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John Carpenter's 1982 remake of The Thing From Another World has become a classic of the sci-fi horror genre, with its gruesome special effects and claustrophobic atmosphere adding up to a terrifying experience. Now, with the 20th anniversary of The Thing's cinematic release upon us, Computer Artworks and Vivendi Universal are hoping to replicate that success in videogame format. We caught up with senior producer Chris Hadley at a recent press event in London to find out more...

HiTech Creations have unveiled the latest version of their online World War II combat sim, Aces High. As usual the new patch (1.10, for those of you keeping track) adds several new aircraft to the game's already fairly comprehensive selection of vehicles, but this time round there's also been some more wide ranging changes to the gameplay. "This release puts more emphasis on strategic and team-oriented goals", according to HiTech CEO Dale Addink, and the main addition in keeping with this aim is support for larger scale air strikes. A single player can now control an entire flight of bombers, allowing you to indulge in massive strategic bombing raids deep into enemy territory to destroy factories, railroads and other vital infrastructure. Like cathedrals. Probably. More details on the HiTech website. Related Feature - Sirens call for Aces High

While the Xbox itself can't even remember the time without being plugged into the mains continuously, the latest doohickey to emerge from the far east will hopefully perform somewhat more accurately. Introducing .. the Xbox watch! Yes, it seems that you too can now strap a reassuringly chunky lump of metal to your wrist to proudly display your allegiance to Bill and the boys. Coming in a sexy foam padded presentation tin with a big Xbox sticker on the top, the watch itself is somewhat more modest, with a traditional silvery metallic look and the word Xbox printed in green on the face, sitting alongside the usual bewildering array of meaningless dials. The watch is apparently part of a summer campaign to push the Xbox in Japan, with five hundred lucky punters set to win one of the limited edition timepieces from stores that are part of the Game Retailers Association. The contest will run at some 1,500 stores across Japan between this weekend and September 1st, with anyone who buys an Xbox console or game able to enter. Sadly though the competition is only open to Japanese residents. Sadly our Japanese isn't up to scratch, and Babelfish bizarrely translates one part of the story as "the watch that comes at once". Which might help to explain the racey advertising posters for the competition, featuring the naked torsos of a burly bloke and a girl with her arms strategically crossed over her chest. Or it could just be a mistranslation. Either way, if you're curious you can find out more in a news report on Japanese site Game Watch (appropriately enough).

As expected, within days of Geoff Crammond's latest automotive masterpiece Grand Prix 4 hitting the shelves, an unofficial user-made patch is already available to bring the game right up to date. While you're stuck with the 2001 season out of the box, the imaginatively titled GP4Update 2002 does exactly what it says on the webpage, replacing all of the cars, drivers and teams with their 2002 counterparts. Alterations made to Melbourne, Interlagos and Silverstone for this year have also been introduced into the game, complete with new camera points dotted around the modified tracks. And as if all that isn't enough, the update also features new menu backgrounds and loading screens, and claims to offer improved graphics options for GeForce 3 / 4 owners, along with a number of other tweaks and tucks. The 32Mb add-on can be found here on German fan site Grand-Prix-4.de. Related Feature - Grand Prix 4 review

If you thought that real-time strategy or first person shooter tournaments were the most popular pro-gaming events in the world, think again. Over the last two years some 34,000 players have taken part in the Virtual Golf Association Tour, playing Microsoft's Links Championship Edition for tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. This year Microsoft is going one better by offering online golfers from around the world a chance to win a cool $1,000,000. The catch is that to get the big prize, the online champion must overcome their nerves to sink a real ball into a real hole on a real golf course from a distance of sixty feet (about 18m in real measurements). Still, even if they fall at the last hurdle, the tour champion will still go home with a cheque for $50,000, which isn't to be sniffed at. The tournament is actually split into three preliminary stages, taking place in July, August and September, each with its own $3,000 prize purse. The top hundred players from these rounds will then go forwards to the semi-final to battle it out for a place in the finals and a shot at prizes ranging from $2,500 for coming fourth all the way up to $50,000 for the winner. If you fancy your chances, head over to the Links Country Club and check out the tournament fact sheet before signing up.

