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Given how much hype TOCA Race Driver has enjoyed during its relatively short spell of 15 months in development, I doubt many of you are coming to this review ignorant of the premise or confused by the concept. Nevertheless, those of you as-yet uninitiated need remember only two things: this is the sequel to those rightly revered TOCA games on the PlayStation, and this time it's found a plot.

Bethesda have confirmed that work is underway on an expansion pack for their epic role-playing game Morrowind. Subtitled Tribunal, the add-on slots into the original game, allowing you to take part in its quests at any point in the main adventure. New features include the city of Mournhold, where you can meet the god-kings Almalexia and Sotha Sil, two members of the eponymous Tribunal, as well as new monsters, weapons, armour and dungeons. Best of all, the expansion will make some much needed improvements to the journal, which was one of the major weakpoints of the original game. Players will henceforth be able to sort journal entries by quest and filter out active or completed quests, which should make keeping track of the dozens of jobs available to you that much easier. Tribunal will be released in November, with Ubi Soft once again handling European distribution for the title. We're already stroking our beards in anticipation. Related Feature - Morrowind review

Are you stuck at the office on this fine evening, with nothing to do but lament the passing of time as you perform some menial task, which could quite clearly wait until Monday? Want something to alleviate the boredom and revitalise your deflated cerebrum? Fortunately, Eidos has just the tonic for your poor, neglected soul, in the shape of a lively TimeSplitters 2 trailer just released today on their website. This 31.4MB monster is also available in a streamable version, suitable for modem and broadband users, from the very same location. As they rightly point out, TS2 is one of this autumn's most eagerly anticipated shooters, and as they also rightly point out, this video reinforces the point. If you haven't played TimeSplitters 2 yet (the demo was available in goodie bags at PlayStation Experience, and sits on the cover of the latest Official PS2 Magazine here in the UK), then all you need to know can be uncovered in our hands-on preview of the game from earlier this year. What this video does is introduce us to other sections of the game; the Chicago and Paris levels specifically, and they look just as sprawling, colourful and action-packed as the well-charted Siberian Dam level, which harked us all the way back to GoldenEye - a game TS2 developer Free Radical had more than a significant hand in during a past life at Rare. It also showcases a few more seconds of multiplayer action, and even without an online aspect this is shaping up to give the likes of Halo multiplayer a serious run for their money. Related Feature - TimeSplitters 2 hands-on preview (PS2)

As the yanks are gradually realising, the obligatory $39.99 PS2 network adapter is a bit of a misnomer for those keen to get online. A number of third party USB Ethernet adapters are quite sufficient, reports indicate, although we've yet to see a proper list. However, Sony does reserve the right to make it quite impossible to use them at a later date. In the meantime though, those of you in the US of A with a USB NIC to your name needn't blow $80 to get your SOCOM. Half should do the trick. Of course, it's impossible to say how this will affect SCEE's plans for PS2 online, because there would first have to be some.

Microsoft has given itself the right to scan for and block modchipped Xbox consoles from using the Xbox Live online gaming service. According to a 14-page user agreement and privacy notice supplied with beta kits, "Xbox Live may only be accessed with an unmodified, except for Microsoft authorised repairs and upgrades, Xbox video game console. Any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute or use for other purposes either the hardware or software of this system is strictly prohibited." Furthermore, "Microsoft may retrieve information from the Xbox used to log on to Xbox Live as necessary to operate and protect the security of Xbox Live, and to enforce this Agreement," a clause that Microsoft will use to keep your Xbox up to date with software patches and their ilk, it says, but which leaves the door wide open for broader measures, particularly in line with the above prohibition notice. This is good news for those of you who plan to walk the straight and narrow though, because Microsoft intends to use its rights to protect the network's security and to ensure a cheat-free environment. A definite advantage over the PS2 online service, which seems to be relying on the good nature of cheat-device makers to avoid cheating scenarios. As a Microsoft spokesperson told News.com, "The language in the Xbox Live user agreement leaves the door open in order for us to protect the security of our platform. Our goal is to provide our users with secure, consistent and fair online game play..." "Microsoft reserves the right to take legal action against anyone who tries to modify the Xbox for the purpose violating the intellectual property of our partners or of Microsoft." Bearing in mind that every single Xbox modchip in existence allow the use of illegal software, MS is quite well protected in this. However, it may have difficulty detecting some of the more exotic devices, such as the Lik-Sang-owned PC-BioXX system, which lets you boot the Xbox with a regular bios or a hacked one to avoid such problems. All in all, it's bad news for modchippers, modchipees and illegal software barons, but it's good news for those of us with unadulterated Xbox systems and a desire to play games in a friendly online environment.

