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Take 2 have revealed that a sequel to last year's Caribbean dictator sim Tropico is in the works, replacing the cast of Fidel Castro wannabes with famous pirates plundering the Spanish Main. Yes, you too can now rule an island full of cut-throat buccaneers, managing important supplies such as rum, weapons, wenches and .. parrots. Apparently the latter play a big part in the game, as "pirates equipped with a parrot on their shoulders and a scary black hat are more likely to strike fear into their victims' hearts". Although the sequel clearly still has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, the economic model has been turned on its head - rather than growing food, mining ore and producing goods, the wealth of your pirate island will depend on what you can loot from passing ships and capturing prisoners to work for you. A zoning system has also been added to the game, so that wealthy pirates will tend to congregate in the posh areas and upgrade their shacks into impressive looking mansions as they move up in the world. Another change is the company behind the game. Tropico developers PopTop are hard at work on a new game at the moment, and so the sequel is being hand-crafted by Rachel Bernstein and her merry men at Frog City, the team that brought us the addictive turn-based strategy game Trade Empires a few months ago. Tropico 2 : Pirate Cove is currently expected to make landfall in the autumn, so we should know more soon. Related Feature - Tropico review

Sony Computer Entertainment America has unveiled its plans for a national online network for PlayStation 2 owners. After months of preparation, the company has announced that the service will go live in August, just in time to compete with Microsoft's competing network, which is scheduled to go online sometime this year. Both networks will allow players to compete with one another over the Internet, but instead of restricting access to those with broadband connections, Sony plans to release a $39.99 Network Adapter consisting of both Ethernet (10/100Mbps) and a 56K V90 modem. Accompanying the proposed adapter will be a startup disc, consisting of documentation, product registration options and setup files, along with a handful of online game demos. Sony's recent collaboration with many of America's largest service providers means that at least 11 million consumers will be able to take advantage of the PlayStation 2's online network if they please. Sony plans to flood the service with features and games to create a content-rich environment for its customers. In the meantime, a network beta test will commence this March, similar to the one currently underway in Europe. Related Feature - PS2 online for 70% of DSL users in Japan

Thrustmaster has secured a 2002 FIFA World Cup license, allowing it to produce a "team of accessories" to commemorate the occasion. Gamepads, an arcade stick and memory cards are currently planned for PSone, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Incredibly, having already delivered a beat 'em up mat capable of picking up on the movements of able-bodied wannabe martial artists, Thrustmaster plans to manufacture a "2002 FIFA World Cup Football Stadium" accessory, composed of a mat and three vertical sensors, that can detect the player's kicking action and translate it onto the screen. Shoot, pass, lob and tackle will be amongst the actions the Stadium accessory can reproduce. The complete range of accessories will be available at the end of April, with pricing still to be determined.

CMP have realised our darkest nightmares with the announcement that this year's ECTS will sport a radical new look. In the past the event has at least nominally been trade-only, even if some under-age blaggers still manage to find their way through the rather lax security each year. But from now on the show will be open to everyone, although event director Andy Lane did at least offer us a ray of hope, commenting that ExCeL's layout "enables us to have consumer halls sitting alongside trade-only halls". Hopefully this means that there will still be somewhere for journos and retail buyers to get serious business done this year without being trampled under foot by a horde of 12 year old Tomb Raider fanatics trying to get a glimpse of the latest Lara Croft model. CMP describe this as "a radical and exciting change", but it's not yet clear how successful it will be. For starters, just last week Future Publishing announced that they were backing a new exhibition called Games Matrix, which is focused entirely on consumers and will be taking place at Earls Court a few weeks after ECTS. We doubt that there's a big enough market to support two major gaming shows in London in the space of a month, so one (or both) is likely to end up half empty. Will big name publishers wanting to show off their latest games to the public choose to cater for both trade and consumers at the venerable ECTS, or opt for a new and untested central London punters-only event? Or will they just do what Nintendo did last year, and hold their own shows alongside ECTS? Other changes to the traditional ECTS format include national pavilions for France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia ("to provide a place for visitors to meet and greet fellow colleagues") and keynote seminars from prominent gaming industry figures. Retailers will also be catered for, with a new VIP retail lounge to match the developer lounge and ever-improving press facilities already present at the show. "It's impossible to come up with an event that everyone will be 100 per cent happy with", Andy Lane admitted. "But we're confident this is as close as you could possibly get and that ECTS 2002 will be the industry event everyone has been asking for." Does this sound like the ECTS 2002 you have been asking for? Fill out the comment form below and let us know! Related Feature - The Future Of ECTS

