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The first teaser trailer for the forthcoming House Of The Dead movie adaptation is now available from the official website. It's fairly low resolution, but features the best part of a minute of early footage from the movie, which only started filming a few weeks ago. Included are several shots of the cast running around in the woods being chased by leaping zombies, as well as some gunplay, a couple of high-kicking fight scenes and a fairly modest explosion. Nothing too enlightening then, and we only get a brief glimpse of Jurgen Prochnow doing his "crusty old sea captain" act (which looks suitably crusty if not particularly old), but if you want to get a feel for what the producers are up to over there in Vancouver, the trailer only weighs in at a couple of megabytes. Related Feature - Movie Of The Dead

European gamers rarely have reason to bicker amongst themselves. Well, unless you count this ongoing procession of aggressive tirades packed full of blinkered gibberish about whichever format the individual purchased which we're being forced to endure. But on the whole we're all a friendly, sociable bunch, with common problems - inexplicable release dates, PAL conversion problems, and publisher decisions which mean fantastic games never make it farther than Japan and the USA.

Kessen II is the latest in a seemingly endless succession of Koei games (very) loosely based on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. This was a time of war and chaos, with the Han dynasty in ruins and the rival kingdoms of Wu, Shu and Wei battling it out for supremacy.

Bioware. Star Wars. Xbox. Combine these three things and you have the makings of a truly stupendous videogame. The masters of the Western RPG get to play with an uncharted area of the Star Wars timeline using some of the most impressive console hardware ever conceived, and with the game due to hit the world market by the end of 2002 you can forget about Xbox failing. It can't.

Syrian game developers have joined the virtual war on terror, with the release of a game called Under Ash. According to a report from BBC News Online, the game allows players to take on the role of a young Palestinian called Ahmad who joins the intifada by throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Later on you get to shoot Israeli settlers occupying your people's land, rescue wounded Palestinians, and eventually take on the might of the Israeli army along the buffer zone in south Lebanon. Far from glorifying terrorism though, the game actually penalises you for killing innocent civilians (although presumably the developers didn't afford the same protection to armed settlers) and there's no way to win the war, a sad reflection on the reality of the current situation in the Middle East. "In our modern history there is no solution for the conflicts and the game is some kind of a mirror", one of the designers told the BBC. "There is no solution for Ahmad's case. At the last level of the game there will be no major victory or reclaiming lands." Apparently gamers in Syria have been complaining that the game is too hard, but presumably that's the point. There's no way to fight your way to victory, slaughtering civilians doesn't get you anywhere, and if you're killed it's game over. A bit like life really. Related Feature - Operation Patriotic Video Game : America's Army

Although the GameBoy Advance wasn't really designed with 3D in mind, some developers have been meddling with pushing polygons on the hand-held. Some of the more impressive demonstrations of the GBA's capabilities we've seen to date have come from AGB Games, who have been working on their WFR 3D engine for some time now. The latest screenshots and movie footage to emerge from the developer show a modified version of the opening level from Quake running on the GBA, with AGB claiming it runs relatively smoothly at 15 to 60 frames per second. Obviously it's far from a pixel perfect conversion - the architecture has been simplified somewhat, the lighting looks more like Doom than Quake, and AGB need to work on their texture alignment skills. But the important thing is that the layout is instantly recognisable as the difficulty selection map from the beginning of Quake. Whether the engine is capable of recreating some of the more complex areas of Quake remains to be seen, and we're not sure exactly how you would go about effectively controlling a true 3D shooter with only four buttons and the D-pad at your disposal, but it does show that the GBA is capable of far more than the primitive flat-shaded polygons we've seen to date, and AGB are already talking about the possibility of creating 3D shooters and Wipeout-style racing games on the GameBoy.

