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James Cameron's stylish TV series Dark Angel might have been culled after just two seasons, but its legacy lives on with the planned November release of a videogame spin-off for the PS2 and Xbox For those of you not familiar with the show, it's set in a near future America struggling through the aftermath of "the pulse", a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere which trashed electronics across the continent. At the heart of the story is Max, a genetically engineered super-soldier played by the sultry (or just plain sulky) Jessica Alba. Having escaped from the secret military laboratory that spawned her, she finds herself struggling to evade recapture in the decaying urban sprawl of Seattle, while trying to lead a (relatively) normal life, hold down a job as a bike messenger, track down fellow genetic experiments and save the world. Later episodes introduced a bizarre breeding cult and the "escaped mutant of the week" formula to the mix, but the main reason for watching the show is to see Max running around in a succession of tight black costumes, riding big sexy motorbikes and kicking ass in Hong Kong style wire-work action scenes. Presumably it is this side of the show that the game will be focusing on, although details are decidely thin on the ground at this stage, and Vivendi Universal Games' UK office won't tell us anything beyond the fact that the game exists. Dark Angel was apparently on show in a dimly lit corner of Vivendi's stand at E3, but little information leaked out at the time. What we do know is that it's going to be a third person action-adventure game, and that both Jessica Alba (Max) and Michael Weatherly (Logan) will be providing voice acting for the game. After all, they've got plenty of free time now that the show has been inexplicably canned. The only glimpse we've had of the game for ourselves came when we saw a trailer for it during a press launch for another Vivendi title yesterday. Sadly the footage seemed to be made up almost entirely of cinematics, so pretty much all we can tell you for certain at this point is that it's on the way, and that the cutscenes at least have captured the dark moody atmosphere of the show perfectly. No doubt all will become clear in the next couple of months...

Here's one to file under "truth is stranger than fiction". Plans are apparently afoot for a massive concert of videogame music, to be played live by a full symphony orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The first-of-its-kind event is scheduled to take place at the end of the E3 trade show next spring and, according to Music4Games.net, will feature extracts from "some of the best and most popular game soundtracks ever written", accompanied by a "unique interactive stage show". Which sounds .. intriguing. Other details are thin on the ground at this early stage, but it's certainly a novel concept.

It's only a few days since AGB Games were wowing us with screenshots of their latest 3D game demo, and already today another British developer has popped up with their own handheld graphics engine. This time it's Sheffield-based Logik State pushing the polygons on the GameBoy Advance, with snowboarding and driving demos gracing the early screenshots. The company are claiming performance in the region of 2500 fully texture mapped polygons a second, and the engine comes complete with 3D collision detection, particle system and animated texture support. While the GBA isn't going to be giving the latest consoles (or even the last generation, for that matter) any worries, it does show that the handheld is capable of more than just rehashes of old Amiga and SNES games. Related Feature - AGB Games shifts focus

Motor racing games tend to be split between relatively realistic depictions of real-life events like Formula One, rally driving and American-style CART racing, and futuristic sci-fi games along the lines of Wipeout, usually featuring hovercars, hoverbikes, hovercraft, or some other kind of gravity defying vehicle.

Microsoft's Japanese Xbox division has been briefing domestic journalists about Maximum Chase, an Xbox-exclusive driving and light gun action title set for release on September 26th in Japan. It seems to want to be a Hollywood cop film, right down to the English names of the main character (Rick Summer) and heroine (Catherine Stanfield), who set out to fight crime, alternating between pursuit driving and light gun levels, with a single player campaign punctuated by live action cutscenes of the duo and their contemporaries. Screenshots demonstrate that both sides of the game are coming along pretty well. Vehicles are shiny and curvaceous, explosions are detailed, the obligatory cracked-screen effect used during the light gun sections is satisfactory, and although the scenery is a bit frugal for an Xbox title, on the whole it's a dish you wouldn't turn your nose up at. Some would remark that it's odd for Microsoft to combat a lack of Japanese games by getting a Japanese developer (Genki) to create a Western game, but the aim is probably to emulate popular Western action films rather than anything else. As Die Hard Trilogy proved on the PlayStation One, it is possible to mix and match your game styles effectively; it just takes an enlightened developer. Microsoft Games Japan will be hoping that Maximum Chase can drive Xbox sales in the Far East, where the console has settled back into a pattern of diminishing returns after a successful price reduction campaign. More details are available on the flashy official website, although the bulk of the text is in Japanese. Related Feature - Maximum Chase screenshots

