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Leading American publishers Electronic Arts and Activision have downplayed the importance of online gaming to the current generation of consoles. Speaking at E3, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suggested that it would only really come into its own four or five years from now. "There's not enough of a broadband infrastructure in the US today to support it", he added, which doesn't bode well for Europe, as America has generally been seen to be a year or two ahead in terms of broadband take-up. Even more scathing was the prognosis on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which has run into criticism from some publishers due to its closed nature, with Microsoft apparently insisting that everything is handled through their own pay-to-play servers. It doesn't help that Microsoft only has a fraction of the installed base that PlayStation 2 currently has, leading EA marketing VP Frank Gibeau to comment that this "just did not make it an opportunity we wanted to chase". EA recently revealed that they wouldn't be releasing any Xbox Live games this year, with negotiations on possible future support still on-going. "There's a whole slate of issues we're working with Microsoft on", according to Gibeau. For his part, Bobby Kotick suggested that "nobody's signed up for Xbox Live", although that's something of an exaggeration. Aside from their own first party titles, Microsoft already have support from Ubi Soft (Splinter Cell), Lucas Arts (Star Wars Galaxies), Sega (Phantasy Star Online) and Take 2 (Serious Sam) amongst others, and even Activision have at least one title (the uninspiring Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2) heading to the service, according to Microsoft's press release. Is online gaming really the future, and can any of the current generation of consoles make it take off in a big way? It's going to be an interesting few years... Related Feature - You Suck

Motor racing games usually fall into one of three categories. First of all you have the simulations, heavy on statistics and accurate driving models, often with fancy graphics to lace it all together and endless tweaking potential. The more challenging and comprehensive of these are practically timeless - Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix III springs to mind. Secondly you have games which simulate and speculate, which, when done well as with Gran Turismo can be a real pleasure to play, tickling your chin with both simulation and arcade racing modes.

Over the last six months Halo has practically single-handedly sold the Xbox, particularly in the USA, with over 80% of Xbox owners buying a copy of the game. It's no great surprise then that Bungie have been awful quiet about the long promised PC and Macintosh versions of the game since the Xbox's launch. So what's the story - is the game ever going to make it on to the beige and translucent boxes, or is it being confined to the Xbox? "We do see it happening, but when it is happening is still up in the air" is about as close to a firm answer as Microsoft PR bod Chris DiCesar came in an expert display of question dodging with Shacknews writer Jason Bergman at E3. Apparently PC and Mac versions are still "on the board" but not in development as yet. "We do have the whole team there, but they are obviously occupied with a major title for the console, a platform driver... They are really focused around that but still look at supporting the PC and/or Mac." In other words, don't get your hopes up. Related Feature - Halo review

Rebellion's Delta Force: Urban Warfare is a peculiar application of the UK's foremost first person shooter developer. It seems strange, to us at least, that a company whose products are synonymous with high quality would be working on a PSone action game. We caught up with publisher Novalogic's Wes Eckhart to find out what the hell is going on.

The single player demo for Soldier of Fortune II : Double Helix is now available, offering two maps for would-be John Mullins look-a-likes to try out. The first sees you infiltrating a Columbian rebel base deep in the jungles of South America, while the second tasks you with sneaking aboard a cargo ship in Tampa Bay. Several weapons are available for you to try out, while those of a nervous disposition can tone down the game's infamous excess of gore. Weighing in at a hefty 140Mb, give or take, the demo is available from the following sites -

Capcom's Breath of Fire is set to return, this time on PlayStation 2, the company announced at E3 earlier this week. Yesterday they issued a press release explaining the story behind the game, and briefly detailing the various systems which make up this presumably turn-based RPG. The story is as typical an RPG ramble as you might expect. An ecological catastrophe has forced mankind deep into the planet's interior, and led to the creation of the underground city, Shelter. Our main man is once again called Ryu, and he is a Ranger for the underground civilisation, who has a sudden awakening one day and decides to go off in search of what lies above. Capcom claims the game will introduce a "survival" style of gameplay, but the description is a little lacking. Players will be challenged with an abundance of enemies, it says 'ere, and a large variety of strategic elements such as deciding whether to fight or avoid enemies, or timing when to attack. The game will also feature PETS (Positive Encounter and Tactics System), which enables players to set up traps and decoys in the environment to make monster-battling a simpler proposition. Kinda like Mel Gibson did in Braveheart with flammable substances. Knowing Capcom's penchant for brutality and explosive visuals, the game will surely use this now vaunted feature to impress the graphics crowd. Breath of Fire is also said to be more dynamic, with dungeons and other in-game events changing as your characters perform different tasks, in stark contrast with the likes of Final Fantasy. It sounds like Chrono Cross to us, which is a pretty ringing endorsement. We hope to learn more about Breath of Fire as the game's development progresses, and we will be sure to inquire about things like control and camera systems... The game is due out this winter.

Ubi Soft has announced that hot new Clancy action title Splinter Cell will be exclusive to Xbox for the critical Christmas 2002 period, with a PC version to launch shortly afterward. Although it's not hard to imagine the publisher's motives in this, it is fun guessing how much money Microsoft threw at them. Furthermore, it's another coup for the Redmond-based platform holder, and it's no surprise to see Ubi Soft jabbering on about Xbox Live support amongst other things. Related Feature - Ubi Soft announces Splinter Cell

Satoru Iwata will become President of Nintendo at the end of the month, replacing Hiroshi Yamauchi who has occupied the position for more than half a century. Yamauchi is credited with turning Nintendo into the hugely profitable creative monstrosity it currently is, so Iwata has a lot to live up to.

Three days ago, we were finally introduced to Microsoft's ambitious plans for Xbox Live, and one of the defining aspects of that system is the company's pledge to provide wholesome, family focused entertainment above all else, and to give parents the power to choose where their kids play. Of course, rounding up children into their own area where they can play without supervision would be fine, if it were not for the fact that just about anybody can play there. I'm sure the staff of the Daily Mail will have an absolute blast when someone sets the geriatric cogs turning in their blinkered little heads. Microsoft the family company, eh? It's not exactly something they go all out to project, is it? If Microsoft were a family, there would be constant squabbling, rows with the neighbours and hogging of all the rubbish bins out back, and the kids would manage to argue their way out of doing chores on the basis that they could just bankrupt somebody else and then buy all their staff for a pittance. So in a way, I suppose the contradiction that is Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (or just XBV) is not altogether surprising. The three-minute video released to the net by those fellows at IGN yesterday is more erotically charged than a Kylie stage show at a nudist beach, under a sea of laughing gas and in sweltering heat exactly nine months prior to New Year's Eve 2000, and from those camera angles it looks completely unpl..ay..able. Bear with us, we're still thinking about Kylie. Ah, in other words, it's a teaser video. A teaser video which just happens to show that you can buy bikinis, watches, sunglasses and other accessories for your voluptuous contemporary Barbie dolls, and that one of the ladies likes to read the morning paper with her blouse completely unbuttoned. It's a rousing thought. But sex sells, and it's no surprise to see it attempted here. And it's not necessarily a bad thing either. Attracting a more "mature" audience to the system in a way that the ageing and rundown Lara Croft never could, the DOA girls look set to push back the boundaries and push up the [yes alright - Ed]. I was going to say demographic. The Xbox is the most powerful gaming system ever conceived, and although CG is hardly lifelike just yet, Tecmo has the creation and manipulation of attractive virtual starlets down to a fine art. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is going to sell the Xbox, and it stands to net Microsoft and Tecmo a handsome profit, which is something they doubtless both feel they deserve at this point. With a completely ludicrous plot and no sign of actual gameplay as yet, it seems odd that so many people are running around with their jaws scraping along the floor like a busted limb. It appears now that Sega's rival Beach Spikers game will have to make its name on gameplay rather than visuals, but ultimately Tecmo has struck gold with the hardware / software balance, and if they want to make soft porn videogames for the rest of their lives they are welcome to. But we still want stuff like Ninja Gaiden and DOA4. Ah, if only Sega and Tecmo were to join forces. Anyway, sex sells, so, with apologies to the ladies, go forth and patronise! Related Feature - Dead or Alive 3 review

