Having accidentally announced it earlier, Microsoft has officially announced the “Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend” sponsored by Verizon. Unlike the previous announcement, this free weekend will run from March 31 through April 2 and will be open to Xbox 360 gamers in the United States.

The “free” weekend will also be host to various competitions, with players getting the chance to take on Ubi’s Frag Dolls, as well as “Xbox insiders” to various sports and action games.

In their signature “triple question mark” report, TVG is reporting that an internal Ubisoft release schedule has been leaked, revealing a surprising number of new sequels and next-gen titles.

Most notable to the list are Tom Clancy’s Firehawk, Lumines 2 and Rayman 4, all of which haven’t been announced yet. It’s good to see Lumines getting a sequel, which will also land on the PS2. It’s also good to see Michael Ancel (hopefully) return to the Rayman 4 series, which has been sitting in the freezer for some time now.

Below is the full list ripped from TVG:

• Tom Clancy’s Firehawk (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
  
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 5 (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PC, PSP)
  
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Xbox, PS2)
  
• Assassin (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PC, PSP)
  
• Lumines 2 (PS2, PSP)
  
• Game 5 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
  
• Alive (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
  
• Naruto (Xbox 360)
  
• Rayman 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PC, PS2, handheld)
  
• Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Retro’s making a comeback, and Codemasters is in the forefront: the company announced plans for Micro Machines v4, a revival of the classic racing series, for the PS2, PSP, PC and DS.

The title is scheduled to ship this Summer for the aforementioned consoles. Here’s a bit on the title, with more after the jump.

It’s been called “the most playable game in the world”* and was the party game of choice for a gaming generation, and now a MICRO MACHINES video game is set to return to game screens as Codemasters today announces the revival of its classic series.

A smash-hit series through the 1990s, Codemasters, has once again secured the rights to the miniature vehicles for an all-new video game that promises a real return to the MICRO MACHINES game’s much loved, all-out fun, racing gameplay. The property is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS).

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ArenaNet and NCSoft have announced the release date of Guild Wars: Factions. The add-on to the free-to-play MMORPG will be released worldwide on April 28.

Guild Wars Factions takes place on the Asian-inspired continent of Cantha, where new and existing Guild Wars players join an epic quest to defeat an ancient evil and save a war-torn empire. Roleplaying and competitive player-versus-player gamers alike will be able to join together in guild alliances to take control of territory and determine the fate of Cantha. New scored challenge missions and strategic competitive missions allow players to test their roleplaying prowess and earn the right for their alliance to take control of cities, towns and outposts. Large-scale alliance battles pit teams from opposing factions against each other in a struggle to conquer new territory and redraw the battle lines across the continent of Cantha. New elite missions allow the most skilled players exclusive access to areas designed to be the ultimate cooperative challenge.

Those who can’t wait till April 28, ArenaNet will be hosting a massive beta test event in which all existing Guild Wars members will be able to sample the world of Cantha.

Yet more patches: a v33670 update for SOLDNER: Secret Wars can be found on the game’s official website; there’s also a corresponding updated dedicated server. Already released through Steam, previous owners of Darwinia can now get hold of a manual edition of the patch, updating the evolution-sim to v1.42. Pro Rugby Manager 2 has also been patched, updating the game to v1.11. No details on the update are available.

Meridian4 and RA Images announced that their adventure title Daemonica has gone gold and is scheduled to hit stores on March 28. The game will be available for $30.

Daemonica is an intriguing 3D interactive murder mystery that offers everything that adventure gamers appreciate - immersive storyline with unexpected twists, extensive dialogues with believable characters, puzzles and both mandatory and optional quests.

Set in the medieval England it tells a story of Nicholas Farepoynt, an investigator who can talk to the Dead. Throughout the game you will explore the gloomy surroundings of the slowly dying city of Cavorn, make sacrifices, talk to both living and dead characters, fight and punish those who deserve it, gather information, collect herbs and make potions to enhance your senses and slowly discover what role you play in all of this. As you strive to solve the murder of a young girl, more dead appear and the town starts to slowly slip into insanity. A grim, long-forgotten secret, something that should never see the light of day again slowly awakes…

• Engaging and immersive storyline
  
• Detailed and realistic 3D environments
  
• Enhanced environmental effects
  
• Intriguing characters with unique personalities
  
• Easy to control, yet thrilling action fights
  
• Potion-making, raising of the Dead
  
• Optional quests and various endings

Atari UK is now host to a demo for Act of War: High Treason, offering the chance to check out the upcoming expansion for the RTS title. It’s a 752 MB download featuring both single-player and multiplayer support. Grab it from Atari’s FTP, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, Computer Games, FileFront, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, GameSpot, VGPRO and Worthplaying.

If you were looking for some RPG-RTS action, a demo for SpellForce 2 is available, offering quests to take on and Dungeon Siege-type gameplay. Download it from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, 4players.de, ActionTrip, Boomtown, Computer Games, FileFront, FileNuts, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, GameSpot, VGPRO and Worthplaying.

Bringing to the Xbox 360 the worst looking game will be Ubisoft, who announced Over G Fighters, a “modern jet fighter” exclusive to the Microsoft console. Although not graphically potent, the game is supposed to deliver “intense and exciting aerial combat showcasing the power of modern aircrafts.” It is being developed by Taito and is scheduled to ship throughout North America and Europe this June.

Below are three rather drab-looking screenshots from the title; the full announcement after the jump.

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Mod tools for Black & White 2 have been released, letting interested modders have a go at the God-sim. Information on the tools can be found on the official B&W2 website. The company’s announcement also revealed that a modding competition will be held next week, so sharpen your tools while you can.

An unofficial patch for Nival’s turn-based strategy title Hammer & Sickle has been released. The patch updates the game to v1.15 and addresses some outstanding issues with the game. Grab it from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying. Nival has also released a v1.4 patch for Blitzkrieg 2, addressing a couple of bugs and balance changes in the WWII-strategy title.

Meanwhile, Steam News carries word that an update for Darwinia has been released via Valve’s broadband delivery service. The update adds difficulty settings, fixes a save game problem and updates the game’s German translation.

And finally, EA has released the much anticipated v1.21 patch for Battlefield 2, addressing a number of outstanding issues which are detailed here. Grab the full update from EA’s FTP server, 3D Gamers, AusGamers, FileFront, GameArena, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, GameSpot, VGPRO, Worthplaying and Xtra Games.

The incremental patch can be grabbed from EA’s FTP server, 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, AusGamers, FileFront, GameArena, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, GameSpot, VGPRO, Worthplaying and Xtra Games.

As for the dedicated server - both Win32 and Linux versions can be downloaded off EA’s FTP server, 3D Gamers, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying.