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

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

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

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

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

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

Deus Ex could be coming to a cinema near you in the not-so-distant future. Eidos have announced a deal with Columbia Pictures to develop a film based on the award-winning PC game, with Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin heading up the project and work already underway on a script. As in the game, the main protaganist will be JC Denton, a nano-tech enhanced counter-terrorist agent who gets caught up in a web of conspiracies.

: Multi-platform, PS2, Cube, Xbox Undoubtedly, it was Microsoft Xbox which stole my heart yesterday. Pouring over the list of games due out on this thing is like looking at my gaming wish list. Further to the announcements we told you about yesterday, the company has announced an absolute raft of games and some of them have actually been seen in action. It's always nice when a name on a press release is more than just that. And Microsoft is keen not to conjure rubbish out of the air to try and woo punters. We know about Star Wars: Galaxies, Jedi Knight II, The Matrix, Blinx, Psychonauts, Counter-Strike, Halo 2, and all that stuff. The games you might not know about include Capcom's Steel Battallion (mechs, explosions, oh yes) and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 (about their only multi-console game for now, shockingly), the inevitable and highly desirable Deus Ex 2 and on the "we already knew but let's wet ourselves anyway" front, Panzer Dragoon ORTA. Now, we've seen footage of this, and it would be safe to say that it renders the PS2's Drakan, and indeed any other third person flight/action game completely redundant. Not really content to stop there, we've had Tecmo's two major announcements. Ninja Gaiden we knew about (and based on the footage so far will be buying as soon as humanly possible), but Dead or Alive Volleyball we did not. Beach volleyball. The Dead or Alive girls. In bikinis. On the Xbox. Now if that's not a killer app, then it's a Channel 5 style "sex sells" approach to gaming which we have absolutely no problem with. Bring it on! The footage of this doing the rounds is a must-see. You might imagine that after such an excited reaction to Ninja Gaiden the prospect of a cartoon Kung Fu game - Kung Fu Chaos - would be unappealing, but it appears that in the oldest traditions of gaming with a hint of contemporary design, this is a shot from the side 3D forced-scrolling beat 'em up with a cute dinky main character holding a wooden stick. If this has any depth it could be a winner, but we're slightly wary. One ninja game is surely enough? Rounding off our love affair with the Xbox at E3 are two games. Unreal Championship and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. The former looks very much like Unreal Tournament 2003 on the PC if you ask this writer, but that's no bad thing to be sure, and the prospect of massive multiplayer battles is quite intriguing, if only because it's the first major mp-only first person shooter for the system. But stealing the show was video footage of Knights of the Old Republic. The saber clashes. The rolling countryside. The chases through space. The Millennium Falcon's forerunner. This just looks stunning, and we have no doubt it will help Xboxen to fly off the shelves later this year. A lot of people feel Microsoft's desire to dominate online gaming will be its downfall, but based on the display so far it's easy to see that they have their bases covered.

: Multi-platform, PS2, Cube, Xbox Whether you like it or not, the Cube also enjoyed more than its fair share of exciting announcements. Mostly first party, but that's hardly surprising. For a start, Miyamoto was caught playing Super Mario Sunshine (which finally appears to look good, much to our relief) with a WaveBird, and Zelda too. Zelda, it must be said, is really starting to justify its quirky graphical makeover. The game maker has filled the screen with exciting happenings, and the boss character shown briefly in one of the movies put rival dragons to shame (you know what I'm talking about, RPG fans). Although Metroid Prime and F-Zero were disappointingly absent (no, pre-rendered vids of the latter do not count), 1080 White Storm kicked up some fluff with its appearance, looking surprisingly sleek and not unlike Microsoft's Amped. Unplayable, it will need to win us over with its gameplay dynamics, which, going on past experience, it shouldn't have too much trouble doing. And beyond that we caught glimpses of Mario Party 4, Star Fox Adventures and the big game, Wario World. This, to us, is a little disappointing. For a start it's a very simple 3D world more akin to those you'd expect to see from an also-ran of a 3D platformer, but then this is Nintendo and this is Miyamoto, so we have to be optimistic. The game is still a hell of a long way off, so perhaps this behaviour is forgivable. For now. But just when you thought it was going to turn ugly, games like The Legend of Zelda Advance with four player link-up mode rear their ugly heads. Games like Donkey Kong for GCN and GBA (with no sign of a Rare third party announcement just yet) and Doshin the Giant also leave a strong impression, the latter threatening to be Black & White done by the Japanese, and done properly this time…

: Multi-platform, PS2, Cube, Xbox While multi-platform games have made an appearance though, it has been Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony really laying the first blows. For a start, Sony must have enjoyed Take 2's announcement that GTA is a PlayStation 2 exclusive for three more years. PlayStation 2 owners have plenty to celebrate in any event. The current king of the consoles received a heck of a lot of support in the shape of games like Contra (excessively violent 2D shooter) and Silent Hill 3 (excessively scary 3D pant-replacer) from Konami, and not content with that, Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner and Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance! ZOE2 looks to be more of the same, with our heroic young urchin of a lead now for all intents and purposes symbiotically linked with his frame on a mission to destroy Bahram HQ. MGS2 Substance on the other hand is a peculiar addition to the series, liable to woo spectators (on PS2, Xbox and PC) with the sights and sounds of hundreds of new VR missions, new campaigns and the option to play as Snake or Raiden through the game's Tanker and Platform sections. Of course, Hideo Kojima (he's a brilliant loony) hasn't stopped there, with Snake skateboarding sections and ninja sword fencing. There's more than we have space to print going into this game, but it does seem a little unfair that they waited until the game achieved global multi-platinum status to spring this one… Rival Japanese developer Capcom has its own plans for the PS2. The company's huge E3 line-up includes games like Auto Modellista (which is obviously linked quite closely to PS2 online, and thus may now miss its winter 2002 release date), Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (the PS2 update or port, we're not sure which, of the Dreamcast fighter of the same name), Devil May Cry 2 (more of the same, and then some), a Breath of Fire game (it had to happen) and others such as Onimusha 2, Red Dead Revolver, Catan, Clocktower 3, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and Dino Stalker. Perhaps most surprising though was the presence of Resident Evil Online. This Japanese oddity is due out in 2003, and will be another major spoke in PS2 online's front wheel. Not much is known and the footage is similar to the Cube version of the game, except with multiple players on screen and a drop in character detail. Nevertheless, a multiplayer scare-fest is a delightful notion. Elsewhere Sony announced lots of stuff; a sequel to the still-to-be-released-even-if-they-say-otherwise Frequency, Ratchet & Clank (which we have dubbed 'Jak & Daxter with obscene amounts of weaponry'), The Getaway (which, perhaps tenuously, major publications are wetting themselves over in public) and Sly Cooper (a game about a thieving little Raccoon in cel-shaded platform adventuring). We have also seen announcements of Full Throttle as a fully-fledged sequel to the game's ancient PC outing and news that Tony Hawk 4 will be a major online game for Sony. Like we haven't heard that before.

