NovaLogic today announced the introduction of ‘Boot Camp’ stat based games on their NovaWorld game servers to further increase the playability of Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising and the expansion pack Joint Ops: Escalation for new gamers to the franchise. Similar to ‘Newbie’ zones in MMORPG’s, ‘Boot Camp’ games will allow new players to gain experience and get familiar with the way the game is played, without being easy targets for more experienced players.

Cossacks: Napoleonic Wars returns one of the most successful strategy games of the past years to the real-time battlefield - with reinforcements: Meet Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and probably the most ingenious strategist in European history! Enter the battle on the side of one of 10 great European nations and rewrite European history in six exciting campaigns. In case the 60+ screens from yesterday weren't enough, here is another 13..

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a squad-based first-person shooter that lets you explore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 3-man squad of Republic Commandos, your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14 intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you will face more than ten brutal enemies. LucasArts has announced that Star Wars: Republic Commando has gone gold and is expected in stores March 1, 2005 (and a few days later in Europe).

Right after its financial results last year, Atari shut down Unreal 2 developer Legend Ent., and a few months later Deer Hunter powerhouse WizardWorks was next. This year is not looking any different as Atari revealed its still dropping financial results and to no surprise, decided to close down its publishing studios in Santa Monica, CA and Beverly, MA, and moving the functions handled by those studios to Atari's HQ in New York. On top of that the results also reveal that Liquid's Dragonshard and Deep Shadows' Boiling Point have been delayed until fiscal 2006, anywhere between April 2005, all the way to March 2006. We tried to contact Atari for comments but so far no replies.

Whereas its prequels offered first-person role-playing and strategy role-playing experiences (respectively), Shining Tears is an action role-playing game, featuring real-time battles and cooperative multiplayer game options. Read more to check out 40+ new screens ...

Still Life lets you play the role of FBI agent Victoria McPherson. Situated in Chicago, you are on the heels of a serial killer, much like your grandfather did 60 years earlier in Prague (Microids' Post Mortem). By means of flashbacks and timewarps, you will travel to locations like Eastern Europe to interrogate suspects, or North America, to scrutinize dead bodies.

Pointsoft has released a demo for Babylon's street racing game RPM Tuning, giving speed freaks a chance to try out 2 QuickRace tracks (Beach Race and Downtown Cup 3), or try your luck with 2 Adventure mode missions, with 3 available cars. Read more for download links ...

Valusoft has released the first patch for SCS Software's latest hunting game Hunting Unlimited 3. This update brings you retail game to v1.2 and fixes visibility problems. Read more for details and download links ...

As part of its ongoing support for the games industry EM Media is delighted to announce the funding of a substantial development in conjunction with Climax's Online studio based in Nottingham. The development will consist of a slate of games based on Climax's Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) engine Leviathan.

Ubisoft today reveals three additional titles currently in development for the Nintendo DS.

• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (spring 2005)
• King Kong (holiday season 2005)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory