After four months of fierce competition in the 3rd annual EA SPORTS Madden Challenge and the inaugural EA SPORTS NCAA Challenge tournaments from Electronic Arts, Eugene "Big Gene" Williams, Washington, D.C Champion, became the National 2004 EA SPORTS Madden Challenge Champion on Madden NFL 2005 and Jesse Hanninen, of Florida State University, is the 2004 NCAA Challenge Champion on NCAA Football 2005.

Mercenaries is a revolutionary third-person combat-action game that delivers the next level of free-form gameplay in massive interactive environments. The game gives players the opportunity to take on the role of a soldier for hire in an open-ended world. Read more to check out the new screens...

Developed by Mad Doc Software and due for release in the first half of 2005, Empire Earth 2 will build upon the award-winning formula of its predecessor by adding features requested both by casual game players interested in a brief spin through history and by more hard core gamers who demand a real-time strategy game that will challenge them for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours. Check out these exclusive screens ...

Developed by Ubisoft's award-winning Red Storm studio, Ghost Recon 2 launches on next-generation consoles and PC this Holiday season. The game is set in the chaotic battlefields of tomorrow, and will offer gamers an insider's view of the way large scale conflicts will be fought in the near future. Read more for a few new screens & ingame trailer...

Metal Gear Acid, created by world-renowned developer, Hideo Kojima, will be released for SCEA's PSP handheld video game system. Metal Gear Acid will redefine handheld action gaming as this all-new stealth adventure game in the definitive tactical espionage series takes the Metal Gear experience outside the living room and directly into the hands of gamers.

Pariah focuses on a robust immersive storyline that weaves survival elements into the traditional run-and-gun style of first-person action games. Unsurprising will be the graphic marvel and fine-tuned gameplay of Pariah, a trademark gamers have come to expect from any Digital Extremes game.

Ubi Soft has released the map editor for its stealth/action game Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. This package allowed you to create custom content for their third-person stealthy action sequel, it includes the editor and documentation, as well as a mappack with two maps (Squat and Deftech2, a new version of DefTech) created by Ubisoft internally. Read more for download links ...

"Dragonshard" will incorporate classic role-playing themes, a powerful and dynamic real-time strategy engine all woven together with a rich storyline involving a global conflict for an immensely powerful artifact with the power to change the fate of Eberron itself.

Over the weekend PC Gamer organized an IRC chat with Gearbox Software to talk about its upcoming WW2 based FPS Brothers In Arms. An edited chatlog is now available for people who were not able to attend the discussion, main points are the system requirements, an upcoming demo "soon", and the announcement that PC Gamer is starting a contest where three winners can win a trip to play the game at Gearbox's offices and jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Rugby fans are used to spending their weekends huddled in the cold, watching the stars of the Zurich Premiership running about and staying nice and warm. Now you can finally take off your scarves and mittens. Digital Jesters are excited to present a taste of the authentic 3D stadiums that feature in Pro Rugby Manager 2, allowing those long suffering supporters to enjoy the same views from the comfort of their centrally heated living rooms. Read more for details ...