Bits And Bobs: Monday News Roundup

With Gran Turismo 4 appearing at E3 next month for the second year running, you could say some of the gloss has come off its mixture of realistic and online racing options. However, anybody peering at the four new replay videos uploaded to the game's Japanese website this week will agree that none of the gloss has come off the game's splendid visuals, which remain very impressive even a year after the last time we played it. With GT4 Prologue due out in Europe sometime this summer, consider these a taster of the taster you could well be taste-testing as early as next month!

Nokia and Activision have announced an N-Gage version of Spider-Man 2 to go alongside the other previously versions for the big-boy consoles. Interestingly, it's a mix of four 3D levels and fifteen 2D offerings, which will see Spidey taking on his nemesis for the new film, Doctor Octopus, and generally doing whatever a spider can from the inside of an N-Gage. If you're so inclined, you can expect to get your genetically augmented hands on Spider-Man 2 N-Gage sometime this summer - with the game presumably due out at around the same time as the film.

Microsoft sends words that a trial version of Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots is available from this page ahead of the expansion's launch on 21st May. The trial version (or 'demo' if you like - and we do) lets you choose from four nations including the expansion's Persian side, take on a tutorial, and check out the first section of the Alexander the Great historical campaign. Oh, and despite this being an expansion pack demo, helpfully you won't have to own the original game to try it out - although you will do if you want to buy a copy.

Sold Out has announced another round of £4.99 titles for release in the UK next month, representing a mixture of RTS, board games and, um, snowboarding. Topping the list is clearly Civilization II, which for £4.99 is one of the biggest and most absorbing chunks of strategy you'll ever find, even if it probably looks a bit dated at this point. Other options for May include Total Annihilation Kingdoms, which didn't really live up to its predecessor's legend, but is certainly worth a punt for the equivalent of a trip to see the new Scooby Doo movie, a trio of board game adaptations (Operation, Guess Who? and Battleship 2), and Supreme Snowboarding.

British developer Headfirst Productions (currently at work on Call of Cthulhu-based projects) has today announced development of third-person Deadlands, based on, er, the role playing game Deadlands from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Apparently Headfirst has secured exclusive worldwide rights to Deadlands and plan to release something on PS2, Xbox and PC in summer 2005, assuming the firm can get hold of a publisher in the meantime. Reps will be heading out to E3 next month with that in mind.