This year's festival features major changes to the format of the competition, including a $20,000 Grand Prize for best game, a new modding competition, and increased prizes for smaller award categories. Submissions will be accepted in August. The deadline for the main IGF Competition is set for September 6 and Modding Awards and Student Showcase submissions are due November 15.

Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. can be held liable for copyright infringements committed by users of their peer-to-peer file-sharing software, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The decision in the case Grokster v. MGM is a major win for the motion picture and recording industries, which took the case to the nation’s highest court after losing in lower courts over the past two years or so.

Dive into an immersive adventure as you experience a living comic-book illustrated with 3D Comic Inking Technology. The game's expanded, free-roaming environments deliver a deep adventure with a variety of challenging missions, diverse game play and an improved combat system that allows players to face off against the largest number of characters from the Spider-Man universe ever assembled in one video game.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge is an action-adventure game that continues the story of Jack Skellington and his arch-nemesis, Oogie Boogie. Players take on the role of Jack, who must battle bizarre and vicious enemies in order to stop the diabolical Oogie Boogie from kidnapping the leaders of all the holidays.

Today Ubisoft announced that the next installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon squad-based action franchise, will officially be known as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Scheduled to ship for Holiday 2005, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter focuses on the deployment of the Soldier of the Future "the warfighter," in military parlance, into the chaos of urban warfare.

In Pirates! you take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean trying to become the most revered and feared pirate in history - exploring high seas and exotic ports, overtaking enemies in fierce naval battles, engaging in duels and attempting to seize valuable booty. In this developer diary Firaxis producer Dan Magaha talks about the four player multiplayer ship battles that have been added to the Xbox version of the game.

Empire Interactive announced today that after 5 years of development, Starship Troopers is scheduled for an October release date. Developed by Strangelite Studio, the game is based on the Starship Troopers movie in which you will take the role of an elite 'special forces' trooper in the Mobile Infantry spearheading the assault against thousands of intelligent enemy bugs, emulating the best scenes from the movie and a whole lot more!

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.

Lesta Studio and Buka Entertainment announce the new official Pacific Storm website. The website contains news, screenshots, which demonstrate strategic, tactical and simulator part of the game, gameplay and intro trailers, a special section of historical documents and essays and, last but not least, the official forum. Now you can take part in all major Pacific battles of the World War II in the Pacific Storm game that is a mixture of RTS, war-game and simulator.

Deep Silver announced details of their sci-fi FPS, Chrome Specforce. Launching in August 2005, Chrome Specforce is definitely one for every shooter fan, packed with unlimited action and a diverse range of vehicles and weapons, appealing for both lone and online gaming. Get ready for the special force operatives of the future.