The Sims continue their march towards global domination with the announcement of yet another add-on pack for the best selling PC game of all time. Cunningly titled The Sims Unleashed, its main addition is the introduction of pets. "Just when players thought they had housebroken their Sims, now they have pets to contend with", producer Jonathan Knight quipped. Anything from cats and dogs to parrots and lizards can now be added to your Sim household, and if you're feeling ambitious you can even train your animals to take part in local pet shows. If all of this sounds too much like hard work, you can always kick back and relax in the great outdoors thanks to the new gardening features. Yes, you too can now grow your own vegetables in your backyard and sell them at the local farmer's market. All of which opens up five new career paths and some fifty new jobs for your Sims to experiment with, ranging from cooking and teaching to becoming a vet or .. er .. joining the circus. No, really. There's another 125 objects for budding capitalists and their canines to acquire, a range of new character skins to choose from, and a New Orleans French Quarter theme for those of you wanting to indulge in a little home improvement. The Sims Unleashed is expected in America some time around September, and will no doubt arrive here in Europe soon afterwards. Then there's the Sims Online, Sim City 4, Sims for the PS2...

The Japanese GameCube release date for Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II has been put back from August 8th to September 12th, Sega has announced today. The game's testing phase will now be extended to August 19th. Related Feature - Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II preview (Cube)

Last week's release of the first version of the US military's online shooter America's Army ran into some fairly hefty problems, largely caused by a serious underestimation of how many people would actually try to download the free game. Speaking in an interview with HomeLAN (the company that hosts the game's official servers), executive producer Michael Capps has responded to some of the resulting issues, ranging from a lack of servers running the online training maps (which must be completed before a player can get any further in the game) to problems with the network and server code causing excessive lag. Probably the biggest mistake was not releasing dedicated server code at the same time as the game itself, leaving the handful of official servers hideously overcrowded until other people started to work out how to host their own unsupported games. To make matters worse, the development team apparently went on vacation when the game was released! So where does the buck stop? Apparently the army itself "makes the scheduling decisions" for the game. "I believe the plan was to perform initial testing of the network infrastructure with just our official servers, before releasing the server kit and thereby increasing both load and complexity", Michael explained. "Demand has been so high that we've accelerated the schedule for the server kit. The dev team came back early from their vacations and finished the kit today, and it's being tested now for release this week." Looking towards the future, Michael is confident that America's Army can overcome and its somewhat shaky start. "We've been a little thunderstruck by the reaction, but please keep the feedback coming. This is a long-running project, so there's plenty of time for us to build all the tools that gamers need for managing a solid community. We're confident that increased server capacity will let the game really shine. We've got plenty of missions that are finished, playtested, and waiting for launch, and honestly, I just can't wait to show off what this team has produced." Related Feature - America's Army flounders

Along with Jet Riders, Bits Studios has been quietly beavering away on a sequel to GameBoy Color strategy oddity Warlocked in the shape of Wizards. A peculiar hybrid of real-time strategy, platform and puzzle games, even in its unfinished state Wizards is starting to look magical…

When Wave Race Blue Storm was riding the waves of critical acclaim in early May, Bits Studios' handheld Jet Riders project was the farthest thing from our minds. Who would have imagined that barely two months later that situation could be reversed?

Tecmo has announced plans to release Dead or Alive 4 some time next year, and despite DOA3 appearing exclusively on Microsoft's Xbox, the developer still hasn't decided on a platform according to company president Junji Nakamura. "It's too early to say which game console the game will be for," he told Bloomberg. "We are an independent game software developer, and we are not committed to one particular game-console maker." Tecmo has experience in developing games for many platforms, and the Dead or Alive series itself has appeared on Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Related Feature - Dead or Alive 3 review (Xbox)

Microsoft has announced new release dates for three of its forthcoming Xbox games. Crimson Skies slips the furthest, crashing all the way back to the second quarter of 2003, whilst Midtown Madness and Kung Fu Chaos (both previously due out this autumn) will be released in "early 2003". In fact, these being US dates, we could be waiting longer still. Never fear though, because by our reckoning, a 2002 line-up including Buffy, Blinx, Brute Force, MechAssault, Shenmue II and Quantum Redshift is nothing to be ashamed of.

