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Over the past few years the computer games industry in what used to be the Soviet Bloc has seen something of a renaissance, with fresh new developers springing up across eastern Europe, from Poland to Yugoslavia.

Television series about computer games have traditionally been rather hit or miss, and even the relatively successful ones have tended to enjoy a love / hate relationship with their target audience - witness "Bits". Sadly it looks like the BBC's innovative new series "Bleeding Thumbs" isn't even going to be given the opportunity to tank gracefully, with a researcher who had worked on the show revealing that "Bleeding Thumbs has been postponed indefinitely with the series being put on hold".

It has recently occurred to me that I've been playing video games for a very long time. In fact, for as long as I can remember I have had some sort of video gaming entertainment to hand, from my earliest recollections of the ColecoVision owned by my parents to my very own first computer, the Acorn Electron.

UbiSoft's latest release schedule just arrived, with several major changes. Oddball adventure game "Stupid Invaders" is the highest profile casualty, slipping from a planned November 10th release to December 8th. With off-the-wall humour and vocal talent from actors who have graced cult cartoon series like "Futurama", "The Simpsons" and "Ren & Stimpy", this is one of UbiSoft's most promising games, and we're sorry to see its release delayed again. Another title on the movie is "Pro Rally 2001", which slips a week to December 8th.

The international launch of the PlayStation 2 has proven to be something of a disaster for Sony, and almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. In the USA the initial allocation of consoles was slashed from a million to just 500,000, resulting in fights breaking out at some stores as the new system sold out within hours of its release, and the console changing hands on auction sites like eBay for five or ten times the usual retail price. Now things are starting to look grim for the European launch, with the UK's allocation of 200,000 consoles which were due between November 24th and Christmas now cut to 165,000. It's possible that the units are merely being shifted around within Europe, but it seems rather more likely that this is due to further supply shortages, and that as a result the allocation for the rest of Europe may drop as well.

The continued labelling of each new version of the insanely popular Half-Life mod "Counter-Strike" as a beta (it eventually reached beta 7.1) has been something of a running joke over the last year, but in what must surely be a sign of an impending apocalypse of truly Biblical proportions, the team behind the mod has finally released the long-awaited Counter-Strike v1.0. This latest version adds three more weapons (including the lovely looking "H&K UMP .45"), along with new improved player models taking advantage of the model blending technology introduced by Half-Life developers Valve.

While Blizzard were blustering at ECTS 1999 about how their newly announced "Warcraft III" was going to reinvent the real-time strategy genre by adding elements more commonly found in role-playing and adventure games to the usual Warcraft formula, another company had already beaten them to it. The game was "Magic & Mayhem", and the developers behind this innovative title were the legendary Gollop brothers of "X-Com" fame.

Blue Byte have announced that their new 3D strategy game "Battle Isle : The Andosia War" has gone gold, and is due on shelves across Europe on November 24th. The game is the latest installment in the long-running Battle Isle series which kicked off way back in 1991, and has also spawned a tactical combat game called "Incubation", released in 1997. Developed by Slovakian company Cauldron, the new game features a mixture of both turn-based and real-time strategy, a wide range of units to command, and an impressive looking 3D accelerated environment to fight over, complete with weather effects, day and night cycles, and even tides apparently.

Microsoft have promised to "embrace the worldwide independent video game development community" with two newly announced programs for its Xbox console - the Xbox Incubator and Xbox Independent Developer Programs. The idea is to encourage independent developers to prototype game ideas on the Xbox without hitting them for a huge license fee like many console manufacturers.

With the destruction of the threads that hold together human society, and the consequent collapse of watching television and computer gaming as two of the world's most popular leisure activities, the survivors of a nuclear holocaust would no doubt envy the dead. Unless of course they came up with a new way to entertain themselves, involving two bloody big tanks blasting each other to smithereens in a no-holds-barred battle to the death.

Is it really a year ago now that I wrote my "Championship Manager : 99/00" review, also my first review for EuroGamer? Time sure does fly when you are having fun!

Swedish developers Massive Entertainment added another trophy to their cabinet this week, winning in the "best strategy game" category at the recent EMMA Awards in Holland. The EMMAs are intended to "recognise excellence in digital media content creation", and Massive's stunning 3D real-time strategy game "Ground Control" was perhaps the obvious choice, with the jury apparently picking out the game for its "great interface, impressive 3D graphics and good lighting effects, as well as for its fantastic ability to zoom in and out of the action". There's also a rather good game under all that eye candy, but it seems they weren't too interested in that. If you want to read some more of Sierra's back-patting, as well as a not-so-cunningly disguised advert for the soon-to-be-released add-on "Dark Conspiracy", read the official press release!

London gaming venue The Playing Fields have announced what they claim is the world's first true professional gaming event, sponsored by AMD and PC Zone and taking place on Sunday December 3rd. How is it different from all the other pro-gaming events that have taken place over the last few years? Well, everyone who takes part in this competition is guaranteed to win a cash prize, making the event more like other professional sports tournaments, while normally you need to get through at least a couple of rounds at a pro-gaming event to get any money.

Rebellion are probably best known for their scary first person shooter "Aliens vs Predator", but all that could change with the release of stealthy 3D action game "Gunlok", published in the UK by Virgin Interactive. The game was certainly looking very impressive at the ECTS 2000 trade show in London just a couple of months ago, and now we have good news for all of you who were looking forward to the game - Virgin's PR agency Bastion has just informed us that Gunlok has "gone gold". This means that the game is complete and has been sent off for duplication, with the UK release planned for November 17th. No US publisher or release date has been announced yet, but it should apparently "follow shortly after" the game's UK release. In the meantime, we have no less than 18 new screenshots of the game for you, courtesy of Simon and the folks at Bastion.

Red Alert 2 is, unsurprisingly, the sequel to Westwood's highly successful real-time strategy game Red Alert, and the Tiberian Sun engine which powers the sequel gives it vastly improved graphics and network code, as well as a slicker interface to work with.

One of the most eagerly anticipated Dreamcast titles in the pipeline at the moment is the console port of "Half-Life", which proved to be a massive hit on the PC when it was first released a couple of years ago. The Dreamcast port, which boasts more detailed character models, enhanced weapons, and a whole new bonus single player mission called "Blue Shift", was shaping up to be one of the big console hits of the festive season...

Yesterday we reported that much to our own confusion, Seagate had been appointed official provider of hard disks for the Xbox console. Confusing, we said, because Western Digital had been granted the same gig barely a month earlier! But apparently not, according to a nameless Microsoft-based reader who dropped us a line last night, "Seagate will be the primary source, but in case their supply runs out at any point during production, Western Digital are on board as a secondary source.." It all seems so clear now. All thanks to our man at MS, and to humour him, we shall include his little anti-PS2 comment.. "..obviously this sort of contingency will help us to avoid blunders like the PlayStation 2's.. well, just the PlayStation 2." Quite. Related Feature - Seagate to supply HDDs for Xbox

Anyone who reads a major technical website can't have failed to miss Microsoft's blurted apology over VIA chipset problems under Windows 2000 last month. The solution, they said, was this patch, but it was experimental and had not been tested to the degree Microsoft would normally want their products' standards upheld to. Obviously after a quick chuckle on the floor users picked themselves up and downloaded the new fix, and applied it. One such user was hardware community journal The Tech Report's Scott Wasson, who had been plagued by problems stemming from his use of the ABit KA7 motherboard and a 32Mb NVIDIA graphics card with AGP4x and fast-writes support. Previously, he found, the only way to achieve stability in Windows 2000 was to turn off AGP4x and fast-writes, two of the VIA KX133 motherboard chipset's biggest assets. Well apparently, the new patch has worked its magic, and as Scott put it, "at last, turning up those BIOS options didn't send my Pee Cee into locksville every time I ran a 3D app". But the question he then posed was just how much of a benefit were these supposed, well, benefits. His first step was to confirm that the PC was reporting the various options correctly, and industry-standard check-list hardware application WCPUID confirmed that his PC was operating as he had specified it. The next step was to benchmark the machine in various states to compare the performance benefits of the AGP4x and fast writes options. His results are to say the least interesting, revealing that when pushed, Quake III Arena shows no apparent benefit from either AGP4x mode nor fast writes. Simple AGP2x on its own reveals almost identical results. In one particularly texture-heavy benchmark, the vanilla option outperformed the fast writes! Proving once and for all perhaps that somewhere along the line, someone has realised that Windows 2000 and AGP4x/fast writes don't mix. It couldn't have been VIA themselves, since the chipset is their responsibility, not the software, which leaves either Microsoft or NVIDIA. According to Scott, his readers have uncovered rumours that "NVIDIA simply disabled these features on certain chipsets to avoid headaches, rendering them useless regardless of BIOS settings". The proof, it seems, is in the pudding. Any of you KX133 motherboard / Windows 2000 users out there would do well to take note.