We don't normally highlight this sort of rumour, but knowing our import hungry readers, we felt it best to give you the proverbial "heads-up", just in case. According to US-based National Console Support, the Japanese GameCube modem adapter may not work with US consoles. It's difficult to say where the problem lies - the non-specific rumour was borne of Japanese suppliers, concerned that US-based importers might not want their massive bulk shipments of PSO Episodes I & II if said rumour turns out to be true. And fair play to them! I certainly wouldn't. NCS has immediately confirmed that it will accept order cancellations in the event that the modem is unusable on US GameCubes, and other importers will presumably do the same. We'll let you know when we hear more about this one. Related Feature - Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II preview (Cube)

Forget dog tags, forget identity marketing, SCi are giving gamers the chance to appear in digital form in The Great Escape. Based on the classic war movie of the same name, the game will see you breaking out of Stalag Luft III and making for the border in trains, buses and (of course) motorbikes. And you could be a part of the action, as developers Pivotal Games are looking for ten males aged between 25 and 55 to have their faces mapped onto in-game characters. You could end up as a German officer, an allied POW or .. a train conductor. Ooooh. Regardless of their role in the game though, the ten lucky winners will also receive a free copy of the game when it's released. All you have to do for your shot at gaming immortality is to take a photograph of your face, save it as a jpeg no bigger than 250Kb, and then mail it to faces@sci.co.uk before Friday 13th September. Good luck!

It's not really for wimps, but Run Like Hell is certainly something we've always felt was missing from survival horror. After all, if you were faced with a pack of marauding zombies and had only a pitiful swiping knife to your name, you would not stand there backed into a corner attempting to split their heads open, would you? You would run. Like a girl, probably, in search of the nearest exit - mission objectives be damned. Interplay's RLH has now gone gold, and that means that it should be with us shortly - current estimates suggest sometime in October. Unlike its contemporaries (well, actually, every bit like them), you are one man separated from the viciously decimated populace of your environment - in this case, a deep space mining station - and a pack of nasty aliens is hunting you down with a view to exterminating you. Your job is to thwart their plans without losing your head. To get an idea of what running like hell feels like, you should investigate a recent batch of screenshots. Related Feature - Run Like Hell screenshots

Summer is officially over today, with the recent lull in new releases ended by a veritable flood of big name games - good, bad and just plain ugly. Nintendo fans deprived of extreme sports titles in the last couple of months can rejoice, as the excellent Aggressive Inline has now arrived on both GameCube and GameBoy Advance. A fresh arrival on the Xbox today is Turok Evolution, bringing the dinosaur fixated first person shooter series to a new generation of consoles having been mired down on the N64 for the last few years. With tasty graphics, over-the-top weapons and the chance to fly a chaingun-toting pterodactyl, it should be a lot of fun. Our review copy just arrived, so we'll let you know next week whether or not it lives up to expectations. The PlayStation 2 version of the game is also now available, although Cube owners will have to wait until later in the month before going all Jurassic. The PlayStation 2 is (as usual) the busiest of the console platforms, with a flood of budget re-releases and a few brand new games as well. Stuntman finally makes it to Europe today, although early impressions aren't entirely positive. Again, we should have a full review soon. Meanwhile Eidos' popular tactical action game Commandos 2 has made its long awaited console debut on the PS2, with a new direct control system to replace the point and click tomfoolery of the PC original. Even PC owners aren't left out this week, with two big titles emerging on to store shelves. Mafia is a kind of Grand Theft Auto 3 meets The Untouchables affair, although sadly it's let down by numerous graphical and gameplay flaws. If you can look past these there is a good game under there somewhere, but it all proved too frustrating for me to stomach. On a lighter note, Beach Life is now available, giving you the chance to relive your summer holidays by building your own island resort, complete with leering builders, smelly toilets, half-built hotels and food poisoning. Lovely. New Releases - CubeAggressive InlineGBA Aggressive Inline PCBeach LifeLargo WinchMafia Budget - Age Of Empires Gold Budget - Combat Flight Simulator Budget - Dark Reign 2 Budget - Desperados Budget - Mat Hoffman Pro BMX Budget - Midtown Madness Budget - Supercar Street Challenge PSXLargo Winch Budget - Atlantis: The Lost Empire Budget - Formula 1 2001 Budget - Monsters Inc Budget - Syphon Filter 3 PS2Commandos 2Largo WinchStuntmanTurok Evolution UFC Throwdown Budget - Army Men: Sarge's Heroes Budget - Heroes Of Might & Magic Budget - International Cue Club Budget - Warriors Of Might & Magic XboxBruce Lee: Quest Of The DragonTurok EvolutionRelated Feature - UK Release Date List