Mech Assault might be bringing the Battletech universe to the Xbox for the first time, but that doesn't mean the end of the more traditional PC Mechwarrior series. The latest installment in the long-running franchise was unveiled at E3 this week, in the form of Mechwarrior 4 : Mercenaries, a stand-alone spin-off based on the Mechwarrior 4 engine. Developed by Cyberlore Studios, it adds ten new mechs to pilot in more than forty new missions spread across ten worlds, with players able to fight for any of four mercenary groups. "MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries takes fans back to one of the most popular gaming themes in the 'Mech universe: playing for cold hard cash", producer TJ Wagner pronounced. "By combining the soldier-of-fortune gameplay of Mercenaries and the stunning MechWarrior 4 game engine, we've created the ultimate 'Mech game that fans have been asking for." Expect Mercenaries to be stomping their way on to store shelves this autumn. Related Feature - Mechwarrior 4 : Mercenaries screenshots

Ubi Soft officially announced today that Myst Online is on the way, with a launch planned for some time next year. Yes, everybody's favourite point-and-click adventure game series (eleven million copies sold, and counting) is going massively multiplayer. I think we can safely assume that slaughtering hordes of monsters and power-levelling isn't likely to be a big part of this one, and developers Cyan are promising "a journey that will never end", with rich storylines, constant updates and fresh content on the cards. "Myst Online uses our proprietary technology to build a place that is so responsive and immersive, people will feel impelled to share their adventure, both in the game, and the next day at work or school", Cyan World founder Rand Miller declared. "This is the culmination of years of world building. Everything we've learned from our earliest worlds we've poured into Myst Online, building a universe that is growing, breathing, and alive. It's a massive undertaking, and we're excited about working with Ubi Soft to make it a reality." A novel concept for a massively multiplayer game, or just another cash-in on the fading Myst franchise? We should know soon. Related Feature - Myst : The Mini-Series

The long-awaited public unveiling of Doom III is already being referred to as one of the highlights of E3 this year, with screenshots of id Software's next game and engine passing around the Internet like wildfire. There may be only three certain things in life - death, taxes… and the fact that even the slightest titbit of information about a new graphics engine from id Software will have techies and fanboys alike setting the 'net on fire with wild speculation, critical analysis and - more often than not - rapturous praise-singing of John Carmack, perhaps the most unlikely-looking chap ever to receive the description of "kick ass" from thousands of American teenagers. So it's no surprise that no matter what else was announced at E3 this year, Doom III was what set the 'net on fire. Those four screenshots (if you haven't seen them already, then you might want to click here) have ended up being dissected on every web-board in the world, and everyone from skilled graphics programmers down to 14 year old Quake fanboys with a gore-lust has passed comment upon them. There's even a 90mb movie floating around, although given the amount of PR puff interviews it features and the appalling framerate it's encoded at, you probably won't glean a great deal from that even if you manage to find a download site for it which isn't maxed out. Ultimately though what more do we know about Doom III now that we didn't know last week? Well, from a gameplay perspective, not a lot. We know that the plot is vintage Doom - scientists play with Things They Don't Understand and teleport hideous abominations into this world, which of course proceed to wreak havoc and turn everyone into zombies. This being Doom (and judging from some of the character art sketches which have popped up), you can be pretty sure that the full-scale forces of Hell aren't far behind, either. The game looks a lot less like a frantic blast-fest and more like a survival horror title, however, which is likely to upset some fans. Although comparisons with Resident Evil are inevitable due to the shambling-zombie nature of the characters in the screenshots, they may be more than slightly fair; id Software is keen to emphasise the "fear" element of the game, and it's certain that given the high detail of many of the models and the level of effects being employed in the game, we won't be seeing them throwing hundreds of enemies at you at once. A more suspenseful, moody experience than anything id have done previously seems like a fair expectation - although given the standard of their singleplayer games since, well, Doom II, it'll be interesting to see if they manage to pull it off. More interesting, at the end of the day, is the graphics engine. The Quake III engine is currently the de facto choice of engine for anyone who's serious about writing a decent first person shooter on the PC, and many of the games created using it are a lot better than Quake III itself. Doom III is likely to go down a similar path, with the real money for id coming from licensing the engine to third parties. So, what does this new engine appear to offer developers? Well, for a start, the lighting effects are superb, certainly surpassing almost anything we've seen previously. Although it probably won't seem such a giant leap ahead in a year's time when we finally see Doom III in its finished form, this lighting is certainly astounding, allowing for subtleties of light and shadow previously unseen in real-time graphics. Particularly impressive is the system which Carmack is employing which seems to allow objects to cast shadows on themselves, as well as handling coloured lights and specular highlighting (er, that's "shinyness" to you and I). There's also plenty of bumpmapping in evidence all over the place, and while the actual polygon counts aren't that astonishingly high, every special effect in the modern graphics card book is being used to enhance the visuals and make things look as detailed as possible. Look at the edges of faces, where the detail is considerably less than the areas facing directly at the camera, for evidence of this. Of course, at this early stage in development there are some glitches. Shadows don't look right just yet, and the shadows in the rooms don't always match up with shadows on creatures; there are even some ugly self-shadowing glitches, if you look closely enough. There's even a hint in some of the screenshots that they may have been touched up in Photoshop prior to release - although that's understandable, given that the finished product is still a year off. One thing is certain though; while other games in the near future may try some of the same tricks, Doom III is the engine to watch, and will set the new benchmark for graphics in PC games, just as every other id game since Wolfenstein 3D has. And of course, the other certain thing is that many of us will need to invest in new hardware in order to run the damn thing. Related Feature - Doom III screenshots