American online retailer GameStop is listing a new PS2 game this morning, set for release on 17th February 2003, entitled Elder Scrolls Adventures. It could be an erroneous entry of some description, but if the retailer's history is anything to go by, then the only error was listing it at all. We don't normally pick up on this sort of stuff, but GameStop has been eerily prophetic in the past, listing the likes of GTA Vice City way ahead of official announcement. The cynically minded would argue that the retailer does it for attention, but whether or not they do, the prospect of an Elder Scrolls game comprising all the previous adventures (even Morrowind) is an enticing one. Related Feature - Morrowind review (PC)

Today's release of the US military's free Unreal-engined online shooter America's Army turned out to be something of a farce, with problems at every step of the way. To start things off, most of the download sites offering the file were swamped for much of the day, and the game's own official website collapsed under the load at one point, despite the hosts switching over to a text-only placeholder site lacking all but the most basic information. Even when you have installed the game you won't be able to go online with it. First you must complete a set of tedious training missions. These don't actually teach you any useful skills (apart from the fact that your rifle can barely hit the broadside of a barn while you're standing up), and the scripting is about as inflexible as real life army training. Stepping out of line, firing without permission or failing a test can send you back to the start of that mission. Shooting your instructor is liable to land you in a world of hurts. Complete the four basic training missions and you may be somewhat nonplussed, as clicking on the next training task simply dumps you back to the game's main menu. It might have helped if the designers had included a message at this point letting you know that this next training mission is in fact online, a fact which only becomes apparent when you read the manual. And let's face it, how many people do that these days? Things soon go from bad to worse though, as the Army apparently haven't seen fit to release the server code for the game. As a result only around a dozen servers are online at any one time, and they're all hosted by the same company out in the wilds of California somewhere. The game doesn't even have an in-game server browser yet, so the only way to complete your training is to fire up GameSpy Arcade and pray that one of the handful of servers is currently running the appropriate map and that (by some miracle) it isn't full or busy rebooting after a crash. As if all of this wasn't unhelpful enough, the game doesn't even bother to tell you what you need to do to graduate from the online training missions, and nobody else playing the game seemed to have a clue what they were doing there. When you do get into one of the scarce servers, the meaning of the ominous words "network traffic has not been optimized" in the "known bugs" file that comes with the game soon becomes clear. Players have pings of upwards of 150ms at the best of times, and modem play from Europe is likely to be a wasted effort. The rest of the game could have used a little polish as well, as the primitive looking smoke grenade effects quite happily billow their way through solid walls, and clipping of player models is rather lax as well, with guns often sticking through solid objects. The whole thing feels a little rushed, although the graphics are certainly quite impressive, with wide open spaces, dense woodland and ruined buildings aplenty. The actual gameplay is fairly entertaining as well, with Counter-Strike style gameplay and missions ranging from capturing control points and freeing prisoners to recovering computer data. Sadly telling the difference between friend and foe is often difficult, especially in the laser tag missions where your opponents wear a plain green shirt that looks much like your own team's camouflage gear from a distance. As a result, the amount of friendly fire I've seen in the game so far puts the real US Army to shame. One player (who will remain anonymous to save them from further embarrassment) had somehow racked up -6 frags by the end of the second round. The mind boggles. Overall then, America's Army is something of a mixed bag. User friendliness was evidently not high on the developer's agenda - the game can be more confusing than enjoyable at times, and some sections (such as weapon selection) just don't seem to work properly at all. By not releasing the server code, the Army have completely scuppered the launch, and the result is little short of a fiasco. Partly thanks to these shortcomings, most of the people playing it have no real idea of what they're doing, and the GameSpy Arcade chat room is currently full of frustrated players swearing and shouting at each other. When you do find your feet and actually manage to get into a server running a mission you're qualified for (and there's no way of telling which these are short of trying to connect to them) the game is amusing enough. But it's certainly not going to be a Counter-Strike killer unless a lot of work is done to make it more open, easier to play and not quite so .. well, realistic. If I wanted to waste my time running around assault courses, target shooting and playing laser tag, I would have joined the army. As it is, this game makes me glad I'm a civilian. If this was meant to be a recruiting tool, it's failed miserably. Update - Since this story was first written some people have apparently worked out how to host their own servers. Several unofficial servers have now appeared, including one run by Jolt here in the UK, which should give playable pings for European gamers. Hopefully more will come online in the coming days, as the existing ones still remain hopelessly overcrowded at present. Related Feature - You're in the Army now