Sega has been polishing its product launch boots and kicking press releases out the door. In Japanese, natch. According to the Japanese publisher's official websites for Cube and GBA, Sonic Mega Collection (Cube), Sonic Advance 2 and Sega Rally Advance are all set to shuffle into sight in time for a December 19th release date. Don't get too excited though - none of the above even has a US release date at the moment, let alone European, and Infogrames were frightened beyond comprehension when we probed them about the triplets earlier on. Fortunately for the fleet of credit, the GBA pairing will function perfectly adequately on a GBA from any region; so wily importers should keep their eyes on the usual channels for pre-order wheelings and dealings. If you're lucky, Sonic Advance 2 may well turn out to have an English language option from the first screen anyway, as with its predecessor, and Sega Rally isn't the trickiest game to understand, whatever your dialect. Sonic Mega Collection on the other hand would be worth waiting for in your native tongue, even if you do have a Japanese Cube. After all, it's a compendium of seven Sonics from across the ages, and a US or PAL version is bound to seem a lot more hospitable. Related Feature - Sonic Mega Games

Zelenhgorm, described in our recent preview as "the weirdest game I have ever played", is nearing release. The good news is that it will be available to purchase online from Monday September 9th. If you were hoping to see the game on shop shelves though, the bad news is that it may be some time before that happens. Developers Moloto broke off their publishing deal with Software Abroad a few weeks ago, and it's not certain now when the game will be released to retail. Anybody who pre-ordered the game through Software Abroad will still get their copy of the game, but Moloto are now talking to other publishers and distributors about getting Zelenhgorm on to store shelves in the US, Europe and Australia. Hopefully we'll have more information on its status in the near future. Related Feature - Zelenhgorm preview

The Xbox isn't exactly short on mecha games, from Microsoft's own Mech Assault and the frankly ridiculous Japanese effort Tekki (complete with spine-crushing custom controller) to fast-paced action games like Rage's Gunmetal and Phantagram's Phantom Crash. With the focus firmly on fast-paced deathmatch style shooting and eye candy overload rather than hardcore simulation, Phantom Crash is all about big guns, fancy visual effects and gorgeous smoke trails. The basic concept behind the game is simple - a variety of big stompy robots (known as Scoobees) go head-to-head in derelict Tokyo as part of some kind of futuristic spectator sport, and it's up to you to make sure that your robot emerges from the arena victorious. Prize money from these battles can be used to upgrade your Scoobee with better weapons and equipment, and you can even buy more music to listen to on your robot's CD changer, with a wide range of superb tracks from various Japanese bands on offer, including everything from slick drum 'n' bass to dirty industrial music. Phantom Crash is due out in the UK on Xbox this November, with a PC version (including 16 player LAN support) to follow soon afterwards. In the meantime we have a number of goodies to keep you occupied, in the form of a brand new trailer for the game and clips from several songs taken from the game's soundtrack.

