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One of the more bizarre moments at the first European Game Developer's Conference a couple of months ago came during the keynote speech on the future of gaming by David Braben. While we were all waiting patiently for a new Elite sequel, Braben and the boys at Frontier Developments have instead been working on A Dog's Tale, a horrendously cute looking adventure game starring a lost dog. Aw, bless. Today Frontier have released a little demonstration of the animation system which David Braben was showcasing at GDC Europe, featuring a trio of dogs running around on a landscape of graph paper hills. Called R-TAG, it is described as being their own in-house "second generation Inverse Kinematics animation library", if that means anything to you. The upshot of all this is that as the dogs wander around your screen the animations of their various gaits are blended smoothly in real-time, meaning no skating, no feet hovering in mid-air, and no instant snapping between different animations. Occasionally if they make a sharp turn while running flat out one of their legs ends up in a rather odd position for a split second, but this could be the .. ahem .. "deliberate mistake" they mentioned in the press release. Overall the effect is certainly quite impressive though, especially as producing believable animations for creatures with more than two legs is harder than it sounds. You can download the strangely hypnotic 1.4Mb tech demo from Frontier's website. Related Feature - GDC Europe / ECTS 2001 coverage

IGN have gotten hold of a US GameCube package and a couple of launch titles - Luigi's Mansion and Wave Race: Blue Storm. According to the American website, the console packaging hasn't changed much from its original Japanese outfit, except the handle is missing from the top of the box, and there are lots of screenshots and peripheral images on the back and side. Inside the package, the console now comes with A/V cables as standard, as well as one controller and the power adapter. The interesting change is to the software packaging. We have grown quite fond of the GameCube software packages, but it doesn't surprise us to hear that Nintendo have upped the size to about that of a DVD case, which is of course what Sony and Microsoft will be using. Inside the box are slots for the optical discs and one memory card. The cases are apparently pretty basic, which we guess means they lack the little cardboard sleeves that make the Japanese cases ever so slightly more fragile. The biggest change though comes to Luigi's Mansion, which now features footage of Pikmin hidden in the options menu. Two minutes of it, although sadly nothing playable. You can read more about it at IGN's GameCube website. Related Feature - Hip to be Cube!

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 will be the PlayStation 2's first online game, publisher Activision has revealed. Larry Goldberg, executive VP of Activision Worldwide Studios said in a statement, that "By introducing an online component to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise, we are not only upping the ante in the action sports category but in console gaming on the whole". For once, we agree. The game will use GameSpy as its matchmaking service, and will support the Sony Ethernet/modem adapter when it launches, as well as "a number of third party peripherals including USB Ethernet Adapters and USB Modems". The game will use peer-to-peer networking rather than the popular client/dedicated server style of PC games like Quake. It's interesting to note that scant few details are included in this announcement of which ISP will be handling the modem dialup, or how much it will cost. We can only assume that it will be a non-subscription 0845 dialup service. The Ethernet situation is even less obvious, with no news whatsoever on when that adapter will launch in this country. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is due out on November 23rd in the UK and Europe. Related Feature - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Dreamcast review

Upgrading your graphics card has never been so expensive. To pick up a cutting edge card based on NVIDIA's cracking Titanium 500 reference design could set you back upwards of £350. These days you could probably replace your monitor for less. If you have to buy NVIDIA though - and judging from the emails we've been getting that's a lot of you - then you probably want to know whether it's worth sifting through the various boards on the market, or whether you should simply go for the cheapest. It would be impossible for us to scrounge every single GeForce 3-derived card on the market, but by examining a cross-section of the products on offer we can establish whether any performance difference exists, or not... There are three categories; GeForce 3 Titanium 200, vanilla GeForce 3 and GeForce 3 Titanium 500. Our control for each category is the appropriate NVIDIA reference board. If you aren't familiar with GeForce 3 or GeForce 3 Titanium, we recommend you check out the respective reviews. Wherever a board varies from the reference design, it has been noted below.

Bungie's community liaison Matt Soell has spoken out on his company's public forum about the Xbox instability stories that are spreading like wildfire in the United States. According to Microsoft testers, Matt says, "some of the software on the Xbox demo discs was accidentally built with an old video library". He doesn't mention which demos in particular, but states that "a conflict between the finished hardware and the old library will, under certain conditions, manifest itself as the weirdness reported over the last few days." Let's consider what has been reported. Intermittent crashes, consoles locking up and even one console freezing up like clockwork every hour or so. The video library theory could easily account for some of the problems, but then again, this is the second time we've heard Microsoft or a Microsoft subsidiary refer to these demo units as "finished hardware". Didn't some of them crash outright or get stuck on the system menu screens? While we're a little more worried than we were before, we remain sceptical of widespread problems and inherent instability because as we've said before, Microsoft wouldn't be so stupid as to release Xbox in that state. "For anyone concerned, the final version of Halo uses a more recent library which does not have this problem. I expect other Xbox titles do as well," Soell went on to say. He then went on to point out that much of the bad publicity surrounding these incidents actually originates with Internet-based MS haters. He's probably right, too. Who wouldn't expect a bit of animosity from them? After all, I myself refer to Bill Gates and Microsoft in terms not wholly endearing when I lose a batch of screenshots to a dodgy driver-induced BSOD. I doubt I'm the only one. Related Feature - Xbox crash problems?

When I first played Commandos back in 1998, I had no preconceptions. It just showed up as a demo in a stack of demos, and happened to be the game I chose to play on a rainy afternoon. It's taken three years to get the sequel ready, but my patience has paid dividends. In fairness to Spanish developer Pyro Studios, three years isn't that long to wait for a game in this industry, and given that it took me about nine months to wrap up the first game, and there was a mission pack, the intervening period wasn't even that long. The problem with truly great games though, is that you hang on every word, every screenshot and every glimpse you can get of the game. Every time Eidos unleashed another slew of screenshots I found myself lusting after the sequel, wanting ever so much just to sink my teeth back into the nit and grit, the trademark engrossing gameplay of Commandos. So it does feel like we've been waiting a long time. The good news is that for Commandos fans the game has certainly been worth the wait, and it's as intimidating and downright insurmountable as before, if not more so. The game draws on plenty of movies to bring you the ultimate 'behind enemy lines' experience, and fans of films such as Where Eagles Dare and Saving Private Ryan will spot a number of references. The world Pyro Studios have built for the sequel is very believable, and as you guide your tiny task force of allied operatives deep into enemy territory, you truly appreciate how much more challenging and sophisticated an experience Commandos 2 is compared to its predecessor.

Since the September 11th terrorist attacks the US military seems to have come to the sudden realisation that it really doesn't have a clue what's going on out there, and bizarrely turned to Hollywood directors and scriptwriters to brainstorm possible scenarios earlier this month. Now they have gone a step further in their insanity by commissioning the Institute for Creative Technologies to team up with Battlezone 2 developers Pandemic and Sony Pictures to form a partnership called Future Combat. Together they are working on a game called C-Force which will be released on next-generation consoles in about two years, while a special version of the game will also be used to train officer candidates in the US Army. C-Force's executive producer will be Rob Sears, the man behind MechWarrior 3 and MechCommander, but given that the project is based on the army's "Military Operations in Urban Terrain" manual and set in the near future, we sadly doubt that there will be any large stompy robots involved. The focus will be on light infantry tactics, and ICT director Richard Lindheim believes that "while offering unique training aids for potential squad leaders or captains, these products will also teach game players everywhere about how to leverage human resources and information - skills that will benefit them enormously in their professional lives". "There are huge questions that must be answered both in developing and playing these games beyond simply asking how much more advanced will weaponry become, and how will it affect battlefield strategy and tactics", according to creative director James Korris. "In twenty years, for example, will soldiers wear computers? Will they be networked? What kind of information will troops receive and send? How will it impact split-second decisions made in the field?" It sounds like the US army doesn't know the answers to these questions, and the thought of game developers and movie producers designing the soldier of tomorrow is truly a terrifying one...