Disney and TDK Mediactive have formed a global publishing agreement for games based on two forthcoming Disney films, curiously based on some of the corporation's most popular theme park rides. Many people forget that Disney has already delivered one fairly decent theme park game in the shape of the PSone's Magical Racing Tour from Crystal Dynamics. One is more likely to remember the recent GameCube release of competitor Universal Studios' theme park tour, which suffered terribly at the hands of critics when it launched with the Cube in May. The two Disney rides due for a big screen showing are the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and under the agreement TDK will support both films with games on "most major videogame platforms". There has been little talk of release dates yet with both films scheduled for 2003, but the release suggests that Haunted Mansion and its interactive counterpart will arrive in time for Halloween.

Massive Development has begun further massive development of the visually spectacular AquaNox. After the first game put on a disappointing showing earlier this year, on the receiving end of some heavy criticism for its lack of Windows XP support amongst other things, the firm has changed tack for the sequel, AquaNox: Revelation. Set in the year 2666, Revelation tells the tale of a young undersea freighter pilot, William Drake, and how he sets off in search of his ancestor's mythical treasure. Maybe he was related to Sir Francis Drake, although I don't remember if he had any treasure or not. Ho-hum. Obviously things won't be as simple as finding an X on the bottom of the ocean. Ten other treasure hunters have the same objective, and while some will be only too happy to help you, others will not. Revelation will be released for the PC this autumn worldwide, and is said to boast an entirely revamped first person game engine, with new AI and support for more complex models and animations. That said, it seems unlikely that the matter of months involved will have been enough to change the shape of the game convincingly. Either way, we should see a return for the game's stunning underwater lighting effects, and we look forward to that in particular. Related Feature - Aquanox review

British developers Batfish have launched their new website to coincide with the UK release of Xorb, a bizarre looking puzzle game that seems to be a cross between Connect 4 and Tetris. There's a vague back story about saving alien creatures called xeos, but what it all boils down to is fifty levels of firing odd looking little animals into horizontal columns and trying to link up chains of three or more identical xeos to rescue them. The bigger the chain, the more points you get. There's also a level editor, random map generator and a two player mode to add some replay value. Visually speaking it's fairly basic, but Batfish boss Philip Harris points out that the aim is to "produce games with the emphasis on fun, rather than technology and budgets", and the cartoonish style works well, landing somewhere between Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. For more screenshots and information about the game, which is now available for £19.95 through Digital Workshop, head over to the Batfish website.

Spyro's back! After the critical and commercial success of Spyro: Year of the Dragon on PlayStation One, it seemed likely that Universal Interactive would resurrect the brand on new platforms, and now it has. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is scheduled for release on GameCube in the fourth quarter of 2002 according to a press release yesterday, and a PlayStation 2 version is also known to be underway. According to Vivendi's latest release schedule for Europe, the PS2 version is due out on November 29th, although it's not clear whether its Cube sibling is on track for the same date. In Enter the Dragonfly, the evil Ripto has returned to wreak havoc in the Dragon Realms by stealing the Dragonflies, and Spyro needs to return the little fellas in order to restore order. Apart from his obvious ability to fly and breathe fire, Spyro will be beating his enemies off with a new array of attacks including electric, ice and bubble breath, and fighting his battles on land, in the air and underwater. Vivendi subsidiary Universal Interactive has also promised the little dragon vehicles to ride about in, and our esteemed Editor claims to have seen a trailer at a recent Vivendi shindig packed with UFOs, cows and Alien Resurrection-style underwater movement.

The Resident Evil movie might only just have arrived here in Europe, but already work is well underway on the sequel. As we reported back in March, Resident Evil 2 will actually be based on the third game in the series, Nemesis, with the survivors from both the game and the movie coming together to walk into walls and spin slowly on the spot (probably). Now, talking to movie website Empire Online at the London launch of Resident Evil, Paul Anderson has confirmed that he's in the process of writing the script for the sequel and that production is expected to begin some time next year. Milla Jovovich has yet to confirm that she'll be returning as Alice, but when quizzed about this Paul told Empire "I certainly hope so - I'm writing her a kick-ass role at the moment, so she'd better come back". The director also confirmed some of the videogame characters who will be making it into the second movie, saying that "we're going to introduce Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira from the game and a few little surprises as well", in addition to the eponymous villain, Nemesis. But early rumours that Mira Sorvino will be taking on the role of Jill Valentine were apparently just that, rumours, as Paul won't be casting anyone until the script is complete. In the meantime, DVD fans should be in for a treat, with a Resident Evil double disc Special Edition set expected to feature commentary tracks, an alternative ending, a look at the movie's soundtrack featuring Marilyn Manson, and a horde of other bonus features. And of course fans of the videogame series that spawned the movie can look forward to the Cube version of the original Resident Evil finally reaching Europe in September. This may just prove to be the year of the zombies... Related Feature - Resident Evil's cinema Nemesis