In one of the more unusual game-related deaths we've come across, Thai police are apparently blaming Bomberman for the suicide of a twelve year old girl. The girl is reported to have become frustrated at not being able to win the game, and hung herself after another losing session on the game with her sister. "Siriwan often complained that she was unable to finish a game", a local police chief is quoted as saying. "She must have been so stressed out and frustrated." Meanwhile in Hong Kong, a seventeen year old gamer was found slouched unconscious over his keyboard in a cyber café in the early hours of Wednesday morning, having collapsed during an all-night Diablo II marathon. Friends who found him were unable to revive him, and the boy was declared dead on arrival at the local hospital. Doctors suggested he might have been effected by flashing lights on the computer screen, presumably as a result of epilepsy. And finally, we're still waiting for police to make the obvious link between a security van hold-up in France earlier today and Grand Theft Auto 3. According to a report on BBC News 24 this lunchtime, the overambitious robbers forced the van off the road and then got the drivers to open the safe .. by threatening them with a rocket launcher. It's a mad world out there.

There's no shortage of games set during World War II at the moment, from strategy (including Sudden Strike 2 and Blitzkrieg) and simulation (IL-2 Sturmovik and Panzer Front Bis) to all-out action (Medal of Honour and Castle Wolfenstein). One genre that has largely escaped this madness to date is the role-playing game, but all of that is about to change with Another War.

Behave! Konami has officially revealed that the scenes of Solid Snake skateboarding around the Big Shell will not appear in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. "Mr. Kojima is always doing cheeky things like this," a Konami spokesperson told C&VG. Snake skateboarding is actually part of Konami's other title, Evolution Skateboarding, but it has not been revealed whether or not the scenes of the Big Shell will appear there. One has to wonder what else in the Substance trailer we so warmly received is simply spliced in from another game, or worse, whether some of it will actually appear in the full game at all. Related Feature - Konami releases Substantial video

There's more good news for PDA owners today, as ZioSoft releases its PocketPC version of Ultima Underworld. A truly groundbreaking role-playing game for its time, Ultima Underworld featured huge dungeons to explore from a first person perspective, with graphics that made Wolfenstein 3D (released the same year) look positively primitive by comparison. Beyond the now rather dated visuals, the game also offered a wide variety of monsters to kill, rival factions to interact with, a novel rune stone based magic system, and a princess (well, baron's daughter if you're going to be pedantic) to rescue. If you fancy a little palm-top nostalgia, you can now buy Ultima Underworld from ZioSoft for $29.95.

3DO have signed up British developer Eutechnyx to develop a new street racing game for them, due for release some time next summer on the ubiquitous "next generation consoles". Eutechnyx, based in the wilds of northern England (Gateshead, to be precise), are something of a motor sports specialist, working on Le Mans 24 Hours, 007 Racing and F1 World Grand Prix 2000 in recent years. With their latest project, imaginatively code-named "Street Racing", MD Brian Jobling is promising to "go beyond driving superfast cars" by giving players "the opportunity to experience the whole street racing culture". The mind boggles. "Eutechnyx really has racing games down - it's all they do", 3DO bigwig Jeff Cretcher helpfully pointed out. "Their highly specialized expertise allows us to concentrate on what's really important - making a great game." 3DO? A great game? Shurely shome mishtake? Related Feature - Le Mans 24 Hours review

Independent developer Complex Games is hard at work on a new multiplayer action game called Dungeon : Gladiator. Based around their own modular game engine, known as Multiplex, it promises to offer "grand scale gladiatorial combat", with the ability to customise your character, his abilities, appearance and fighting styles to suit your tastes. As well as the familiar duel, deathmatch and king of the hill gameplay modes, more intriguing sounding options such as Skulls, Chariot and Fortress will also be on offer, while an online ranking system will track the action and let you measure yourself against your foes. Gladiator is still at a fairly early stage in development and the in-game models we've seen so far are a bit rough compared to the arenas in which they're fighting, but the game does show promise. Complex are also planning a single player version of the game known as Dungeon : Shades Below, with a fantasy horror setting inspired by the likes of Dante and HP Lovecraft. More details on both games can be found on the Complex Games website. Related Feature - Dungeon : Gladiator screenshots

