4Kids Entertainment and Pokemon USA announced today that they have agreed not to renew the Pokemon representation agreement set to expire on December 31, 2005. Beginning in 2006, Pokemon USA, Inc.'s in-house licensing group will handle all Pokemon licensing outside of Asia.

Combine fully-automatic, weapon-equipped vehicles with highly detailed and interactive urban environments and you have Full Auto, the most destructive racing action ever experienced in a video game. This racer allows players to choose from a wide selection of unique vehicle designs and arm them with any combination of machine guns, cannons, and other deadly weapons.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for its online delivery system Steam. This update tweaks various weapons, lag compensation and other multiplayer adjustments, bug fixes, and plenty more. Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Titan Quest is an action role-playing game set in the ancient mythical worlds of Greece and Egypt. With an arsenal of more than a thousand pieces of unique and legendary equipment, players will have to overcome terrifying monsters and mythical beasts in their quest to save humankind from the Titans.

Delivering original gameplay was a dominant goal of GSC Game World team when creating the fantasy trilogy Heroes of Annihilated Empires. Playing HoAE you'll be able to pump up a selected hero in a common RPG manner, as well as build up cities and recruit massive armies, as traditional for RTS games. The first episode of HoAE is expected to ship in September 2006.

In each mission of Faces of War, players will be leading a squad of 6 soldiers in a full 3D environment. Through the decisive European battles of World War II, they will be in command of Allied, Soviet and German troops. With innovative new in-game features, two battles will never be fought the same way. Check the freshly launched official website or read more for ew screens & trailer...

Stardock announced today that it had reached an agreement with P.M. Studios to bring the fast-paced action-RPG ETROM: The Astral Essence to its TotalGaming.net game-distribution service in Feb. 2006 for only $29.95. ETROM: The Astral Essence takes players on a thrilling open-ended adventure to a bleak, futuristic world, where survival is earned, rather than expected.

Stoked Rider featuring Tommy Brunner' is an unique action-freesports game for PC, the first freeride snowboarding game inspired by Alaska's impressive peaks, presented in a unique 3D cellshaded graphical style. Tommy Brunner is one of the most experienced backcountry and big mountain snowboard riders in Europe, and has a string of horrifically impressive injuries to go with it, including a broken back!

An adventure on a grand scale , with isometric graphics , over 12 scenarios with a total of 101 game maps , 18 backdrops for fighting , with various senerios that bring forth the history of the three principal characters , each with different 21 techniques of fighting that are learned through experience , or the finding of hidden objects within the game.

Auto Assault combines vehicular combat with role-playing elements. Players explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis and even tanks. Players battle other players both in arenas and in epic race vs. race wars for control of the regions in a devastated Earth.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new California state law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors, saying a lawsuit challenging the measure was likely to prevail on grounds of free speech.

Shortly after previous update Firaxis has released another, large, patch for Sid Meier's Civilization IV. This update brings your retail game to v1.52 and includes numerous optimizations for memory usage that should help performance on all machines but are tailored to especially improve performance on machines at or near the minimum specification. Read more for download links ...

ZUXXEZ today announced its new RPG Two Worlds, under development at Reality Pump, creator of the RTS game Earth 2160. Thrilling fight choreographies, gripping characters and realistic worlds create new dimensions in the genre. The title also introduces new benchmarks in content. Experienced script editors link the cinematic story with maximum gaming freedom in a medieval fantasy world.

Several weeks ago we revealed that EA would start its BFME II multiplayer beta test mid December, and EA just announced it has now gone live. People who pre-order the game can join in and check out the sequel before anybody else, until the game ships somewhere early 2006. This online multiplayer beta includes two out of the six factions (Dwarves and Goblins), playable on two brand new maps (Harlindon and Withered Heath.) If you haven't done so yet, you can pre-order at EBGames or Gamestop.

When assassins from Agent 47's contract agency, The ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, it seems a larger, more powerful agency has entered the fray. For Agent 47 it's business as usual, until suddenly he loses contact with The ICA. Sensing that he may be the next target, he travels to America, where he prepares to make a killing.

Battlegoat has released a new patch for its strategy game Supreme Ruler 2010. This update brings your retail game to v4.4.1 and 30-player North America map, an extra mission (East to DC), new scenario (United States), 50 new units, and many small tweaks to the game to improve its performance and its playability.

Battlefront announced today that it has released a large free x-mas update for Dan Verssen Games' air combat strategy game DOWN IN FLAMES! This bundle is completely free and immediately available via the auto-update feature of the game, and includes four new campaigns, one set of updated animations for the F4F Wildcat, a new plane (Brewster Buffalo), and new fatigue rules for pilots as well as a few small bug fixes, too. Read more for details ...

Stranger is a real-time strategy game, with elements of role playing games set in a world, split in two parts, surface and a subterranean one, which are in a tenuous balance. Stranger will also feature multiplayer, although details beyond "The players may play on their own, or unite in teams" are a bit sketchy. Check the fresly launched official website or read more for new screens ...

Blizzard has released yet another new Warcraft III map, this time called "Bomber Command"... Map info: "Warring Marines have taken over Icecrown Glacier. Command your bomber force to destroy your opponent's town while scrambling to defend your own." This is a small map size and the suggested no. of players is 3v3. It is based on the "Icecrown Glacier" tileset. Go download it here!

The Guild 2 will be a combination of unique sweeping role-play and a fascinating life-simulation, conjuring the medieval life anew on your PC. As in the successful predecessor Europa 1400: The Guild and the subsequent expansion pack, the newest development by 4HeadStudios awakes the 14th century to a new life. Check the freshly launched official website, or read more to check new screens ...

Matrix Games and Playnet are pleased to announce that Battleground Europe is now available to North America for the first time via the Matrix Games Online Store as a digital download, with boxed copies to follow next week. Take control of a soldier fighting in World War II in a persistent massive multiplayer world of first-person combat with infantry, tanks, planes and ships.

As the only game that offers an open, fast-paced driving action-movie experience, Driver: Parallel Lines features an unfolding storyline of double crossing and revenge. Set in a photorealistic interpretation of New York City, players take on the role of a notorious 18 year old who, free from conscience and rules, is the most sought after driver-for-hire in town.

Frogwares has released another version of the patch for its Jules Verne based adventure game 80 Days. This update brings your English retail game to v1.1, and like the previous French/German patch, improves performance, stability, and adds a tutorial to the game. Read more for download links ...

This Call of Duty 2 update is recommended for Win2K/XP users with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enabled processors, multiple processors, or systems with a dual core processor. This update will bring any supported version of Call of Duty 2 up to v1.01, and will not affect pure server, nor your ability to join or host multiplayer games with v1.0 players.

The Battlefield 2 expansion pack planned to be launched during spring 2006 is now replaced by two booster packs. The change means slightly lower project revenues during the fourth quarter 2005 than during the third, due to a lower development budget. The anticipation though is that this will be compensated by higher royalty revenues during the first six month 2006.

Valve unveiled a 64-bit version of its Source game engine technology today. The first 64-bit Valve games released will be native 64-bit versions of Half-Life 2 and Lost Coast, and have been developed to take advantage of AMD Athlon 64 FX processor-based systems - the ultimate 64-bit gaming platform for PC enthusiasts.