Activision have unveiled the soundtrack for their forthcoming basketball game Street Hoops. Due for release in Europe this September on PS2 and Xbox, the game will apparently "have gamers on their feet" thanks to Activision "keepin' it real" by signing up an entire firmament worth of hip hop stars. Highlights include DMX, Cypress Hill and Method Man, but a bunch of bizarrely named acts such as Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch and Ludacris are also included. Maybe that means more to you than it does to me, because god knows I don't have a clue who they are. Still, with song titles like Make Em Say Ugh, PA To VA and Bottom Feeders [ahem] you can no doubt work out what to expect. On the gameplay front, players can expect nationwide tournaments to take part in, wagers to settle, a range of "famous" street courts to play on as well as fantasy courts to unlock, and a range of ridiculously expensive sports wear to buy from the likes of Sean John, Ecko Unlimited, Southpole, Pure Playaz and AND 1. Which, again, may mean more to you than it does to me (which is absolutely nothing). And this being street basketball rather than the NBA variety, you can even talk trash and shove other players around. Lovely. Related Feature - Street Hoops screenshots

Videogames are, by definition, a visual medium, and it's usually the graphics that get all the attention when it comes to designing a game. Massachussets based ZForm are taking completely the opposite approach and focusing on sound. Which is lucky, because they're designing games for blind people. It might seem an odd thing to do, but the vast number of blind and partially sighted people around the world means that it's not quite as daft as it sounds. And while ZForm's first release is a fairly straightforward online poker game, they're also working on adapting Quake for use by blind people. The customised version of Quake uses audio cues to guide blind players around the map, making sure they can compete with their unimpaired opponents. For example, the sound of rushing air can be heard emerging from nearby corridors and side passages, so blind players can hear that there is an opening there and act accordingly. The locations of other characters can also be determined by listening for the noise they make, with the volume and direction of the sound allowing players to locate them. The overall effect works quite well according to ZForm's Jeremie Spitzer, who told the Boston Globe that his blind colleague Tim Keenan "slaughtered" the rest of the company during testing of the modified Quake. ZForm's work might just be a curiosity, or it could open up gaming to a whole new audience that was previously excluded. Either way, it's an interesting concept. A free trial version of ZForm poker can be downloaded from the company's website, if you want to see (or hear) for yourself what the fuss is all about, although there's currently no word on when their unique version of Quake will be released.

Do you know, I went back to my old primary school a while ago, hoping to find I-don't-know-what, and it was as though nothing had changed. Everything looked slightly shinier, and the kids had different faces, but all the teachers, their lessons, their methods and the various things I disliked had endured in my absence. Coincidentally, that pretty much sums up Gun Valkyrie.

Following on from their recent run of Colin McRae Rally 3 footage, Codemasters have released the first of four short trailers for their other big motor racing game, TOCA Race Driver. Included in the minute long teaser, appropriately titled "Cars", are short clips of in-game action taken from the PlayStation 2 version of the game, showing off some of the vehicles you'll get to drive in the game. The new TOCA will feature 42 cars spread across 13 championships, featuring everything from the classic Mini to more modern offerings from the likes of Peugot, Subaru and Toyota, with 38 real circuits to guide them around. To get a taste of what to expect from the game, head over to Codemaster's website and grab the trailer from the top of the TOCA downloads page in your choice of resolution and format. Related Feature - TOCA Race Driver screenshots (PS2)

Over the last few years videogames have been linked to everything from shooting sprees and epileptic fits to faster reactions and increased intelligence. The latest study into the effects of gaming on the brain comes from Japan, and it doesn't make for happy reading. According to Professor Akio Mori, playing games can reduce activity in part of the brain, causing players to get angry and suffer problems concentrating. The effect was particularly pronounced amongst people playing for several hours a day, with beta wave activity in the effected area of their brain near zero even when they weren't playing. So are we raising a new generation of videogame zombies? "I want people to be aware of the quality of games and the time young people spend playing them during their earlier years when sentiment develops", the professor told Mainichi Daily News. "During childhood, playing outside with friends, not videogames, is the best option." Sound advice.