Apart from promoting its soon-to-be-released wireless controller, WaveBird, and its mobile monitor peripheral, Nintendo also used E3 to show off a prototype of its new keyboard / controller hybrid, intended for use with games like Phantasy Star Online Episodes I and II. Reports suggest that the controller is the same as the normal GameCube controller, with a miniature keyboard between the left analogue stick / D-pad and the C-stick / action buttons. The controller will be released in Japan, but Nintendo has yet to confirm whether the controller will be made available elsewhere. Related Feature - Nintendo hops on the mobile bandwagon

A couple of weeks ago Crawfish announced that they were working on GameBoy Advance revamps of several classic Bitmap Brothers games from the company's Amiga days. Not satisfied with this, Crawfish is also planning to launch PDA versions of Chaos Engine, Xenon and Z later this year as part of their new Crawfish ToGo service. Punters will be able to buy and download games directly to their Palm or PocketPC, with the first two titles (Gopher It and Chess ToGo) both launching at just £2.99 a pop. "We've had a fantastic first five years and now we can approach the next five with real anticipation", Crawfish founder Cameron Sheppard beamed. "We've already established ourselves as the premiere GameBoy and mobile developer, now we want to lead the way in Palm and Pocket PC gaming. Despite its enormous growth over the last few years the market has remained largely untapped and we're confident our games are going to be massive hits." Related Feature - GameBoy Gods

Criterion is moving ever closer to announcing its acquisition of MathEngine plc's middleware business. The proposed acquisition is subject to a number of conditions, including obtaining shareholder approval from both parties. The firm's RenderWare package already helps to power games like their own Burnout, and third party successes like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Grand Theft Auto III on the PlayStation 2. MathEngine should help to cement Criterion's position as a major force in console middleware, by helping to divert developer/publisher resources away from expensive engine development and letting them focus on creativity and game design, although in practice, lots of people will just use it to churn out games at a faster rate - a bit cynical, but who can argue with games that actually hit their deadlines? David Lau-Kee, President and CEO of Criterion commented: "we are also continuously searching for ways in which we can further enhance our solutions and future-proof them for the gaming environments of tomorrow." Related Feature - Burnout GameCube review

Nintendo has leapt on the mobile monitor bandwagon this E3, showing off its own adjustable LCD display for the diminutive games console. The official mobile monitor - which lacks a proper name at the moment - is said to provide a crisp image with plenty of colour and no fragmentation or image blurring. Hopefully the eventual product will deal comfortably with the issues of power supply and functionality missed by others. Something portable should be, well, portable. As we've said again and again over the years, official peripherals always seem to work out better (with the Dreamcast and Xbox pads perhaps an exception to the rule), and consumers have a lot more faith in them. Expect this to fly off the shelves if it ever hits them, and if it's reasonably priced. Related Feature - Another LCD panel for a console

Squaresoft has announced a couple of PlayStation 2 games based on Final Fantasy X, to be released within this fiscal year in Japan. Sceptics have cited growing financial pressure on the company as the reason for these uncharacteristic spin-offs, which will expand on the stories of Yuna and Rikku from Final Fantasy X, within the same game engine and world. Depending on what sort of a job the former FFX development team does with these, we can either expect further financial problems for the Japanese RPG giant, or a couple of enjoyable companions to help the time pass before the next single player Final Fantasy, XII appears. Squaresoft's financial report also highlighted changes in the structure of the developer, aimed at reducing costs, with developers moved into divisions rather than freeform teams. Related Feature - Final Fantasy X preview

Grand Theft Auto 3 practically sold the PlayStation 2 single-handed last year, ending a famine of must-have titles in style. But with that exclusive period now over, the console's finest game has finally found its way back to the series' spiritual home on the PC.

When Ubi Soft secured the rights to the products of Tom Clancy's vivid imagination, they went into overdrive with game announcements. After releasing a few screenshots of games in development, it became clear that the multi-platform Splinter Cell was going to be the one to watch.

