched a new gaming service for Europe. Apart from an insufferable name ("Vodafone live!"), the service seems to be quite nicely balanced, offering a broad cross-section of old Taito and Namco arcade classics, with more from a firm called G-Mode. Amongst the titles are versions of Pac-Man, Galaxians, Mr. Driller, Space Invaders, Puzzle Bobble and Bubble Bobble.

Firaxis Games has completed work on the Civilization III multiplayer expansion pack, Play The World. It will go on sale in the US next Friday, November 1st. Play The World fires a barrage of multiplayer options into the Civ arena, including traditional, turn-based and simultaneous move games, mini-games including Regicide, Elimination and Capture The Flag (which can be completed in less than an hour) and a new Turnless mode which creates a fast-paced worldwide Civilization environment for players to compete in. Eight new civilisations are also included with new leaders and unique units, new features like outposts, airfields and radar towers, and Play The World also adds new interface controls; auto bombard, rally points, stacked movement and streamlined espionage. Capping things off is an enhanced game editor.

As I put it not thirty minutes ago - bur-limey. That's a lot of games. And yet, out this week we have only a handful of must-have titles. It's easy to skim the cream from this one - Colin McRae Rally 3 on both PS2 and Xbox, FIFA 2003 on PS2, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 across PS2, Cube and Xbox, Soccer Slam on the PS2 and perhaps Spyro 2: Season of Flame on the GBA. But the undeniable pinnacle of this week's mountainous haul is Konami's phenomenal Pro Evolution Soccer 2. We'll have a review of that very soon, but despite a couple of niggles (awful commentary, lack of Dutch player names) there is virtually nothing to say against it. In fact, Kristan will be presenting his thoughts as an ode to PES, and will be performing his work in a show touring Northern pubs later this year.

Haven has been applauded (mostly by publisher Midway) for offering a complete mixture of genres in one product. But it's not a dreaded party game, it's a Jak & Daxter style adventure. Well, let's call a spade a spade - it's a Jak & Daxter rip-off. Virtually everything, including the menu interface, the on-screen text, the world design, the smooth, rounded, wide vista'd game engine, the tasks, the main character's abilities, the collectibles, even the presence of a natty sidekick - it's all ripped straight from Naughty Dog's seminal PS2 platformer and repackaged by Traveller's Tales. But get this: it's been repackaged rather well.

When you've got a benchmark product, everyone tries to knock you off your pedestal, and Codemasters has certainly come in under heavy pressure in the past year with the likes of RalliSport Challenge and World Rally Championship (and soon Activision's Rally Fusion) all providing more than adequate alternatives. So with Colin McRae Rally 3 being Codie's first rally title on the next gen systems it has a big point to prove - namely that it still rules the genre.

Given the amazing visuals in WarCraft III and the forthcoming C&C Generals, it's fair to say that as a breed, RTS games are no longer largely 2D, overhead titles which lack the definition of their counterparts in other genres. However, Earth 2150: Lost Souls hasn't grown a great deal on the back of past outings, and the game starts off looking tired, despite some nice weather and terrain effects, and some detailed unit design. Not a good start.

Sports Interactive has released the first five screenshots of Championship Manager 4, an act which has apparently brought its SIGames.com website to a complete halt. Fortunately, we've managed to salvage the shots and you can have a gander at them here without delay.

For the second time in less than a month, an over-enthusiastic gamer has died of exhaustion on the back of a marathon games session. According to a report on VNUNet, the Taiwanese man collapsed having played for 32 hours non-stop in a games café. Like the previous victim, a South Korean man who died after 86 hours of non-stop gaming, 27 year-old Lien Wen-cheng was found collapsed on the floor in the gents, and despite being rushed to hospital he was dead on arrival. A police spokesman blamed exhaustion from sitting in the same position for too long.

Haven: Call of the King, the ambitious multi-faceted adventure game from UK-based Traveller's Tales, will appear on Xbox and GameCube in early 2003, with the PS2 version set to go on sale in less than a month on November 18th.

GMX Media has released a 39MB AVI of real-time strategy game Napoleon, which is currently on course for release in the first half of 2003. The game covers battles which took place between 1803 and 1812, allowing players to simulate the Frenchman's campaign on a huge scale. From the AVI, you should be able to get a good idea of the game's quite detailed visuals, with plenty of units on screen at any one time. The movie is available from GMX Media, here.

As we all know, there simply are not enough first person shooters set before guns even existed. Fortunately, Saber Interactive's Will Rock aims to correct this oversight by plunging gamers into the ancient Greece-bound shoes of Willford Rockwell (or Will Rock), as he races around a mixture of Greek and Roman environments with his Medusa Gun, Flaming Crossbow and Acid Rifle amongst other common tools of the period.

It's an interesting strategy/happy accident that has seen Sony's PSX character franchises (Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon) replaced by entirely new, and far less childish ones in the form of Jak & Daxter, and now Ratchet & Clank.

EA's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will appear on Xbox and GameCube in addition to PlayStation 2 version, which has already been released. The Xbox and Cube versions are promised before the end of the year with a previously announced GameBoy Advance version shipping on November 12th in the US.

Volition appear completely unafraid of lobbing the player straight in at the deep end with Summoner 2. We wont be having any of that cut scene introductory rubbish thankyouverymuch, just a quick "These are the controls, now get slashing" screen and we're on board a ship in the middle of a horrendous storm slicing pirates in half like there's no tomorrow - but it soon becomes apparent that the game is far from shallow.

PCCWJ, previously known as Jaleco, has announced its plans to release a revamp of side-scrolling 2D shoot 'em up Darius. Developed by Taito in the late eighties, Darius was best known for its three-screened arcade cabinets, which created the illusion of one big, long screen into which you flew and fought. There's nothing too special about it - you fly from side to side fighting enormous drones and enormous bosses (many of which look like overgrown crustaceans), but it's a good, solid shoot 'em up, as PCCWJ obviously feel.

Digital Leisure will soon release a remastered version of American Laser Games' Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold on DVD. However, instead of a movie, buyers will end up with what's described as a fully interactive adventure for DVD movie players, and Digital Leisure is keen to highlight the 'game's compatibility with PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms.

ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth will join a long line of games raring to download extra content from the Xbox Live service - in T&E's case, extra playable characters to complement the standard choice between ToeJam, Earl and gal-pal Latisha.

Bikes are more fun than boards. You can do far more entertaining things on a bike, and there are less people wearing baggy trousers. Or 'pants'. However, in videogame circles, boards are more fun than bikes, as Tony Hawk aptly demonstrates on an annual basis with little or no response from biking circles. Until now? Well, not quite. Like the original, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 is a very good BMX biker, but it's still only as good as the last Tony Hawk title, and in reality a bit worse off than that.

It's easy to have our memories of the Rocky movie series tarnished by the latter episodes (namely IV and V), but the 1976 original still stands as one of the best movies of its era, with its triumph of the underdog tale. And what better than to build a boxing game based on some pretty rich source material?

Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness has slipped into 2003, shareholders have been told. Along with Championship Manager 4, Angel of Darkness will appear in February 2003. The game is said to be in the final stages of development and testing, and after a buggy outing at The PlayStation Experience, it's perhaps just as well that Eidos has allotted another couple of months to prep the game for launch.

Sports Interactive's Championship Manager 4 will be released in February 2003, according to a statement published on the developer's website. "We would like to make it clear that although we had been hoping for the game to be released this year, we had to make the choice of cutting out a number of features or giving you the best game possible. We chose the latter," the developer states on the website.