For the first time, Sims are living in the city where reputation (rep) is everything. Players will custom-create these new Sims, called Urbz, by customizing their unique style and building their status to become the biggest "player" in the city. Read more for 16 new screens...

7FX has released a demo for their FPS "Rapid Gunner" giving you a chance to try out the game for a limited time of 25 minutes. This demo features the complete content of the full game which you can activate by purchasing a license key online (thanks 3DGamers). Read more for download links ...

Slitherine Software are pleased to announce Legion Arena, their upcoming online strategy game. Legion Arena puts you the player in charge of a Roman army and takes you up against the enemies of Rome. You must recruit & train up your troops, choosing the skills they will develop in an effort to create the most powerful army. Games will be played entirely online & all results are passed back to the server and logged and the player's army ranked. And the best part is... it's free!

Techland's sci-fi FPS "Chrome" received a prestigious Duke's Choice Award granted by the Java Leadership Team of Sun Microsystems. Among the Java Leadership Team are also Scott McNealy and James Gosling, the creators of Java language. The award is granted for the best and the most innovative product using the Java technology. Chrome has been chosen from many products and projects from the entire globe, acknowledging the high quality of the Techland's product. Duke's Choice Award for Chrome will be officially presented at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, between June 28th and July 1st.

Take 2/Ascaron today announced that exDream 3D action/RTS game Arena Wars has gone gold and is expected in stores (only in Europe for now) on July 16th 2004. Arena Wars is a completely new kind of 3D Real Time Strategy game, combining the gameplay principles and interface from RTS games with the fast pace of action-based shooters. Wars is a single and multiplayer game. Read more for details and new screens ...

TimeGate Studios delivers a breathtaking world of magical splendour, heroic deeds, and fearsome enemies with Kohan II: Kings of War, a fantasy-based real-time strategy game. Presented in beautifully rendered 3D, Kohan II: Kings of War allows gamers to lay siege to enemy cities, explore fantastic realms, fight strange creatures, and build a world-spanning empire.

The player will play as Sarge, now an army of one, against the whole of the Tan Army, under the leadership of Colonel Malice. All of the Heroes have been wiped out in a brutal Tan ambush and the Tan have found a new weapon of mass destruction that can reduce a platoon of soldiers into a mass of melted plastic. Sarge must go renegade and avenge the death of his fallen heroes, to take his revenge on the Tan Army and destroy Colonel Malice.

Throw away your old-man driving gloves and get your fireproof racing suit out, because PlayStation racing is about to become a matter of life and death as Codemasters confirms that an advanced edition of TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator is coming to PS2. TOCA Race Driver 2 is as realistic as racing games get and the new enhanced PS2 version will launch this October, complete with online racing.

Colin McRae Rally 2005 features over 30 incredible cars, and rally fans will drool over some of the stars in this year's lineup. So, choose your poison: whether it's the Celica GT4, Lancer Evo VIII or Subaru 22B STI, you're going to need your wits about you to clock a world-beating time and bring the car home in one piece.

AllintheGame Ltd, casting and recording The Mummy for Hip Interactive in London last week, were lucky enough to secure the services of US actor Corey Johnson, who played Daniels in the first Mummy movie .... the session featured a stellar UK and US cast in an intensive 8 hour video dubbing session. Said Voice Producer and Casting Director Phil Morris, "This was the first game we have worked on where we have had to do lip sync work to the equivalent quality of The Mummy cartoon series, with sound-alike actors matching the character roles in the TV cartoon. This demonstrates that developers and publishers can record games based on movie and TV licences in the heart of London, without having to stretch to a Hollywood cast and budget.........