Take 2 have confirmed that "Serious" Sam Stone is on his way to the Xbox. One of the most frenetic, funny and downright entertaining first person shooters of recent years, if hardly the most intelligent, Serious Sam is perhaps a perfect match for console gaming. Rather than simply rehashing the first two episodes of the PC series for a console audience though, the Xbox version of the game will instead take Sam to an all-new cyberpunk world to battle it out against hordes of bizarre looking aliens and crack corny one liners. Xbox Live online multiplayer support will also be included, which could prove to be a blast. Certainly Take 2 are confident they have a hit on their hands. "We think our partners at Croteam have outdone themselves on the newest version", Take 2 CEO Kelly Sumner declared. "Console gamers will be blown away by Serious Sam on the Xbox." Sam should be blasting aliens on the Xbox before the end of the year.

Black Isle Studios have unveiled their latest role-playing epic - Lionheart, due for release on the PC this winter. Developed by Reflexive, the brains behind the entertaining isometric action-adventure game Zax : The Alien Hunter, Lionheart is set during the Renaissance in a dismal world where magic mingles with the kind of bizarre machinery envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci. Expect lots of downtrodden peasants and evil Machiavellian overlords then. The whole game is based around Fallout's flexible "SPECIAL" character development system, which will allow players to improve their heroes' skills in combat and magic without the limitations of set classes as they work their way through the game's quests and storyline. Multiplayer support for up to four players to work alongside each other will also be included, which should help add to the replay value. Lionheart certainly looks like being one of the more imaginative role-playing games on the horizon, and with any luck it could mark a welcome change from the neverending succession of Dungeons & Dragons games that have issued forth from Black Isle in recent years. Expect to hear much more about this one in the weeks to come... Related Feature - Zax review

