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ABIT is making a play for the high performance graphics market with a new cooling system that it claims will allow you to push performance of a GeForce4 Ti4200 chip up to the level of a Ti4600. The company has just completed a European tour extolling the virtues of the Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES, which will be available on 23rd September, and expects a UK street price for the card below £150, so you get Ti4600 for about half the price. It works like this. OTES (Outside Thermal Exhaust System) uses some of the ideas from notebook cooling systems, although it clearly doesn't steal them wholesale, because it's patent-pending. It uses a vacuum to seal the Ti4200 on a copper base, then a 7,2000 rpm fan to cool the system. This of course just gives you a cooler card, so in order to actually deliver the extra performance Abit is shipping overclocking tools with it. There's one easy set intended to make it easier for normal people to mess with their settings, and the real stuff for the hard bastards. Which is interesting, because overclocking is generally the province of the latter category, so can it be consumerised? Possibly not on a really widespread basis, but extending it into the class of people who might if they weren't too scared to looks viable to us. Following up on next week's rollout ABIT intends to put out OTES versions of its higher performance cards, which should appeal to the less financially-challenged overclocker. The company currently has some illustrations and explanations of the technology here, but you can take a look at some better pics at All About PC, here. We realise the article's in German, but we were very taken with "OTES? Who the fuxx is OTES?" as an intro line.

As far as online gaming is concerned, tactical shooters have long since outstripped their forefathers, with the likes of Counter-Strike hogging an absurd percentage of fraggers, and games like The Sum Of All Fears, America's Army and the forthcoming Raven Shield piquing interest all over the shop. It's perhaps unsurprising then that Sony has made Zipper Interactive's SOCOM: US Navy Seals its flagship online gaming title, and that in its first few days on sale the game sold out Sony's first run of network adapters without breaking a sweat.

Dynasty Tactics is not long off, and for fans of the Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre niche of strategy RPG, it's going to be a 100-year war-sized treat. Speaking of treats, publisher THQ has produced a nice little movie to demonstrate the game to potential buyers, and since that's you, we thought we'd give it a home around here. It weighs in at a modest 17MB, and you can find it at our high speed UK-based download location, courtesy of blueyonder. Dynasty Tactics is due out on November 29th in Europe, alongside the Xbox version of Dynasty Warriors III. Related Feature - Dynasty Tactics screenshots

Criterion's Burnout 2: Point of Impact recently went gold on PlayStation 2, and is now fast approaching its new release date of October 11th. Meanwhile, the disappointing Turok: Evolution will appear in an improved state on GameCube on the 27th of this month, with its PS2 and Xbox siblings already on retailers' shelves. Related Feature - UK Release Dates listing

Everglide have made something of a name for themselves over the last few years producing hefty black plastic mouse mats for hardcore gamers with more money than sense, not to mention the bizarre looking Mousebungee and other rodent-related gadgets. The latest such products to reach the UK are a range of imaginatively named Gaming Mats. At first sight these look much the same as your common or garden mouse mat, thin and flexible, but closer inspection reveals them to have a textured surface that provides the same kind of feel and precision that we've come to expect from Everglide's harder pads in the past. They also have a grippy textured underside that virtually glues itself to your desk, almost completely stopping the pad from sliding around, although you can still lift it up easily enough if you need to reposition it. What makes them really attractive though is your choice of five full colour print designs - Asian Swords (three crossed blades on a red oriental-looking flag), Celtic (broadsword and axe on a wooden shield), Cyborg (a marbled looking mix of man and machine), Special Ops (sure to be a hit with gun nuts and Counter-Strike fans) and Works (retro looking clockwork machinery). We've been using one of the Cyborg mats for the last couple of weeks, and it's already replaced our previous Everglide pad in pride of place on my desk. If you want a mat that looks pretty and offers better than normal precision and stability, then this could be just what you're looking for. All five designs are now available from Everglide UK for the princely sum of £10.99 plus postage.

The long-awaited TimeSplitters 2 has slipped further into October. Both the PS2 and Xbox versions are now scheduled for release on the 18th, with the Cube version now ambiguously labelled as an "October" release. This time around, we don't have a flipping great wodge of screenshots to celebrate the fact, but you can leaf through our PS2, Cube and Xbox archives if you want to whet your appetite a bit more. Related Feature - UK Release Dates listing

Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer has just shipped on various formats in the US, but the PS2 version is almost guaranteed sales thanks to the inclusion of a shiny new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 one-level demo. Fans eager to try the game out are more than likely to pick up Kelly or at least borrow him (for it is a 'he') in preparation for the Birdman's next flight later this year. We're not sure if Activision will be extending the same courtesy to European consumers, but we should find out when Kelly washes ashore in these parts on September 27th. Related Feature - Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer screenshots (PS2)