Codemasters have announced that the Operation Flashpoint mission pack formerly known as Red Hammer will henceforth be known as the Gold Upgrade. The add-on will now be released on November 30th and include the Red Hammer campaign itself, which adds twenty single player missions allowing you to play as the Soviets, as well as all three patches and a copy of the official Operation Flashpoint strategy guide from Prima. The asking price is a mere £9.99. Meanwhile a full price Gold Edition bundle will also be available, including the latest version of the original game and all the new goodies from the Gold Upgrade pack. If you don't already own a copy of Operation Flashpoint, you officially now have no excuse. Related Feature - Hammer time for Operation Flashpoint

Novalogic have announced that they will be releasing Delta Force : Urban Warfare some time in May 2002. The latest first person shooter in their multi-million selling tactical combat series is not coming to the PC though, but instead to the elderly PlayStation. At a time when most other publishers are putting their PSX development kits into retirement homes, this will actually be Novalogic's first game for the console. Whether any more will follow remains to be seen, as they have already pledged their support for Microsoft's Xbox with a port of Comanche 4 known to be underway. Urban Warfare is being developed by Rebellion, the brains behind Aliens vs Predator and Gunlok. CEO Jason Kingsley is said to be "proud, and thrilled, to be involved in such an exciting project", and is promising a "unique AI system" as well as all-new missions and the usual array of hi-tech weaponry. Rebellion apparently "aims to bring its expert game design and technical skills to bear to make this a chart busting title", while Novalogic themselves described the British company as "the perfect development partner for this project .. a much respected and extremely talented development house". Aw, bless. Related Features - Delta Force : Urban Warfare screenshots

The real-time strategy genre isn't exactly known as a hive of innovation, but every so often a game comes along to breathe some fresh life into the stale formula. Warrior Kings is shaping up to be one of these stand-out titles, which is why, having spent the best part of an hour chatting with one of the developers from Black Cactus as he demonstrated the game at last month's ECTS trade show in London, we hailed it as our pick for Game Of The Show.

Digital Bridges celebrated the launch of their new Thunderbirds game on Genie's WAP portal last night at London's glitzy Nutopia, amidst much consumption of free alcohol and unidentifiable nibbles supplied by an army of friendly waitresses. Meanwhile Parker and Lady Penelope look-alikes were wandering around amongst the journos as projectors played scenes from the classic TV series on to the walls. There were even inflatable Thunderbirds chairs to take home. The game itself is a turn-based affair, with you joining International Rescue and decoding emergency signals on board Thunderbird 5. These lead into little puzzle-based missions where you must carry out tasks such as digging out buried miners in the Mole or setting up mirrors to reflect dangerous laser beams. Between missions you can head back to Tracy Island to see how your score is racking up and check the leaderboard to see how the competition are doing. It's a fairly straightforward little game but enjoyable enough to fill a few minutes, and certainly a leap forward compared to most WAP games we've seen in the past. Although the event was focused on Thunderbirds, there were a few other titles on show as well, and ironically these looked rather more interesting. For starters there was Steve Jackson's Sorcery, an action-adventure game inspired by the classic Fighting Fantasy "choose your own adventure" book of the same name, which some of our older readers may remember from the 1980s. Battling your way through the whole thing should take a couple of hours, with most of your time spent squinting at the funky monochrome graphics and choosing what to do next from the list of two or three options you are given after every action. There are also occasional fights which take the form of rock-scissors-paper style bouts as you and your enemy decide whether to attack, defend or rest, with the additional option of using a series of magical gestures to try and unleash spells on your foe. It's all good clean fun, and kept us amused until the WAP emulator we were playing it on crashed. Another classic game getting a new lick of green and black paint is Scott Adams' Pirate Adventure, brought to WAP in association with Starlancer developers Warthog. Sadly we didn't get to try this one for ourselves before the bouncers came to kick us out at the end of the night, but if it can successfully recreate the gameplay of the original then it could be worth a look for retro gamers and adventure fans. Next up was Star Trek : First Duty, part of a collaboration with Activision. This drops you into Starfleet Academy as an officer cadet and then sets you the task of learning to command a starship, although the incomplete section we played seemed to be limited to chatting with the gardener and being introduced to some of your tutors. In the final game there will be lectures to attend and skills to put to the test in the academy's holodeck. It's perhaps not the most exciting sounding game, but First Duty will also act as an introduction and tutorial for a forthcoming massively multiplayer WAP game called Prime Directive, which is due to launch early next year. We've not seen this one yet, but the idea of being able to command your own Starfleet vessel from a mobile phone and "boldly go" along with hundreds of other players around the world certainly sounds promising. Finally there were the sports games. Not being a big soccer fan I couldn't make head nor tail of LMA Football Quiz, a trivia spin-off of Codemasters' soccer management series, but Wentworth Golf was entertaining enough. All eighteen holes of the English golf course are recreated in 3D, with an overhead map showing where you are and funny little animations illustrating the outcome of your stroke. In my case, this usually involved the ball rolling behind a tuft of scraggly looking grass, but I did manage to put the damn thing in the hole eventually. A variety of caddies are on offer to accompany you around the course, and given my terrible performance I'm glad I picked the "bouncy" young lady (ahem) rather than the sarcastic bloke. Still, if you like golf and take the time to read the instructions you should do better than me, and there are a series of tournaments and leaderboards to take part in. Your character's skill level will gradually rise as you spend more time on the game as well, letting you take longer and more accurate shots. All in all it was an impressive line-up, and although it's obviously aimed more at casual gamers, titles like Sorcery, Pirates Adventure and Wentworth Golf might appeal to more hardcore players with a few minutes to waste. Obviously this doesn't come for free, and pricing details have yet to be announced, but as long as Genie keep the cost fairly low they could be on to a winner.

