Vavle just send over word that the Steam Beta is entering its final phase, and is now open to the public. To enter this beta, simply download and run the 500K installer. Steam, a broadband platform for the deliver and management of digital content, currently features a variety of Valve games including Counter-Strike 1.6, which introduces the new riot shield, the official CS bot and more. Visit the Steam Powered website or read more for details & download links ...

From the developers of Madden NFL Football comes a new brand of football where style is BIG: NFL STREET. NFL STREET blends fast paced arcade action with street culture to create a unique new gameplay experience where NFL stars become larger than life personalities. Players battle to earn the enhanced gear and attributes necessary to dominate the urban environments. Read more for some new screens...

As expected & announced, the Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Map Editor is now available for download. This will allow anyone to create maps and content for Enemy Territory. Please note, these tools are not supported by Activision, id Software, or Splash Damage. Help is available via a community forum located right here where you'll find open discussions on working with the editor.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that lead programmer Rick Seis has accepted the role of development team lead for Blizzard North. In his new position, Seis will focus on leading Blizzard North's concentrated team of developers while assuming the day-to-day responsibilities for maintaining and promoting the group's success. Additionally, Blizzard North will be streamlining their teams into one core group in order to focus their development efforts on one key project. Further information regarding the specifics of their next project will be announced at a future date.

The release of the new tactical 3D action-shooter BREED will be postponed and put off until September. Many fans from the BREED community and the entire action-shooter scene had made worthwhile suggestions. The British BREED developer, Brat Designs, took these suggestions to heart and even further increased the game's complexity. Since the publication of the beta demo at the beginning of June, the 3D action-shooter has undergone a lot of fine tuning. The full support of DirectX9 and NVIDIA's enhanced rendering technology have turned BREED into a visual masterpiece!

Talk about golden oldies! Already known as a big rumour but today Sega Japan officially announced that they are working on a follow-up to the classic arcade racing game created by Yu-Suzuki in 1986, OutRun 2. The game is currently being developed for the Chihiro arcade board and is expected to be available this Winter in Japan. The Chihiro arcade board is similar to the Xbox hardware, so more rumours predict that we may expect a port shortly after (thanks TVG). Read more for some screens...

And they go for a hattrick as Midway Games Inc. announced today that Area 51, the ultimate "sci-fi meets government cover-up" first-person shooter videogame, is scheduled to ship in 2004 for the PlayStation2 and the Xbox. Read more for additional details ...

Midway Games Inc. announced today that it will ship a new videogame based on the hit animated Cartoon Network television series, Justice League, for next-generation platforms in 2004. Read more for details ...

Already revealed during the E3, Midway Games Inc. today officially announced that NARC, a stylized third-person action/shooter game, is in development and expected to ship in 2004 for the PS2, Xbox and GameCube. Read more for details and features ...