You remember Trickstyle, right? It was an intriguing idea, a racing game on hoverboards, but it turned out to be a pretty uninspiring and soulless affair (and took about an hour to finish -Ed). Now, some two-and-a-bit years later, Criterion have taken the idea that could easily have been inspired by Back to the Future Part II and fused it with their lucrative middleware engine, Renderware, to bring us something far more interesting. The focus of Airblade's single-player game is placed on the story mode. Our hero, Ethan, has come into possession of a hoverboard prototype that was being worked on by one of his shady cohorts. Attempting to get their grubby mitts on this prototype is the GCP Corporation, and having taken Ethan and his partner in crime Kat's best mate hostage, the kids set out on a quest to thwart their evil megaglobal domination-type plans and well and truly .. ahem .. "stick it to the man". What follows is a floaty jaunt around six sprawling levels, attempting to achieve objectives provided by Kat via intercom. The objectives range from taking out GCP guards by hurtling towards them and performing a trick on their face, to flinging your hapless boarder impressively into the air to break searchlights. Why he couldn't just use a rock or something is beyond me...

The massively multiplayer adaptation of Squaresoft's popular Final Fantasy series will feature at least fifteen job classes for players to choose from, as well as a whole host of previously unannounced features, The GIA is reporting. Squaresoft originally announced Fighter (Warrior), Monk, Thief, White Mage and Red Mage job classes, but today those are joined by Black Mage, Knight, Summoner, Bard, Ninja, Sumurai, Gunner, Hunter, Dark Knight and Trainer. According to the report, Final Fantasy XI will also feature a Mission Ranking System, allowing players to grow in importance and stature in direct proportion to their commitment and skills. Forming clans within the game will also be possible through the proposed Link Shell system. Players will be able to purchase a Link Shell, adorn it with their name and symbol and hand it around to form a group. Another interesting aspect of the game is the elemental system, with fire, water, earth, wind, ice, thunder, light and dark crystals to be uncovered and used, whether benevolently or malevolently, to improve the players standing by .. fusing metals, cooking meals and combining plants. Players will first have to develop special skills to harness the crystals' .. unique powers, with higher level abilities becoming available as the game progresses. As a footnote to all of the above, The GIA also reports that Cid, the recurring Final Fantasy character, has had his status relegated to shop owner. Related Feature - Final Fantasy XI preview

Nintendo has altered its flagship adventure title Luigi's Mansion for the European launch of the GameCube videogame console. Shigeru Miyamoto explained that "some new elements" open up once the game has been completed, and that these additions are aimed at drawing players back into the game and improving its appeal. Luigi's Mansion suffered in the Japanese and American GameCube launches due to its short length and lack of replay value. Miyamoto-san revealed Nintendo's plans for the European launch of the title in a recent interview with GameSpot, but it is not yet known how the game has been strengthened. Nintendo has already demonstrated its commitment to Europe in a number of ways, launching at a price substantially lower than its competition and promising 50 software titles by the summer. The PAL unit will also include RGB video output and PAL60 support for 60Hz televisions. Coupled with the company's one-hundred-million-Euro marketing campaign and this 11th hour software touch-up, it seems that Nintendo has perhaps learnt its lesson. Now if only they could bring the launch forward… Related Feature - Nintendo busts out the chequebook

According to gaming fan site The Magic Box, this is "Controller S", the Microsoft-made successor to the original Western Xbox pad. If the site is to be believed, Controller S is scheduled for release in the United States on April 30th priced $39.99, and is smaller all round, with stick placements slightly modified.

