After completing Chrome, Techland decided to focus on quickly finishing the Xpand Rally project. Along with these new efforts, certain changes have been made in the project. Among many changes, the most crucial one is the adding of advanced economic options to the game. Currently programmers are continuing their work on the project. The effects will please eager fans of racing, as well as other players, who are not very much interested in the racing genre. More details at xr.techland.pl next week!

Zoo Tycoon Endangered Species, a unique and FREE download for Zoo Tycoon, is now available on the site. Including new animals, theme objects and scenarios, this download celebrates Zoo Tycoon's anniversary and is presented as a token of thanks to Zoo Tycoon's millions of fans worldwide.

Master Chief has stormed his way onto Microsoft Windows-based personal computers with the recent release of Halo for Windows. If you're already a fan, don't miss out on the upcoming Halo Worldwide Championships. Tons of great prizes like a Gateway gaming system, Alienware PCs, ATI graphic cards and more are up for grabs.

The ATI/AMD Cyber X Gaming Championships is coming to CES. The festival has lined up some major sponsors and there will be $600,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs over the course of the qualification tournaments and the championships. Highlights of the event include the $100,000 prize for the first place Counter-Strike team.

La Pucelle: Tactics is the tactical RPG from Nippon Ichi, creators of Disgaea. La Pucelle: Tactics is a tale of betrayal and double cross, monsters in human form and humans in monster form, set in an alternate medieval Europe. The unlikely hero is a smart mouthed and undisciplined sixteen year old who just passed her exorcism exams and her comrades in La Pucelle, a demon hunting squad. Read more for some new screens ...

Cenega has released a patch for Plastic Reality's recently released Korea: Forgotten Conflict demo. No specific details as to what exactly it adresses are known. Read more for download links ...

Rockstar/Remedy Entertainment have released the mod tools for their recently released action game Max Payne 2. These tools will allow you to create your own mods. A readme file is included with the executable to help get you started. An official tutorial will be released shortly. Read more for details and download links ...

Another day, another batch of game trailers were released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for :

• Legacy Of Kain: Defiance - Trailer
• MoH: Pacific Assault - Trailer 3 & 4
• Otogi 2 - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that development of its upcoming PC real-time strategy game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring (War of the Ring) has been completed. In War of the Ring, massive battles erupt as the Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits of Middle-earth battle Sauron's minions. Players can choose to play as the forces of good and valiantly fight for the One Ring's destruction or assume command of the forces of evil to claim control over Middle-earth forever.

The Battlefield 1942 team has made a new community update, unfortunatly with some bad news regarding the upcoming 1.5 patch. The BF1942 v1.5 patch won’t make it out this week, the reason for the delay is that they want to make sure that it reaches you in top condition and that the cd swap fix they've been working on has proven trickier than first anticipated. The rest of the bug fixes are in place and The Invasion of the Philippines map is just about ready to go (promised "late October", which would be about right now).

Brought to you by the C&C Generals team, the second bonus map for C&C Generals: Zero Hour. This new multiplayer map is called 'Moutain Fox' and is said to have a unique layout should please the team players out there. Read more for details and download links ...

Beware! Your Sims have Magic! In The Sims Makin’ Magic Expansion Pack, your Sims are granted magical powers to cast playful or mischievous spells. Venture to an all-new magical, carnival-themed destination, experience exciting new gameplay, gain over 175 new items, and encounter a whole new cast of quirky characters in this powerful pack of magical high jinx. See what happens when the fate of the Sims is challenged and magic spells are cast with good or bad intentions. In The Sims Makin’ Magic, expect the unexpected. Check the new magical screens & trailer ...

Firaxis Games and Atari are excited to announce that the second expansion pack to the greatest strategy game of all time has gone gold. Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests will arrive in stores across North America November 4th and in Europe November 14th. Civ Conquests takes players on a provocative journey through the ages as they pursue victory in the most famous adventures in history.

You are Paul de Raque, Knight of the Temple, as you set out on a holy crusade across a forbidding, mediaeval Europe to join your order in the Holy Land. Armed with your sword, axe, bow and shield, you must fight with all your strength to complete your journey, for saving the future of the world is your ultimate goal! The core of the game is medieval style fighting with the classical weapons of European knights, coupled with stunning graphics of the historical milieus of the 12th century crusades. Check the new screens ...

Nival has released a patch for their recently released Etherlords 2. This upgrade brings your retail game to v1.01 and adresses/fixes accidental single-player crashes, disconnections from the master-server, some single/multiplayer additions and balances the Pale Knight creature depriving it of LifeTap ability (thanks RPGDot). Read more for details and download links ...

Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945 is the stunning World War II tactical real time strategy game from Russian developers 1C Company in Russia. The game development project has been retitled from Battlefield Command to give it prominence in a cluttered market of similar product brands. Wartime Command will launch for PC in the spring of 2004. Read more for some new screens ...

Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna has gone gold. Legends of Aranna, the expansion pack to the award-winning action fantasy role-playing game Dungeon Siege, whisks adventurers away to the distant land of Aranna, where new foes and new challenges await. The Legends of Aranna expansion pack, which also includes the full version of the original Dungeon Siege, will be available in North America on November 12 for an estimated retail price of $29.95 (U.S.).

Konami has now released a demo for their upcoming third-person survival/horror adventure Silent Hill 3. No specific details are known as what this demo features, apart from the fact that it is multilanguage and HUGE (thanks 4Players.de). Read more for download links ...

Pro Evolution Soccer 3 represents a mammoth step forward for the series, with every aspect of the game massively reworked, with new player models, on and off the ball moves and key additions to the Master League incorporated into the new game. Konami has released a playable demo for their upcoming soccer title, no specific details are available as to what is included in this demo.

The Ultimate Gamers Expo (UGE) today announced that the Expo will make its debut August 20th-22nd, 2004 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Ultimate Gamers Expo is the first-ever massive gaming festival for the general public where attendees can “test drive” the hottest upcoming and current games, participate in competitions and experience the action that, until now, only game industry insiders have been exposed to.