Pterodon has released a new "beta" multiplayer map for their tactical shooter Vietcong. This 'Riverdale' map will be features in the next update patch, but you can have a little sneak peek (thanks Tiscali). Read more for screens & download links ...

Step up to the mic and get ready for celebrity gaming on Xbox Live! Gamers who think they can tackle a round of ESPN NFL Football against today's hottest hip-hop act, OutKast, should sign up before February 2, 2004 at Xbox Live!. Players who register could win a chance to play against Big Boi on February 4, the week of the Grammy Awards Show. Lucky Xbox Live members will be able to play against the Grammy Award nominees online through Xbox Live. Future contests will offer gamers the chance to play online against some of today’s hottest stars of stage, screen and sound, including The Strokes, Phantom Planet, Fefe Dobson, Crystal Method and Skrape, with many more lined up to take on gamers around the world.

Lagsters is an arcade racing title, where the action takes place in closed environments - tubes. The player will be able to use a vast number of different weapons and upgrades to their cars to become the winner of one of the 32 races. The tracks are compiled into 4 different championships of the single player mode. The multiplayer mode will offer three different modes of play: 'Last Man Driving', 'Fox and Hounds' and 'Divided Glory' where up to 8 players may participate in one race.

Akella, mostly known for the naval titles like Pirates of the Caribbean and Sea Dogs, is launching a new website for the Metalheart: Replicants Rampage project, their tactical role-playing game set on a deserted planet where the main characters find themselves after the spaceship crash. Read more for some new screens or check out the freshly launched Metalheart: Replicants Rampage website.

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that NASA is using its technology to reconstruct Martian terrain from transmitted rover data in photorealistic virtual reality, allowing scientists to explore Mars in 3D as if they were actually moving freely on the planet's surface. This NVIDIA-powered environment serves as a precise vision and planning system for NASA scientists, allowing them to rehearse a variety of Mars rover scenarios, mapping out moves and experiments, prior to directing the vehicle to undertake actual tasks by "flying" through highly realistic, 3D reconstructions of the Martian surface.

In SÖLDNER - Secret Wars the player takes command of one of these special teams. As Commander he leads the small high tech army consisting of soldiers, light armoured vehicles, helicopters and VTOLs to fulfill a wide variety of mission. The Simulation of a highly complex political system creates a dynamic campaign: each decision has direct impact on the flow of the game. Read more to check some awesome screens ...

Developed by Reflections Interactive, DRIV3R is an action-packed driving adventure game that stays true to its roots, incorporating the cinematic gameplay and gritty street crime of its predecessors with ground-breaking graphics and three mammoth, wide-open city environments: Miami, Florida; Nice, France; and Istanbul, Turkey. check out some new screens...

Deployed to any location at any time - if there are innocent lives at stake, you will be there. You are a member of a highly trained team to handle negotiations, mobile assaults, high-risk arrests, and manhunt operations. You must rely on your training to help you make the tough calls and split-second decisions that can mean life or death for you and the hostages.

TDK has released a new patch for Steel Monkeys racing game Corvette (as tribute to Corvette's 50th anniversay). This update does not have a specific version number but is rather a general fix for Win98/ME users (thanks Tiscali). Read more for download links ...

Wargaming.net has released the first update patch for their recent 3D strategy game Massive Assault. This update brings your retail gamer (only for US version) to v1.0.190 and mainly addresses the game's Artificial Intelligence performance, 3 AI's difficulty levels have been implemented for all playing modes as well as game tweaks, bug fixes and graphics improvements. Read more for download links ...