Ubi Soft have revealed that Rayman 3 will be released this autumn on PC, PS2, Xbox and GameCube. The armless platform hero has shifted some ten million units over the latest six years on everything from PlayStation and Dreamcast to GameBoy Advance, and after a number of oddball spin-offs and remakes the publisher is promising that the new game will "present the leap forward that the current generation of gamers have been anticipating". Subtitled Hoodlum Havoc, it apparently features a "new innovative tactical arcade battle system" and a healthy dose of off-the-wall humour. Related Feature - Rayman 3 screenshots

The first movie hasn't even hit the screens yet, but already there's talk of a Resident Evil sequel being in the works. Actor Eric Mabius told the Sci-Fi channel's website that "when Bernd Eichinger, the head of Constantin Films, saw an early cut in December, he wanted Paul [Anderson] to start writing the sequel". Apparently pre-sales are strong and "Sony is demanding a sequel already", which Eric admitted "wasn't really anticipated". And despite early indications that the script was "horrible at best", more recent reviews have actually been quite positive. Could we be about to see the first truly good game to film translation? Geordie director Paul Anderson's CV is something of a mixed bag, ranging from Mortal Kombat and brainless Kurt Russell action movie Soldier to the creepy sci-fi horror flick Event Horizon, so your guess is as good as mine. Resident Evil acts as a prequel to Capcom's multi-million selling games, showing how the virus got loose in an underground lab beneath Raccoon City, but apparently the sequel will take the action topside into the city itself and will feature Nemesis, as seen in the game Resident Evil 3. As the third game in the series was set between the first and second ones, this would actually make some sense. Further details are scant at this stage, but no doubt we'll start to hear more after the first film is released in America next week. Update - The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that a deal has been signed to bring Paul Anderson back as writer and producer (but apparently not director) for the sequel, currently going under the name of Resident Evil : Nemesis. The new film will include a mixture of surviving characters from the first movie and familiar faces from the video game series, such as Jill Valentine and/or Claire Redfield. "After Mortal Kombat, I wasn't involved in Annihilation, and the audience that we built up with the first film wasn't happy with the sequel, which killed the film franchise", Paul Anderson explained. "I wouldn't want that to happen with Resident Evil, so I'll be involved in the sequel." Related Feature - Disaster Movies

Nintendo's far-reaching plans for GameCube marketing in Europe have been unveiled today, spanning TV, cinema, print and new media, as well as the WipEout-infused club scene. Although not quite so profound as Sony's David Lynch Third Place advertisements, the TV and cinema campaign aims to dramatise the immersive nature of Nintendo GameCube. As you may already have seen in footage released to the Internet, a glass cube dominates each advert, showing the blurred line between reality and the escapist fantasy of the gaming world. That's what it says here. Each Leo Burnett-developed advert focuses on different elements of the fifty games promised by the summer, including footage from the likes of Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Brothers Melee and Rogue Leader. The new signature line, "Life's a Game" is also used. Although your humble correspondent has yet to witness any of the adverts first hand, if they're anywhere near as amusing as the GameBoy Advance campaign of last summer, then we thoroughly approve. In terms of media advertising, Nintendo plans contemporary campaigns including SMS spamming and spots on MTV and Yahoo. Promotional CD-Roms will be distributed en masse across the continent. Cube Clubs - a feature used to great effect in the United States - will pepper the land as part of a 42-date, 28-city tour of Europe. Each Cube Club will have all fifty playable titles as well as famous DJs and other attractions. In the UK, the tour will head to Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and finally London during April. Details at http://www.cubeclub.co.uk. The final prong of Nintendo's campaign is its in-store displays. More than 3,500 interactive units will start appearing in game stores across Europe. Ultimately, the real question is whether or not all this exposure can help Nintendo beat off the threat of Microsoft. Sony is far and away the market leader, with little chance of being caught, but the Xbox - despite costing nearly twice as much as the humble GameCube - presents a more realistic, but equally formidable challenge. Taking on the will of Microsoft. Yikes. Related Feature - Nintendo busts out the chequebook

Nintendo may have held their console back until May in Europe, and they may have ignored our pleas for tons of software, instead preferring to produce more first party titles in traditional Nintendo fashion. But on the other hand, they haven't overcharged us by nearly 50% and then gone around using mutilated animals as a promotional tool. Nintendo GameCube is about the children, and despite the €249 price tag, it's also about a huge marketing budget! That's right folks, unlike some enormous, greedy super-corporations we could mention, Nintendo have managed to surprise us with a low cost console and have done so without squandering hundreds of thousands of pounds' and Euros' worth of marketing money. Until now, hrm. Year of the Cube to be supported by one-hundred-million-Euro spend, the press release beams. Commencing in March, the enormous marketing push will see TV and cinema advertisements, open days, press events (junkets) and a high in-store presence. Bespoke campaigns focusing on new media (that's us), sampling, PR and ambient activity are also promised, somewhat cryptically. Details on the TV adverts and Cube Clubs to follow. Related Feature - Cube price rises

