Microsoft® Game Studios today announced that “MechAssault,” a sci-fi action/shooter game based on the highly successful “BattleTech” franchise, will be available exclusively for the Xbox™ video game system.

Geneforge is our newest fantasy role-playing game with a science fiction twist. In Geneforge, you are free to choose what your overall goal is, and you can seek after it with your own horde of deadly, mutant monsters. You are a Shaper, a member of the most powerful and secretive of the magical guilds. You have the power to create life and mold it to serve your own needs. For millennia, your world feared and respected the Shapers above all others. Their creations could go everywhere, do anything, all according to the wishes of the Shapers and no others. Read more for details and links.

Bluebyte kicked off a little contest to celebrate their Settlers 4 GOLD release. The player who can complete the contest map (made by Brian) the fastest (screenshot (F7) with "open chat message box" (F6) and "victory", savegame are proof) has the chance to win a free game or some posters. Head on over to the German Bluebyte page (babelfished) to read more about it. Contest runs until April 14th and participants should submit their info here.

Highland Warriors, a new 3D real-time strategy game scheduled for release in the fall, brings players to the center of the great feuds between the Scottish clans and England from the beginning of Scotland in 843 A.D. to the battlefields of William Wallace in the 14th century. Data Beker’s game will allow players to relive fierce clan wars in over 100 epic battles. From the company who brought us 'America' so cant be too bad eh?

GameSpy chats it up this morning with DarkBlack' Ltd's Tony Charlton, who talks briefly about their upcoming new first-person perspective horror-survival game for the Xbox - DARKBLACK. GameSpy has slammed down an interview with Remi Arnaud of Intrinsic Graphics this morning chatting it up with them about their plans at GDC this week, their latest technologies & partners and what Alchemy offers game developers. Dutch online gamesite GameCom has an interesting interview with El Kardian developers Codinet talking about this upcoming 2D/3D hybrid MMORPG. Action Vault's Chaser Q&A talks with Cauldron's development director David Durcak and lead programmer Marian Suran about progress on their upcoming science fiction-themed first-person shooter. There's a City of Heroes Preview on Games Domain structured around a Q&A with Cryptic Studios cofounder Jack Emmert, designer on the upcoming superhero MMOG.

We announced earlier today the release of Irrational Games, EA, Crave Ent.'s Freedom Force .. So ofcourse i had to snag it and put it to the test. Only 2 small missions and a character editor in the demo but i must say that its looking like quite a nice game. Lots of nice effects, weapons and you can pick up cars and throw them around, ripp out lightpole's etc... pretty cool ... I made a 40-some screens to let you people enjoy it while you download the demo left or right ... its worth it ;)

Addressing consumer demand for increased audio realism in gaming environments, Analog Devices today announced a new version of its SoundMAX Audio Rendering Technology Toolkit (SMartTools) - which now offers significantly improved cross-platform output capability and a more intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) to game audio developers.

Ubi Soft Entertainment, one of the world's largest video game publishers, today announced that Dark Planet: Battle for Natrolis, its futuristic Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game has shipped to U.S. retail stores with an MSRP of $39.99

As promised last night, the demo from Freedom Force, Irrational Game's now-gold superhero game, is now available for download from FilePlanet (registration required). The demo is available as a large version (87.4 MB) and a smaller version (56.1 MB), the difference between the two being that the larger version includes the music.

NVIDIA's Drivers Page now offers new version 28.32 "Detonator XP" drivers for Windows 95/98/Me, Windows XP/2000, and Windows NT (thanks Blues). As is always the case with these reference drivers, no technical support is offered, as they are to be used at your own risk.