: Multi-platform, PS2, Cube, Xbox Yesterday may not have been the first day of E3, but it was the first downpour of solid E3 information we've had since the last expo. Being inundated with boring announcements is one thing, but the quality of the games on display belies the industry's yearly eleven-and-three-quarter-month spell of recycling tired buzzwords and marketing jargon. This is a time to rejoice, for each of the consoles has its own slew of announcements, and the bloody trade show hasn't even started yet. Can you beat that? Although I have split this up into sections by console, you might want to breeze through each one because there are some seriously compelling arguments for the acquisition of virtually all of them. Rest assured, if we've missed stuff out it's because the quality and quantity of products on display is quite staggering. One of the things that seems to drive our industry contacts mad is the now ubiquitous "which platform is it best on?" question. If you ask the average PR bloke this question, he will try and manoeuvre his way out of giving you a straight answer, fully aware of the tightrope his money-chasing superiors have placed him upon. Fortunately for them, we aren't there in person to quiz them about the latest multi-platform announcements, but we shall be doing so by proxy, and in the meantime we might as well tell you what they are. If we were to say "Jedi Knight II is due out on Cube and Xbox this year," you would probably slap us silly, but you would in fact be mis-slapping. Raven Software's story of a born again mercenary and his path back to the Jedi order is one of the most popular PC games of this year, set beyond the time settings of both film trilogies and in the hands of Kyle Katarn. The game features plenty of saber combat and whatnot, and hopefully it will benefit from some of the features console developers like to employ. Autosaving would be a start (bloody snipers). The port will be completed by Vicarious Visions. Secondly, Mortal Kombat Dark Alliance has made its long overdue appearance, with a nice E3 trailer to back it up. The film depicts a number of characters going head to head in the usual MK locations, but at this stage it looks and feels slightly more cartoony than the developer might have intended. It's certainly no DOA3. To say that MK is popular because of its graphics would only be half-true, however, and the youngsters eager to splatter crimson across the room in the truest sense of a childhood rebellion will be pleased to learn that there's also something of a game under here. Excessively violent moves, combos and the execution-style finishing attacks return, along with characters like Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Scorpion, Jax, Sonya and Reptile. Scorpion's inimitable lasso attack is used in one of the movies. Related Feature - Jedi Outcast review (PC)

LucasArts have just confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in the gaming industry - they are indeed working on a sequel to their popular adventure game Full Throttle. Details on the sequel are thin on the ground at the moment, but we do know that it will be released on PC and next generation consoles some time next year, and that it will once again star the outlaw biker known as .. Ben. Catchy. "Full Throttle is one of LucasArts' greatest and most beloved original games", according to president Simon Jeffery. Well, apart from Sam & Max and Day Of The Tentacle perhaps. Oh, and Monkey Island. And Grim Fandango. And... "We can't think of a better brand or character to lead LucasArts' charge into a new era of original game development. Ben so perfectly symbolizes our legacy and yet has just the right mix of attitude and edge to appeal to a new generation of game players." Yes, nothing like an edgy attitude-packed sequel to lead the charge into a new era of original game development. Ho hum. Related Feature - LucasArts' E3 line-up touted

When a publisher tells us that their new game is somehow revolutionary and will "take gaming to [an] unprecedented level", we're normally pretty sceptical. Cynical, even. When the game in question is the sequel to Deus Ex, one of the best games of 2000, and the development team behind it includes veterans of not only the original but also escapees from the legendary but sadly now defunct developer Looking Glass Studios, we sit up and take note. "The goal of a game like Deus Ex 2 is to offer players free-form gameplay experiences where they control their virtual destinies", executive producer Warren Spector pronounced. "We're going to provide the great storyline and rich, varied, player-controlled experience expected of a Deus Ex game, but this time we're pushing the bar even higher in terms of graphics, AI, physics, sound and accessibility. Project Director Harvey Smith and his team want to take immersive simulations as far beyond Deus Ex as Deus Ex was beyond its predecessors. Gamers have a lot to look forward to." To say we're eagerly anticipating this one would be an understatement of epic proportions. Expect Deus Ex 2 : Invisible War to rock our worlds some time next year, with PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions all in the works. Related Feature - Deus Ex 2 screenshots

Not content with its announcements earlier in the day, Microsoft conducted a press conference in Los Angeles just now and announced the full list of games currently on their way to the console. The biggest news is that Valve's Half-Life : Counter-Strike will be available for online play and that Halo 2 is in development, although if you hadn't guessed that then you're a complete loon. Other highlights on the list include Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, Steel Battalion, online versions of Project Gotham Racing, Amped and Rallisport Challenge and a beat 'em up called Kakuto Chojin. Early footage of games like this morning's Blinx : The Timesweeper and Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden had already sparked interest, but overall the picture of the console's next year is jam-packed with content. Lots of good things to come. The complete list of games on their way to the Xbox can be read over at IGN. Related Feature - Xbox goes Live