New Scientist has a story to take the shine off Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox launch in Europe. According to the web site, the infant console can have an adverse effect on the data side of DVD discs, actually scratching them. This has led to some 243 complaints from Japanese customers since its launch on the 22nd of February. Microsoft has argued that this is only a small percentage of the hundred-thousand-strong Japanese Xbox market, and that it does not intend to recall the device. Microsoft has promised to replace any consoles affected under the terms of the device warranty. Eager to deflect criticism, it claimed that a number of other CD and DVD devices have been known to do this in the past. Curiously, the company has yet to receive a single report of this problem from its North American customers. Lower standards? Related Feature - Ménage à Trois

Urban Warfare is the precursor to the PlayStation 2 version of Delta Force which is scheduled for release later this year, but it's a good-looking little game in its own right. Oddly enough it's Novalogic's first foray into PSone publishing, and the developer is none other than 2000AD-owning Rebellion, who have some damn fine first person shooter credentials... The game is still several months from release but it's already taking shape nicely. Moving away from the sprawling vistas and endless sniping missions of its PC forerunners and into a tighter urban setting (if only to save the feeble, whimpering PSone from single-digit framerates and the poorly realised landscapes we had expected to see), it seems to be part Metal Gear Solid, part Counter-Strike and part Delta Force. This time out the player finds himself playing a lone commando with a grudge to settle, as opposed to a crack operative firing bullets miles away from the actual combat… Visually it's surprisingly detailed, with enemies crouching behind statuettes and bullet holes peppering fancy portraits, and it manages to run at a thoroughly reasonable and sustained framerate, even at this early stage. There was a distinct absence of destructible scenery, and bullets cannot penetrate wood and similar substances as they could in Counter-Strike, but the game world is nicely crafted. Of particular interest to me were the environmental effects. On one level, rain tumbles down from the sky, and moving swiftly back and forth produces a nice particle effect as the trails seem to dither and dance in the air.

Microsoft is the latest company to hop on the Lara Croft bandwagon, taking on CAA as their agents in an attempt to interest Hollywood in their latest PC and Xbox games. Microsoft Games manager Stuart Mulder admitted that "we don't understand Hollywood", but he's hopeful that CAA and their network of contacts in the TV and movie industries can raise interest in the publisher's franchises. Naturally interest has centered on the smash Xbox hit Halo, although bizarrely Age of Empires is also mentioned in a story by the Hollywood Reporter. Although the historical strategy series was certainly a big seller, we're not quite sure how it would translate into a movie, and even CAA's Bryan Lourd confessed that "not every game will translate to traditional entertainment". The report also mentions that negotiations are still underway between Microsoft and DreamWorks to turn their fantasy flight combat game Crimson Skies into a movie. With its fun alternate history sky pirates setting, flamboyant characters, fanciful planes and spectacular dogfights we can just about see this one working on the big screen. "I think we'll see traditional Hollywood turning to game creators because this global creative group is full of amazing ideas", according to Lourd. "In creating these games, developers go to great lengths in developing complex characters with individual histories and massive universes." Which is obviously why the movie industry tends to license big-selling plot-free games such as Tekken, Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Crazy Taxi and State of Emergency. Hm .. maybe that Age of Empires movie rumour does make sense after all. Related Feature - New Line Emergency

It's almost a year now since a group of Columbine families filed a lawsuit against 25 entertainment companies, with their lawyers alleging that the accused were somehow responsible for turning Harris and Klebold into teenage "monster killers", resulting in a rampage that left fifteen people dead. Coming in for particular criticism were Doom and the Leonardo di Caprio movie The Basketball Diaries, which features a dream sequence in which Leo guns down his teacher and several students. But this week a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, pointing out in a rare demonstration of common sense that several similar cases brought against entertainment companies in the past have collapsed, and that it was the two gunmen who were ultimately responsible for the deaths at Columbine high school in 1999. Of course, the families of the killers don't have any money, while the lawyers behind this suit were hoping to get $5bn in damages from the likes of id Software, Activision, Virgin Interactive, Sega, Nintendo and Time Warner... Unfortunately this may not be the end, as the Associated Press reports that the families' lawyer John DeCamp had vowed to appeal the decision before even seeing the judge's reasons for throwing out his case. Related Feature - Witch hunt of the day