Warner Brothers have announced that work is underway on an online role-playing game based on The Matrix. A massively multiplayer computer simulation of a movie about a massively multiplayer computer simulation designed to enslave people. Delicious, isn't it? The game will be able to support tens of thousands of players in a single virtual world, somewhat short of the "real" Matrix's six billion, and will take advantage of the latest 3D hardware courtesy of the LithTech Discovery engine, rather than plugging directly into your spinal column. "The Matrix is a perfect property on which to base a massively multiplayer online game", according to Warner's Kevin Tsujihara. "This project will combine the online entertainment resources and expertise of Warner Bros. and AOL Time Warner with one of the most cutting-edge game developers in the world." And who might that be, I hear you ask. None other than .. er .. Monolith actually. Much as we enjoyed No One Lives Forever, we're not quite sure we'd describe them as cutting-edge. Still, this gives the company a chance to show off what they can do with their new massively multiplayer game engine, and they couldn't have wished for a better debut project. "We know fans of the franchise are extremely dedicated and loyal and we intend to do everything we can to remain true to The Matrix, while providing them with the ultimate online gaming experience", Monolith frontman Jason Hall is reported as saying. To be honest though, just how appropriate is The Matrix as the basis for a massively multiplayer game? After all, the Matrix is supposed to be a perfect simulation of real life, which makes a simulation of the simulation pretty pointless really. You can't have any bullet time effects in a multiplayer game due to synching issues, and we couldn't see tens of thousands of players all running around being Neo-like superheroes working very well either for that matter. No doubt more details will emerge soon and we'll find out whether this is The Sims Online with mirror shades or a genuinely interesting game, but for now we're a little sceptical about the whole thing. At this early stage there's no word on when the Matrix Online game will be released. It's also not clear what this means for Infogrames, who recently parted with a large sum of cash to pick up Enter The Matrix developers Shiny, a deal which included supposedly exclusive worldwide rights to develop games based on the Matrix sequels. Whoops... Related Feature - LithTech Online

As the Melee part of the title suggests, Super Smash Bros. Melee is one of those games which really has to be played with others. It's a multiplayer fighter, but much more than a simple beat 'em up, or even just an update to its predecessor on the N64. SSBM is a dramatic reworking of the formula which now offers more of everything, providing a much more varied and enjoyable experience.

The US Army, "today's premier land force", has unveiled its first videogame, the imaginatively titled America's Army. Nice to see that trillion dollar defence budget being well spent for once. The game will be distributed free from August, given away at recruiting stations and US Army events, bundled with leading computer game magazines and also available on request from the game's official website. Built around the Unreal engine, it's a game of two halves - Soldiers and Operations. The Soldiers portion of the game is being described as a "role-playing" exercise, which lets players "navigate life's challenges to achieve goals" as they go through army training and encounter various tactical, technical and physical challenges, both on and off duty. Depending on your character's development, new dialogue, scenes and goals will be dynamically generated. Sounds thrilling. Rather more interesting is the Operations section, which is a first person shooter using the latest Unreal technology to put up to 32 players into a variety of co-operative missions. Would-be soldiers can look forward to navigating the assault course at Fort Benning and practicing parachute drops, before going on to fight online as anything from light infantry to rangers. A selection of realistic weapons and equipment will be on offer, as well as a videogame first - genuine US military hand signals to communicate with your team mates. This being a US Army game, you will always be playing the "good guys", even though the terrorists and hostile nations you're fighting against are also played by humans. In a cunning piece of technical tomfoolery, whichever team you are on the player models and mission objectives will make it look like you are the Americans and the enemy team is the hostiles. The only bad news is that the online portion of the game will be hosted by America's HomeLAN, so it's not entirely clear at this stage whether the dedicated server code will be distributed with the game so that us dirty Euros can get in on the action and indulge in some .. ahem .. friendly fire. Related Feature - You're in the army now

In a thoroughly unsurprising move, Take 2 have confirmed that Max Payne 2 is under development. Rockstar Games and Remedy will be working on the sequel, which is expected to emerge from the rotten core of the big apple some time next year - a far cry from the extended development cycle of the original. Slightly less predictable was the outright sale of the Max Payne franchise to Take 2. In exchange for $10m in hard currency and the best part of a million shares, Take 2 now owns not only the Max Payne brand name and intellectual property rights, but also the controversial Bullet Time™ trademark and the respectable 3D engine behind the game. This also means that Take 2 now stands to get any licensing fees from selling Max Payne on to third parties, such as for television, cinema or "literary" productions. Cheap at half the price, we'd say. "This is a precedent-setting deal for Take-Two, Remedy and 3D Realms - the first time in our industry a highly successful IP alone has changed ownership hands", according to 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller, who added that "this deal validates our strategy for developing strong character-based games." Related Feature - Max Payne review