Nintendo plans to cut the cost of GameCube to 18,800 yen in Japan as of 3rd June, the company has announced today. The new price point translates to roughly £105 or €165, which seems staggeringly low until you remember how little the Cube actually costs elsewhere. With a lot of big-name titles on the way for Nintendo, sales of the Cube are expected to pick up in Japan, and the new price is part of the company's offensive on its own back yard, if you like. Related Feature - Stateside Cube cut to $149.95

Take 2 has confirmed the existence of GTA Vice City, which of course SCEE unwittingly did last month in one infamous and hastily updated press release. Although the firm has confirmed the game's existence with a lengthy press release, we still know very little about it. "It's an entirely new game set in the '80s, the location is Vice City, and the vibe is glamour, power and corruption..." the release says. Related Feature - GTA Vice City confirmed

With the big E3 trade show about to kick off in Los Angeles, Eidos today confirmed that the PlayStation 2 version of their first person shooter TimeSplitters 2 will include online support. Sony will apparently be showcasing the game as part of their online push at E3, with the chance to play against opponents who aren't at the event. "We are very pleased that TimeSplitters 2 is one of the selected titles dedicated to showcasing the PlayStation 2 system's online technology at E3", Eidos marketing VP Paul Baldwin declared. "The original TimeSplitters is still recognized as offering the best multiplayer experience on the PlayStation 2, so it comes as no surprise that the sequel will extend that multiplayer brilliance online." Related Feature - TimeSplitters 2 preview

Die Hard started out as a modification for Half-Life, but the team was subsequently hired by Fox to turn the project into a commercial title. The problem is, despite the more advanced LithTech engine in use here, the game still feels and looks like nothing more than a Half-Life mod.

Vivendi Universal Interactive has announced the development of PC / PS2 / Xbox building and management sim Jurassic Park. Now, when we say sim, obviously we mean it in the loosest possible sense, because the goal in said game is to battle your way through 12 missions without letting the animals escape. Obviously should things go wrong the whole spectacle will erupt to impressive effect. The game is in development at Melbourne, Australia based Blue Tongue Software and has been for some time, although the latest press release seems to have dropped the "Project Genesis" subtitle. Whether it will turn out to be any good is difficult to say, with the firm's only other release Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy, which is more than two years old now. We are intrigued at the prospect of this PC / console strategy game, which looks most intricate in the screenshots so far released by the publisher. The game promises much. A 3D graphics and animation house has been drafted in specifically to construct the in-game cinematics, and along with Blue Tongue's sound engineer, composer Stephan Schultze will be helping to pen the game's ten original tracks to be performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Control of the dinos will be handled via a mixture of chemicals brewed in the dino-vet lab, and the dinosaurs themselves will boast complex AI, which seems to be where most of the development work is going. No bad thing. Related Feature - Jurassic Park Xbox screenshots

Activision has announced details of the latest addition to the extensive Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 as it is unsurprisingly called will consist of very much the same elements that drove its predecessors to widespread success. Apart from the usual complement of colourful characters, an upgraded Skatepark Editor and the usual physics and graphical improvements, the game's mainstay, Career mode, has also seen an update. The new mode skips off the rails and attempts something fairly non-linear, with players completing challenges and fighting for medals in the order they desire. Another aspect of the game is the Go Pro feature, which will allow players to face off against real skaters to unlock the more difficult professional world. Tony Hawk aficionados will doubtless be wetting themselves at the prospect. Activision has coupled this announcement with the release of several screenshots of the game in action on Xbox. Related Feature - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Xbox screenshots

