Already revealed through 1Up, Ubisoft has officially announced Rainbow Six: Vegas for PC, next-generation and current-generation consoles.

The stakes are high when the world’s most elite counter-terrorism unit enters Las Vegas, where over 36.7 million men, women and children visit each year. “Sin City,” the home of the famous Las Vegas Strip, flashy hotels, high-rolling casinos and world-famous celebrities, becomes the setting for a terrorist threat of global proportions. What happens when one of the world’s most famous cities is held hostage by terrorists?

Set for release this Autumn, and in development at Ubi’s Montreal studio, Vegas will push the boundaries of graphics, artificial intelligence, physics and animation. The game is being worked on by Senior Producer Chadi Lebbos who was the lead on Rainbow Six 3.

On Worthplaying are high-resolution screenshots from the title; they also have concept art.

Techland sends word that it has begun development on the sequel to Xpand Rally Xtreme, their racing title. Additions to the series will include “super-fast” GT vehicles, DTR group buggies, off-road 4×4 cars and Monster Trucks group trucks. It will include 40 tracks, off-road cross-country rides, and more. The game will also offer players the chance to create their own tracks and even game modes.

Probably coming as no surprise to anyone, ESA announced that it has sold out of exhibit space for E3 Expo 2006, having sold more than 540,000 square feet of space covering all five exhibit halls at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year’s expo will be host to more than 400 exhibitors covering space equivalent to 4,650 Olympic swimming pools.

E3 2006 will be held from May 10-12, with conference and workshop sessions taking place from May 9-11.

With no Duke Nukem Forever in sight, Duke4.net has posted scans from an “unknown C++ programming book,” showing off two pages of DNF concepts and an interview with George Broussard.

The design documents portion is quite interesting.

Coming our way is a “freakin’ sweet” game thanks to 2K Games and Twentieth Century Fox who announced that they working on a Family Guy title.

In development at High Voltage Software, Seth MacFarlane, creator of the hit TV series, will work closely with the company to bring the offbeat humor of the show in an action-adventure game focusing on Peter Griffin, his world-domination obsessed son Stewie and the talking, martini drinking family dog, Brian. These characters will “wreak havoc” in many of the same locations shown in the series.

The game will be hitting this-gen consoles only. No release date has been disclosed yet.

Next-Gen has confirmed that Lionhead has indeed scaled itself down, cutting off 50 “redundancies,” meaning that around 200 people now work at the studio, 180 of whom are developers.

According to the report, Black & White 2 and The Movies have had substandard sales and that the company has “overstretched” itself with three projects being worked on at the same time. Peter Molyneux, the studio’s head, has decided to focus on two games at a time - one of the titles has been in development for a year and the other is just ramping up.

Koei has officially announced that Winback 2: Project Poseidon will be hitting North American stores on April 18 for the PS2 and Xbox.

In a world where terror takes many forms, a new weapon threatens to shake the balance of power. Freedom’s last hope rests in the hands of three new operatives, who must race against time to recover this doomsday device. The fate of the world hangs by a thread, and a few ticks of the clock means the difference between justice and annihilation.

Sequel to the original covert game, Winback 2 adds a new “route” system, letting players experience each mission from the perspective of different operatives. The follow-up will feature 30 missions, multiple difficulty levels and new weapons.

As for demos, Slitherine Strategies has released a playable demo for Cult of Mithras, the expansion pack for Legion Arena. This is not a stand-alone demo, and so requires the full version of Legion Arena. It’s a meager 9 MB download.

Downloads of a v1.95 patch for Space Empires IV: Deluxe can be found on Strategy First, fixing bugs and stuff in the space strategy sequel. The day’s other patch was for Serious Sam 2, updating the shooter sequel to v2.068. On 2K Games’ website is the patch for the retail version, with these sites offering the update for the digital distribution version: 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, FilePlanet and Worthplaying.

After having IGN get the exclusive scoop, Rockstar has officially announced Table Tennis for the Xbox 360, the company’s first next-gen title. Being developed by Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind the venerable Midnight Club series, Table Tennis is expected to hit stores on May 22 in North America for $40. Europe will receive it four days later - on May 26 - for a price of €40 and £30 in the UK.

OMG! Microsoft stole Xbox 360’s design from Dell! Someone notify the authorities!

Please, somebody please tell me this is a joke: the Global Gaming League (GGL), in conjunction with Snoop Dogg, has announced the formation of the Hip Hope Gaming League, with Snoop serving as the league’s first commissioner.

The league will consist of prominent hip hope stars such as Proof (D12), Kaine (Ying Yang Twins), Twista, BReal of Cypress Hill and Method Man (Wu Tang Clan), among others. These “playas” have been selected for their video game skills, as well as their distinction in the hip-hop community.

Matches will begin online this March and conclude this May with a live Finals event in Las Vegas. The winner will be given “eternal bragging rights” and a substantial donation will be made to the Snoop Youth Football League on the champion’s behalf.

“I’m an initiator, and this new intersection of hip hop and video gaming is something that’s ready to happen,” said Commissioner Snoop. “Hip hop loves video gaming, and I’ve been watching this develop into the next big sport. The HHGL is my way of taking it to the next level. We’re going to take this thing straight over the stratosphere, and the whole world can watch and participate as people like myself — who hate to lose — put it on the line.”

All HHGL players will have custom Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system’s professionally installed in the location of their choice (crib, tour bus, favorite club, etc), and all competition will take place over the Xbox Live(R) network. Xbox 360 and Xbox Live are the official console and online gaming sponsor of the HHGL inaugural season, joining platinum sponsor Sprite in promoting the league and making exclusive content available to its customers.

All HHGL matches will be officially sanctioned by the GGL meaning that they are guaranteed to have no lag and to be completely fair. The video games selected for the inaugural season were still being reviewed by Commissioner Snoop and the GGL at press time with an announcement expected shortly. It is projected that Xbox 360 sports games will figure prominently in League play.

Interested hip-hoppers can hop on to HHGL’s website for more information of this ludicrous event.

Popular for bringing Japanese games to North America, Atlus made a trio of announcements, stating that they plan on bringing Contact, Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation and its sequel to the region.

Coming from the makers of Killer7, Contact is a RPG for the DS, offering “animal-training, item-collecting, monster hunting, and old-school mini-games” among other gameplay activities. The game will make use of the handheld’s dual-screen functionality with mission maps, interior/exterior viewpoiunts and more. It is scheduled to make contact this Summer.

Immensely popular in Japan is the Super Robot Taisen series, the upcoming games hitting North America will be strategy RPGs for the GBA. Original Generation is scheduled to hit this Summer, followed by its sequel in Fall.

A demo for Conflict: Global Terror has been released, offering the chance to sample the terror of conflict in the recently released tactical shooter. It’s a 358 MB download from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileShack, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying.

Matrix Games has announced that Maximum Football, the second sports title in their Matrix Games line, is now available for download thorugh their online store.

Primarily a coaching and management game, Maximum-Football is a robust North American Football game where you can change nearly every single aspect of the rules and features. Use Indoor, outdoor, Canadian, or American rules, or any combination thereof. Utilize the robust play editing system to create your own playbook specifically tailored for the team you drafted and trained in the pre-season. Compete in player run leagues and discover if you have what it takes for a championship ring. It isn’t just managing every aspect of a team though, Maximum-Football also features fully functional 3D coaching and arcade mode where you can watch the action or take the controls to run, pass, block, and tackle.

More information on the game can be found on the publisher’s site. It is available as a $40 digital download.