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Crave Entertainment has previewed its line-up for E3 2002, highlighting a number of exciting prospects. After its last title met with critical acclaim, Crave is now planning to expand the Ultimate Fighting Championship line of games with UFC: Throwdown for GameCube and PlayStation 2, due out shortly after E3 in June. The Lost is a survival horror game with an RPG-lite skills system, which will take players through modern day adaptations of Dante's nine circles of Hell. The Lost is a game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox due out in Q4 2002. The other big title is Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter, a game combining first-person action sections and space combat. Although the game sounds distinctly like a poorly contrived Jango Fett spin-off, it has nothing to do with Star Wars, and is pencilled in for a Q4 2002 release date on Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and PC. Completing the line-up are Whirl Tour and H2Overdrive. Whirl Tour is an extreme sports adventure puzzler (honestly) where someone kidnaps six members of a rock band and you presumably have to get them back. Sounds great. Cube and PlayStation 2 in Q4 2002. H2Overdrive, on the other hand, is an extremely bad pun, which we have to applaud given we're in the same business, and focuses on speedboat racing. It is to appear on PlayStation 2 in Q3 2002.

Konami of Japan's financial report, released yesterday, included news of major new titles including "a second and third original title to follow on our Metal Gear Solid series", IGN is reporting. Gamers are also promised a new Z.O.E. game. Hideo Kojima's most famous creation will be appearing on multiple platforms, as speculated by the mainstream press recently. The new games are titled Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance and Zone of the Enders 2: The Second Runner, the former appearing on PS2, Xbox and PC with the latter a PlayStation 2 exclusive. Sequels are promised as well as derivative titles, and with regards to the latter, IGN reports that Konami is considering using the MGS franchise as the basis for an online game. Obviously details on these titles are very thin on the ground, but this is great news for gamers everywhere. Except, by the looks of it, Cube owners, which would be a blow for Nintendo. Related Feature - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty review

Infogrames plans to dominate E3 with an aggressive line-up comprising more games than your average high street. The highlights, for us, are Lost Toys' Battle Engine Aquila (Xbox), Civilization III: Play The World (PC), Terminator: Dawn of Fate (PS2, Xbox) and the Unreal triplets; Championship (Xbox), II: The Awakening (PC) and Tournament 2003 (PC). C&VG is reporting what looks to be the entire line-up. We continue to giggle like schoolchildren over all the great game prospects at this year's E3.

Seamus Blackley, formerly a major figure in the Microsoft Xbox project, is forming the Capital Entertainment Group with three other game industry veterans, News.com is reporting. The group will fund and supervise the development of games and then sell the finished products to publishers, much like a production company in the film industry. The company hopes to incubate "exciting, innovative ideas," co-founder Kevin Bachus - another member of the original Xbox team - told News.com. Capital will start out with a production fund of $40 million to $50 million, according to Bachus. British investment bank Durlacher is acting as a financial advisor, and not as an out-and-out investor as previously reported. The group's first deal will be to deliver two games to Sega, who publish in Japan and North America. Related Feature - Seamus Blackley speaks

In a move which means precisely nothing to us, Sega has signed an exclusive, multiyear partnership deal with American sports brand ESPN. This comes barely a fortnight after the American sports network allegedly dismantled a deal with Konami because the ESPN branded games they produced were failing to chart. Acclaim Entertainment also produced games under the ESPN banner at one stage, and no longer does for similar reasons. Echoing EA's mission statement somewhat, Sega of America President and COO Peter Moore explained that "Gamers told us they want to feel as if they're playing a broadcast game. They want to feel like they're in control of a live game." The Sega Sports 2K3 series of games forms a major part of Sega's multi-platform strategy.