British newcomers GMX Media are hoping to land with a bang this summer, thanks to the release of Global Power. Based on the latest publicly released UN and CIA data, it's an epic real world strategy game which lets you control any one of 140 countries, facing a variety of economic, social, political and military problems. Alliances can be made and broken, technology and resources exchanged, foreign countries invaded, spy satellites launched and nuclear weapons proliferated. And while it might not be the most graphically advanced game we've ever seen, GMX are promising flexible AI which will learn as it goes along using a combination of neural networks and expert systems. If that means anything to you. With a September 6th release currently on the cards, we hope to have a better idea of how it's shaping up soon.

Can't anybody release a game these days without including a giant X or Z somewhere in the title? Top offenders are the alphabetically terminal Zetha GameZ, whose new game DroneZ (argh) is coming out early next year on the Xbox (please, make it stop). Falling somewhere between Tron and The Matrix, the game sees you battling cyber-insects to free mankind from the V-Space Network, which you apparently do by running around shooting things in a third person style, while a real world hacker helps you make your way from one network node to the next. The network itself is rendered in glorious shine-o-vision courtesy of the Xbox's sparkly graphics hardware, with plenty of brightly coloured icons, metallic surfaces and big flashy explosions to admire. DroneZ is expected to emerge from its cocoon some time early in 2003, but in the meantime you can admire a batch of early screenshots of the game, courtesy of publisher Metro3D. Related Feature - DroneZ screenshots

So far the publicity surrounding Colin McRae Rally 3 has understandably focused [ahem] on Colin's Ford Focus, but today Codemasters have confirmed that your choices won't be quite so limited when the game ships. Players will have sixteen cars to choose from, including the Mitsubishi Lancer, Subaru Impreza, Fiat Punto, Lancia 037 and Citroen Xsara as well as the ubiquitous Focus. And to prove their point, a new batch of screenshots has been released showing off many of the dozen cars which have been named so far. The latest shots also showcase some of the stages to be included in the game, with settings ranging from Spain and Greece to Japan and America. Each of these will apparently feature custom pace notes compiled by Colin's co-driver Nicky Grist. PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Colin McRae 3 are expected to be taking a sharp right, over bump, through door and over finish line on to store shelf some time in September. Related Feature - Colin McRae 3 screenshots (PS2)

Despite a successful launch across the pond and a resoundingly positive reception around here for the PC release, the Xbox version of Morrowind has been delayed until November, according to publisher Ubi Soft. The game was originally expected to make waves in Europe during the summer, providing some much desired respite for those of us not off sunning ourselves on sandy beaches. Ubi Soft has declined to comment on the reasons behind Morrowind's delay, but given the hefty hardware requirements for the PC version, the Xbox conversion is probably still worth waiting for. Related Feature - Morrowind review (PC)

It's tricky to spice up an Xbox port? No it's not! Just about every multi-platform console release to date has turned out best on the Xbox. Consider Tony Hawk, Onimusha, Spider-Man… even Jedi Starfighter was smoother and featured a bonus level. Unfortunately though, SSX Tricky bucks the trend by arriving in almost identical attire. With the exception of the control system, this is the same game that graced the PlayStation 2 oh-so-successfully late last year. But, as we said at the time, it's the perfect combination of racing and tricking, and skilled veterans of the original SSX appreciated the emphasis on showing off. With the exception of a few minor niggles, it was the perfect follow-up.