When we first saw Warrior Kings in action at ECTS 2000 there wasn't much in the way of actual gameplay on offer, but since then developers Black Cactus have been working hard to put some gameplay flesh on the bare bones. At this year's show the game looked to be fully playable although, as we discovered last week in The Man Who Would Be King, publisher Microids have recently given Black Cactus another three months to polish and beta test the game.

3DO Europe will be giving punters their first look at Jonny Moseley Mad Trix at the Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Show, which is taking place in London's Olympia exhibition hall from today through to Sunday 4th November. Due out on PlayStation 2 in February to tie in with the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, the game features Olympic freestyle skiing gold medallist Jonny Moseley as he induges in some "big air" through snow-clad cities such as San Francisco, Las Vegas and Rome. You also have the opportunity to plummet down the likes of Mount Everest and Kilimanjaro in the appropriately named "Big Mountain" mode, dodging avalanches and "pulling off insane grabs". If this sounds like your cup of tea, grab your gloves and goggles and head down to the Olympia - 3DO are on stand 618. Related Feature - Jonny Moseley Mad Trix screenshots

Die Hard developer Bits Studios formally announced today its GameBoy Advance project, Jet Riders. The details were issued in a press release along with a slew of screenshots. The company anticipates a high level of interest in the game's visuals, which boast unprecedented detail for a handheld title. Jet Riders is shot from overhead, and features an eight way multi-directional scrolling display. The game also incorporates real-time water effects and wave animations, and uses 3D sprites. The game will give players control of six Jet Skis, with free practice and several serious competition modes, alongside a multiplayer mode for up to four gamers with copies of the game. There will also be a single-cart multiplayer mode. Jet Riders will be available in early 2002, with the publisher still to be announced. Related Feature - Jet Riders screenshots

SCE is working on a new Gran Turismo title to showcase prototype vehicles the Tokyo Motor Show in Japan, series producer Kazunori Yamauchi revealed yesterday. The game, pencilled in as Gran Turismo Concept, will include cars from six separate manufacturers so far, with eighteen confirmed vehicles including the Mazda RX-8 and Honda Dualnote. The game will be aimed at auto enthusiasts and driving game beginners rather than the GT hardcore, so if you're expecting GT4 you might as well continue to hold your breath. The number of tracks will be smaller than previous titles and vehicle tweaking will be limited. However, the game will retail for a 3,200 yen, a shade over £18. Assuming the game makes it to the West, we can probably look forward to a cheap GT-comparable racer with stunning visuals for next to nought… That said, we're not the sort to go counting our chickens just yet. Related Feature - Gran Turismo 3 review