Microsoft recently announced that they wouldn't be publishing Digital Anvil's 3D space strategy game "Conquest : Frontier Wars", saying "Microsoft had high aspirations for the game, and it simply did not progress as they had hoped it would". It looked like the end for the game, with the publisher saying that "in line with [Microsoft's] goal of delivering only top-quality games that deliver a fresh and immersive experience, they decided to stop work on Conquest and place the development team on other projects".

The latest release schedule from Sierra has just arrived, and the biggest surprise is the lack of movement. The mythological city building sim "Zeus : Master of Olympus" from the creators of the Pharaoh and Caesar games remains on track for a November 17th release, while "Gunman Chronicles" is still due in the UK on December 8th. The only mover is "SWAT 3 : Elite Edition", which has been pushed back to December 1st, while a new addition to the line-up is the "Diablo II Collectors Edition", which is presumably aimed more at the two people in the UK who didn't buy a copy of the game when it was first released rather than trying to convince fans to buy a second copy. For all the latest UK release information on well over a hundred games, check EuroGamer's comprehensive UK release date list.

British developers Climax have announced the creation of a dedicated "Vehicle Dynamics Engineering department", who will be working on the company's new DYNE technology, intended to "aid in the development of ultra realistic motor vehicles in racing videogames". DYNE includes a physics engine to control motion and collision detection and response, a graphics engine with curved surface support and other advanced features, and a "vehicle dynamics module" to cover everything from torque curves and gear ratios to suspension and wheelbase specifications. With support for PC, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast and Xbox already in the bag, and Climax's Brighton studio using the technology in "Mille Miglia" and other titles, we will no doubt be hearing more about this one in future. In the meantime, read the press release for the full story.

Over the last couple of decades the divide between PC and console has been clear cut. Consoles are small closed boxes which plug into your television, and are dedicated to playing games on, while the PC is a big ugly beige box which comes in an almost infinite range of upgradable variations, has its own dedicated monitor, and was designed first and foremost to be used for desktop publishing, word processing, accounting and other work-related software.

Most flight sims concentrate on providing satellite mapped terrain and flight models so realistic that you need to study a two hundred page manual and take a flight training course before you can even lift your plane off the ground without crashing it into the side of the nearest building.

Apparently this image, courtesy of Xbox365.com, is an early sketch (done in MS Paint no doubt) of the Xbox's exterior design. It looks surprisingly like a VCR or a "normal" console with its desktop design and central DVD drive. The lower access point for additional hard-disk storage devices is an interesting touch, and would fall in line with what was being said last month about larger hard-drive capacities as an optional extra. The multitude of extra outputs on the back is also an eye-catcher, with support for VGA, HDTV, S-Video (in and out) as well as proper AV support. The presence of 4 USB ports is also a giveaway as to how Microsoft may intend to offer peripheral controllers on top of the four front-mounted controller ports. It may be a little early to judge it (and from such a poorly drawn schematic), but the power connect almost looks the right shape for an ATX power cable. Take a look at the image for yourself to get a better picture of things to come. Other interesting points mentioned on the main Xbox365.com website include reference to the colour scheme (chrome, in this case, with other colours to follow).

