Odds And Ends: Tuesday News Roundup

The Unreal Tournament 2004 bonus map pack we mentioned on Friday has now been released, offering a pair of interestingly titled Onslaught maps - ONS-Ascendancy and ONS-Aridoom. Along with the official, Windows XP-only installer, this link should also take you to an unofficial distribution which packages the two maps as a zip file. Fight the power!

What have you done today, NovaLogic? "Apache Joint Ops!" With that out of the way: NovaLogic has issued a patch for its multiplayer demo of Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, following the demo's release last week. Amongst other things, the oddly numbered 0.0.15.14 patch adds support for 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio monitors, adds a new helicopter flight model, new ground physics, and a host of other changes. All of which ought to make it easier to hunt down those up-to-100 other people you're chasing around Indonesia.

Although there's nothing much happening there yet, Nintendo Japan has erected an official teaser page for the new Fire Emblem GameCube title in development at Intelligent Systems. Our usual translator is busy hiding his katanas in lieu of a visit from the in-laws at the moment (or something like that), but even we can guess that the characters at the bottom are some of those from the game, and we're hoping the guy in the top right is some form of monkey.

As you probably know by now, Activision is planning to release a PC version of True Crime: Streets of LA this May, featuring online play and a few extra single-player baubles to boot. And as the publisher steps up its promotional endeavours, so a new three-minute trailer for the game sneaks onto the web this week, aiming to perhaps convince a few of you to take on the role of petulant leather-bound anti-hero Nick Kang if you didn't bother the first time.

Although sadly this writer never got a chance to play it, we've heard nothing but good things about PS2 title Magic Pengel, which was released in the States last year and had players breeding and battling monsters as designed with basic paint and animation tools. Fortunately, it sounds like we might get another crack at it - as Famitsu Weekly reports that an action-RPG sequel with real-time battles and dungeon exploration is on the way in the near future. More details should emerge from Japan later this week, but until then here's a teaser page.

Codemasters has announced a little incentive to help its forthcoming England International Football title compete with EA's UEFA Euro 2004, which will presumably set up stall at the top of the charts next month and save us having to pay much attention while all the footy is unravelling on our TV screens. That is, assuming Codies' plan to bundle a copy of "England's Path to Portugal" on DVD doesn't help shift a few more copies. It's not a bad idea really, as it attaches the upcoming Portuguese hosted tournament to the game without the need for the pesky and expensive licence that EA currently presides over. The DVD is normally available for £20, it says 'ere, and includes highlights of all the England matches played in the qualifying campaign, including all the goals, player profiles and whatnot that you could ask for. Can't argue with that. England International Football is due out on PS2 and Xbox at the end of April.