European Bomberman fans can look forward to a winter of content made glorious by the arrival of no less than four new games on various platforms, courtesy of Vivendi Universal Games. The first two are Pokemon-style Red and Blue editions of Bomberman Max 2, an RPG for the GameBoy Advance which sees you trying to reach the Mini-Mini device that has been used to shrink Bomberman and Max to insect-like proportions. Max 2 Red pits you as Max, while Max 2 Blue gives you control of Bomberman. Whichever you choose though, you'll be running around mazes blowing stuff up and collecting useful pets called Charboms to enhance your abilities, and naturally the game also includes the standard four player Bomberman modes. Both versions of the game will appear in Europe some time in October. Closely following these two hand-held titles is Bomberman Kart on the PS2, an import copy of which our assistant editor was drooling over just a few weeks ago. And with both the eponymous Mario Kart clone and a more traditional four player Bomberman mode included on the disc, who can blame him? Meanwhile GameCube owners can look forward to the all-new Bomberman Generation, an "explosive adventure" along the lines of Bomberman Tournament, featuring cel shaded 3D graphics and five expansive worlds to explore, as well as all the usual bomb lobbing multiplayer fun. Both Kart and Generations are expected in Europe this November. Related Feature - Bomberman Kart preview

The first signs of Take-Two's impending GTA Vice City hype machine rolled into view this morning with the discovery of Kent Paul's 80's Nostalgia Zone. Located at www.kentpaul.com, the site is a glorious fake in the style of the Pets Overnight, Love Media and Dormotron websites associated with Grand Theft Auto III. Kent Paul (whose origin is "Kent, near London. You mug.") runs a colourful site, mostly devoid of content at this stage, with a brief introduction alluding to his care and perhaps rehabilitation programme and a couple of fleshed out subpages; one about 80s TV shows like Yuppie And The Alien and Just The Five Of Us, and one with famous 80s quotes, such as "There is no such thing as society," from Margaret Thatcher, and "In those days, I didn't know my ass from my elbow. Luckily, a lot of other people did," from Candice Shand, formerly exotic dancer and adult star Candy Suxx. However, the highlight of the show is a postcard from Vice City, which appears to be an in-game shot of the highly anticipated game, sans vehicles, people or any visible action. Bathed in the deep glow of a sunset, a river sparkles beneath a huge bridge connecting a vague cityscape farthest from the camera with a palm tree-lined waterside road in the foreground. "Greeting from Vice City," the postcard peaceably declares. "Wish You Were Here… You Tosser!" Given Rockstar's penchant for Internet advertising, we expect to see more of these between now and the 22nd October, which, according to GTA Vice City's other site, is a date of some significance… Related Feature - Grand Theft Auto III review (PC)

The US Army's much vaunted Unreal engined online shooter was released slightly ahead of schedule last night, with the first "recon" version of the game featuring a selection of single- and multi-player scenarios. To get you up to speed, four offline maps offer basic training, an obstacle course and rifle marksmanship. Presumably a strange looking bloke in a hat will be standing next to you the whole time screaming in your ear, muttering "this is your rifle, this is your gun" and complaining about your level of donut consumption. Once you've navigated that hazard it's time to go online, with half a dozen multiplayer missions giving you a range of challenges, varying from rescuing prisoners and preventing an act of ecological terrorism (aw, bless) to "homeland defense". The bad news is that the game weighs in at a little over 200Mb and, needless to say, every site that is hosting the file is completely swamped. Most download sites are grinding to a halt, there's an hour and a half queue to even start downloading it from FilePlanet, and predictably enough the America's Army website itself has keeled over and died under the strain. Nice to see military preparedness in action. If you're lucky (or exceptionally patient) though, you may be able to download the game from one of the following sites -