Microsoft has announced a number of first party games to be released in the tail end of this year, some we knew about, some we did not. At the top of the list of games we did know about (and at the top of our Christmas list) is Bioware's Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, a character-driven RPG set 4,000 years prior to the Star Wars films. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. This is still pencilled in for late 2002, but European gamers will likely have to wait a few more months to get their hands on it. Other previously heard of games in Microsoft's line-up include yank-fodder NFL Fever 2003, the long-awaited Shenmue II (but not the long-awaited Shenmue III), Panzer Dragoon ORTA, Unreal Championship and Peter Molyneux's Project Ego. Further to these, Microsoft is promising a raft of other titles. Brute Force is a squad-based shooter which requires real battle strategy, and can also be played solo with the option of dynamic introduction of supporting troopers controlled by second, third or fourth players. And presumably more online. It sounds good, but you would be somewhat right in saying that this is almost exactly what we were promised with Halo. Elsewhere the company has highlighted Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden (which sounds like a modern day Tenchu), Blinx: The Time Sweeper (a Japanese game about a cat on a mission to fix glitches in the space-time continuum, playing with the flow of time and cooperating with others to mend the time-line), Psychonauts (a game about paranormal superheroes) and Tork (a game about a caveboy trying to save his father). Remember that these are merely the games promised for the festive period. Whether they will all hit their targeted release dates remains to be seen, but it's fair to say that the Xbox has a slew of interesting games on the horizon, and it will be fun to see them in action at E3. Related Feature - The Empire Strikes Back

Microsoft has finally lifted the lid on its plans for the Xbox's much vaunted broadband adapter, although they're still keeping quiet about pricing. What we do know is that a starter kit will set you back $49.95 in the US, including a year's subscription to the service along with an Xbox Communicator headset and a free copy of Acclaim's online racing game ReVolt. It's not yet known how much this pack will cost in Europe, but contrary to earlier rumours the Xbox Live service will launch in all three major territories - America, Europe and Japan - this autumn, with beta tests beginning during the summer at datacenters in London, Tokyo and Seattle. Naturally the inclusion of the Xbox Communicator in the online starter pack means that voice-over-IP is an important part of Xbox Live, with all games set to support it. Luckily players will be able to mute the system, as well as having access to a voice masking system that can make you sound less like a spotty twelve year old geek and more like the big action hero avatar you're playing as. Other features that Xbox owners can look forward to vary from online statistics and an easy-to-use matchmaking system which can pair you off against suitably inept opponents according to your skill level, to buddy lists and the ability to interrupt your mates in the middle of a game to invite them to join you somewhere else. Which is sure to be a nuisance unless there's some way to disable it. As previously touted, you will also be able to download new data to the Xbox's hard drive, enabling new content to be added to games either as a free add-on or a commercial mission pack. Obviously the most important part of any online gaming service though is the line-up of games on offer. Luckily Microsoft have an impressive selection here, although most of them won't launch until next year. Heading up the list is undoubtedly the highly anticipated first person shooter Unreal Championship from Infogrames, with four Microsoft games - MechAssault, Whacked!, NFL Fever 2003 and Midtown Madness 3 - due online this year as well. Things should really start to pick up next year, with at least 50 Xbox Live games scheduled for release by the end of 2003, including tactical action games Ghost Recon and Raven Shield from Ubi Soft, and Phantasy Star Online and Sega Sports games from Sega. Also on the horizon but with no fixed release date at this stage is an Xbox version of Counter-Strike, as well as "future versions of Xbox original blockbusters like Halo, RalliSport Challenge, Amped and Project Gotham Racing". And then of course there's a little game called Star Wars Galaxies. Microsoft seem to be betting the family fortune on online gaming, with J Allard foreseeing a frankly horrifying future in which "every important game will be online" within the next five years. "Online technology is the next revolution in video games, and it will fundamentally transform gaming into a new form of social entertainment", according to the flamboyant Xbox supremo. "There will be new categories of collaborative and competitive console games that are possible only online. The ability to download new worlds, levels, characters, weapons, vehicles, teams, statistics and missions will change the way developers think about creating games, and will change the way gamers play them." We fear for the future Related Feature - Microsoft's first Christmas party