LucasArts has announced the sequel to its excellent PlayStation 2 shooter Star Wars Starfighter. The original game was based on three new characters in a storyline that ran parallel to The Phantom Menace. Although famously over-budget, it won our hearts for taking the problems of the oft-criticized film and marginalizing them. The sequel, Jedi Starfighter has just been announced on PlayStation 2, and includes plenty of content from the Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The game takes its name from the Jedi's main craft in the film and game, the Jedi Starfighter, but players will also be able to try out three new ships; the Havoc, the Zoomer and the Freefall. Because of the Jedi connection, we can expect to see force-enhanced abilities in some of the game's pilots, which should lead to some interesting gameplay! The game is due out in Spring, and will feature a similar amount of missions to the original Starfighter and no doubt the same impressive PS2-pushing visuals. Initial reports on the film indicate that Star Wars fans will be happier this time out. We can only hope this holds true for fans of the game. Related Feature - Jedi Starfighter screenshots

Through the rusting, buckled railings, beyond twisted, gnarled trees and air heavy with meandering leaves, a huge run-down mansion comes into view atop a hill. It is nighttime and a large storm hangs menacingly overhead, yet through the crashes of thunder and the pattering of rain on the sodden ground, a lonely piano can be heard picking notes out of the air. Upon further investigation, we notice we're moving towards an orphanage. Following the rain, our view proceeds down, into a drain, and from there into a bathroom. There is a child here. A boy. Still the piano plays. As the boy stares into the mirror, the door bursts open; "Cyp! What are you up to?..". And so begins Evil Twin. Cyprien is the young protagonist in this tale of a warped journey through his own imagination, where the lines between it and reality have blurred. The dilemma he finds himself in is brought on by his own misery and distorted view of the world. This night is his birthday and yet the anniversary of his parents' death, and his depression and anger brings a new twist to the world he inhabits. Himself, his friends, and his… ahem… teddy bear, Lenny, are dragged into a twisted world called Undabed, which is overrun by an evil force called Big Boss. It then becomes unclear whether Cyprien is actually inhabiting this odd world or if it's some figment of his twisted psyche. Nevertheless, on your arrival in the world as Cyp, you're greeted by an elephant. On a swing. Called Wilbur. Wilbur tells you it's your task to free the world from the wave of tyranny brought on by Big Boss by locating the pieces of the Great Zipette, the key to Big Boss' tower. Originally this task was taken on by Lenny, who it transpires is the leader of an elite resistance. After he went missing it was decided that it should be you to take his place.

World War III is about to be released, World War II is under construction at Zuxxez, and now another German publisher, Fishtank Interactive, have announced that they will be releasing a World War I strategy game next summer. Titled 1914 : The Great War, this one is a turn-based affair rather than real-time, and no doubt the extra time you have to make your moves will be helpful when deciding exactly when to send thousands of soldiers over the top to certain death in your latest "big push".

Fresh from unleashing World War III, Earth 2150 developers Reality Pump are now hard at work on a new real-time strategy game, World War II : Panzer Claws. Using their new Earth III engine it certainly looks the part, as revealed by a new batch of screenshots which arrived from publisher Zuxxez today. The game will take you across Europe from the Ardennes to Italy to the Eastern Front, and Zuxxez are claiming that "so far no product has been able to offer such advanced possibilities as ours", with full 3D terrain, day and night cycles and weather effects, all of which effect the behaviour and effectiveness of the various units. With the game currently due out early in the new year, we should know soon whether it can live up to the hype.

"After extensive communication with the gaming community", the CPL has decided to back down on its plans to sanitize the version of Counter-Strike to be used at its World Championship event. Although clan tags will replace the T word, bizarre plans to replace the game's bomb with a communications device in the wake of the September terrorist attacks have been thrown out, and presumably this means that explosive sound effects are back in as well. In a more questionable move, the CPL has also backed down on its plans to fully enforce America's ESRB ratings at future events, instead continuing to allow anyone over 16 to take part in tournaments for Mature rated games, as long as they show up with a signed parental release form. Related Feature - Counter-Strike struck out

While Kalisto's first attempt at turning Luc Besson's stylish sci-fi movie The Fifth Element into a game was something of a disappointment, that hasn't discouraged the French developer from having a second bite at the cherry. The good news is that this time round all of the elements seem to have slotted into place nicely to produce an eye-candy laden racing game.