Project Nomads is the latest promising title to emerge from German publisher CDV, mixing action and strategy in an eye-catching aerial setting made up of the rocky remains of a shattered planet. It certainly looks great, but how does it play? Well, here's your chance to find out for yourself, as an English language demo version is now available, weighing in at just shy of 120Mb. Thanks to those lovely folks at the blueyonder gaming service the file is now available for download right here on EuroGamer. If you don't have the bandwidth to download the demo, the good news is that the full version of the game should be out in the UK in October. Related Feature - Project Nomads interview

With Pro Evolution Soccer 2 due out in November, Konami is showing off the game in the best possible way: by getting you to play it. Having joined forces with GAME and Dennis Publishing, Konami is on a quest to find Britain's greatest PES2 player and give him a stadium-load of dosh. Beginning this September 30th, 50 GAME stores up and down the land from Glasgow to Plymouth will showcase a special exclusive early demo of the game (which was 80% complete at ECTS) and register the scores of players via a form available in-store. Anyone pre-ordering PES2 from GAME for £1.99 (redeemable against the full price, which is still TBC), will also receive a copy of the demo to take away with them. The highest scores registered during a fortnight's play will see players notified, and the best 128 will go forward to regional finals to be held in GAME's Blackburn, Nottingham, Bristol and Oxford Street branches between October 28th and 31st. Regional finalists are guaranteed a goodie bag containing a copy of C&VG, and a selection of UMBRO merchandise, presumably T-shirts and the like. The grand final will be held in November, and the ultimate winner is set to receive £1,000... worth of GAME vouchers, and UMBRO gear including new Xai football boots and training wear. Not to mention a copy of every game that Konami release during the year, and a trophy to lord over all their friends. Runners-up will walk away with UMBRO gear. We'll be entering, so watch your backs. [Ah, you're all talk -Ed] Related Feature - Winning Eleven 6 hands-on preview

Capcom is working on a 3D beat'em'up according to reports from Japan (and a batch of screenshots we managed to uncover in a similar region). Capcom Fighting All Stars as the game is known, is scheduled for its first public showing during the AM (Amusement Machine) arcade show later this month. Few details are known about the game at this stage, but the screenshots tell their own story to an extent. The character models are extremely chunky, smoothly contoured and detailed, right down to Ryu's red headband and belt flapping in the wind. Environments seem to lack the sparkle and distinctiveness of their 2D counterparts at the moment, but perhaps Capcom doesn't plan to lure us in on another nostalgia trip this time - we'll give them a chance to prove themselves. The fighting roster is rumoured to include everybody from the Street Fighter chaps and chapettes to the ranks of SNK's various fighters, and even other Capcom assets like Mega Man and, ulp, the Resident Evil crew. Hopefully some strings can be pulled somewhere and we'll even get the Marvel complement, but I wouldn't bet on it at the moment. Oi, Fighting Vipers and Plasma Sword, get back in the goddamn corner! Anyway, nine characters have been confirmed at the time of writing: Ryu, Chun Li, Strider Hiryu, Mike Haggar, Akira and Nash (Charlie outside Japan) return, and DD, Ingrid and Rook (Luke) will appear as new characters. We wait with bated breath to learn the game's console fate - another Xbox exclusive perhaps? Or a bankable PS2 release? We should know more soon. Related Feature - Capcom Fighting All Stars screenshots (arcade)

LucasArts is still beavering away on Star Wars Bounty Hunter, one of the best-looking things to come out of Episode II besides Natalie Portman, but the developer issued a press release yesterday to remind us all that Skywalker Sound is handling the audio aspect of Jango's adventure. And slice my arm off if they haven't finished. In announcing their completion of Bounty Hunter's 'sound design', which consists largely of raw materials from Ben Burtt's Star Wars sound catalogue, the illustrious post-production audio experts had some nice things to say about the games industry. "This project was a lot of fun for us, and we plan on pursuing other ventures in this market," veepee and general manager Glenn Kiser enthused. LucasArts shot back compliments, but failed to say when the game is due out on its chosen platforms of PS2 and GameCube. Fortunately, we know that it has a November release date in the US, and we'd be surprised if Activision - LucasArts' European handler - wait longer than they have to in bringing it to us. Related Feature - Star Wars Bounty Hunter screenshots (Cube)