PlayStation 2 now has a global installed base of 30 million units, Sony has announced. Our friends on the other side of the pond in North America have lapped up 11.3 million, while Japan and the rest of Asia accounts for 9.9 million. There are 8.8 million PlayStation 2 owners in Europe. It's nice to see the company emphasizing borders for once as opposed to marginalizing them. Earlier this year Sony announced an installed base of two million units in the United Kingdom alone, and threw a big party to celebrate. However, we were not invited, presumably because of jokes like the one above. The company claims to have sold four million units since February. Analysts speaking to Reuters are predicting 15 million sold by the year's end. Related Feature - Twenty-millionth PS2 ships

LucasArts continue their flood of new product announcements in the run-up to E3 with the unveiling of Gladius, a "turn-based action role-playing game" all about gladiators. Taking on the role of a young Roman lad or the daughter of a barbarian king from somewhere up north, you must recruit and train a team of savage warriors to fight for you in the arena, with the fighters honing their abilities as they gain combat experience. This being a role-playing game of sorts, there are naturally hundreds of skills to learn, weapons to master and accessories to buy, as well as a wide range of character classes to choose from, including everything from Imperial Legionaries to Galdr witches. In addition to the expected exhibition battles and four player co-operative bouts, the game also features an expansive story mode which will take you across the mighty Roman Empire, with each of the four regions you visit along the way bringing with it a new selection of warriors to purchase and arenas to fight in. All in all LucasArts are promising about 36 hours of gameplay for each of the two characters. Gladius is due to appear on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube some time next spring, but no doubt we'll be hearing a lot more about it come the end of the month and the ubiquitous E3 trade show in Los Angeles. Related Feature - Gladius screenshots

Work is now underway on the film adaptation of Sega's House of the Dead series, with movie rumour site Dark Horizons reporting that principal photography has just begun in Vancouver. The film, due for release next spring, is directed by Uwe Boll and stars a variety of obscure young actors we've never heard of before, with the lead role of Alicia played by a woman whose sole feature film role to date was as "Poolside Cocktail Waitress" in My 5 Wives. Which hardly inspires confidence. Meanwhile German veteran Jurgen Prochnow continues his career's downwards spiral, apparently playing a "crusty old sea captain". How's that for typecasting? On the bright side, the story was co-written by Free Enterprise scribes Mark A Altman and Dan Bates, so we do have some faint hope that it could still be worth watching. Certainly the synopsis on the movie's official website ("a band of college students go to a rave on a mysterious island and get more than they bargained for when they find themselves stalked by killer zombies and terrifying creatures intent on feasting on the flesh of the living") does suggest that it's being played for laughs. Or at least, we hope so... Related Feature - Dead Or Alive : The Movie

Hot off the back of their successful first person shooter Agent Under Fire at the tail end of last year, EA have announced that another Bond adventure is on its way from them. Promising to leave players "shaken and stirred" (oh dear), the new game will be available on PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox towards the end of the year. Titled NightFire, it again features an original storyline, rather than following the plot of the forthcoming 20th Bond movie, Die Another Day. As such you will find yourself exploring exotic locations ranging from the Austrian Alps to the South Pacific as you try to track down an evil criminal mastermind called Rafael Drake, who has cunningly disguised his organisation and its plans for world domination as a bunch of tree-hugging environmentalists. Obviously this game is going to be a big hit with Greenpeace then. As in Agent Under Fire there will be a wide range of Q department gadgets and fast cars to play with, although the driving levels (designed by the team behind the Need For Speed series) will be exclusive to the console versions of the game for some reason. To compensate, the PC version will feature a few extra pedestrian levels and "robust multi-player support". Indeed, the various versions of the game are actually being developed by two different companies, with Britain's Eurocom Entertainment handling console duties and perennial Half-Life expanders Gearbox dealing with the PC. All four versions should be out by the end of the year though, and no doubt we'll see more of them in the wake of E3 later this month. Related Feature - Agent Under Fire review

Tatooine. Bespin. Star Destroyers. Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader and his TIE Advanced. The Death Star. Twice. X-Wings. TIE Fighters. Stormtroopers. AT-ATs. R2D2. Rogue Leader is Star Wars the way you remember it. Except this time you're piloting the ships and fighting for the Rebellion, in the struggle to overcome the evil GALACTIC EMPIRE. We often compare games to movies, but from the archetypal star screen introduction right the way through to the game's monumental climax, this is the ultimate accompaniment and tribute to those three original Star Wars movies we all cherish.

EA has confirmed that NBA Street for the GameCube has been abandoned as far as Europe is concerned. After mediocre sales on the PlayStation 2, not even an audience of hardcore EA Sports BIG fans could persuade the company to continue with its original plan for the game to be a Cube release title. As it stands, barring a dramatic change of heart by the bigwigs at Electronic Arts, it will never now see the light of day in Europe. Fortunately, the PlayStation 2 version is still available, and blummin cheaply if you shop around...

Capcom Eurosoft, to give the company its proper name, has updated its release schedule to reflect the impending release of three big titles later this year. For Europe, unless the Eurosoft bit wasn't clue enough. First up is Dino Stalker, which supports the G-Con 2 and plots the course of a downed pilot on a peculiar Atlantic island packed with dinosaurs. That's now due out on PlayStation 2 on 6th September. Meanwhile, the highly anticipated GameCube edition of Resident Evil, realised with pant-browning audacity if you ask us, is now due out on 13th September. That's more than four months away. Sorry. Looking slightly further ahead, the PAL conversion of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny on PlayStation 2 (the well known figurehead of the 'survival control/camera system' genre), is now due out on 4th October. We've heard lots of good things about Onimusha 2, and we hope that like Resident Evil on the Cube, the realisation of the rest of the game will offset the recycled features of the previous incarnation. Only time, and our solvency-defying penchant for expensive imports, can tell us otherwise.

The Lara Croft auction held by Eidos and Core Design last week has raised £4,400 for UNICEF. Dozens of bidders from around the world tried to get hold of the original Lara Croft outfit, worn by model Nell McAndrew in the late 1990's, but the eventual winner was one Paul Lai, described in Eidos' press release as "a successful international tax specialist". We're glad to hear him report that "I don't intend to wear the costume", but having won the auction his next task is apparently "to find a girlfriend with Lara's build". Good luck to him...

LucasArts has a pretty hit and miss record these days. A long time ago, right, in a galaxy far, far away, they couldn't put a foot wrong. Then something happened. Rebel Assault. Then something else happened. Rebel Assault 2. Like an embittered Monty Burns watching Homer roll around on the floor crying "woot!" at the top of his voice, we had to wonder, Smithers, whether this team were quite the developmental gurus we originally took them for. Fortunately, redemption came in the form of games like the Monkey Island updates, a handful of the plethora of Star Wars games and that Tomb Raider derived Indiana Jones adventure. And if GameWatch is to be believed, come E3 we'll have a fresh selection of impressive titles to wax lyrical about, including a couple of golden oldies. Apart from RTX Red Rock and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, upon which we reported yesterday, the developer / publisher is planning to show off four new Star Wars games; Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Bounty Hunter, The Clone Wars and Galaxies. And unlike the Episode I games, we're very much looking forward to these. But completing the line-up are said to be Gladius and Full Throttle. Full Throttle, while a little on the short side, did feature the vocal talents of Mark Hammill, and ultimately, it was a point-and-click game about being a hard nut biker on a trail of destruction. It's unknown whether Full Throttle will be a remake (perhaps on a next-gen console, or indeed all of them), or whether it will be an original game reprising the series. And LucasArts was not available to comment on Gladius either. But we're excited [You always are, you should be on 600 valium a week - Ed]. Tentatively. Hang on, I said tentatively, dammit! Whatever - E3 is looking tops this year. Related Feature - Indy to explore Emperor's Tomb

I'm gritting my teeth, but I'm okay. I can deal with this. It's just a personal taste issue. I'm sure somebody out there must buy and enjoy 3DO games, or they would just stop making them, right? So the fact that 3DO will announce today that it plans to become an official GameCube publisher is, ostensibly, a good thing. 3DO fans, pay attention! The company's first foray into uncharted territory comprises several late 2002 / 2003 releases, including Army Men, Cubix Robots for Everyone, Johnny Moseley Mad Trix and High Heat Major League Baseball. Other projects are also said to be underway. Trippy. IGN is reporting that one of these other, ambitious projects is called "Four Horsemen", a "mysterious, adult-themed project revolving around an ancient plague that has returned to claim mankind." Oh the irony.