RoWeb's next LAN party is being sponsored by Ubi Soft, with a £1,000 Ghost Recon tournament amongst the highlights, as well as a chance to take on the real deal, battling it out with British Army personnel in the game. The French publisher is also expected to be showing off their new tactical action sim Rainbow Six : Raven Shield to the 250 punters at the event. And if sneaking around with an assault rifle wearing a balaclava isn't your idea of a good time, attendees will also have the chance to take part in a Superbike 2000 tournament, with a VIP pass to get you into the paddock at the 2002 World Superbike Championship up for grabs. If you fancy taking part, the event is due to kick off in Bicester near Oxford over the weekend of June 14th to 16th - full details on the RoWeb website.

Respected Japanese magazine Famitsu has conducted an interview with Microsoft Japan's Toshiyuki Miyata, concerning the launch of Xbox in the far east and Microsoft's future plans for the system in the region. Miyata-san has confirmed that Microsoft Japan is working on ten titles, and that most of these should be made available before the end of 2002, although details are not currently being released. Unfortunately, Famitsu did not question how many of these titles will be Xbox Live compatible, or what Microsoft's plans are for the service in Japan. Responding to a question about character-driven titles, he told Famitsu that "there's a tendency to imitate other companies by trying to developer trademark characters," and that "I'm more concerned with developing new games which appeal to players." "If a game is high quality, players will embrace it regardless of its main character," he pointed out, adding in jest that "perhaps the main soldier from Halo will end up as our trademark character!" Microsoft Japan is also advising Microsoft in the USA on its domestically developed RPGs, which will be released in Japan as well as the States and Europe. "Potential international appeal isn't a decisive factor in selecting first party games to develop," he said, using horse racing RPG Jockey's Road as a prime example. Microsoft is trying not to flood the Japanese market for the sake of it. Recognising the large number of Western games on the system at the moment, Miyata-san went on. "We're not under any pressure to deliver foreign games," he explained. "Regardless of the popularity of a game in America, if we don't think Japanese players will embrace it, the game won't be released here. Microsoft is keenly aware of Japanese consumers, and the American side understands our perspective on the software issue." Confirming that Microsoft is in this for the long run, he said of the 'console war' that "software is the key. Specifically, unique Xbox-exclusive games are the answer. We must continue releasing as many high quality games as possible."

IGN reports that SN Systems has announced a Network Development Kit (NDK) for Nintendo GameCube, which will allow developers to build online functions into their Cube releases, from the obvious multiplayer battles to more subtle functionality like in-game chat, the infernal buddy lists and even web browsing. The toolkit is said to include a TCP/IP stack that runs on the console, suitable for linking game code to the Internet view both the broadband and modem adapters Nintendo have planned for release. Interested developers should contact SN, and interested gamers should wait and see who dares put it to use first. Related Feature - Xbox Live Demodulated

Valve Software has announced yet another round of patches for Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Updates numbered 1.1.1.0 and 1.5 respectively will be available "in the coming weeks", which in Valve terms means nothing. Team Fortress 2 anybody? Needless to say these will grind the Internet to a halt as everyone and their assorted animals scrambles for the data, but despite only highlighting a number of fixes for both titles and Valve's Ricochet anti-cheating technology, we understand that a new map from Iikka Keranen, de_piranesi, will be included with CS 1.5. Many people have joined forces to promote the downfall of Counter-Strike's online community since the release of version 1.4, but it is still far and away the most popular online first person shooter.

Video footage of Infogrames' V-Rally 3 on the GameBoy Advance indicates that developers are finally pushing the GBA beyond the generally accepted boundaries of Super Nintendo and Mega Drive emulation. Although the quality of first party games and updates on the system has been quite high, many publishers have been keen to cash in on the opportunity to resurrect familiar franchises which never made the jump from 16-bit upwards, and it's only now that we're starting to see technically accomplished games breaking with tradition. Curiously, it's a driving game which first puts distance between GBA graphics and the pinnacles of 16-bit output. V-Rally 3 may not look like RalliSport Challenge, but the developer has the unmistakable staples of the rally game - loud, booming and varied sound effects for everything, the varied, slithery-sliding physics of dirt, tarmac and snow tracks, and realistically modeled vehicles - a combination of elements perhaps conducive to a good game, even if V-Rally hasn't exactly bowled us over in the past. It certainly moves a bit, with plenty of detail on screen and a handsome framerate, albeit with the addition of a certain amount of clipping. You can still see a decent way down the road. Fluid animation, particularly from the in-car view with the driver's hands on the wheel and gear stick, and the bumping up and down of the display helps to inexpensively recreate the feeling of the world rally circuit, at least from the TV spectator's perspective, and the sodden tracks and mud-streaked vehicles of V-Rally 3 should be with us on GBA and PS2 this summer. Although this latest footage of the game has yet to make it out onto the open Internet, IGN has a collection of assets from earlier in the year, which you can view here. Related Feature - V-Rally 3 GBA screenshots