Sony is continuing the struggle against firm competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, by cutting the price of its in-house software for PlayStation 2 from $49 to $39. Although Sony cannot dictate the pricing of third party software, larger publishers of software on the console may follow suit. It's too early to suggest whether or not Sony in Europe or Japan might follow suit, but there have been a number of high profile discount campaigns lately, with many PS2 games going for £29.99 at the larger online retailers. If Sony were to officially move to that price point, it would be a tremendous blow for its competition. Nintendo's games come in at between £34.99 and £44.99, whereas Microsoft's are all either £39.99 or £44.99. Having thrown so much money away on reward packs, hardware costs and Xbox Live development, it will take investment to achieve goals like these. Fortunately for Xbox owners, Microsoft has committed a further $2bn to the Xbox over the next five years, and promises that with Xbox 2 "Sony won't have a head-start this time." Related Feature - SCEA cuts prices

A long time ago, in a development studio not so far away...

Disney Interactive has announced its E3 line-up for 2002. What are you doing? Don't click back! This is actually quite a good outing for the oft-ignored developer-publisher. For a start, Kingdom Hearts, the company's anticipated PlayStation 2 RPG crossover with Japanese developer Squaresoft, will be on display. The action RPG centres around a few typical Square adventurers on a hunt to find their friends with the help of Disney characters. The game runs the risk of not being taken seriously, but it has already shipped 800,000 copies in Japan, so we're eager to see what all the fuss is about. Without having to import it.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Spacewar, widely viewed as the world's first true videogame, the Barbican Gallery is holding a massive exhibition on the past, present and future of gaming. We headed down to London the day before the show opened to get a sneak peek...

Codemasters is set to launch a barrage of games at GameCube owners this year. Four of the company's key titles, Colin McRae Rally 3, LMA Manager, Club Football and Shoot to Kill will form the initial Cube line-up, with more to come. "Codemasters' ethos is to support the world's most successful gaming formats," Marketing Director Mike Hayes enthuses, "Nintendo has produced an excellent machine in the GameCube and we believe it provides the base for our developers to produce superb editions of these titles. Given Nintendo's continued strength in the global market, GameCube will become one of Codemasters' key publishing platforms." Perhaps the most significant of those titles is Colin McRae Rally 3. Although obviously not platform exclusive, it does provide some solace to fans deprived of the likes of Gran Turismo, Project Gotham and Rallisport Challenge. Colin McRae Rally 3 is expected to provide the most realistic rally experience to date, building on the enormous success of its predecessors. The only difficulty it faces is a presently saturated market, but with the ruling Rallisport Challenge an Xbox exclusive the developer-publisher has the opportunity to redress the balance with this multi-platform release. LMA Manager on the Cube is not considered a direct competitor to the market-leading Championship Manager series, which now appears on PC and Xbox, but it does offer a fairly impressive array of features and provides an easier introduction to the genre than its stat-heavy companion. Meanwhile, not much is known of Club Football apart from its marketing campaign. Individual club-branded copies of the game will be released as previously reported, but the game is going to have to do a lot more than package itself creatively to break into the tough football genre, even on the relatively underpopulated GameCube.