The International Game Developers Association has revealed that it will be giving the bizarrely named "First Penguin Award" to French designer Hubert Chardot at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose later this month. The award is intended to "acknowledge developers who have shown a willingness to take risks for potential advancements in game development", and in this case it comes in recognition of Chardot's work on the pioneering horror survival game Alone In The Dark. Hubert himself was said to be well chuffed with the gong, proclaiming that "this award has inspired me to work harder and I hope it will encourage others to take more risks in their work". We can only hope that this resolution and recognition will lead to better games from him in future, as his last couple of titles (Devil Inside and From Dusk Till Dawn) were both sadly flawed, apparently the result of tight schedules enforced by a cash-strapped publisher. Related Feature - Hubert Chardot interview

Synaptic Soup have unveiled the latest version of the Cipher engine, which will be powering their own oddball motor racing game Crazy Car Championship, and is also available for licensing to other developers. Top of the list of changes is the addition of the Karma physics system from MathEngine, which is also now built into the latest versions of the Unreal technology. According to Synaptic technical director Rik Heywood, "Cipher developers can now benefit from an easy step into realistic physically modelled game worlds". Other improvements in Cipher v1.2 include an upgraded animation system that allows for facial expressions, new shader and particle system options, better multiplayer support, updated sound and music code, changes to the development tools and (last and most certainly least) new lens flare and sun glare effects. Just what the world needed - more lens flare. "With its powerful feature set, flexible licensing options, no royalties to pay and now the additional features of version 1.2, there has never been a better time to join the growing number of Cipher licensees", development director Vince Farquharson enthused. Related Feature - Synaptic Soup interview

As 3D versions of decadent scrolling beat 'em ups go, SOE isn't terribly special, but it has done well on the basis of its association with the Rockstar brand. Developer VIS Entertainment has had no qualms about dashing a bit of the old ultra-violence all over the gaming world's collective face, but it's done so with none of the polish and glamour of the immense, definitive videogame that is Grand Theft Auto 3. In looks alone SOE is a match for its gritty sibling. Immediately reminding players of the 'on-foot' sections of GTA, it won't be long before the hunger for some sort of motorized transport sets in, if only to mow down a few of those rioting bastards. There may be some hokey premise about fighting the power here, but ultimately State of Emergency is a 16-bit scrolling beat 'em up in new threads and there is no escape. As if to emphasize this, throughout the game you'll find 'exits' and doorways that AI-controlled rioters can escape into, but which you can't. Nice to know it's upholding the legacy. There are several ways to 'do' a riot simulation, and when I envisaged SOE as it went through the rigors of development, I had my heart set on photo-realistic slaughter and mindless anarchy. Unfortunately, being handed a list of objectives ruins just about anybody's perception of a riot and that's pretty much why SOE fails. You have to be organised, so whilst all these people around you (up to 250 at once) are madly dashing about lootin' and pillagin', you have to go and blow up something specific, or knock a particular somebody's block off.

London's Barbican Gallery has launched a new mini-site for its Game On exhibition, which is taking place over the summer, from May 16th to September 15th. Covering the entire 40 year history of video games, from the original 1962 Spacewar right through to the latest consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, the exhibition will feature everything from vintage arcade games and classic home computers to screenings of movies inspired or influenced by video games and information about leading developers like DMA and Maxis. At the moment the official website is limited to a quick blurb about what we can expect from the show and details on how to book your tickets in advance and get to the venue, but more information about the exhibition's contents and how kids can convince their teachers to take them to it on the grounds of it being an educational experience for key stage 1 and 2 pupils will be posted over the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can find the mini-site at GameOnWeb.co.ukRelated Feature - Game On for the Barbican

For those of you looking for something a little off the beaten track, Digital Eel's latest oddball game Strange Adventures In Infinite Space is now available for pre-order from Cheapass Games for the princely sum of £15. As captain of a scout vessel it's up to you to "boldly blow up stuff where no one has blown up stuff before", exploring strange new worlds, encountering bizarre and often unfriendly alien lifeforms and then stealing their technology to make a quick buck. Games tend to be rather short because of the small maps, but as they're randomly generated there's plenty of replay value and every time you play the game something different (and usually rather daft) is liable to happen. If you fancy a closer look, a small 5Mb demo version of the game featuring a single non-random map to explore is available to download from the DIgital Eel website. Related Feature - Strange but true