The first screenshots of Microsoft's Xbox-based MMORPG True Fantasy Live Online have appeared in Japan. The shots reveal a "cute" look similar to that of Square's Kingdom Hearts, but with a lot more detail piled on top. Although the shots are quite small, the look is also quite cel-shaded in places, with the same tonal work we so appreciated when we saw Zelda in action. A couple of the screenshots allude to potential transport options - namely odd-looking lizards which stand upright on their hind legs... like Chocobos, in fact. Angling fans will also want to check these shots, which feature definite fish-related action. More will be learnt of True Fantasy Live Online at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and we'll be asking Microsoft about their plans for it at X02 in Seville later this month. Related Feature - True Fantasy Live Online screenshots

Are you bored of your Matrix screensaver yet? Yes, me too. It doesn't even look right half the time! Fortunately, thanks to the considerable girth of our good old friend the Internet, it won't take long to track down something more interesting. However if you can't be bothered to do the donkeywork yourself, Codemasters have a possible contender ready in the shape of a Colin McRae 3 teaser, ready to be plucked in its 1.4MB glory from their website and enjoyed. Or endured. Beware though, you'll need to be a member of the Code M service in order to download it. Related Feature - Colin McRae Rally 3 hands-on preview (PS2)

The Unreal Tournament 2003 demo is still doubtless occupying your frag-infested minds, but if you've room for another, the four-level single player demo version of No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way has been released. The original NOLF was one of the standout first person shooters of the time, championing its own half-serious blend of James Bond, Austin Powers and... well, Catwoman. This demo of the sequel features levels set in Japan, Siberia and underwater base locations, and weighs in at a chunky 158MB. Minimum specs on this one demand a PIII 500 or equivalent, 128MB RAM (or 256MB if you're an XP user), a 32MB DirectX compatible video card and a similarly compatible sound card, and 275MB hard disk space plus additional room for swapdisk. You can download it from our UK-based download location (along with the one-level teaser, 48MB, if you missed that). Related Feature - No One Lives Forever 2 screenshots

The GBA has been on a SNES port drip since the day it was first committed to market. Almost every one of our SNES favourites has appeared or is in transit, and with a few exceptions, they haven't changed much. Of course some games have - Mario Kart being the prime example - but in the case of games like Disney's Magical Quest, changes are negligible, and to be completely honest, they weren't terribly good in the first place.

Japanese release dates. Do they really mean anything to those of us in this area of the world? Probably not a great deal, but they do at least help to assuage our fears that products X, Y and Z might never be finished. Konami has revealed that Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for PlayStation 2 will be released in Japan on December 19th, barely three months after its first official playable showing at the TGS next week. There's no word on the Xbox or PC versions, but the PS2 is understandably a bigger priority for Konami in its homeland. Also on the release roster in Japan is Dark Chronicle, the devilishly alluring cel-shaded sequel to Dark Cloud. A little less repetition, a little more action is what we're promised, and it'll also be on display at the TGS and released in playable demo form at the same time. The game itself though will appear on PS2 on November 28th. And finally, resting under the banner of "it came from Japan" we have a number of Enix titles. According to the Japan Times, Enix will invest €4.2 million in bringing a number of its games to Europe, including Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time.

Proving once more that slippage can apply to anything, Epic has finally trotted out the first patch for its Unreal Tournament 2003 demo. The 3MB download can be picked up via the demo's in-game auto-update feature, but for those of you who like to keep a hard copy, our friends at blueyonder have once again chipped in with a speedy download location. Interested in what this patch does? Apparently it fixes support for the Voodoo 3 and Matrox G400 cards, as well as "initial framerate hitches in network play". Other fixes include updates to the screen browser and the quashing of several potential crash bugs including denial of service options. Always handy! Related Feature - UT2003 demo patch and tips

THQ has officially unveiled Sangokushi Senki, or Dynasty Tactics in Europe, and plans to release the game on November 29th. It's a war simulation along the lines of the Dynasty Warriors games, but with a multi-character approach and a greater emphasis on unit arrangement and tactical simulation. Vanquishing one's enemies will involve the arrangement of fire attacks rockslides, ambushes and the curious "tactical combos" - unleash one officer's special attack and if correctly positioned, this may launch a chain reaction with a number of special attacks from other officers joining forces. The idea is to build a powerful army and to lay waste to 60 key Chinese cities, and although developer Koei has promised a faithful historical re-enactment, multiple endings suggests a bit of artistic license. One of the things that the publisher has been keen to emphasize is the game's realistic battlefields and the sensation of being involved in a war, with huge dust clouds and mud splashes taking advantage of the PS2's graphical abilities. Koei looks to have achieved a truly cinematic effect, and to this end has also included Dolby Digital 5.1 sound to really surround the player with warfare. Joining Dynasty Tactics on the market this November 29th will be the Xbox version of Dynasty Warriors III. Related Feature - Dynasty Tactics screenshots