The original Burnout was met with a mixture of critical acclaim and rampant rejection. We really liked it, and continue to like the new Xbox and Cube versions of the game. Yes, technically it was just a RenderWare demo. No, that doesn't bother us in the slightest. What is something like Quake if it isn't a technology demo? The games are no less great. Burnout 2: Point of Impact threatens to pick up where its predecessor left off with about four times the content. The sequel, due out at Christmas on all the console formats (which we guess means PS2, Cube and Xbox), has been inspired by the likes of the grudgingly iconic Speed (and not its diabolical sequel), Bad Boys (a film which had a nice-looking lass and Will Smith in it if I remember correctly) and The Fast And The Furious (a homoerotic racing film). Some of the 32 stages in the new game will include Los Angeles, the Rocky Mountains (is that a real place? I'm sure most mountains have rocks), New Mexico and a busy airport. Sounds cool. As with the original the idea will be to throw as much speed into your driving as possible using one of the fourteen vehicles at your disposal (with seven more to unlock). This time out we're promised all sorts of weather effects and a few extra gameplay modes including pursuit races played as a police car, and various other upgrades including a new soundtrack. Related Feature - Burnout review

Soccer Slam is to be released on Xbox and PlayStation 2 later this year, Sega of America has revealed. The game produced by Visual Concepts and developed by Black Box Games was one of the GameCube's early highlights in the US and Japan, but is still waiting for a release date in this corner of the world. Changes to the formula for the Xbox and PS2 versions include three new secret teams and a couple of extra mini-games. Sega will also be altering the visuals to better match the capabilities of each console. Related Feature - Sega Soccer Slam preview

Microsoft has announced that a PC version of their hit Xbox rally sim RalliSport Challenge will be available this Christmas. Mirroring the Xbox original, the game will feature a mixture of rally, rallycross, ice racing and hill climb events, with 29 cars to drive and 48 tracks and stages spread across the various racing styles. Also included will be multiplayer network support to replace the split screen action of the console version. "We felt that the PC racing industry needed a shot in the arm, and what better way to shake up the category than with the critically acclaimed RalliSport Challenge", Microsoft's Stuart Moulder modestly pronounced. "RalliSport Challenge for the PC will feature action-packed racing and adventure from its Xbox predecessor, providing an intense experience to all PC gamers." If you don't own an Xbox, you should count your blessings. For our money RalliSport Challenge was the stand-out title amongst the Xbox's European launch line-up, and if the PC version can match its graphical prowess and edge-of-your-seat gameplay, Microsoft should be laughing all the way to the bank.

Ubi Soft has announced a two-year licensing agreement with Eidos to publish Tomb Raider games on GameBoy Advance. As part of the deal, Ubi Soft has acquired worldwide development and publishing rights for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Prophecy on GameBoy Advance, and the game will be released this Christmas.

Nintendo has issued a couple of press releases for the European market this morning at E3 in Los Angeles, including tentative release dates for first and third party titles. Although the third party dates appear slightly, well, outdated, the first party listing is the first firm indication we've had of the release dates for several major titles. As we know, Super Smash Brothers Melee and NBA Courtside 2002 will be released this Friday, 24th May, to be followed by the release of Pikmin on 16th June. According to the release, October will herald the arrival in the European market of Super Mario Sunshine and Eternal Darkness, followed in November by Star Fox Adventures and in December by Metroid Prime, which it would appear has been rearing its head at E3 after all. We can also expect the release in December of Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 on the GameBoy Advance. Yoshi's Island is of course the Super FX powered SNES game from days of yore and will doubtless meet with great enthusiasm at retail, just as its predecessors have done. Related Feature - Pre-E3: Cube games galore

Novalogic has set out its stall at E3 with two big game announcements. The critically acclaimed Delta Force Land Warrior is to receive an update in the shape of the freshly announced standalone mission pack, Task Force Dagger. TFD is being co-developed by Zombie Studios and will use an updated version of the Land Warrior engine, set in Afghanistan and focusing on the missions from Operation Enduring Freedom. This will presumably go down well in the current socio-political atmosphere across the pond. Missions will take place deep in enemy territory, with actual Taleban soldiers to take out (unlike the real-life offensive by the sound of it) and consist of raids on rebel headquarters, taking control of a local airport, ambushing enemy convoys and destroying key SAM and SCUD installations. 25 missions total make up the game and there will be a choice of ten different Special Forces operatives, 30 weapons to choose from and other staples of Delta Force series. Although clouded by moral implications which we will decline to comment on here, Task Force Dagger is due out during this quarter on the PC.

