Digital Illusions and EA have officially announced the development of Battlefield 2142, the next in the venerable FPS series.

The year is 2142, and the dawn of a new Ice age has thrown the world into a panic. The math is simple and brutal: The soil not covered by ice can only feed a fraction of the Earth’s population. Some will live, most will die. In Battlefield 2142, players will choose to fight for one of two military superpowers in an epic battle for survival, the European Union or the newly formed Pan Asian Coalition. Armed with a devastating arsenal of hi-tech assault rifles, cloaking devices and sentry guns, players will also do battle using some of the most imposing vehicles known to man. Massive battle Mechs wage fierce combat on the ground, while futuristic aircraft rule the skies. When facing one of these new behemoths, players will need to use their wits and an arsenal of new countermeasures like EMP grenades to level the playing field.

The game is scheduled for release this Winter for the PC. It will feature team play, allowing up to 64 players take part in the action as a formal squad, or work behind the scenes in Commander Mode to direct the strategic assaults of their teammates.

Attached in this post are the first four screenshots showing off the action. A movie is also available and can be downloaded from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, FileFront, GameTrailers and Worthplaying.

The PlayStation 3 news keeps rolling in as AGEIA announced that its PhysX SDK v2.4 will become available to registered PS3 game developers on March 31. Details:

The AGEIA PhysX SDK is highly recognized for its extensive physics functionality and multithreading capabilities, which are uniquely suited for the multicore architecture of the Cell processor adopted on PLAYSTATION®3. The latest AGEIA PhysX SDK version 2.4 is optimized for the Cell processor, adding mind-blowing physics action to the high-definition graphics of PLAYSTATION®3 titles.

In the 2.4 release, several components of the AGEIA PhysX pipeline have been offloaded from the PPU of the PLAYSTATION®3 to the SPUs; developers can fully control the component deployment. This has resulted in a 50% reduction in maximum PPU load, leaving more room for game code and smooth frame rates.

Ignition Entertainment announced that PoPoLoCrois, developed by G-Artists and SCE Japan, will be released in Europe this Spring for the PSP.

First in the series to be released outside Japan, the game features an “engaging” storyline presented by anime cut-scenes, 2D graphics, an “intuitive” combat system, “enchanting” characters, over 30 hours of play and more.

Making somewhat of a comeback, Acclaim has announced that it has signed a deal with Massive Inc. that will see the inclusion of multiple of its titles in the Massive Network, the dynamic in-game advertising network. The first title will be BOTS, a free action-themed multiplayer online game. Very popular in Asia, BOTS is being redesigned and launched in the West, with Acclaim starting beta testing in several weeks.

Spring will see the release of the following Xbox 360 games, according to Microsoft:

• 2006 FIFA World Cup (EA Canada, EA Sports)
  
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (Digital Illusions CE, EA Games)
  
• Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Ubisoft Romania, Ubisoft)
  
• Burnout Revenge (Criterion Games, Electronic Arts)
  
• Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires (Omega Force, KOEI)
  
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks, 2K Games)
  
• Far Cry Instincts Predator (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
  
• Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix, Square Enix)
  
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft)
  
• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (Crystal Dynamics, Eidos)
  
• Major League Baseball 2K6 (Kush Games, 2K Sports)
  
• The Outfit (Relic, THQ)
  
• Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar Games)
  
• Rumble Roses XX (Yuke’s, Konami)
  
• Top Spin 2 (Indie Built, 2K Sports)
  
• X-Men: The Official Game (Z-Axis, Activision)

Lara Croft has gotten a date with the Xbox 360 - the next-gen version of the action title will see its release on April 7, in line with the release of PS2, Xbox and PC versions.

In the hands of Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider: Legend supports real-time per-pixel lighting, shadows and normal-mapping, along with other improvements in its next-gen version. Legend is the seventh title in the series which has sold over 28 million copies worldwide.

A v1.3 Star Wars: Empire at War update has been released, offering bug fixes, balance changes and a pair of new maps - a land skirmish map and a 43 planet campaign map. Get the patch from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Strategy Informer and Worthplaying.

A v1.1 beta version of the Quake 4 SDK is available, updating the tools required to create content for the Raven shooter. Grab it from id’s FTP server, 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers and Worthplaying.

A demo of the sci-fi first-person shooter Utopia City is now available, offering an introductory movie as well as a sample of gameplay. It’s a 240 MB download from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, FileFront, FileNuts and Worthplaying.

Frothing Xbox 360-less fans can now get their hands on a Xbox 360, according to Microsoft who announced that they will distribute two to three times the number of units as they have improved their component supply chain and the introduction of a third manufacturing partner - Celestica.

GarageGames has shown off demonstrations of its technology at the Game Developers Conference which ran throughout March 22-24.

The company showcased Legions, a tech demo for its Torque Shader Engine; a tech demo of Marble Blast Ultra on Xbox Live! Arcade; a Mighty Fist demo built with Torque Game Builder, a professional 2D grade engine; and Torque Constructor, the CSG level builder created in Torque for level design with all map based games.

Nintendo has announced that Final Fantasy IV Advance will be launching on June 2 throughout Europe for the GBA, letting gamers re-experience one of the best games in the venerable series, with improved graphics and added content.

The title will retail for £30 when released. Details on the game after the jump.
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The second volume of the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack will be available starting April 25, according to an announcement by Sumthing Else. Volume 2 consists of two CDs featuring nearly 70 minutes of compositions by Bungie’s Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. The track listing can be found here, and below is a comment from Martin O’Donnell on the back-story of the soundtrack release.

“In the summer of 2004 Nile Rodgers and I decided that it would be a good idea to present the music of Halo 2 in two separate volumes. The first volume would contain all the music that was finished and mixed plus some ‘inspired by’ music from groups whose music was being used in the game.”

Since the first Halo 2 soundtrack was assembled before the game actually shipped, it was always envisaged that the second volume would contain the rest of the game’s music, some of which Martin O’Donnell was still composing and producing, and would be rearranged for maximum listening pleasure.

“The music in Halo 2 will play back a little differently each time someone plays the game,” explains O’Donnell, “But on the soundtrack I have the opportunity to arrange the music in an album format. For Halo 2 Volume Two I decided to use a ’suite’ structure that also corresponds to the chapters within the game. In a sense by listening to this soundtrack you will hear the musical representation on the story of Halo 2. Enjoy!”

These games have shipped throughout North America on March 21:

• CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder (PC)
  
• The Godfather (PC, PS2, Xbox) - out in Europe on March 24
  
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC)
  
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (PC, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, DS, GBA)

In its latest press release, Quazal announced that they have been approved by SCE’s Tools and Middleware program for PlayStation 3, letting developers make use of their Net-Z and Rendez-Vous online multiplayer middleware technologies, as well as the Spark! Lobby technology, in their games.

Quazal’s tools are also available for the PS2 and PSP, among other platforms.