The task of turning The Weakest Link into a computer game probably seems like a relatively simple task at first. After all, it worked for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. But then you start to realise that there is a lot more to it than that. There is the competition between players, the scheming and rivalry, the rapidly increasing tension as the number of players dwindles. Oh, and let's not forget the ever-present game show host of doom, Anne Robinson. What surprises you when you first play Weakest Link is the amount of effort that has been put into recreating the show as accurately as possible. Instead of simply sticking the voice of the host into the game and be done with it, the developers have created a 3D interpretation of the entire Weakest Link studio, complete with inanimate cardboard cut-out audience, swooping camera angles, beaming lights and nervously fidgeting contestants. While it's certainly more impressive to have a fully 3D set as opposed to a 2D graphical display interspersed with FMV, the overall graphical quality is fairly mediocre. From the low-resolution textures to the extremely low-poly studio set and characters, it all appears very dated by today's aesthetic standards. The blockhead human models are almost comical in fact, and their animations do little to impress either. The same could be said about the voice acting, with poorly impersonated regional accents and phrases that become increasingly irritating the more they are repeated.

There was a predictable song and dance about crashing Xboxes at E3 this year. Everyone seemed happy to ignore the fact that the hardware and software were in a constant state of development in favour of a few amusing photographs of blue screens of death. While we watched this unfold, we witnessed GameCubes, PlayStations and PlayStation 2 consoles, and even GameBoy Advance consoles malfunction in one pre-release state or another. Hey, back in the day I could crash my Super Nintendo using a code-boggled Action Replay 2, and that's about as close to the intended release setup as these units. Which is why, on balance, we reckon that reports of similar problems with demo units "coast to coast" in America are hot air, or at the very least down to pre-release hardware and software failure. Any complaints about instability will have to be based on the release candidate Xbox, as far as we are concerned, and a few words to that effect from a Toys 'R' Us employee aren't all that convincing. So far, of all the demo units sent to stores across America, the press has picked up on four that have problems. And these are severe problems; audio skip, loading issues, incessant freezing… the sort of thing you might put down to actual mechanical failure, and apparently one even arrived DOA. Well blow me. That's convincing evidence of a widespread problem, chaps! Ultimately, this one is going to run and run, because everybody likes to have a dig at Microsoft's expense now and then, and although we doubt the effectiveness of Microsoft's online strategy, and although we reckon they will find less enthusiasm for their occasionally excellent launch line-up than they expect, we do not think they would be stupid enough to release a console with inherent stability problems. It just doesn't wash.

EA plans to revive the Need for Speed brand with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on PlayStation next Spring. The game is a sequel to one of the best-looking PC releases of last year, and it's a safe bet that the game will look delightful if nothing else. The team in charge of development is Vancouver-based Black Box Games. The team most recently responsible for NHL2K on Dreamcast and the NHL Hitz line-up on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, was also the team behind NASCAR 2001 on PlayStation, which I am told was the best game in that series for quite a while. It remains to be seen what these guys can do with a hot property like NFS, but they have plenty of backing. Amongst the 20 plus officially licensed sports cars are big names like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. The game will include several different modes spread across 12 realistic open-road racing courses. NFS: Hot Pursuit allowed gamers to take part in exhilarating cross-country races, hotly pursued as the name suggests by various parts of the law. According to EA's press spokesman, Hot Pursuit 2 will feature brand new adaptive AI and of course, sublime visuals. Unfortunately for EA, it will also arrive in light of Gran Turismo 3 and Project Gotham Racing, and that's the sort of competition that can make a big-name racer look shallow.

When the PlayStation 2 launched in Japan last year, it sold nearly one million units in the course of a single weekend. Since then, Sony has shipped twenty million units worldwide. Nintendo's GameCube received a dull reception by comparison, with generous figures putting its weekend sales at a third of Sony's, and the less generous as little as a fifth. But, console launches are unpredictable, and the GameCube made the mistake of launching with three excellent games as opposed to thirty of the lukewarm variety. Nintendo of America aim to make no such mistake though, launching the console on November 18 with 15 games by its side. The Japanese launch titles will be there, along with an assortment from Electronic Arts. Of the various releases, we reckon four at least are exclusive, with the rest no doubt filtering through to rival consoles at about the same time.