Codemasters have revealed that author Piers Anthony, best known for his long running Xanth series of comical fantasy novels, will be collaborating with them on their massively multiplayer role-playing game Dragon Empires. As well as writing an exclusive short story to introduce players to the game world, he will also be helping to create a history for the game's various cultures and to .. er .. name them. So far all we know is that the world on which the game is set has been dubbed [drum roll please] Fortitude. Yes, exciting isn't it? Producer Ted Carron seems taken with it, anyway, declaring that "the naming of the world as Fortitude reflects the attitude to succeed in the world - the name means strength, a firmness of mind, courage, determination, and guts!" Related Feature - Dragon Empires screenshots

This year sees the Gaming Globes returning to EuroGamer for a third year. The Globes recognise excellence across the entire spectrum of game design, from storylines and soundtracks to visual effects and artwork, and now it's your chance to help pick out the best games and developers of the year in each of the ten different categories. The final shortlist of five nominees for each category is now ready to be announced, and until midnight GMT on Monday 11th March 2001 you can have your say on who gets the gongs by voting for whichever game you think should win in each of the categories. Please think about your vote before casting it - you can only vote once in each category and any duplicate votes will be discarded. And now, without any further ado, here are the nominees for the 2002 Gaming Globe awards!

Intel has unveiled its mobile Pentium 4 processor and an accompanying 845 chipset family laptop motherboard supporting DDR memory, bringing the best of the company's PC technology to mobile shores. At 1.7GHz, the mobile Pentium 4 is said to yield a 43 per cent performance improvement over its highest-rated predecessor, with a 512K on die L2 cache and the P4's array of buzzword features. The real question is battery life though, and Intel is quick to point out that it has implemented an enhanced variant of its SpeedStep technology, which can switch between maximum and battery-optimised modes as the system's demand on the processor increases or wanes. The processor can also induce a Deeper Sleep Alert State, operating at as low as 1 volt. This is largely thanks to the equally-enhanced Intel Mobile Voltage Positioning system (IMVP III), which can dynamically change processor voltage based on activity, improving thermal efficiency. The 845-derived motherboard is quite an impressive specimen, with AGP 4X and DDR 266 support for up a gig of memory. Twinned with one of the leading mobile chips from either NVIDIA or ATI, this could form the basis of a truly beastly laptop. Pricing for the new motherboard and processors is set at (in 1,000 unit quantities) $43 for the 845MP chipset, and $508 / $401 for the 1.7GHz and 1.6GHz processors respectively. Expect to see long-term Intel supporters such as Dell offering laptops based on this new apex of mobile processor design shortly. Related Feature - Pentium 4 review

February 22nd has been and gone, the first day of Microsoft's intrusion into the Japanese videogame market proper. Despite Bill Gates describing the launch as going "super well" to CNN, Bloomberg reports launch sales of approximately 123,000 for the first weekend, approximately half the number Microsoft shipped to the region, with a software tie-in ratio of 1.59, a huge drop from the 2.4 sell-through seen in the States where bundles were almost obligatory. Even the GameCube, launched days after the September 11th attacks and reportedly a slow-starter in Japan sold 175,000 units in its first weekend, while the mighty PlayStation 2 sold a towering 680,000 units. The biggest selling game was apparently Dead or Alive 3 with roughly 70,000 copies selling, with Genma Onimusha and Project Gotham Racing the only two games other than Tecmo's offering to head north of 10,000 units. Sales of the limited edition unit are said to be the most impressive, but one would expect that a lot of those went to those planning to export them, including the likes of Hong Kong-based Lik Sang and other vendors. The Japanese launch was always going to be an interesting affair, and it seems that the Japanese public have answered in unison. One has to expect games to drive the market though, and so in the long run the prize is still there to be taken. Nevertheless, we wait with baited breath for the product of Microsoft PR crisis talks and spin doctor meetings, which must be going on in earnest deep within the bowels of Redmond. Let's hope it tops their November specials. Perhaps they could include contact details for the various Japanese Xbox owners… Related Feature - Ménage à Trois