Last Friday Sega delivered its quarterly report to stockholders, also broadcast live over the Internet, and the report includes a number of points relevant to gamers as well as those hoping to profit by them. For a start, the company focused on the widespread success of Virtua Fighter 4, AM2's beat 'em up of supreme technical artistry. It has apparently sold 1.5 million units. Somehow, the company has also managed to flog one million copies of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on the Nintendo GameCube. But it's a port, I hear you cry! Equally impressive is 700,000 units sold of Super Monkey Ball. Back to VF and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution is headed to the arcades with some form of networking capability, but console talk is all hearsay at this point. Furthermore on the arcade front, Sega is shamelessly bringing out a global arcade version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" but can perhaps be forgiven thanks to its work on Triforce and Chiro arcade boards to try and smooth the transition between arcade and console. Games on both boards will translate to the Cube without too much trouble, they say, and Chiro games can go to the Xbox, too. Perhaps surprising is the company's announcement that it does not plan to release as many games this quarter, although for this writer, with no real festive season and plenty of lovely weather (touchwood) to distract from the TV this is understandable. On a generic note, the Sega Sports franchise is being angled as a direct competitor to EA Sports' line-up of software, which has weakened in recent seasons. The now-ESPN-branded Sega Sports line will match EA's release dates title for title in an attempt to prove who does it best. As much as we like Sega, we can see them losing this one, particularly since their most entertaining 'sporting' prospects, Beach Spikers and Soccer Slam, are not included in the Sega Sports line. Nevertheless, Sega does hope to make up for its shortcomings in some areas, and has announced plans to make a new simulation-based football game to compete with the likes of Konami. That too is an uphill struggle though, and one hopes AM2 won't be involved. Their dismal Virtua Striker series has proved the bane of many a football fan. Sega also plans to create a successor to the games in the Sega Rally series, but with the rally gaming market saturated at the moment (with good games to boot), this also seems like a daft ploy. Completing the slew of announcements, Sega will develop a new Sonic game (unsurprisingly), a new Shining Force game and a few other titbits, including an "overseas" release of a Sakura Taisen sequel, a House of the Dead survival-horror game [Sega, kings of innovation - Ed] and games based on the works of Japanese comic artist Osamu Tezuka. At the moment we do not know much about these games. Even whether the new Sonic will be another Adventure title is presently unknown. After the success of the Cube version though, it probably will be, but with any luck we won't have to face as much of Tails and Knuckles. It's a lot to take in, but then Sega has a lot to do this quarter. It bears mentioning that the company is also expecting two games delivered by the Capital Entertainment Group (Seamus Blackley's new venture) by the end of the year, with a huge E3 line-up already announced. As a fan of the company's work, I hope some of the decisions here will translate into decent products, but there is a strong "Dreamcast" vibe emanating from the projections here. Related Feature - Sega's E3 line-up

Rage has signed a three year licensing deal with Italian car designer Automobili Lamborghini to develop and publish console games featuring their cars. Debuting on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 next spring, with a GameCube version following several months later, the first Lamborghini game to emerge from the deal will feature a mixture of old and new sports cars, from the brand new record-breaking Murciélago to classics like the Diablo. Players will get the chance to race these dream cars in exotic locations all around the world, gambling money and cars to build up a spectacular collection of Lamborghinis. And as well as the usual variety of single player modes and leagues, the Xbox version of Lamborghini will also feature support for the Xbox Live broadband system, giving players the chance to take their car collection online and race against other drivers. If the game plays as good as it looks, Rage could be on to a winner. Related Feature - Lamborghini Xbox screenshots

Oh why not just give them all away, eh? You're losing money hand over foot anyway, so why not just hand them out on street corners? And make the software free, too. Go on. Handbags at the ready, fellas, it's another price cut. That's got to be, what, (counts) eight of the blighters if you add them up cross-territory in the last few months! This time it's Nintendo who will take an axe to their retail price. The Cube will cost a piddly $149.95 from Tuesday, 21st May 2002 (tomorrow) across North America. Just in time for E3. Those of you who were at E3 last year (and I have met people who got so bleary-eyed and incapacitated that you could fool them into thinking they didn't go), will remember the E3 launch debate and the seesaw between rival press conferences. First of all Microsoft came out with a launch date, but only a few hours later Nintendo went one better. Then, not content with that, Microsoft responded in kind and beat Cube to the market by three days. I think it's safe to say that at $199 the Xbox shall stay, and the PS2 likewise, but many followers of the American market predict that the price war may be Microsoft, the richer of the three companies' trump card. If costs can be reduced by a reasonable amount, Xbox could be repositioned again. Overall it's far more likely that Nintendo's simple message, our console costs less than yours, will be thrown back in their faces further down the line, than it is that Microsoft will just sit and take it. Realistically though, the price debate is fairly unimportant at the moment. E3 this year will be a showcase of software to drive sales of either platform, because a console is nothing without games. Related Feature - The Empire Strikes Back