The built-in hard-disk to be found in Microsoft's Xbox console due out toward the end of next year is apparently now to be provided by Seagate. The press release detailing the announcement contains all sorts of back-slapping and jolly spiel about each company's suitability for one another etc, however the eagle-eyed readers among you may remember that not so long ago CNet were reporting that Western Digital had got the contract. The latter it seemed was going to use its new Protégé line of ATA100 devices for the console, but judging by today's announcement, something has gone awry. We're as puzzled as you are. Neither Western Digital nor Seagate's webpages reveal any information on the matter. Perhaps it's some sort of cockup? Or perhaps Western Digital have lost the contract somehow without anyone noticing. Either way it's a touch spooky. More on this as we uncover it.

One of the big stories this weekend in hardware has been a set of benchmark graphs plotting the Pentium 4 processor against AMD's 1.2GHz DDR-based solution. The figures, available at this website, are based on a speech given recently, by Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, where he claimed that the Pentium 4 will offer a performance boost of up to 25 percent in MP3 audio encoding, 50 percent in video encoding, and 44 percent in video games such as Quake III Arena, over a 1GHz Pentium III, the highest currently available from Intel today. His words were borrowed, somewhat naively perhaps, from an IDG report released on Thursday. The claims remain to be confirmed, but in the meantime, rival chipmaker and motherboard chipset manufacturer AMD are facing a somewhat difficult situation ahead of the release of its 760 chipset. As we reported last week, the 760 (a DDR-based chipset) is supposed to debut in this country on Gigabyte's GA-7DX motherboard, but nobody, not even Dabs.com, who frequently manage to scrounge stock before anyone else, seems to have any idea where it is. Their Gigabyte products page, just like everyone else's carries no mention of the GA-7DX. It is now being reported by technology website RealWorldTech, that the 760 has been subject to a new revision which irons out heat problems and issues with AGP 4x. The new revision is now due on November 6th, today, but the question of when anyone will actually be able to buy it still remains unanswered. After a week that subjected Intel to all sorts of criticism, from gossip about its RAMBUS dealings to skepticism about the Pentium 4's performance from a leading European OEM, things aren't looking quite so bleak, and AMD may have a few questions to answer of its own. Related Feature - AMD 760 chipset; good news for Frenchies

Assuming that the country isn't entirely under water by next weekend, Friday November 10th marks the beginning of the UK's biggest LAN party to date, with somewhere in the region of 700 hardcore gamers gathering at Newbury Race Course for three days of fragging. The event (going by the name of "i6") is also playing host to Codemasters, who will be demonstrating some of their latest games, and Videologic, who will be showing off their Vivid graphics card and giving away prizes throughout the weekend. There are still a few places left, so if you fancy some lag-free multiplayer gaming, head over to the i-series website to find out more.

The other useful aspect of having him onboard for such a project is the experience he can lend to the production team. It's all very well programming what you think it would be like to powerslide round a corner at 70mph, but to have someone of Colin's stature in the motorsport sit down and confirm that it feels right is something very different. And it's for this reason that the original Colin McRae Rally and this sequel are about as close an approximation of the real thing as you are likely to get hold of without putting your own life on the line. CMR 2.0 features eight real life rally venues including Finland, France and even snowy Sweden, which can all be taken on sequentially in the Championship mode. Complementing this is a completely separate arcade section, featuring six cars on a collection of unique circuits. The race's weather conditions will play a large part in how it unfolds, and there is an impressive frontend system in place to keep you up to date prior to each outing. That said, the weather conditions noted on the frontend are merely a forecast, they are not dead set..

On Tuesday we reported on rumours that Monolith's first person shooter "No-One Lives Forever" was going to be turned into a movie by Fox, with Liz Hurley being head-hunted for the lead role of Cate Archer, the sassy secret agent from the game. Since then we've been trying to get to the bottom of the story, but with limited success, as nobody seems to be willing to either confirm or deny the rumours...

One of the more unusual games to catch our attention in recent months was "Tropico", which mixes the gameplay of classic games like "The Sims" and "Sim City" with a tongue-in-cheek Cold War setting, setting you up as dictator of a small Caribbean island. The game has now been delayed until next year as developers PopTop (of "Railroad Tycoon" fame) polish things up, but it should be well worth the wait. In the meantime, designer Franz Felsl explains the charm of the citizens who populate your tropical worker's paradise...