Not satisfied with holding the license to develop games based on Terminator and T2, Infogrames today announced that it has secured the videogame rights to the forthcoming Terminator 3 : Rise Of The Machines. As part of the deal they will also have first refusal on the Terminator 4 license, should such a movie ever be made. The first of the Terminator 3 games is expected to appear some time next year to coincide with the new film's theatrical release, while the previously announced PS2 and Xbox title Terminator : Dawn Of Fate remains on track to emerge before the end of this year. "There's no bigger action hero than The Terminator and our games will live up to the legend", Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell promised. In which case we can only hope that Dawn Of Fate plays better than it looks, because quite frankly it has heavily underwhelmed us in the eye candy department thus far... Related Feature - Terminator : Dawn Of Fate screenshots (Xbox)

While cash prizes and hardware sponsorship are all well and good, what every self-respecting pro-gamer really wants to win in a videogames tournament is a life-size statue of an orc. [Er .. are you feeling ok? - Ed] Unfortunately they're going to have to wait a little longer before this golden day dawns, but their dream has come one step closer to reality with the launching of a UK-wide Warcraft III tournament. The competition is taking place on Saturday 17th August in several LAN gaming centers around the country, although given that it's called the Warcraft III National Single Player Tournament, there's not likely to be much LAN gaming going on. Once every venue has got a winner, the top scorer from each will battle it out online for the ultimate prize - a top of the line Athlon powered PC, complete with GeForce 4 Ti4600 graphics card, a rather stingy 256Mb of RAM and an 18" flatscreen monitor. Meanwhile runners-up will receive a GeForce 4 Ti4200 graphics card, worth around £200. Also on the prize sheet is one of Vivendi Universal Games' six foot tall orc statues, last seen adorning the Po Na Na nightclub in Hammersmith for the game's lavish UK launch party. The bad news is that the orc apparently goes to the LAN center where the winner was playing, rather than the champion himself, which is a shame. An orc standing next to your TV set would really be a spectacular addition to the average living room... More details may or may not be posted at some point in the not so distant future on the VGA website. In the meantime, gamers will apparently be able to play Warcraft III for free at VGA centers for the first two weeks after its release. Related Feature - Warcraft III interview

EA is back with another seasonal update to a popular sports franchise. F1 2002 fares better than the lamentable 2002 FIFA World Cup did earlier this year, but then we prefer bouncing a ball against the radiator in the front room to playing that game. F1 2002 is certainly not decrepit, and it's beyond competent, but is it beyond its competition? In a word: no.

The world isn't exactly short of rally sims at the moment, with the excellent Rallisport Challenge already out on the Xbox and coming to the PC in the next few months, and the much anticipated Colin McRae Rally 3 expected on most platforms before the end of the year as well. Then there's GTC Africa, Rally Championship, Rally Trophy, V Rally 3... And now you can add another title to that lengthy list - Rally Fusion : Race Of Champions. Developed by Climax, the brains behind the excellent Xbox motorbike racing game Moto GP, Rally Fusion is based around the eponymous Michelin Race Of Champions, which takes place in the Canary Islands of all places. Included in the game will be over twenty tracks spread across nine settings, with the usual championship and quick race options, and a mixture of hill climb, rally stages and circuit races to take in. Also on offer are twenty fully licensed vehicles to drive, and the latest batch of screenshots to issue forth from Activision even shows some bizarre looking buggies along with the more traditional Peugots, Fords and Toyotas. Climax's development director Nick Baynes is promising that their latest effort will "raise the bar" when it is released in October on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, with "all action gameplay and stunning visuals" apparently on the cards. With such a crowded field of competitors it's going to have to be something special to stand out, but if it's half as good as Moto GP Climax should be on to another winner. Related Feature - Rally Fusion screenshots (PS2)

Motor racing games vary from super trucks to MicroMachines, but between these two extremes is the rarely visited topic of remote control racing. The latest game to fill this niche is Smash Cars from Metro3D and developers Creat Studio, who are promising high speed racing through a variety of outsized environments. Early screenshots of the game are quite impressive, with detailed settings varying from a missile silo and what appears to be a military airbase to a beach and coastal fortress, all inhabited by appropriate mobile obstacles such as soldiers, tourists and dogs. As you would expect these days, the game will feature a full championship mode, which allows you to earn money to upgrade your diminutive vehicle and unlock additional tracks. Smash Cars should be screaming on to shelves and ramming into your feet early next year. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the first batch of in-game screenshots. Related Feature - Smash Cars screenshots