What do you get when you mix fire breathing dragons and modern military hardware? Reign Of Fire apparently, and now Bam! have released a new batch of screenshots from their PlayStation 2 game-of-the-movie showing off its all-important reactive fire effects. According to developers Kuju, everything in the game from livestock and crops to people and jeeps is now flammable, each with its own unique flash point and burn rate, allowing fire to spread and burn out as it moves from one object to another. The resulting firestorms can contain literally thousands of particles, but it's not just there for aesthetic reasons. As in the forthcoming movie, food is in short supply, so defending your farms against marauding dragons is an important part of the game. Players are even given an armoured fire engine with water cannon and grenades (a grown up version of water balloons, perhaps?) to douse fires and dampen nearby crops and buildings to make it harder for the fire to take hold. It's certainly a novel idea, and with the game due for release within the next few months we should know soon whether it looks and feels as good in practice as it does on the drawing board. Related Feature - Reign of Fire screenshots

Back in January LucasArts revealed that The Collective were working on a new Indiana Jones game for them, and today the first solid details have emerged. Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb will take the world's most famous archaeologist to the Far East as he finds himself battling the Black Dragon Triad and a German mercenary to be first to reach the Heart Of The Dragon, a black pearl that is said to give telepathic powers to its owner. Naturally this is easier said than done, and first Indy must recover the key to unlock the crypt, which has inconveniently been split into three parts and scattered around the region. Cue ten levels of Triad-bashing action as you find yourself fighting aboard gondolas, exploring an underwater palace in Istanbul and engaging in a rickshaw chase through 1930's Hong Kong. "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb faithfully recreates all the heroism, action and edge-of-the-seat adventure of the blockbuster film series thanks to a state-of-the-art game engine, a rich story, and compelling gameplay", according to LucasArts' Tom Byron. Part of this back to basics approach is a return to the down and dirty no-holds-barred fighting seen in the original movies, with Indy able to use everything from chairs and table legs to shovels as weapons in brutal hand-to-hand combat, as well as employing his trademark whip and pistol. LucasArts are promising "a more immersive and Indy-like gameplay experience", and it certainly sounds promising. Indiana Jones will be swinging his way on to the PC, PS2 and Xbox this autumn. We're already brushing off our fedoras in anticipation. Related Feature - Indiana Jones returns

Infogrames will be unveiling a new Civilization III expansion pack at the E3 trade show in Los Angeles later this month. Subtitled Play The World, the pack will add eight new civilizations, new leaders, new terrain sets and map features, interface and control tweaks, and (most importantly) full multiplayer support. A choice of turn-based, simultaneous and (for the first time in the series) real-time gameplay will be on offer for those playing over a LAN or the internet, with game modes varying from capture the flag to traditional Civilization world conquering fare. Play by e-mail and hotseat support will also be included for a more sedate multiplayer gaming experience. "[Our fans] love Civ III and they are telling us they want more - more interesting civilizations to play, the ability to play with their friends, and a chance to create their own unique Civilization worlds", according to Sid Meier. "We've listened and we're giving them all of that, plus much more." There's no word yet on when the expansion pack will be released, but no doubt all will become clear in the wake of E3. Related Feature - Civilization III screenshots

Microsoft finally has something to celebrate in Europe, with the announcement that the recent Xbox price cut has revived flagging sales of the console. Figures from the UK, France and Germany showed the Xbox running neck and neck with the PlayStation 2 in terms of unit sales during the week of the price cut, although obviously the GameCube launch last week has since left both Nintendo's rivals standing in a cloud of dust. Attachment rates have also risen, with ChartTrack figures apparently showing that an average of 3.7 games were sold with every Xbox following the price cut. "I'm glad that more gamers in Europe are able to experience Xbox for themselves", Xbox Europe VP Sandy Duncan proclaimed. "The new price allows us to be more competitive and make serious inroads into the hearts of European gamers leading up to Christmas 2002. As we've said before, this is a marathon, not a sprint. These initial figures are extremely encouraging, but it is delivering great games and great experiences to hundreds of thousands of happy consumers in Europe over the long term that is our most important goal, and we will continue to drive initiatives to continue this cycle of success." Related Features - Cheap At Half The Price