Xbox launch title Halo remains the best-selling game on the console to date, shifting well over a million copies worldwide. Almost everyone who has an Xbox has a copy of the game, and the few that didn't already own it have kept it permanently glued to the top of the Xbox top ten here in the UK since March. So to say that the sequel is eagerly anticipated would be a masterpiece of understatement. Our first glimpse of the sequel came in the form of a handful of "screenshots" last month, but now we've got a better idea of what to expect thanks to a two minute trailer showing what appears to be excerpts from the opening cinematic. Picking up where the original game left off, Halo 2 sees your battleship returning to Earth to find the planet under full scale assault by a Covenant battle fleet. Naturally it's up to you to save the world. It's all very rousing stuff, with gorgeous (but presumably pre-rendered) visuals and a lovely orchestral score, ending with a spectacular shot of the Master Chief doing the ultimate HALO jump while vast explosions dot the surface of the planet far below. It might not tell us much about the actual in-game action we can look forward to second time round, but it's still well worth a look. Grab it from one of the following sites -

Real-time strategy games generally fall somewhere on an axis between two poles. At one end you have the stylised combat of Command & Conquer and its ilk; at the other, the insane realism and micromanagement of Close Combat, veering into the realms of tactical action with Commandos. Sudden Strike 2 plants its flag firmly on the realistic end of the pitch, but can it keep fans of the original title satisfied, and perhaps more importantly, will it attract new players to the series?

Capcom's Street Fighter franchise is about to strike again, with the (slightly later than anticipated) arrival of Street Fighter Alpha 3 on GameBoy Advance this November. As you would expect, the game features a wide range of characters (over thirty, including three new ones), a variety of gameplay modes (versus, training, "dramatic battle" and others), three fighting styles to master and all manner of special moves, combos, blocks and counter-attacks to indulge in. Having sold humpteen million units across virtually every console format since the year dot, European publisher Ubi Soft will be hoping that this latest installment in the series translates smoothly to the world of handheld gaming. While we wait to find out how the conversion process went, why not have a squint at these fresh new screenshots of the game in action... Related Feature - Street Fighter Alpha 3 screenshots

Publisher CDV has announced that the UK version of Divine Divinity has now gone gold and is on schedule to arrive in stores on Friday 13th September (unlucky for some). Designed by Belgium's Larian Studios, Divine Divinity is an epic role-playing game and a strong contender for the Daftest Title Of The Year award. Featuring a vast fantasy world to explore, hundreds of skills, spells and items to amass, and over a hundred NPCs to interact with, it's pitched somewhere between the fast paced hack and slash of Diablo and the more involved storylines and dialogue of Baldur's Gate. Our first couple of hours with Divine Divinity have proven quite entertaining so far, but given the sheer scale of the game it could be some time before we have a full review for you... Related Feature - Divine Divinity preview

Arguably the most agreeable thing Square has done in ages, developing a brand new Final Fantasy Tactics game for the GBA has brought with it a myriad technical questions from cautious fans about the ins and outs, and since we first caught a glimpse of the stunning game artwork and plot basics, we've learnt a bit more about how the various game mechanics will operate. However, with these details come more and more questions. Damn you, Square! The first bit is the Judgement System. Quite simply, a judge will determine the victor of a battle, which suggests that conflict isn't quite as finite as with other Fantasies, RPGs, action games and virtually anything else we can think of. Clearly the rules of chivalry will be alive and well in the lands of FFTA. The Kuran System, however, is a bit easier to get your head round. A Kuran is a multi-purpose handyman, apparently, and in FFTA the player can become one and take on a number of jobs. Lastly, we found out some more about the enigmatic Region Create System - FFTA does not feature a pre-ordained world map. At this we made one of those deliciously onomatopoeic, quizzical noises which doesn't work on paper. We should have waited for the next bit. The reason there's no world map is that the player can create the world map on his or her own. Yah, we get it. Honest. Related Feature - GBA's FF Tactics is sequel not port

