Konami has announced that it will be presenting the next-gen installment of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 for Xbox 360 at GC 2006 in Leipzig, Germany this year.

Opening its doors on August 23, the annual event is the “ultimate” European gaming convention, and this year it’ll be host to Konami’s presentation of next-gen soccer located in Hall 5, booth F02. The legendary game developer Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka will be presenting the new version to the audience. In addition to Pro Evo 6, visitors to the show will also be given an exclusive look at the publisher’s highlights for the next-generation. Further details will be announced soon.

Five new high-resolution shots from Call of Juarez:

The best racing game on the PSP has received a sequel: SCEE has announced Ridge Racer 2 for the handheld, offering new cars, new racing modes, more courses and even more new features which will all be announced soon.

No other information or release dates were mentioned.

The Portugese, who have made their way to the real-life World Cup final, have been crowned the Xbox Cup Champions having won the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament on the Xbox 360.

The ceremony was held in Berlin’s 8500 seater adidas stadium where Peter Moore, the ubiquitous Microsoft VP, presented the Portugal team with the trophy. Portugal beat Mexico 2-1 in the final.

The Portugal team, pictured right, consists of Miguel Angelo Dinis, 28, and Antonio Luis Ferreira Gomes, 21, who were accompanied by Joao Miguel Gouveia da Cruz Dias, 24, their “ultimate fan”.

Further images from the event can be found on Flickr.

Looking for sweaty men groping each other for cheap? THQ has the answer for you! The company has announced that WWE: Day of Reckoning 2 has achieved the “Player’s Choice” status on the Gamecube and will now retail for a revised price of $20.

Released exclusively for the Gamecube in August 2005, Reckoning 2 offers more than 45 superstars, a long story mode, an enhanced fighting system, improved graphics and more.

September will the release of Steambot Chronicles by 505 Gamestreet in the UK. A non-linear RPG from legendary Japanese developer IREM, the game has players taking control of a young adventurer named Vanilla Beans (yes, that’s the name), who awakes on a beach with no memory of where he is or how he got there. It will be released for the PS2, priced £30.

The world of Steambot Chronicles presents the player with a uniquely open-ended role-playing experience. It’s up to the player to explore the world and talk to the locals to piece together their own story. By playing mini-games and completing missions and subquests players can choose to become a fighter or an explorer, a chef or a bandit – or a mixture of all these and more besides. In every interaction with the game’s colourful inhabitants, players also have multiple options to respond and communicate. These include kindly, meanly or even with a joke. Every decision has an impact in the world of Steambot Chronicles.

Lovers of combat are also well catered for. The game feature enormous steam-powered craft called Trotmobiles, or Trots, for short. These can be used in organised battles, to pummel rivals and assimilate their parts, or they can be used for the greater good, by ferrying stranded locals from place to place for instance. Steambot Chronicles is the ultimate in “sandbox”-style gaming and is bursting with activities, quests and mini-games.

The following month of October will see the release of Rule of Rose, a psychological suspense adventure, developed by SCE.

Prepare to join the strangest and most dangerous secret society you’ve ever seen in Rule of Rose, for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. In 1930’s England, a group of little girls form a club called the “Red Crayon Aristocrats”. They devise a series of rules, known as “Rule of Rose”, which governs the society, its hierarchy, and the games its members play. After a surreal and frightening encounter with a young boy on a public bus, Jennifer, an unhappy and fragile young girl, begins her descent into the nightmarish world of Rule of Rose and has no choice but to obey the cruel and disturbing codes of her giggling tormentors.

Players will be able to join the cult by purchasing the PS2 game for £35.

In a press release dated July 1, Atari announced the opening of the online polls for its “Want to be a Car Designer?” contest. The contest has all novice designers creating an image of their dream concept car, with the winner getting their designed car racing alongside exotics from Lamborghini, Ferrari and Aston Martin in Test Drive Unlimited; the winner will also receive $2,500 in cash.

The voting period has already begun, and will end on July 10. The entry with the greatest number of votes will win the contest.

Test Drive Unlimited is being developed for release this September on Xbox 360. Current-gen versions of the game are also in the works.

Two new patches were released over the last few days:

• CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder v1.1 on 3D Gamers, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying
  
• Ship Simulator 2006 v1.1.1 on Lighthouse Interactive