What sort of cheese-addled Neanderthal came up with the Knight Rider concept, eh? It's incredibly facile. Dream up a stupid name, toss in a shallow back-story about a crusade to champion morals and surround it with adjectives - rinse under a stream of forgettable bad guys and shove it down a TV aerial. Bosh, Knight Rider. But then again... the concept of an indestructible car with a sentient intelligence, armed with the sort of gadgets that would put the entire contents of Q branch across all 20 Bond movies to shame, and a driver who spends most of his time inadvertently showcasing the car's extraordinary assets... that could make good television! And a good game, too.

The latest Harvest Moon game is coming on apace, according to its Japanese and American publishers. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - currently a Cube exclusive - is a game about guiding a young man through 30 years of his life, with dating, marriage, children and other aspects of normal life infringing on the game's six stories, which will unfold in some as-yet undisclosed manner. More than 40 characters will share your time with you, and a GameBoy Advance linkup is promised to cross the high wall between the Cube's town and the GBA version's Mineral Town. Of course, it wouldn't be much of a Harvest Moon game without the odd bit of farming, and as you might expect, the early, tiny screenshots reflect that fact. Characters are "super deformed" as the phrase used to be, meaning they have big heads and little bodies, but in spite of this seem to be quite superficially detailed. Their environments don't yet look to be anything particularly special, but it's early days, and we should learn more about it in the days following its Japanese release, which could fall during December of this year. The US release is planned for Q2 2003.

The only remaining Microprose development studio in the UK, which most recently created Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4, is being shut down by owners Infogrames - with the doors shutting on the studio for the last time this Friday, September 20. The closure of the development house, which employs 27 people, poses serious questions about the future of Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 on the Xbox, which has been delayed heavily despite the release of the game on the PC some time ago. We have so far been unable to reach anybody at Infogrames for comment, but sources suggest that the Xbox version of the game may now have been cancelled entirely. What this almost certainly represents is the death of the Microprose label, which was purchased by Infogrames as part of its acquisition of Hasbro properties. Although several leading-edge PC games from the publisher appeared under the Microprose label, the newly-revived Atari label now covers that area of the market, and it seems likely that Grand Prix 4 will have been the last game ever to carry the Microprose logo. Now the only remaining studio from the old publisher is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland in the USA. Interestingly, Infogrames today announced the creation of a new Formula One racing title and potential franchise on the PS2, entitled Grand Prix Challenge. The game will be developed at Infogrames Melbourne House, which was previously responsible for, er, Looney Tunes: Space Race. Is this just a pit stop for the much-loved Geoff Crammond franchise, or has it spun out of the race entirely?

Infogrames Melbourne House is working on a new Formula One racing game for PlayStation 2, called - wait for it! - Grand Prix Challenge. Described as "the most exciting Formula One game to date", GP Challenge will go head to head with Sony's competing Formula One 2002 title when they are both released in November of this year. But what makes GP Challenge the most exciting F1 game on the format, we asked. Well it's officially licensed with 2002 F1 data, and it's made to entertain rather than to simulate, as Infogrames' Frank Heisset put it. "With this game, our aim is to fully entertain not only the F1 fans but all the gamers, seeking the perfect combination between graphic quality and addictive gameplay within the fantastic F1 universe. Grand Prix Challenge on PS2 compliments the already successful Grand Prix series perfectly." Ignoring the rather unsurprising 22 cars, 17 tracks and full FIA gubbins for a second, GP Challenge consists of a full championship mode, split-screen multiplayer for up to four, and a trio of other modes the press release doesn't mention. We'll be waiting to see how this one turns out - let's hope it's a bit better than the last PS2 release we had from Melbourne House; Looney Tunes: Space Race. Related Feature - Grand Prix Challenge screenshots

Sega's Skies of Arcadia Legends will appear on the US GameCube in January 2003, according to the publisher. Legends expands upon the relatively successful Dreamcast original and takes it to "Director's Cut" status according to Sega's senior product manager Rich Briggs. As well as rehashing the epic tale of a young Air Pirate on a quest spanning six worlds, Legends will introduce hours of new gameplay chronicling the back-story of the game's main characters. The battle system is also said to have been refined. We haven't heard any news of a European release date at the time of writing, so interested parties might want to consider an import. Related Feature - Skies of Arcadia Legends screenshots