There must be something in the water in eastern Europe, with a host of tactical action games such as Operation Flashpoint, Team Factor, Hidden & Dangerous and Codename Outbreak emerging from the former Soviet bloc. The latest title to add to that list is Chrome, developed by a Polish company called Techland. While their first game, Crime Cities, turned out to be something of a disappointment, Chrome is looking somewhat more .. polished. [You're fired - Ed.] The game takes place on a series of newly colonized worlds orbiting a distant star called Valkyria, just as a conflict over mineral deposites begins. You play a mercenary called Logan who is hoping to cash in on the chaos by selling his talents to the highest bidder, although he soon discovers that "sometimes money is not the only criteria for the right decision". Cue a series of missions taking in alien jungles, futuristic military bases, lunar landscapes and space stations. Chrome certainly looks pretty, with vast outdoors areas and all manner of fancy visual effects being promised, and with its mixture of tactical action, driveable vehicles and an array of sci-fi weaponry and implants it could prove to be well worth a look. Chrome is currently expected to appear on shelves some time in the spring, although a publisher has yet to be announced. Related Feature - Chrome screenshots

Electronic Arts has announced that it will be sacking up to 250 staff from its loss making EA.com division, about a third of the online group's employees. The deep cuts are being made in a desperate attempt to reach the goal of making EA.com profitable by the end of their 2003 financial year, as the company's latest results are expected to show another big loss from EA.com when they are released on Thursday. So far the venture has been losing money hand over fist, with Majestic proving to be a relative flop and key titles such as Earth & Beyond and The Sims Online taking longer to complete than anticipated. CFO Stan McKee insists that "we solidly believe in the business", while admitting that "the challenge is simply getting the products done". Meanwhile Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello stated the obvious in an internal memo leaked to Reuters, telling staff that "we need to focus on the projects we believe have the greatest revenue potential". It remains to be seen which projects they think have lesser revenue potential and what this will mean for their future, but EA haven't been afraid of cancelling big projects such as Ultima Online 2 in the past...

Ballistics is the latest addition to the high octane futuristic racing genre, and it is not a subtle game. It's all about raw, unadulterated speed, and holding your finger on the accelerator until the screen becomes one vast motion blur. It's a game that makes Wipeout look like Driving Miss Daisy. Astride your precarious looking hoverbike you will reach the kind of speeds which are normally reserved for astronauts and fighter pilots, thanks to an ingenious system of winding magnetic tubes which act as race tracks. Most of the time you will be locked to the inner surface of the tube with your finger glued to the acceleration key, able to swing left and right to position your bike on the wall and .. that's about it really. There are no brakes; brakes are for wimps. Instead you have a cooling system strapped to your supercharged engine which slows you down a bit whenever you use it. Your engine temperature slowly rises as you speed along and run into things, with a display box in the bottom left corner of the screen indicating how hot things are getting under the hood, eventually flashing warning lights at you if the bike gets too warm for comfort. If you push too hard and then hit something your engine may explode entirely, putting you out of the race, so it pays to keep an eye on the cooling situation.

Sony is bringing its PlayStation 2 Linux distro to the US and elsewhere following its release in Japan last June. "We are preparing the finalised Linux kit for the worldwide market," said Shin'ichi Okamoto, Sony Computer Entertainment's senior VP and CTO, speaking at the Rambus Developers Conference yesterday. There's no release date as yet. "We'll announce it soon," said Okamoto. The Linux kit gives the PS2 much of the functionality of a desktop PC. Sony demo'd the open source OS and console running an MP3 player, word processor and spreadsheet, all under the X Window GUI.

Looking for some company next weekend? You silly, twisted boy. Get yourself to a LAN party instead. The ATI-sponsored Savage LAN 3, taking place in Coventry from the 2nd to the 4th of November (Friday to Sunday) costs only £37 for three days of non-stop LAN action. ATI will be putting up the prizes for the Quake 3 events; five brand new Radeon 7500 graphics cards, and other prizes include Savage Clan Ports and a Scan DVD player. The organisers have asked that any players who have signed up should pay as quickly as possible to confirm their place. With the final deadline approaching, spaces are in short supply, so if you haven't booked already it could be first-come first-served. SavLAN3 can be booked online at this address, and you can read the various details of the event here. 160 or so players have signed up thus far, including some top British clans, so the standard of play should be high. Dedicated servers will be running for Quake 2, Quake 3, Counter-Strike and newcomer Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and the main competitions are Quake 2 CTW, Quake 3 CTF, Duel and Deathmatch.