Metroid Prime is not simply a modern day reworking of the formula; it's the same formula applied to a 3D world, and the first step to translating the game was to come up with a believable alternative to the 2D side-scrolling measures of the past. Choosing the first person perspective was brave, but using a visor's eye view and third person sections to roll around in ball form was like a leap of faith.

Football, we understand. Any monkey in a green suit can tell you whether or not the ball has crossed the goal line, and whether that two-footed stud-platter you just served the right back was legitimate or not - in fact we might even suggest employing monkeys as a cost-cutting solution to FIFA's current financial problems - but put that same monkey, or indeed your average European, on a shiny wooden court with a bunch of seven foot men in vests and shorts, and before long he won't know where he is, what he's doing or what his name is.

As well as the now much publicized Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Konami also announced Zone of the Enders 2: Second Runner in its pre-E3 financial report. And this morning, alongside a light-hearted look at MGS2: Substance, the company is also serving up a video of ZOE 2, weighing in at a slightly larger 18Mb. Unfortunately we don't have a direct link for this from Konami, but IGN is currently serving the file from here. Beware though, their Windows Media plugin was clever enough to crash both Netscape 7.0 and IE6, so you might want to get in there, nab the download link and close the browser before it takes over your computer and destroys your life. [Bit melodramatic, maybe? - Ed] At five minutes long you'll have to spend more time with ZOE 2 than you did Substance, and it's a lot more serious, with Orbital Frame Jehuty laying down the storyline. BAHRAM has started armed suppression against Martians, and Martian liberation activities against Earth's oppression have surfaced. BAHRAM's forces are, of course, overwhelming, and Mars falls to them with ease, which is where you come in. Encased in your orbital frame and on cardiopulmonary life support to boot, you have to go in and destroy BAHRAM's military fortress, in much the same ways you went about fighting the battles in the original ZOE. Graphically it looks a lot nicer, reminiscent of the recently released Xbox shooter Gun Valkyrie, but with far more aerial combat in the traditional ZOE style. The graphics in the game were always anime esque, but now it's doubly so, with the sharp angled bodies of the Jehuty and its compatriots brightly coloured and fleet of foot, or jetpack. The whole thing could just be a big interactive CG cartoon by the looks of it, with ornate visuals highlighting every angle and detail of the orbital frames right down to the shimmer of electrical current washing over them, and the game looks to consist of a typically elaborate Japanese storyline, and a stirring soundtrack. If you like big mechs, the idea of martial arts in a mech with MGS2-level presentation, directed by the careful hand of Hideo Kojima, bathed in a graphics engine which looks like a cross between the cel-shaded worlds of Jet Set Radio and the action-packed confines of the original game, then you want to download this video. And if the game delivers in the same way the first one did, we'll be laughing come Christmas when it gets its release. Hopefully with an MGS2: Substance demo.

