AXcess News (www.axcessnews.com) released a story describing how a sagging online gaming industry got a boost recently by Microsoft when the Redmond-based software maker announced it had lowered the price of its Xbox console and added more software titles.

The Leisure Suit Larry videogame franchise began in 1987 with The Land of the Lounge Lizards, the first of seven games in the series. Since then, the Leisure Suit Larry games have sold more than 35 millions of units worldwide and its games are considered collector items. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is scheduled for release on next-generation consoles and the PC in late 2004. Read more for some new screens ...

In the latest Sierra newsletter Massive Ent.'s Lead Game Designer Henrik Sebring revealed that we can expect a demo for their upcoming 3D RTS game Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. A specific date has not been mentioned bit would/should be "before" Ground Control II: Operation Exodus is ecpted in stores, which so far is still set for July 2004. Of course we will have the demo on our fileservers as soon as it's available...

In EURO 2004 mode players can play as any of the 51 European nations. Players can arrange and play friendly matches against other nations or play through the tournament going from qualifying, to playoffs and into the finals. In addition to tracking injuries and suspensions, a new dynamic morale system will track players' morale, which will fluctuate based on individual and team performances and affect player abilities on the field. Read more for some new screens ...

Dragon Claw Studio announced today that their massive multiplayer game, FaitH officially launched its new server on Monday, March 29th. As always, FREE trials are still unlimited in length and allow you to play one of the nine church options and one of the five class options.

Electronic Arts today announced that its new boxing game, EA SPORTS Fight Night 2004 has gone gold for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and Xbox video game system from Microsoft and is scheduled to ship to retailers starting on Monday, April 5, 2004. The game will be published under the EA SPORTS brand and feature Light Heavyweight Champion of the World Roy Jones Jr. as its cover athlete.

'Samurai Warriors' stars the brave Sanada Yukimura, who leads an elite band of samurai and ninja. Sanada's journey will take him to the hallowed Japanese battlefields of Okehazama and Kawanakajima and inside the embattled walls of Osaka Castle where he will come face-to-face with gun-toting troops, echelons of ninja, and deadly kunoichi (female ninja). Read more for details and screens ...

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 :

• Darkwatch: Curse of the West - Trailer
• The Alamo - Trailer
• King Of Fighters: Maximum Impact - Trailer
• 
  
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

WizardWorks better know for its record selling Deer Hunter series has apparaently been shut down by Atari in order to streamline operations. WizardWorls was purchased by GT Interactive in the mid 90's, which on its own was then purchased by Infogrames, now Atari. The closure affected 19 people who will most likely be transferred to other Atari departments. No titles have been cancelled or dropped as the Minneapolis Studio (internal Atari name for WizardWorks) had no dedicated titles in production, a0nd publishing responsibilities have been transferred to another office. Previously, Atari also closed their Hunt Valley studio, and most recently Legend Entertainment. You can read the full story over at Gamespot.