Delta Force fans who have been patiently waiting for the series' next evolution can stop waiting. Delta Force - Black Hawk Down has finally taken shape with screenshots and several announcements made about the game today at E3. Set in Somalia in 1993, Black Hawk Down is based upon and around the Operation Restore Hope and Task Force Ranger campaigns. The player follows members of the Delta Force and US Army Rangers against the Somali warlords in the region of Mogadishu. A PC fact sheet reveals that players will get to take control of air and ground vehicles, open fire from vehicle-mounted weapons including a 50 calibre fixed machine gun and engage the enemy in close quarters battle or pick them off with the ubiquitous sniper rifle. The game will run off an improved version of Novalogic's game engine, and will appear on PC during the tail end of this year and on PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2003. The Xbox version of the game is being touted as a serious companion to the Xbox Live service. Internet play is definitely on the cards in both the Xbox and PC versions of the game (the latter through Novaworld), although details of this are currently scarce as you might imagine. Novalogic has released several screenshots of the PC version of the game to accompany the press releases. Related Feature - Delta Force - Black Hawk Down PC screenshots

Konami last night revealed its "massive video game line-up" for the next year. We would have reported on this news earlier, but we've only just finished reading the press release, which puts War & Peace to shame. The condensed version is that they will be publishing a plethora of games over the next twelve months, varying from the excitement of Silent Hill 3 and a new Contra game to three new Yu-Gi-Oh games and a spate of extreme sports titles, both with and without the benefit of Disney characters. Heading up the list is Castlevania : Harmony of Dissonance, which has sadly been pushed back to a September release in Europe from its original July 5th slot. The follow-up to the addictive but incredibly dim GBA launch title Circle of the Moon will apparently feature enhanced graphics, which hopefully means that we'll be able to see what's going on without sitting under a lamp this time. Silent Scope dominates November, with the series making its debut on the GameBoy Advance while Silent Scope 3 arrives on the PlayStation 2. The latest installment in the popular sniping series will offer new areas, 3D sound and a story mode in addition to the 14 missions from the arcade hit Silent Scope EX. Also coming in November are new Frogger games for the GameBoy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but we somehow doubt these will raise quite the same level of anticipation. January 2003 should be home to the Contra franchise. Contra Advance brings the gameplay of the SNES version of Contra to Nintendo's new handheld, with a two player co-operative mode included for the ultimate in side-scrolling action. Meanwhile on the PlayStation 2 we have Contra : Shattered Soldier, a new "run and gun" action game with multiple endings, hidden levels and, again, a two player co-operative mode. Looking further ahead there's a lot of extreme sports tripe and of course the awful sounding Disney cash-ins (do we really need to see Donald Duck skateboarding?), but amongst the dross are a few gems. For starters there's Silent Hill 3 for the PlayStation 2, adding "yet another eerie chapter to the growing legacy of the Silent Hill franchise". Really though, we're sure it will be worth a look. Zone Of The Enders is also getting a sequel, with players once again finding themselves in the middle of an interplanetary crisis, this time with "the fate of Jupiter and Mars held in the balance". And then there's this little game called Metal Gear Solid 2 : Substance, starring some guy called Solid Snake. Debuting on the Xbox for a change, it's due out early next year, with PC and PlayStation 2 versions to follow. As well as adding a large number of new stand-alone episodes and VR missions to the game, which can be played with several different characters and costumes, it will apparently also include some frankly bizarre bonus features, such as the ability to take Snake skateboarding. The mind boggles. A full run-down on Konami's line-up can be found in the epic press release, with a seperate slightly shorter announcement dedicated to the Disney Sports titles, for those of you with a strange Mickey Mouse fetish. As always you can find a full list of all the games on their way to Europe in our UK release dates list. Related Feature - Konami takes the Mickey