Here's an amusing little fact for you - my first tentative steps into the world of videogame journalism came at the tender age of nine, when I wrote a fictionalized walkthrough of the first level of Repton for my school magazine. Flash forward some sixteen years and Superior Software's classic BBC Micro platform puzzler is being brought back to life on PDAs and the next generation of Java-compatible mobile phones, courtesy of Masabi. Once again players will take control of the reptile-like hero Repton as he wanders around colourful mazes clearing soil, hoarding diamonds, opening safes, defusing bombs, escaping ghosts and shoving rocks over ledges to crush monsters. A massive 144 levels from the original Repton series will be included in the new mobile version of the game, along with several exclusive new levels designed for the re-release by Repton veterans. Mobile Repton will even include a modern web-based equivalent of the revolutionary editor that shipped with the original BBC Repton games, allowing players to create their own sprites and levels for the game and share them with other users. And you thought mod-making began with Doom. Shame on you. "Repton is Superior Software's highest-selling game series, and gamers continue to contact us asking if any new Repton sequels or conversions are under development", according to Superior Software founder Richard Hanson. "The game is as enjoyable and well-loved today as it has always been, and we are delighted to have made this licensing deal with Masabi to bring Repton to fans new and old, wherever they may wish to play." Expect to see Repton emerging from hibernation this summer. Now all we need is a GameBoy Advance version of Repton to put that upstart Mario in his place...

Konami has released a short video demonstrating Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. Distributed as a 10Mb ASF file, the footage is taken directly from E3 and begins humorously, with a montage of audio lines from the game set to one of the game's haunting low-key themes. "Why are you repeating the same mistake?" and "I knew he had the real thing up his sleeve" were my favourites, but overall the humour is self-deprecating, and it put me in the mood to learn more about the game - the video's ending is also pretty funny. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was announced in a Konami financial report before the trade Expo, and looks set to let players do just about anything they want to do within the confines of the Metal Gear Solid universe. If you fancy playing through the tanker section of the game as Raiden (god help you) then you can, and if you fancy playing through as Snake wearing a tuxedo, that's also an option. In fact, MGS2: Substance is like a toy chest full of action figures and the game's locations are bits of carpet, painted cereal boxes and stacked CD cases - you're making your own game now. Hundreds more VR Missions are promised besides the complement of regular alternate missions (including the option to go back through the game using a ninja sword like a lightsaber, or to play through Snake's bomb-disposal section), and the VR simulator and effects it employs look great. It even appears as though you will be able to play VR-simulated versions of the original MGS single player game. In fact, it looks like someone has hotwired the VR simulator and is using it to teach our poor heroes a lesson, with mountainous soldiers marching about at several hundred metres in height. And of course the highly anticipated skateboarding sections look… interesting. Very Tony Hawk, but then that was to be expected. The skateboarding sections are meant to act as an advert for Konami's new skating title, in which you can also find a playable Solid Snake. Substance is definitely looking less like a cash-in and more like a fairly well thought out expansion and reinvention of this year's most impressive seller to date. If Konami can deliver a game with enough surprises and fanboy-tastic extras then it might even be worth picking up. Either way, you should download the video, particularly if you're a fan. Be warned though, it does contain a few minor spoilers. For those of you already dying to play it, we hear it will be out before the end of the year in Japan and the USA, on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Related Feature - Metal Gear Solid 2 review

British developer and publisher Rage is in trouble again this week, with the Royal Bank Of Scotland threatening to call in the company's £6.2m overdraft if they can't get more funding in the near future, according to a report from the Financial Times yesterday. As a result the company will be holding a shareholders' meeting next month to approve the issuing of around 445,000,000 new shares. Given that these shares are worth just over 1p each at the moment that's not quite as impressive as it may sound, but it will provide enough loose change to cover the company's expenses for the next year and stop their bank from demanding their cash back. If for some reason shareholders refuse to back the move though, Rage could be put into adminstration this summer. Luckily this seems somewhat unlikely. Rage is now banking on one or more of its big releases finding success, with licensed games based on the Rocky movies and SAS veteran turned novellist Andy McNab expected on shelves by the end of the year, along with actioneer Twin Caliber and inline skating sim Rolling. In the more immediate future, an Xbox version of the previously unsuccessful David Beckham Soccer is being timed to tie in with World Cup fever, Transformers-inspired action game Gun Metal is due to arrive on the Xbox early in the summer, and online shooter Mobile Forces should be out this week for the PC. "If we don't have a big winner it is going to be a hard slog", Rage's managing director Paul Finnegan admitted, adding that "we have our fingers crossed". Related Feature - Rage losses grow