Ubi Soft just announced Deathrow, a fast-paced team combat sport designed and developed by Swedish game developer SouthEnd Interactive, exclusively for the Xbox. In Deathrow, the world’s first true combat sport, there are no rules and full-contact aggression is not only legal, it’s required! The fastest, toughest players are victorious and the slow and weak are defeated. The game combines the lightning-fast gameplay of third-person action games with the cooperative team play and gritty roughness of rugby, offering a unique combat sport experience.

A bit later than usual today ... blame it on my FPS addiction and Global Ops. There is a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Xbox) Q&A over at Electric Playground talking with Harish Rao and David Stalker of Fox Interactive. If you want to know all about the new Black & White then head on over to PC.IGN for their Q&A with Lionhead Studios Peter Molyneux. Lone Gamers has a new Q&A with Piotr Krzywonosiuk of Tannhauser Gate about Mimesis Online giving more details about future developments, the development process, the games release, and more (thanks voodoo). RPG Vault serves up their 3th part of Gas Powered Games' "Dungeon Siege Q&A". Gamespy also has a brief interview with Big Huge Games programmer Jason Bestimt on Rise of Nations, talking the upcoming isometric RTS (thanks Blues).

Somewhere this week everybody should get his grubby hands on a copy of EA/Crave's "Global Operations", we had a chance to give it a test run and played it all the way through ... Campaign 1 has 13 missions, taking you all over the world and Campaign 2 is just the same but as the opposite team. The game sure is bloody (without extreme gore/limbs flying off), good gfx, loads of action. I somewhat found the AI to be lacking in respect to certain team members standing around in the open and getting shot without returning fire, especially the medic seems have issues while giving medical attention. The single player maps do not give many opportunities for 'sniper' fans to do their thing since there are not really any "open" or "wide" maps. So for all you First Person Shooter (FPS) and Counterstrike fans out there, 60 shots taken from all missions to keep you happy until you got your own copy! Njoy!!!

EA announced the release of The Sims Vacation Expansion Pack, a new add-on disk to the top-selling PC game of 2000 & 2001, The Sims. The Sims and their families have been in overdrive with the magical high-jinx of Livin' Large, the wild parties of House Party and the never-ending social obligations of Hot Date. They need a break and The Sims Vacation provides the perfect opportunity to give them a little rest and relaxation on a fun-filled vacation island!

The game is set in year 2010 where player.s conscience is entrapped by an up-to-date virus-infected virtual reality-playing machine called FireStarter. The virus-caused failure resulted in computer changing the rules of the game . to break out of the trap, the player is to complete the game within 48 hours. Immerse in an unbelievable world, created by super-modern playing machine, where you are to make it a winner of the adrenaline-brimming action. The gameplay is action-focused . a player is to carry out tasks on levels overcrowded with dangerous monsters, by using personal skills, over 20 types of weapons and unique artefacts. The victory conditions vary from a need to survive within a given time to eliminating a certain monster/device.

Blood Omen II: Legacy of Kain has gone gold, and will be in stores soon. Here's the soup (Thanks VE) from Eidos: " Blood Omen 2, the latest installment in the Legacy of Kain Series is a 3rd person 3D action/combat game in which the player assumes the role of the vampire Kain. A compelling story drives the player through huge lushly detailed 3D environments and challenges their game play skills in combat, puzzle solving, stealth and exploration." So we can expect it in stores soon ;)))

On March 29th, Rangers Football Coach and Celtic Football Coach will be released on CD-ROM for the PC. So, while few fans will ever sit behind the managers’ desks at Ibrox or Celtic Park, any fan with a home PC will be able to take charge of either team through these unique simulations.

Ubi Soft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announces Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction has shipped for Nintendo GameBoy Advance. The game will be available in retail stores nationwide for $39.99 MSRP.

Electronic Arts and Crave Entertainment Ship Freedom Force for the PC is the announcement that this spandex-infested 3D tactical combat RPG by Irrational Games is on its way to stores. Also, Infogrames, Inc. Re-Writes Evolution With Carnivores : Cityscape announces that this Serious Engine-powered first-person shooter by Sunstorm Interactive is about to appear on store shelves as well. Finally, for now, Strategy First sends along word that Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs, the isometric RTS by Object Software set in Chinese history, has been released as well. (Thanks Blues & VE). Yesterday we announced Global Operations shipped as well ... start counting your pennies ...

Strategy First is pleased to announce that they will now accept applications to beta test their upcoming 3D Real time Strategy Game, O.R.B. O.R.B., an acronym for Off-World Resource Base, is a visually stunning 3D real time strategy game that pits the forces of two races against each other in a desperate struggle across multiple systems to control the resources they need to expand their empires.