Way back in the mists of time (1999, to be precise) EuroGamer was launched at ECTS, Europe's biggest videogames trade show. Since then we've made an annual pilgrimage to the event to see future releases, talk to the developers and publishers behind them, and bring you all the latest information and announcements. This year we'll be doing the same again, but bigger and better than ever before. After three years of hard work building EuroGamer into one of Europe's leading gaming editorial sites, we're delighted to announce that we are the official online media partner for ECTS 2002. As such you'll find the latest coverage live from the show floor right here on EuroGamer, with our reports also appearing on the main ECTS website. Meanwhile our recently launched sister site GamesIndustry.biz has been confirmed as an ECTS media partner, contributing updates on all the industry news emerging from the event. As well as providing live reports from the show itself, we'll also be keeping you informed on the build-up to ECTS in the weeks leading up to the event. And with a change of venue and the introduction of a Sony-sponsored consumer hall giving ECTS a new lease of life, there's sure to be plenty to keep us busy. Already event organisers CMP Europe have confirmed that Konami, Capcom, THQ and Activision will be returning to the show this year, while the new PlayStation 2 hall will give gamers a chance to check out the latest titles from a dozen of the console's top publishers for themselves. EuroGamer itself will have a dedicated stand at the show this year (number 1448), where guests will be able to catch up on the latest news and enjoy a chilled beverage from the EuroGamer fridge. We're also taking appointments and arranging pre-show coverage at the moment, so if you're going to be exhibiting games at ECTS, please contact EuroGamer and GamesIndustry.biz to make sure that we can provide the best possible coverage for your titles. All in all it's shaping up to be a triumphant return to form for ECTS this year, and EuroGamer will be there to bring you full coverage direct from the show floor. Related Link - ECTS website

Poor old Square. As if its financial strife making headlines once again weren't enough of a problem, it has had to pull the auction functions of Final Fantasy XI after some wily scamp (or scampede) fraudulently obtained a large amount of cash by exploiting the system. This is believed to be the first time Square's MMORPG has been exploited, and it's a hell of a bug to bear [Fired -Ed]. Cheats are always a concern with online RPGs - even Sega's Dreamcast release of Phantasy Star Online suffered from problems which led to the firm banning certain users early in the game's life - but surely FFXI is one of the worst affected to date. With Final Fantasy XI now under development on PC, and in English on PlayStation 2, Square will be praying for some respite from this highly publicised onslaught of bugs and setbacks. Related Feature - Final Fantasy XI preview (PS2)

Warthog has signed away the publishing rights to its PC and console first person shooter X10, currently under development, to Conspiracy Entertainment. The publisher has worked with Warthog before in connection with licensed Warner Bros. games, via a joint venture with German publisher SWING! X10 is an original property (something of a rarity these days), but the rest of its vital stats are less exciting. It's due out on PC, Xbox, Cube and PS2 in an unspecified timeframe; it's a first person shooter; and it's supposedly full of "political intrigue, military factions and deadly predators" for our hero to uncover. Worse still, Ubi Soft is currently working on an FPS under the name XIII, so even the name gives you a sense of déjà vu. Unfortunately, the scant details above are all that's available at the moment besides the poor, lonely and unhelpful screenshot that accompanies them. Expect to hear more about X10 in the coming months.