Codemasters have released another trailer for their forthcoming Colin McRae Rally 3, this time focusing [no pun intended] on what happens when everything goes horribly pear shaped. As the press release which accompanied the movie says, "when the flying Scotsman's car leaves the tarmac, there's no telling which way up it'll land". Included in the trailer (titled "Crew Report") is some rather impressive footage of the car sliding around corners in a cloud of dust, skidding off the track and flattening the plastic fencing, smashing into trees and losing various bits of bodywork, driving along with the bonnet flapping up and down in a rather worrying manner, and rolling over entirely in spectacular high speed crashes. Thanks to the physics system the driver and his navigator are thrown around inside the car as you bump along the course, and you can even see loose wheels wobbling as a damaged Ford Focus limps towards the finish line in one shot. The latest trailer can be downloaded in high (11Mb) and medium (6Mb) quality mpeg formats from the Colin McRae 3 website. Related Feature - Colin McRain Rally

If you like a bit of chopper after work, then Kuju Entertainment's Midway-published Fireblade should be right up your alley. The game has been available to buy since 28th June on PlayStation 2, and now the developer has revealed that Cube and Xbox versions of the game are underway. Fireblade is an almost Desert/Jungle Strike-esque helicopter sim with four campaigns and a total of 18 missions, set across environments ranging from the Swiss Alps and the Arizona Desert to the Amazon Jungle and the Arctic Circle. Time and weather conditions will both factor into the campaigns as you pilot two distinct choppers; the carrier chopper for transport and rescue missions, and a Vendetta attack helicopter for assault objectives. Needless to say, both come equipped with things like a sniper cannon, EMP (which presumably doesn't affect your own vehicle), a rail gun and the pilot's favourite, laser guided homing missiles. Xbox and Cube versions are expected from publishing stalwart Midway sometime in the autumn.

Black Isle's sequel to their dungeon crawling RPG Icewind Dale should be arriving in Europe this summer, with an August 30th UK release on the cards according to our latest information. The sequel will pick up the story of the Forgotten Realms a generation after the events of the first game, with a mysterious new foe gathering an army of goblins, orcs and bugbears in the snowbound north. And naturally it's up to you to save the port of Targos from impending disaster as they send out a plea for adventurers and mercenaries to come to their aid. Once again the whole thing is based on an updated version of BioWare's much worn Infiinity Engine, which also powered the Baldur's Gate series and Planescape Torment. New features since the original Icewind Dale include the addition of the new character classes, races and kits introduced in Baldur's Gate II, along with a vast array of all-new weapons, armour, spells and special items for players to discover. All told, there are now upwards of 300 spells for you to unleash, including new offerings such as Aegis and Executioner's Eyes. Which no doubt means something to those of you who have played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons more recently than I have... And while you wait for Icewind Dale II to Dimension Door it's way onto a PC near you, we have three freshly defrosted screenshots of the game for your visual stimulation, courtesy of European distributor Virgin Interactive. Related Feature - Icewind Dale 2 screenshots

DreamWorks has picked up the exclusive film rights to the Japanese PlayStation 2 game Fatal Frame, with hopes of transforming the survival horror spectacle into a big-screen blockbuster.

After an enormous response to its polls, UK-based GameBoy Advance developer AGB Games has decided to take its impressive polygonal game engine in a new direction, and has released a number of screenshots of its new 3D racing game. The shots showcase a four-mile track up and running on GBA hardware at 30 frames per second. Locations of note include river and canyon jumps, a desert, an urban complex, tunnels, a railway and a multi-storey car park… It's amazing what you can fit into a four-mile trip these days. AGB has also started work on two other projects; a 3D football game engine, which currently has two full teams of eleven players running around a stadium at 20-30 frames per second, and a game combining a mixture of styles as suggested by those voting in the developer's website poll. For videos to go with your screenshots, AGBGames.com is the place to go. Related Feature - Screenshots from AGB Games' as-yet untitled racer