2001 was a pretty lousy year in a lot of people's eyes. Not just for gaming, but for other entertainment industries and more important matters, like the state of the planet and my credit rating. However, one of the things that stood out like a lighthouse amongst the jagged rocks and froth-topped waves of the rough sea that was the last year was Nintendo's marriage to Capcom, and the tsunami of intense relief that washed over us as Shinji Mikami delivered that fateful word: "exclusive".

The flood of E3 announcements from Bam! continues with the unveiling of a GameBoy Advance version of Reign Of Fire, developed by handheld veterans Crawfish. Based on the bizarre forthcoming movie of the same name, the GBA version of the game will allow you to play as either the humans or a giant fire breathing dragon as the two sides battle it out for domination of the Earth in the ruins of England. Each campaign features twenty story-led missions, with a variety of weapons and vehicles available to the humans and various fire-breathing powers for the dragon to learn. Reign Of Fire should be burning up the charts this autumn. Related Feature - Reign Of Fire screenshots (GBA)

Bam! have unveiled A Sound Of Thunder which, like Ecks vs Sever and Reign of Fire, is based on a forthcoming movie that nobody has heard of. Borrowing more than a little from the amusing Jean Claude van Damme film Timecop, it's set in a near future world where time travel has become a reality. Unfortunately now a mysterious group known as the Global Entropy are running around in the past changing prehistory in an apparent attempt to destroy the world as we know it. Thanks to their actions, Chicago has become home to mutated dinosaurs, strange hybrid creatures and lethal vegetation. We're not sure how you'd tell the difference, but there you go. Anyway, now you are the world's last hope for a return to reality as you battle your way through Chicago to the time portal that has been causing all the problems. Sound Of Thunder will be debuting on the GameBoy Advance this autumn, with a novel sounding "time wave" feature that changes the layout of the levels as well as a mixture of dino-blasting action and time-critical puzzles to solve. The game will also see the first use of bullet time effects on the hand-held, with disruptor weapons that can slow down your enemies and leave you free to pick them off at your leisure. Throw in a range of wild weaponry and bizarre mutant monsters to slaughter, as well as four player deathmatch with a single cartridge and even a co-operative mode, and Bam! could be on to a winner. Following next summer will be a PlayStation 2 version of the game, developed by Computer Artworks, the company behind Evolva and The Thing. In addition to the same mix of big guns, big dinosaurs and bullet time effects being promised for the GameBoy version, the PS2 adaptation of the movie will also allow you to do a bit of time line disrupting yourself. Blow up a building in one time period and the area will be a pile of rubble when you travel back into the future. Destroy tobacco plants in the past, and there'll be no cigarette advertising when you get back to the present. Well, that's one way of dealing with Big Tobacco I guess... Related Feature - Sound Of Thunder screenshots (GBA)

The movie on which Ecks vs Sever was based still hasn't been released, but already a sequel to the GBA action game is on the way. Imaginatively titled Ecks vs Sever 2, the game will feature 24 brand new single player missions for former FBI agent Ecks and rogue NSA agent Sever, as well as a range of new doohickeys to collect, including homing missiles, spy cameras and aqualungs. There will be more interaction with in-game characters (beyond shooting them) and bigger areas to explore, including our first glimpse of the open sky, and perhaps most importantly Bam are promising better AI this time round. In keeping with the gaming industry's current fascination with terrorism, the sequel will see Ecks and Sever tracking down terrorist cells and "sleeper groups" that have infiltrated various countries. Throw in the threat of a Russian nuclear device that has been missing since the end of the Cold War and things are sure to go off with a bang. Expect Ecks vs Sever 2 to blast its way on to shelves across Europe this autumn. If they're lucky the much delayed movie might actually be out by then... Related Feature - Ecks vs Sever 2 screenshots