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Microsoft and Tetratel have today announced a strategic partnership which will bring the technology developed by EyeFX, a wholly own subsidiary of Tetratel to Xbox. The joint venture is currently codenamed TINProject, but NDAs preclude either side from detailing specifics to the press. Tetratel is a Canadian company, but we have heard little from them in the past. Their EyeFX product website can be found here but is fairly loose on details. According to the EyeFX description on their main website however, the system uses an "external hardware HeadSpace3D Vision System", in conjunction with technology built-in to the computer making use of EyeFX. "This technology does not take any processor time and therefore will not slow down your computer system." It seems that EyeFX is a cunning way of showing images in three dimensions, similar to the 3D Revelator glasses used by ELSA in their Gladiac series of GeForce-based graphics cards. In order to simulate 3D, EyeFX displays two very similar images on your monitor, one for each eye, and the brain interprets this as one single image, giving the illusion of depth. Tetratel's website also cites a few games which we've not heard of as compatible with the system, and blurts something about movies over the Internet using EyeFX, something which we are publically sceptical about. The applications for the system range from movie entertainment to professional graphics design according to Tetratel, but as far as we can see, this is the first major games coup the company has had to its name. Whatever their pitch was like, it must have been pretty competitive to get Microsoft into such a state.

Late last week we heard reports that all was not well at the Electronic Arts offices just outside sunny San Francisco, with rumours emerging that their James Bond game "The World Is Not Enough" had undergone a major change of direction, and that (in an apparently unrelated move) a large number of development staff had been laid off. Today we received confirmation of the sackings, although Jeff Brown (EA's Vice President, Corporate Communications) assured us that "the reorganisation at EA's Redwood City, CA studio is a routine adjustment that reflects movement of projects and game franchises between studios". Apparently this means that "staffing reductions in Redwood City are balanced by increases at Tiburon and other EA studios", although sadly this is likely to be cold comfort for many of the sacked staff, who are now looking for new jobs in an increasingly depressed industry.

After much speculation, Turbine and publisher Microsoft today confirmed that they are working on a sequel to the massively multiplayer role-playing game "Asheron's Call". Indeed, according to the short press release Turbine have actually been hard at work on the sequel "since the original Asheron's Call shipped over a year ago". So far all we have to show for it is this one piece of pre-rendered concept art, but no doubt more details will begin to slip out later in the year as the game starts to take shape. Expect more pointy-eared monsters, more detailed landscapes, more earth-shattering special events, and of course more hapless bunny rabbits.

Although the weather might not be Spring-like just yet, the resurgeance of interest in football titles most certainly is. EON Digital, for example, have just announced their first PlayStation 2 title, released as "Greatest Striker" in Japan but likely to see a rebadging before being unleashed onto European territories. The game, developed by Taito, features two distinctive control sets, making it accessible to gamers of all skill levels. At first, beginners may want to assign pass, shoot and tackle to one single key to make control as simplistic as possible, leaving the game's artificial intelligence to decide which action to take. Once players progress to more advanced levels, they can access the advanced setting, which allows a greater range of actions such as chip passes and through balls. Through the game's World Ranking Mode players can see just how good they and their team really are, and this is not just based on the amount of goals they can score either - each team is awarded a score dependant on the actions of players during the match. The basis for this score will be how many goals were scored, how well timed the tackles were and how many passes were completed successfully. EON promise a dedicated website to allow gamers to post their World Ranking Mode scores, comparing them to those of gamers all over the world. The game will also feature over 40 international teams, real-time weather effects, extremely detailed players who will react realistically to each and every situation, all sorts of cup and league modes and support for up to four players.

When we were sent beta code for the English language version of Nival Interactive's latest role-playing game "Evil Islands" recently, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Russian company behind the previously disappointing Rage of Mages series had turned out a rather impressive looking 3D role-playing game. With gorgeous graphics, an interesting storyline, amusing characters and enjoyable quest-based gameplay with a healthy sideline in stealth, things were certainly looking highly promising.

One of the hottest games to come out of Eastern Europe in recent years is the Croatian first person shooter "Serious Sam", which made waves in the hardcore gaming community when the test version was released last year, meeting with critical acclaim from the online media and rapturous applause from developers on the other side of the pond. Featuring a rather fetching new graphics engine, hordes of bizarre sci-fi monsters to waste, and a refreshing focus on high octane leave-your-brain-at-the-door action rather than plot, stealth and character development, it could prove to be a surprise hit when it is released this spring.

Rumour has it that city traders are buying Eidos shares by the truckload ahead of the company's financial report, which will be issued on Wednesday. The figures in the report will include sales not only for the latest incarnations in the popular "Tomb Raider" and "Championship Manager" series, but also sales of "Deus Ex" and the million-selling TV show cash-in, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", which is now available on every format under the sun and in more or less every major language globally. The Eidos share price rose on Friday, and the market's reaction this morning has led to it rising again. Related Feature - Eidos Wants To Be A Millionaire

Last year saw EuroGamer introduce the first Gaming Globe awards, recognising excellence in a range of different fields within game development, from sound and visual effects to storyline and overall game design. Think of it as the gaming industry's answer to the Oscars.

Console giant and now third-party developer Sega Corp., have today announced the redundancies of some 300 of its employees, whose jobs will be cut over the next two weeks as we approach the end of the Dreamcast's life. 300 employees will submit voluntary retirement within the next two weeks according to the plan, leaving Sega's payroll 11.5% lighter. According to Reuters, "the company will post 1.3 billion yen ($11.22 million) special loss for retirement allowances, adding that the plan will result in a 1.9 billion yen annual cost cut".

- nVidiaPrice - TBA, estimated $699 Why on earth call it the GeForce 3? That's the question I've been pondering for the last few days since details emerged of nVidia's next GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), codename NV20, and its capabilities. As Steve Jobs of Apple so elegantly put it, "this thing is amazing".

, the BritSoft developer behind best-selling "Championship Manager" series of football management games, announced the opening of their own online store earlier this week. So far there are only two items on offer - a Championship Manager 2001 calendar featuring pictures of different managers for each month, and a Sports Interactive football - but no doubt if they prove successful there will be more products on offer soon. Football manager action figures anyone? Or maybe voodoo dolls (complete with complimentary ten pack of pins) would be more suitable?

One of the least appreciated aspects of game development is audio. Although it can be just as important as graphics and storyline when it comes to establishing atmosphere, sound effects and music are generally overlooked. In fact, you're most likely to notice sound in a game when it's done badly. Enter Music4Games, a new website dedicated to computer game music and audio design.

It looks like the wait might finally be over. After numerous false starts, missed release dates and slipping schedules, Peter Molyneux's magnus opus "Black & White" appears to be on the home straight. The photo gallery on Lionhead's website has been updated with a webcam shot of Peter and the boys looking rather drunk and holding up a big sign saying "Done". Confirmation comes from Lionhead PR bod Cathy Campos, who told VoodooExtreme that "Lionhead made their final submission to EA last night".

Sega announced a lawsuit against Kmart yesterday evening, because Kmart allegedly failed to pay some $2.2 million on Dreamcasts they received and sold through their retail outlets. The retailer took $25.9m worth of stock, and according to Sega, has skipped payment on $2.2m of it. According to Sega, the suit comes after repeated requests for payment. Sega claim to have stopped shipping Dreamcasts to Kmart for alleged nonpayment in August last year. Charles Bellfield, acting as a spokesperson for Sega in San Francisco, described Kmart's actions as an "ongoing, malicious lack of payment". Sega's worldwide sales of the Dreamcast number approximately 6.5 million so far, and Kmart accounted for less than 5% of the American sales last year. Kmart has made no comment on the suit, so we have no idea of what their stance is on the situation, but it was seem that as long as Sega can prove that the retailer agreed to pay then failed to, they will be in trouble. Obviously all of the information so far comes from Sega, which is an important point to take into consideration. There is a rumour afoot, for instance, that it was not Sega's decision to stop shipping Dreamcasts to Kmart in August, but a conscious choice by Kmart to stop accepting them. Related Feature - Sega to become platform-neutral, Team up with Palm

- ELSAPrice - £399.99

Over the last few years the graphics card industry has changed almost beyond recognition. Traditional market leaders like S3 and Matrox have fallen by the wayside, and 3D graphics pioneer 3dfx is closing up shop and selling their patents, technologies and brand names to arch-rival NVIDIA.

Dreamcast veterans and recent PlayStation 2 backers Capcom will launch Onimusha Warlords in the United States on March 14th, according to a press release issued this evening. Onimusha was recently honoured with the distinction of being named "Best of show" at the SIGGRAPH 2000 Computer Animation Festival, and portrays an epic saga set in 16th century feudal Japan. The game has shipped an astonishing 900,000 units in Japan since its release just under a month ago, and what with the TV advertising push the North American arm of Capcom has planned, the release should go with a bang. Onimusha Warlords takes place in a world of darkness and magic, and focuses on a brave Samurai, Samanosuke, who boldy volunteers to rescue the princess Yuki (stop laughing at the back). As usual, an entire legion of demons and evil forces face him on his quest, in a country plagued by the constant bickering of power-hungry warlords. Scenes from the game include a five minute opener that has already won awards thanks to its depiction of six motion-captured Samurai fighting simultaneously. The plot was penned by Resident Evil writers Flagship, and the original musical score was recorded by a 200-piece orchestra. Even the game's characters themselves have a touch of motion picture quality to them - Samanosuke himself is none other than famous Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, whose filmography can be seen here. It's thought that after a slow start, the PlayStation 2 may finally have a killer-app worthy of its success in Japan, where it has been available for nearly a year. The West will no doubt welcome the game also, and many suspect it will reach Shenmue levels of popularity, thanks to its jaw-dropping character models (each made up of no less than 10,000 polygons) and involving storyline.

A couple of months ago Interplay revealed that they would be releasing a new "Collector's Edition" of their award-winning role-playing game Baldur's Gate II : Shadows of Amn, which will be exclusively available right here in Europe. Originally it was intended to tie in with the UK theatrical release of the cheesy FX-laden Dungeons & Dragons movie, but that has come and (thankfully) gone, and the pack is now expected to be available alongside the long-awaited DVD edition of Baldur's Gate II on Friday March 16th.

It's another quiet week for the UK as Friday comes and goes with just two new releases for the PC - the gory third person fantasy action game "Severance : Blade of Darkness" from Codemasters and Spanish developer Rebel Act Studios, and Microids' real-time strategy offering "Time of Conflict", which we haven't seen or heard from since ECTS five months ago.

British publisher Empire Interactive have announced that they have signed a deal with Sega to publish PC versions of the surprisingly popular fishing sim "Get Bass" and motor racing game "Sega GT" in Europe. Both titles are being converted from the Dreamcast originals by Sega, and will be available on this side of the pond some time in July. In the case of Get Bass the game will be released both as a stand-alone and bundled with a force feedback fishing rod controller.

It seems that Sony's ambitions to dazzle the world (or at least Japan) with a usable fibre optic network for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 users is getting closer to realisation. Yesterday, Ken Kutaragi, president of SCE, joined the general session at the SGI Solution Forum 2001 and gave a keynotes address on the subject of "Broadband Revolution and the World of Evolving Computer Entertainment". During the speech, Mr. Kutaragi said that he expected "fiber-optic broadband Internet connections" to take off in Japan this year. "Once this environment, which enables 100-Megabit transmissions, is set, two-way broadband communications are sure to explode among PlayStation and PlayStation 2 users". He then continued to evangelise broadband connections to his audience. Maddeningly, Mr. Kutaragi neglected to elaborate on whether the 100Mbit figure was the total bandwidth to be shared between users, or whether the connection would be 100Mbit per individual, so it's a little hard to speculate on the system's success or failure at this stage. However, it was reported late last month that tests of the fibre-optic network which offered approximately 3Mbit of bandwidth per user were underway. Either way, as we said in our article on the subject, some of Sony's ambitions for the system won't be possible unless they address the issue of individual bandwidth, supply and of course contention. Mr. Kutaragi feels that "this broadband capability that will allow the world to come together as one," although no trials of the fibre-optic system have been scheduled for any territory outside of Japan.

It seems that several websites have gotten their hands on advanced copies of "Zone of Enders", Konami's latest release in Japan, which comes with a fully-featured Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. The demo features a short section of the beginning of the game, which we glimpsed first during the promotion movie at E3 and ECTS last year. The opening FMV sequence is apparently remarkable, and reveals Snake's cosy, figure-hugging camouflage outfit remains as he smokes a cigarette, but it becomes rather redundant as the entire first section of the game is set on a cargo ship, which he boards via the George Washington Bridge and a Goldeneye-style bungee cord. New character details have also emerged, including news that Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, whose name will ring a faint bell with fans of the original, is a major player this time around. The demo doesn't make it clear whether or not Revolver Ocelot and Gurlukovich are gunning for the same side, but their relationship will no doubt be as bubbly as ever. According to The GIA, the knife-throwing girl seen in the movies is Olga Gurlukovich, the Colonel's pregnant daughter. We hope to have our own copy of Z.O.E. which includes the demo disc very soon. Stay tuned for more.

Lucasarts' latest Star Wars cash-in, the surprisingly good-looking "Star Wars Starfighter" uses Macromedia Flash Player technology to enhance its user interface, both companies happily announced recently. The game shipped yesterday to territories in the United States, and already sites like Daily Radar are saying that the game will "satisfy your inner space jockey quite nicely," which sounds like an offer. In a rather amusing statement, Macromedia pres' Kevin Lynch pointed out that the "Macromedia Flash community has long been rebelling against the dark side of boring, static user experiences. The great experience in Star Wars Starfighter shows the incredible flexibility in delivering Macromedia Flash content across a wide variety of devices." The actual application of Flash sits on top of the proprietary 3D engine developed by Lucasarts and handles tasks like menu selection, and general administrative stuff. Using the Macromedia development kits to develop Flash-based UIs is actually quite a good idea. God only knows how many times we've had to slag off games for their interface ineptitude - Flash offers a pleasant mix of visual jazz and functionality.

Sega yesterday announced a first for them, a console-based first person shooter tournament. The event, "Un-Civil War" (clever!) is to be the first in a series of online console tournaments, and is being touted as the first ever of its kind, rather like the ChuChu Rocket tournament they ran last year. Short memories at Sega? The Quake III event will actually take place over a number of days, from yesterday, the 22nd of February, through till the 2nd of April. Players can register using their Dreamcast (and judging by our luck not their PCs) at http://www.sega.net/tournaments. The main catch being you have to be in the United States. The tournament apparently consists of two competitions; what's described as a time flexible Open Ladder, and a fixed-schedule knock-out phase. During the four weeks of the Open Ladder stage, players will be ranked on the basis of points (hopefully not just kills) to determine the top weekly finalists who will be allowed to advance to the main tournament. SegaNet servers will host the Open Ladder, with all SegaNet subscribers, trial members and, er, Sega.com Society members proving eligible. The structure from there is pretty rigid. Players will be sorted into several regional 32-man knock-out tournaments, with one week of preliminaries, national finals and three eventual winners. Unlike the ChuChu Rocket tournament Sega held over here last year, the competitors can take part in the events from the comfort of their own home, as all the action will be hosted on SegaNet servers. Winners will take home a customized blue and orange Sega Dreamcast engraved with their name and championship title, which is pretty swish. Usual goodies like T-shirts are on offer to runners-up, or as the yanks would have it, just plain losers. The rules and whatnot can be pulled up on your Dreamcast at http://www.sega.net/tournaments.

One of the biggest challenges facing the internet today is the fact that nobody seems to be willing to pay for anything. Readers expect content that they would pay for in a newspaper or magazine to be free just because it's not printed on pulped wood, companies pay a pittance for online advertising because they can't see beyond click through rates, and millions of people around the world swap music on services like Napster and Gnutella.

Eidos sent word that they will be releasing budget versions of hit PC titles "Thief II : The Metal Age" and "Tomb Raider : The Last Revelation" on March 23rd. These two new releases will also mark a revamp of the publisher's popular "Premier Collection" range of budget re-releases, which have previously appeared in the old-style cardboard boxes. Both games will be released in the snazzy DVD-style plastic boxes which have been taking the gaming industry by storm over the last few months, and several previous budget hits including "Commandos", "Championship Manager 3", "Gangsters : Organised Crime", "Tomb Raider II : Golden Mask" and "Tomb Raider III : The Lost Artefact" will also be seeing a new lease of life, facing another re-release with the new packaging.

"Cossacks : European Wars" is an epic game in all senses of the word, covering a few centuries worth of warfare across the whole of Europe, and featuring vast maps to battle over with support for up to 8000 units in any single scenario. To celebrate the imminent release of the game, publisher CDV have announced that they will be holding the "16 Nations Challenge" all-nighter in London on the weekend of March 24th. Volunteers are being requested to represent each of the 16 countries included in the game, which should be fairly easy for the likes of England, France, Holland and Spain, but may prove rather more challenging for Algeria, Poland, the Ukraine and Turkey.

While most of the gaming industry was whining about slow-downs, poor sales, too much product on shelves, the late arrival of the PlayStation 2, transition years, the way the wind was blowing and anything else they could think of, THQ have bucked the recent trend of doom and gloom announcements by revealing that their profits actually rose sharply last year. Profits in the final quarter of last year were up by an impressive 45% on revenues which were 50% higher than for the same period the previous year.

I first saw Severance in action way back in September 1998, before EuroGamer was anything more than a twinkle in the milk man's eye. It's certainly been a long time coming, but the good news is that despite the somewhat protracted development cycle the game is actually rather good...

Mobile phones are pretty useless as serious gaming platforms these days. They're good for the odd bit of Snakes here and there, perhaps a bit of Hangman-via-SMS, but unless you use them as a means to channel gamers, as Sony and NTT DoCoMo intend to do with the i-mode adaptation, there really isn't much to them. The reason being that nobody has really taken control of the mobile graphics market just yet, which is something Imagination Technologies are very eager to change with their PowerVR MBX chip, which will work hand in hand with ARM processors in most mobile phones. The MBX includes a VGP; vertex geometry processor, which will also be capable of rendering small amounts of transform and lighting operations. Imagination Technologies are in talks with plenty of major players in the mobiles industry to secure the future of their startling new product, which is attractive because it not only performs well but requires little in the way of memory bandwidth and actual juice from the mobile battery. No doubt with a speculative grin on his face, ARM's Steve Evans announced that "With an industry-leading ARM core and PowerVR MBX solution, it will soon be possible for a mobile device to play games with all the features of the latest PC and console titles." The PowerVR MBX itself uses plenty of nice buzzword technologies and trademarks, including "FSAA4Free", which as you'll have rightly guessed, is full screen anti aliasing in a tin, using high resolution rendering and tracing, "Internal True-Colour Operations", performed on-chip in 32-bit colour and "PVR-TC", which applies texture compression to help save space. To pool the mobile's collective resources, the MBX is optimized for UMA, or Unified Memory Architecture, which we explained yesterday in an item about the Xbox. UMA basically allows many different devices to take advantage of the same memory system, saving space, time and pooling resources. The key feature is known as a "Scene Manager", which helps convey the chip's images in a very limited environment with no loss of speed. In short, developers eager to put 3D-heavy applications and games on mobile platforms will finally be able to, and tiny, overly clunky WAP games will be a thing of the past.