Nintendo of Japan has broken its silence and announced a release date of 21st November 2002 for Pokemon Advance. As is traditional, the game will be made available in two matching versions (usually colour-coordinated), each with a different selection of Pokemon to try and capture. Nobody at Nintendo UK would comment on the game's European release date this morning, but they promised an announcement soon. In Japan, the firm has chosen to promote Pokemon Advance with an entire Pokemon Festival (in place of the abandoned Space World), but European marketing campaigns are likely to be slightly more low-key. A booth at ECTS is a possibility, or a repeat of last year's Nintendo Show. With a number of high profile releases on both Cube and GBA planned for the end of the year and the start of 2003, it would make more sense than not. In related news, to celebrate the release of the new Pokemon movie in Japan on July 13th, The Pokemon Center will be selling a new Pokemon-themed GBA (the blue and pink monstrosity pictured above), at a cost of some 8,800 yen (£48 / €75). If you find yourself in need of such an item for a much-hated relative or something similar, it shouldn't be much of a problem to track it down via importers, but we fear for whichever sproglet you plan to inflict it upon. Please, think of the children. Related Feature - Pokemon Advance screenshots

If you weren't paying attention, it would be easy to assume that Breed was a fairly straightforward first person shooter. In fact the game also features a range of driveable vehicles, including the much vaunted seamless transition between orbital and atmospheric flight. Today publisher CDV drove home this message with the release of the first screenshots showcasing Breed's flight combat side, with several shots of a strike on a ground target using guided missiles, along with a picture of the same vehicle engaging a carrier in orbit. Just to make sure that there was no confusion, the latest batch of shots also came with a couple of pictures of the dropship in action, and what appears to be an excerpt from an in-game cinematic featuring a pair of armoured marines looking suitably menacing. Breed is expected to find its way on to the PC towards the end of this year, with an Xbox version also tentatively planned. In the meantime, lock your eyes on to this latest dose of eye candy... Related Feature - Breed screenshots

Frankfurt-based developer Duplex Systems is working on an MMORPG called Face of Mankind, which threatens to demand thinking without first dressing it up as something other than business. Face of Mankind will be played from the first person perspective and is being built on top of the Lithtech engine, with networking from Lyra Studios. Duplex is promising a non-linear storyline dictated by the economy and events of the game as they occur, in a world of five huge (zoned) cities and distant colonies beyond the stars. 10 individual organisations (three government institutions, four companies, and three clans) will be in place, all controlled by players and each of them with its own back-story of relations with the others. Driving these organisations will be a bona fide economy, based on mining, production and sales. A sophisticated ranking system will offer structured stages to work through instead of plain ole' experience points to accrue. Although experience is still said to play a part in improving your rank, complex, multi-layered missions will need to be undertaken, and Duplex claims that many of these could take longer than a week to overcome. Although no release date has been discussed, a couple of small, indistinct screenshots appear and some concept art appear on the new Face of Mankind website, so the game has obviously been underway for a while.

After a long wait, Britney's Dance Beat is finally sitting on shop shelves up and down the country for the cheapish price of £29.99, but despite the developer's valiant efforts, not even Britney's vast, heaving… beats can steal the rhythm-action crown from the game's Japanese competition. But it's fun for a little while.

Enclave is finally on the verge of appearing in Europe. The offspring of Swedish developer Starbreeze, Enclave was originally envisaged as an online first person shooter to replace the firm's first person RPG, development of which was canned by publisher Infogrames. But, a couple of years later, the game is set for a July 19th release on Xbox, and it calls upon the best of both worlds… in more ways than one. Enclave - which is by definition surrounded by a large community of misfits (hi Munch!) - is a first and third person RPG of the 'action' variety for up to four players, and it concerns a fantasy planet ripped in two by God's wrath, now growing back together again. The idea is that on one side civilisation has blossomed and grown into an Enclave of purity, good will and order, whereas on the other side, a power struggle has thrown the Outlands into the path of tyranny and war, and now the two - light and dark - must settle their differences as they come together. Guess how that one works out… As you may have spotted, the prospect of killing ogres, wizards and all sorts isn't often enough to get us excited, but the visual side of Enclave is stunning. In ten screenshots released today, huge statues of gigantic monsters stand idly by as scenery, the clouds drift past, chainmail hangs lazily and the texturing is sublime. The character modelling in particular is extremely detailed, and we only hope that the end product looks this good, and that the subtlety of texture and model in these undated shots hasn't been squandered. July 19th, then. That's next Friday. You might want to write it down or something. Related Feature - Enclave screenshots