EA's massively multiplayer online role-playing galaxy (MMORPG! Larks!) Earth & Beyond has gone gold, and will ship to retailers later this month in the US. Earth & Beyond sees players becoming captains of their own starships and occupying a futuristic galaxy where they can explore, trade and fight with thousands of others. Early comparisons were made with Elite, but the gameplay falls decidedly under the banner of MMORPG, with a point-and-click interface and a fast pace. As well as flying your custom-made ship around, you can unsaddle yourself and take your custom-made avatar for a wander on the promenades of space stations and other large ships. "Earth & Beyond is a galaxy that will grow and change in many ways over the next weeks, months and years. We have huge surprises in store," says E&B executive producer Craig Alexander. One hopes, however, that things go a bit more smoothly than the recent beta, which has seen players struggling to connect at all this past weekend. Related Feature - Earth & Beyond screenshots

Eidos has released a demo of Deep Red's Beach Life, which we reviewed this weekend. Beach Life is a tongue-in-cheek management simulation in which you have to drive your resort to profitability by attracting lairy beer-guzzlers from the north and young couples who copulate frantically. And the demo offers a brand new scenario unavailable in the full game, so just about anybody can enjoy this, whether they bought the full version or not. That said, weighing in at a whopping 125MB we'd be surprised if "everybody" can enjoy it, but everybody's sure welcome to try. You can download it direct from Eidos' Beach Life downloads page, along with a screensaver and a movie of the press party, featuring booze-addled journalists clearly unaware of a probing camera. Or, you can pick it up from our partners at blueyonder. Related Feature - Beach Life review

I love rallying. I really do. I watch it on TV, I try to make the pilgrimage to watch it in the slushy mud of various UK stages now and then, and I drive a Ford Focus. I thought that Colin McRae Rally 2 was the finest rally game on any platform at the time of its release, and based on preview code I've been sinking my teeth into for the last few weeks, I think Colin McRae Rally 3 is the best rally game at the moment.

Bushido Blade developer Lightweight is working on an authentic Japanese sword fighting title for PS2, published by Ubi Soft and due for release in early 2003. Sword of the Samurai is to be a story-driven fighter, which allows players to create their own character, tweaking appearance, individual skills and sword-fighting style, and train them to compete for the title of ultimate Bushido Master. Players are expected to develop their technique gradually by learning from esteemed Dojo masters, employing every technique and strategy from ballsy direct attacks to parries and counterattacks. 30 of Japan's most famous sword-fighting grandmasters will make up the competition, and more than 100 authentic swords will make up the armoury. Competitions comprise various tournaments - assassination, defend, rescue, and guard and protect are amongst those named thus far.

A report on News.com has exposed the early signs of cheating in games on Sony's PS2 online service. Unscrupulous players have already unearthed methods of holding up games of Madden and NFL2K3 indefinitely - forcing honest players to disconnect out of a desire to engage a genuine opponent and, get this, losing the match by default for doing so. As News.com remarks, this will be pretty gosh darn frustrating for those hoping to bolster their online rankings. Whilst I'm aware of my audience's distaste for the sport of American Football, the implications go way beyond bastardised Rugby outings. What's more, quite another problem is afflicting Tom Clancy meets Counter-Strike 'em'up SOCOM. SOCOM was made broadband-only because of its poor performance on a modem, and apparently various modem users have been sneaking into online games (although the article doesn't allude to how, thankfully), causing them to slow down and behave erratically. "Laggers", as they're affectionately and apparently known, zip around the screen uncontrollably and make difficult targets. Something keen Counter-Strike players will doubtless be familiar with. It's difficult to say if and how Sony will deal with the problem of cheaters and unfriendly PS2 online gamers, but it's doubtless a situation Microsoft will be watching like a hawk ahead of its Xbox Live launch date this November. Unfortunately for Sony, without the as-yet-unreleased hard disk, patches are almost totally out of the question. Without years of online gaming experience on their side, most developers will find to their cost over the next few years that cheating is an absolute certainty. And if enough of the code sits on the client side, using a device like an Action Replay to make one's self invincible and so on is more than a mere possibility.