Ubi Soft have signed a deal with CBS and Alliance Atlantis to bring their popular TV series CSI : Crime Scene Investigation to the PC and consoles, with the first game to emerge from the deal expected on shelves late next year. There's no clue at this stage as to what kind of game CSI will be turned into, but given that the TV series centers around a group of Las Vegas investigators examining crime scenes (funnily enough) and using forensic evidence to track down criminals we can hopefully assume that this one won't be another third person action-adventure game. Whatever it does turn out to be, Ubi Soft's CEO Yves Guillemot believes that "it's really great to have the opportunity to bring such a captivating series to computer and video games". And with the show enjoying an audience of around 20 million viewers a week in the US alone, we can see why.

German publisher Fishtank Interactive have released the English language demo for their forthcoming role-playing game, Arx Fatalis, which is set in a (literally) dark fantasy world where the sun has gone out and the people have hidden themselves away beneath the surface. It's heavily inspired by Ultima Underworld, but comes with the benefit of atmospheric dimly lit graphics and a gesture system for casting spells, a little like the one used in Black & White but much more user-friendly. Can it live up to its initial promise? Now's your chance to find out, assuming of course that you have the patience and/or bandwidth to grab the 149Mb demo. With two levels to explore, three spells to cast and a variety of weapons to wield, the demo should give you about an hour of entertainment for your effort, and can be downloaded from any of the usual suspects -

Dark Arena is a questionable romp that never really threatens to engulf DOOM with its vacuous gameplay. Dashing my hopes of a handheld first person shooter renaissance, THQ's game is little more than a scribble in da Vinci's notebook, which reads, "Remember to paint that Mona woman for the restraining order application". And that does evoke a soupçon of disappointment in this writer. The scenario put before players is unremarkable, taking place in your average secret genetic factory for man-made super-soldiers, which is swarming with its mutated denizens and rampaging nasties, all of man's own ill-considered making. As the last survivor of a blundering rescue attempt, you have to fight your way to freedom. Along the way players have to overcome twenty levels using a combination of six different weapons, and success rewards them with some prerendered FMV (of sorts). For dessert there's a four-player deathmatch option, although this does require four copies of the game, making it somewhat difficult to test on our lone review copy. One of the most irritating things about Dark Arena though - and THQ GBA releases in general - is the persistent use of a password facility to save games. Who knows what these passwords actually do save apart from the level you've reached, but as your average commuter will attest, jotting down a ten digit alphanumeric password in the confines of your average locomotive is not as easy as the developers seem to think.

French developers Kalisto, who have been struggling against the tide since announcing a near 95% slump in revenues last spring, got a last minute stay of execution this week. They had filed for bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago after French stock market regulators blocked a refinancing plan, but on Thursday it was revealed that the company has been placed under legal protection for six months by Bordeaux's commercial courts. During this time their liabilities will be frozen, and chairman Nicolas Gaume told Reuters that he was hoping to "continue to invest as we have up till now and devote ourselves to the necessary restructuring". It's not clear whether this will be enough to save the company in the long run or to raise interest in a possible take-over, but it does at least mean that the company may now get to finish some of its remaining projects, such as the 3D platformer Halloween for Wanadoo. Related Feature - Kalisto files for bankruptcy

I say 'remake', but honestly it's little more than a straight conversion at this stage. Granda II for the PC will join the recently released PlayStation 2 version on store shelves more than twelve months after its original Dreamcast release, and based on a quick stomp through the game things have hardly changed at all. In fact, although the visuals looked relatively snug behind the generous anti-aliasing effect of the average TV, they seem extremely archaic in this context, and the character animation in particular could do with a few more frames. Effects like water, trees and landscapes all seem fairly unexciting now, when they were vaguely impressive before, and the cutscenes - explosive in their realisation on the Dreamcast - appear in low resolutions and fail to impress. But like the rigid Final Fantasy PC conversions of yore, Grandia II is a console-style RPG for PC gamers, and it provides a welcome release from the hackandslash-style adventure that PC users have been subjected to without variation for quite some time, and the endless monotony and barren landscapes of massively multiplayer online RPGs. This is a content-laden adventure for PC owners who want to lose themselves to an RPG again. And of course as far as the wife's concerned, this is just some work you brought home with you.