Take-Two's "mobster simulator", the soon-to-be released PC title Mafia, is heading to PlayStation 2 and Xbox sometime during 2003 according to the publisher. Then again, Mafia release dates, eh? Not an exact science. Take-Two has also named the PC version of the game the proverbial Godfather of both titles. Related Feature - Mafia preview (PC)

Nintendo of America is hoping to elevate that loveable pink blob Kirby to the status of his 20-year-old compatriot Mario and the likes of Pokémon, with the aid of a ten-million-dollar campaign over the next years. NOA's efforts kick off with a new Saturday morning cartoon, "Kirby: Right Back at Ya!", which debuts on Fox in the States on September 14th at 9am and 11am. The show has been described by one of my editorial colleagues as "what would happen if the creators of Pokémon dropped far too many tabs of LSD". Of course, the idea behind the campaign is to remind the consumer that Kirby is more than a pink blob. Actually, he's a pink blob in training. Having crash-landed on the planet Popstar, Kirby becomes sworn protector of Dream Land, where all the happy dreams in the universe originate. As you may recall from the days of his wonderful GameBoy adventures and his behaviour in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he can inhale his enemies' special powers and regurgitate them in his defence. He doesn't say much, which is probably just as well, but he's a force for good, and we should all know it. There's a lot more to Nintendo's $10m investment, but you can probably guess most of it. Toys, food sponsorship, lots of branding and of course games, including the Kirbster's forthcoming GBA adventure. The reason for this substantial investment? We'd hazard a guess that it has something to do with Kirby's creator Satoru Iwata, who was himself elevated recently. To the position of president of Nintendo...

Bandai, a name synonymous with Digimon, Tamagotchi and Power Rangers, and, on the plus side, with the various faces of Gundam, has placed its standard alongside Nintendo's in the battle for console supremacy. As reports on Bloomberg and elsewhere attest, Bandai plans to develop games for Nintendo GameCube starting this year, with the first due to ship in Japan this November. Although it's unclear what the European implications are just yet, we quite like the idea of beating up Power Rangers and Digimon characters in our vision of Super Smash Bros Melee 2.

Liverpool-based Rage has had its fair share of problems in the last couple of years, with boss Paul Finnegan admitting earlier this year that the company needs "a big winner" to turn things around. Luckily then their line-up for the next few months includes a few potential hits, most notably Rocky, which is coming to all next-generation consoles as well as the GameBoy Advance. The idea of basing a game on Sylvester Stallone's series of boxing movies might seem a bit odd considering that many younger gamers don't have a clue who Rocky and Apollo Creed are, but we're happy to report that the resulting game is a lot of fun in two player mode. There's a wide range of nicely animated characters from the films to control, some evil looking facial deformation technology to bruise and bloody your opponent's ugly mug, and plenty of scope for ducking and diving once you get to grips with the controls. Inline skating game Rolling is also looking promising, although it now has to scale up to the lofty heights achieved by the genre-defining Aggressive Inline if it's to truly win our hearts. Elsewhere things were a bit more patchy. Lamborghini (on PS2 and Xbox) certainly looks suitably pretty in motion, but the handling and physics felt a bit odd and we never quite connected with it. Presumably it's still being tweaked though, and if Rage can make the gameplay match the graphics we should be in for a treat. The big disappointment though was Twin Caliber, an on-rails shooter whose major innovation is that you control two guns separately using the two analogue pads and a pair of shoulder buttons. It's a nice idea, but actually mastering the system takes some time, and the whole gory atmosphere of the game is let down by your character, who looks like an extra from The Village People and frantically jerks his arms around as you aim his guns. While this was quite amusing, we can only hope that the animations in the final game will look somewhat better.