Having trouble with the UT2003 demo released over the weekend? No, unfortunately I can't help you with the process of hauling its 100MB bulk between the narrow bands of your modem cable, but if you're simply having a few operational misfirings, Epic Games' engine developer Tim Sweeney might have the solution for you. To begin with, DirectX 8.1b "needs" to be installed to play it, although this writer is pretty sure he's still running and playing with vanilla DirectX 8.1. Anyway, users of all Microsoft operating systems besides Windows XP can pick that up on Microsoft's DirectX website. Unfortunately for you, XP users, your keenness to upgrade means that Uncle Bill expects a full service pack update from you chaps. Head over to WindowsUpdate and prepare yourself for a long haul if this means you. To counter a few bugs which crept into the demo release, Epic will be offering a small patch for the demo sometime yesterday... according to Tim's Saturday evening update, via the game's auto-updating feature. Other problems which the Epic team has burnt the midnight oil quashing this past weekend include a server-side browser fix, and the chaps have also moved the master server list to a much faster machine off-site because it was crashing unceremoniously under the burden of a worldwide UT2003 rampage. As ever, we're told, you can submit bugs to ut2003bugs@epicgames.com, and a number already submitted will be fixed by the first patch or added to the list of things to fix. Finally, Epic has erected a page dedicated to frequently asked questions. Related Feature - UT2003 demo released

Red Faction was one of the first decent shooters to emerge on PlayStation 2, pipping TimeSplitters to the 'best of genre' accolade at the time. Of course, with 2002 came Medal of Honor: Frontline, which swept up honours and distinctions wheresoever it bothered to go. Wartime France, it seemed, had won the war over its competition. With TimeSplitters 2 due out later this year though, the crown could swing back to the console's original FPS, but THQ and developer Volition might have something to say about that. They might say "Red Faction II" in fact. And judging from some preview code we've been rocketing around this weekend, they might have a point. After releasing a number of small trailers via the RedFaction2.com website, a huge streamable movie has now been added for your delectation, available in pint-sized narrowband variety for those of you without broadband. Featuring music from Jefferson Airplane and visuals from Volition, this is a good-looking alarm call for those who have yet to sample the Geo-Mod-based shooter. And if you'd rather not stream said movies, our friends at blueyonder have just the solution. You can download the larger movie here (80MB) and the small one here (3MB). Red Faction II is currently due for release mid-November, and preview builds are improving with each passing day. Related Feature - Red Faction II screenshots

Nintendo has told Japanese media that The Legend of Zelda for GameCube will go on sale on December 13th, paving the way for US and European release dates within a few months. Expect importers to go wild about this news later on and offer you extortionate but moderately alluring pre-order deals on a game you really should wait for. She'll mature soon, my pretties, have no fear! To pass the time between now and the game's as-yet-undisclosed European release date, you could write a few love letters in the guise of Link, directed at the young princess in the hope of getting into character. Or, you could run around some local fields with a sharp instrument hacking the greenery down to size in search of hearts. Actually, I suppose there won't be too many at this time of year, so that puts pay to that... Or, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, you could engage in admiration of a clutch of new screenshots we found down the back of the sofa this morning. Related Feature - The Legend of Zelda screenshots

Famitsu, the Japanese gaming news delicatessen, is reporting that Capcom will sport a couple of new Rockman (Mega Man) titles for Nintendo systems at the Tokyo Game Show. One half of the equation will be the latest instalment in the .EXE (Battle Network) series on GBA, and quite literally completing the link will be a new Cube counterpart called .EXE Transmission. Although we couldn't possibly comment on this arriving in Europe, it would be a mighty big surprise if it didn't. The Battle Network series of games, for those who haven't heard of them, focus on Mega Man's fight to track down and kill an evil electronic virus. He does this by chasing it through various sections of his home where it infests electronic equipment. He sends in his little buddy to sort it out, and you play both sections. The GBA Battle Network games have so far met with a fairly warm reception from critics and fans bored of the traditional eight-levels-plus-boss formula. Once the TGS is out of the way, expect to hear more about both new titles. Related Feature - Showtime in Japan, TGS 2002

I'm probably the worst candidate to review Beach Life. In fact, any of the editorial staff at Eurogamer would be a bad choice - spending our spare time in the company of lager swilling louts and avoiding brawls on a sun kissed beach somewhere in the Mediterranean is not our idea of fun... We get in enough of a state at Christmas parties in Brighton [my head still hurts -Ed]. However, in an exit poll conducted at the clubs and bars I frequent, I was voted the reviewer most likely to hold his drink, and so I get to design package holidays with Eidos' latest peculiarity, Beach Life. The others are off to Spain on the company card to build up their stamina. Apparently.

Games which receive as much hype as Turok has inevitably fail to live up to expectations. Somewhere along the line, they slip up and disappoint, and however great the sum of their parts, they fail to capitalise on all the attention and excitement surrounding them. In Turok's case though, Acclaim never really gave themselves a chance. Instead of being a resoundingly good game with a few crippling problems, Turok is crippled by poor design and a lack of innovation, and sadly it's just not much fun to play.