Last week we reported on the problems that have been afflicting massively multiplayer role-playing game Project Entropia during its beta testing, ranging from bugs and power cuts causing the loss of items to a raid on the offices of developer MindArk by anti-piracy outfit BSA and Swedish court officials, following allegations from Microsoft that the company was using unlicensed software. Shortly after we posted this story, Wired.com ran their own report on the raid, quoting a lawyer representing the BSA as saying that the bailiffs who examined MindArk's offices catalogued some six hundred instances of installed software on computers there, adding that MindArk "hasn't produced a single license yet". Speaking to EuroGamer earlier today, MindArk CEO Jan Welter Timkrans described these accusations as "clearly untrue", adding that they "can be considered as defamation or slander". According to Jan, "MindArk is not obliged to show [the BSA lawyer] anything", but they will provide any necessary documentation to defend themselves against the charges in court. "It would be rather foolish of us to show our defence to our opposition prematurely, and especially since we intend to sue them for the damages they have caused us. The extent of these damages are of course increasing when the lawyer in question is spreading what he himself knows is untrue statements in such a well spread media channel as Wired." Whatever the eventual outcome of this impending court battle, MindArk's more immediate problem is the inevitable bugs which have crept into the current Commercial Open Trial phase of testing. While losing equipment in a normal massively multiplayer game would merely be an annoying inconvenience, in Project Entropia it's possible to exchange in-game gold into real world currency and vice versa, so losing valuable items due to a bug or server failure has real financial implications for players. Needless to say this has caused some annoyance, but MindArk's Marco Behrmann made it clear that this is a beta test, and told us that the license which players are shown before entering the game world points out the risks resulting from the unfinished state of the game. "Every risk has been stated prior to participation and to input money is voluntary. Sometimes people just click on 'Yes, I agree' in their Conditions of Use / EULA without actually reading it through. Then when a bug hits them they feel robbed. This is of course not a perfect situation, but every participant in Project Entropia should be aware of the possibility of bugs present in this trial phase. We have every intention to make the best virtual universe ever produced, and to do that we have to iron out bugs, set a correct in-world balance and fine-tune the product until it is finished." Beta testers may have been warned of the risks before entering Project Entropia, but apparently those who have lost valuable equipment can't be individually reimbursed. Instead players are currently being polled on whether or not there should be a complete reset of the game world, which would allow MindArk to refund everybody any money they have invested in the game while wiping all current characters. The bad news is that this puts players who want out of the game in a Catch 22 situation. If the vote is in favour of a refund, the reset and pay-out won't take place until the game has gone gold. Marco could only tell us that "we aim for a release sometime this year" when we asked when this was likely to be. Until then players would be unable to withdraw money from the game, but on the bright side when withdrawals were eventually reactivated they would get back everything that they had invested in the game up to that point. If the vote goes against the refund, those who have lost items won't get any compensation, but all players would be able to withdraw money from the game as soon as the vote is over, which should be in about a week's time. In our original report we also mentioned that one irate beta tester had written to us complaining about delays in removing cash from the game prior to the current vote, as well as the imposing of a withdrawal fee. Since we originally received this e-mail, we are happy to say that the beta tester in question has had her money transferred from the game back into her real world bank account, and MindArk have graciously covered the fee as a gesture of good faith. However, other players won't be so lucky. Marco pointed out that the Project Entropia Bank interface clearly states that there is a 1.5% charge on all withdrawals from the game, with a minimum fee of $10, adding that the process should normally take about ten business days to complete. Beta testing massively multiplayer games is always something of a mixed experience, and when you're investing real cash in the game it's inevitable that some people are going to end up being shortchanged by the very problems that the testing process is supposed to track down. Hopefully these issues will all be sorted out by the time the game goes gold and is released to a wider audience, but in the meantime the bug hunt continues. Related Feature - MindArk all at sea