In an unusual move, the founder of California's Presto Studios has apparently decided that he's had enough, and is now in the process of shutting down the company he co-founded way back in 1991. While many developers and publishers have gone to the wall in the past, Presto say that money isn't the issue here. Indeed, the company's last game (Myst III: Exile) has already sold over a million copies worldwide and is about to be released on the PlayStation 2. Their next release is Whacked!, one of the launch titles for Microsoft's Xbox Live service. So if the company is making money, what lies behind the closure? Well, CEO Michael Kripalani told his local newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, that "we were at the point where we had so many expenses and such a high payroll that we started to lose passion in the games". Several future projects had failed to find a publisher, and Ubi Soft are reported to be looking elsewhere for someone to develop a fourth Myst. According to the newspaper report, Kripalani blames spiraling costs and the gaming industry's obsession with sequels and franchises, which has made it harder for independent teams such as Presto to find funding, particularly when it comes to PC games. Of course, Presto's output has been somewhat hit and miss over the years, from adventure games such as their popular Journeyman Project trilogy and Myst III to the middling Star Trek cash-in Hidden Evil and the pits of Stephen King's F13. With the company's future beyond Whacked! uncertain and the team having difficulty coming up with a concept that they could sell to publishers, it perhaps makes sense for them to bow out "on a high note" rather than carry on working in an industry that has changed almost beyond recognition in the last decade. As for Michael Kripalani, apparently he's going to use some of his earnings from Myst III to travel the world and "figure out .. what inspires me".

With its run at the Barbican Gallery in London set to end on September 15th, the Game On exhibition will be moving up to Scotland for the remainder of the year. The show, which covers 40 years of videogames history from Pong and Space War to the Xbox and GameCube, will be taking over the Royal Museum in Edinburgh between October 18th and February 2nd before a possible overseas tour. As well as the wide range of classic games that were included in the exhibition during its stay in London, new goodies including a playable demo of Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness will be added to the original line-up, and the museum will also be hosting a conference during November looking at the potential use of computer games as an educational tool. For more details, check the National Museums Of Scotland website. Related Feature - Game On!

World War II: Frontline Command is getting ever closer to release, with Codemasters touting the game as "the first World War II RTS created using a true 3D engine". The development team at The Bitmap Brothers is going to have to hurry things up a bit if they're going to achieve that feat though, as the similarly titled Frontline Attack: War Over Europe is also due out in the coming weeks, built around the 3D engine that powered the Earth 2150 franchise. Similarities between the two games pretty much end there though. Where Frontline Attack is going for the shotgun approach by covering every front and providing Soviet, German and Allied campaigns, Frontline Command is focusing firmly on the final year of the war, starting with the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and taking you through to the final drive into Germany. Thanks to a slight break from reality, Command's main campaign will end with you taking on elite German troops armed with experimental weapons and vehicles as you head for Hitler's mountain stronghold. And while Attack offers a fairly traditional real-time strategy experience, but without any base building or resource management (in the single player campaigns, anyway), Codemasters are promising that Command will take a more personal approach to the war, with the focus on squad tactics and taking care of your men, whose morale will affect their performance in combat. It will be interesting to see how The Bitmap Brothers handle this, as we could see it being quite annoying to have your men suddenly freeze or stop taking orders in the middle of combat because their morale was too low. Either way, with both games due out this autumn we should know soon which of the two will win the race to the shelves and which is the more entertaining package. In the meantime, we have several new screenshots of Frontline Command in action to tide you over until one or both of these games is actually released. Related Feature - Frontline Command screenshots

Ubi Soft has signed a deal to distribute budget versions of several classic Microsoft games in Europe, Canada, Australia, Latin America and parts of Asia. But not the UK. Those of you on the mainland can look forward to Ubi Soft relaunching Age Of Empires: Gold Edition, Combat Flight Simulator, Midtown Madness, Crimson Skies and Starlancer amongst other titles. The whole range should be available some time this autumn. Related Feature - Crimson Skies review

NVIDIA's unified driverset received a speed bump recently in the shape of Detonator 40. As with previous releases, Detonator 40 will work with virtually any NVIDIA card you could possibly own, and updates multi-screen, image rotation and other functionality to the latest versions, as well as making those critical performance tweaks the Detonators are known for. The drivers are available from NVIDIA's website, and according to articles like this one performance comparisons with previous releases are quite favourable.