Activision's latest financial results gave the company cause for celebration last night, with net revenues for their last financial year (which ended on March 31st) up 27% on the previous year at $786m, while profits were also well up at $52m. The Tony Hawk phenomenon was largely to thank for the strong showing, with Activision claiming that the series (which was released on everything from GameBoy Color to Xbox last year) is now the biggest independent gaming franchise in America. Strong sales of Tony Hawk on the PC, aided by the likes of Jedi Outcast and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, saw Activision's sales for the beige box growing rapidly, while Wreckless and (you guessed it) Tony Hawk 3 helped to make the Xbox the next biggest selling format for Activision in the first three months of 2002.

Although we got our first glimpse of the game almost a year ago, Titus have today re-announced Robocop for the GameBoy Advance, releasing fresh screenshots and new information about the title. Based on the original Robocop coin-op, the game puts you in the role of Officer Murphy as you battle enemy agents, enforcement droids and special boss characters across the mean side-scrolling streets of Delta City. Robocop should be stamping out crime on a GameBoy Advance near you this October, with an expected retail price of £29.99 in the UK. Related Feature - Robocop GBA screenshots

Nintendo has announced "a flying start" to the young GameCube's life in the UK. The diminutive console, launched on 3rd May this year, sold 75,000 units in two days according to Nintendo UK general manager Andy Williams, perhaps vindicating the platform holder's decision to implement a £129.99 price point. However, our sources within the industry have cast doubt over the figure, pointing out that the industry standard ChartTrack figures contest the claim. The Cube is completely sold out up and down the land. To put Nintendo's claim into perspective, the PlayStation 2 sold just over 40,000 units in its first week on sale in the UK, although supplies were restricted. It will be interesting to compare the console's first month sales to those of the Cube this time in June. Although no official figures are available at the time of writing, Microsoft's Xbox is not thought to have sold anywhere near 75,000 units during March, nor in the tail end of April when it underwent a price reduction. Related Feature - Europe Cubed

Cube owners: forget E3. I don't normally find myself with reason enough to say that, but just forget it. Namco may have a few games lined up for the show, but they are nothing compared to the bomb the company just dropped on the Japanese gaming industry. Rumours were bandied around yesterday that the next Star Fox game for the GameCube would be co-developed by Nintendo and Namco, and that a Triforce arcade version would also be developed. This morning, the two companies confirmed the rumours, announcing a deal to co-develop and release the game in Japan during April 2003. What role Rare will now play in the series' future is difficult to say. Some consider this announcement confirmation of the British developer's multi-platform strategy. Apart from its Star Fox deal though, Namco also confirmed the rest of its GameCube line-up, and it's seizure-inducingly good. The ubiquitous Mr. Driller may be pencilled in for the end of the year, but Soul Calibur 2 is now scheduled for January 2003. Put that one in your diary. The biggest announcement by far though has to be a new Ridge series racing game, tentatively scheduled for release in March 2003. If we're a bit late with this news it's because your humble correspondent fainted abruptly upon digesting said information. Japanese gamers can also look forward to an instalment of the Tales RPG series for July 2003, along with an original RPG for the end of next year, but it seems unlikely that either title will appear in the West. GameBoy Advance owners can look forward to Family Tennis Advance and Famista Advance this June, along with Mr. Driller Ace and Klonoa of the Wind G2 in August. Looking further ahead, Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 is due to appear in October with another Klonoa game in November and then an untitled puzzle game and Tales of Phantasia aimed squarely at December. Of those, the Klonoa games and Family Tennis are likely to make their way westwood. Related Feature - Namco announces E3 line-up

LucasArts have announced a barmy new third person action-adventure game for PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Titled RTX Red Rock, but having nothing to do with the eponymous brand of cider, it pits you as a Radical Tactics Expert [don't ask - Ed] going by the unlikely name of Eugene Zeno Wheeler. Geddit? EZ Wheeler. Ho ho. I bet it took them hours to come up with that gem. The plot goes rapidly downhill from here, involving an alien invasion of Mars and a "young and beautiful" officer called Cimmeria Rajan to rescue from the nasties. Along the way you will be fighting aliens (inexplicably known as LEDs) across the surface of Mars, taking in underground waterways, frozen deserts, alien ships and a ruined human colony.