The recently announced United Soccer is to be put to public testing by developer Staggan, the firm has announced. The developer hopes that user feedback will shape the game into a superior end product, but it also wants to have a bit of fun before things get too hectic. "We thought it would be fun to allow a limited number of people to help us with much needed feedback on the game design and play mechanics," managing director Martyn Hughes said yesterday. "We know its unusual to show this kind of game at such an early stage but its such a unique and unusual game that we want to get it right from its first launch, we don't want to be the next Funcom as someone suggested on a popular gaming website." Staggan has already announced a tentative launch period for the multiplayer test as late October or early November. This version will allow players to compete in team games with 3-11 players-a-side, and a text-based chat facility will be included. Staple multiplayer options will also be included, such as the option for passworded games, custom team make-ups, and Staggan also promises a "game viewer" so that spectators can watch matches unfold without getting involved. For more information on United Soccer, please refer to our interview with Martyn Hughes, conducted in the aftermath of England's 1-0 defeat of Argentina last month. [Any excuse to bring that up again… -Ed] Related Feature - On The Ball with Staggan's United

When footage of Super Monkey Ball 2 first emerged, one of the biggest attractions for Westerners was the promise of Monkey Football, a cute, simian soccer sim which threatened to envelope yet more of our precious monkey time and escort it away into the realms of the past. Or something. Well, a young pretender has sprung forth. Our simian spies have reported that the long-awaited PlayStation 2-bound follow-up to Ape Escape includes a mini game called Saru Soccer. In Japan, Ape Escape 2 is known as Sarugetchu 2, and Saru Soccer is said to be a game involving monkeys captured during the single player adventure. Each kind of monkey will have unique abilities, and the control system is reportedly simple and intuitive. Ape Escape 2 is due out shortly in Japan, and as the packshot on the right advertises, in Europe to boot. Related Feature - Ape Escape 2 screenshots

Sakura Taisen is making its way to PlayStation 2 in the shape of six new games across the next four years. Although the Japanese can expect animated TV shows and even theatrical releases in addition to that, it looks as though Sakura will be making its way to the US, and hopefully to Europe, as part of Sega's "Sakura World Project" push. For the uninitiated, Sakura Taisen began life as a strategy RPG crossed with a dating game, set in the late 19th century during a war against demons. The Sakura of the title is the game's heroine, but originally the player took up the role of a solitary male, building relationships with the girls in his military unit as much as fighting battles. This combination of all sorts of genres including the fabled dating genre and a traditional fantastical plot born of Japanese oddness is enough to get the likes of me excited, and judging from the feedback around here, you lot too. The proposed "World Project" games fit into several genres, with the emphasis on adventure and action. Sakura Taisen: Atsuki Chishio Ni (spring 2003, essentially a remake of the first Saturn game) and Sakura Taisen 5: Saraba Itoshiki Hito Yo (2004) are said to be dramatic adventures, whilst Sakura Taisen 5 Action is the working title for an action game. Sakura Himenishiki Emaki is another working title, but this time we're told for a psycho-trip action game. Sounds odd. Making up the six are two pure adventure titles, working title Kouma and Sakura Taisen Monogatari. Sakura Taisen 5 Action, Sakura Himenishiki Emaki and Kouma are all pencilled in for a worldwide release, which is good news for Western gamers. Sega also announced a seventh game, Sakura Taisen 3 Windows (PC), but this is intended for release in Japan and China only.

While Duke Nukem Forever's development cycle is starting to sound like something from Waiting For Godot, the latest spin-off for the Duke is already on shelves around the world. We are of course talking about Duke Nukem : Manhattan Project, a fully 3D side-scrolling shooter from Arush and Sunstorm Interactive, distributed in Europe by Ubi Soft. Now a demo version of the game is available, featuring the first of its eight episodes, which takes Duke across the rooftops and fire escapes of the Manhattan skyline, stopping only to kill mutant pig cops and rescue damsels in distress. As Duke himself commented, "bullets and babes, I love this job." The 50Mb demo is available to download from the game's official website. There you will also find a small patch for the retail version of the game, which fixes a variety of fairly minor bugs, as well as making sure the game will work properly on old AMD K6-2 and K6-3 CPUs, and that you don't need TCP/IP installed to play the game. Don't ask. Still not sure whether to buy the game? We'll have a full review for you next week. Related Feature - Manhattan Project preview