An arcade orientated Formula 1 racing game. These words don't fill me with confidence. But having sampled Downforce first hand over the last couple of days, I'm willing to overlook the game's somewhat tenuous premise. Downforce is a great little arcade racer, perfect for mindless unwinding after a hard day at the office, and based on the preview code I've been playing, I'm willing to bet it will find a home in the niche of racers currently occupied by the likes of Star Wars Racer Revenge.

Rage have revealed that they will be releasing a new updated version of the demo for their first-person-shooter-with-vehicles Mobile Forces. Due out tomorrow afternoon at 5pm GMT, it will once again feature the Holdout gameplay mode and the wild west themed map seen in the original demo, but will enjoy a number of tweaks and tucks to both the gameplay and game engine.

Mr Moskeeto is part of Eidos' plan to open a floodgate of odd and intriguing titles from Japan on their Fresh Games label, and it's fair to say that it more than fits the bill. It's not every day you come across a game in which the primary objective is to assume the role of a tiny flying insect on a blood-sucking rampage around a family home. It involves aerial acrobatic skills, stealth and cunning, quick reactions and, perhaps best of all, cute Japanese girls. But we'll try not to let that make our minds up... ahem.

Leading Japanese news agency Kyodo has uncovered details of PlayStation 3 from Sony insiders, Spong.com is reporting. The report claims that the new machine will be developed at a cost of $400 million, with significant input from IBM and Toshiba as previously reported. The console is pencilled in for a 2005 release when fibre-optic networking is expected to be commonplace, and the report claims that the console might be online only with games delivery handled through a central online service, negating the inclusion of a DVD drive. PlayStation 3 is also said to be 200 times faster than PlayStation 2, which obviously smacks of the sort of pre-launch hype the PS2 enjoyed. Sony has refused to comment on the reports, which would unquestionably put them at odds with retail if confirmed. Related Feature - PS3 to use distributed computing

Reports emerged last Friday of a serious structural flaw in the GameCube casing. Due to the deep moulding of the plastic, hairline fractures are visible on a lot of the GameCube units, often running from the buttons to the extremities of the console, and it was suggested that these fractures could get worse with age. Unconfirmed reports suggest that one such hairline fracture is visible in a Nintendo TV advert. The hairline fractures can be seen quite clearly under direct light, but are hard to detect under normal lighting conditions. The good news is, and we have this on the authority of a professional plastic worker and not a PR bunny, that these fractures make absolutely no difference to the integrity of the GameCube unit. If you dropped a brick repeatedly on the console then you might do some damage to it. But, of course, the same could be said about the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Both of this writer's GameCube consoles (one NTSC, one PAL) exhibit the problem, but the NTSC Cube has been sitting in my lounge for what is now close to nine months, and has partaken of numerous trips up and down the country, and one house move. It still functions normally, and looks identical to the PAL Cube. Nintendo declined to comment on the reports this morning, telling us only that this has absolutely no effect on the software playback. Despite their evasive attitude, there seems little reason to make a mountain out of this particular molehill. Related Feature - Europe Cubed

Austria's JoWooD has announced its results for the first three months of the year, posting a slight operating profit as sales more than doubled to €14m. The company is upbeat about the future as well, with new games such as Cultures 2 and The Guild making the top ten in Germany, and the likes of Michael Schumacher Racing World Kart and Industry Giant 2 on their way over the next couple of months. In all JoWooD has about thirty games in development at the moment, including a mixture of both in-house and external projects. Related Feature - Schumacher returns to Karting