In their bid to take over the world become the largest independent virtual world developer, CCP and White Wolf have merged. The former runs EVE Online, a very popular MMORPG, and is the largest European virtual world company; it will be creating a multiplayer game based on White Wolf’s popular World of Darkness setting.

The merger will see both companies bring their respective skills to the table, with White Wolf focusing on the creation of EVE Online strategy guides, collectible card games, role-playing games, novels and miniatures. The combined company will, however, continue to operate under their respective names.

Already delayed once, Valve has once again pushed back the release date for Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Expected to be delivered during Q1 2007, Episode Two is now expected sometime in Summer 2007. No reason was given.

SunAge is also facing a delay: the game is now set for release during Q1 2007, delayed from its Q3 2006 target date. Lastly, Two Worlds, an upcoming strategy-RPG, has also been delayed to March 7, 2007; it was originally supposed to be available during Q4 of this year.

Ditching the Xbox 360 altogether, Sega has announced that Full Auto 2: Battlelines is being developed for the PSP; the PS3 version is already available. To top it off, there are going to 56 exclusive single-player events in the story mode, 15 selectable cars specifically designed for the handheld, numerous multiplayer and arena modes, and a host of new weapons.

Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the PSP is currently being developed by Deep Fried Entertainment. Players can get behind the wheel of 15 different vehicles in Full Auto 2: Battlelines each with customizable skins. Vehicles can also be customized with a multitude of weapons including grenades, M60’s, M203 grenade launchers, aircraft guns, mortars, fire & forget radar-guided missiles, and heat-seeking missiles. Taking on more than 15 original tracks in the game, players will immediately notice how Full Auto 2: Battlelines pushes the PSP’s technological boundaries with breathtaking displays of destruction, physics, and speed.

In the 56 event single player campaign, players will battle through a variety of challenging modes, achieve a multitude of goals, and destroy numerous rivals - all the while destroying the environment and using the destruction to their advantage. Full Auto 2: Battlelines features three unique new districts on the PSP, each offering six tracks including Point-to-Point, Circuit, and Arena levels. The multiplayer portion of the game features different race modes via ad-hoc connections such as Head-On and Down & Back, or challenge others in Arena Deathmatch modes - all of which contain a variety of objectives. Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the PSP also implements the fan-favorite Unwreck™ feature, which enable players to turn back time and take another shot at a treacherous turn, avoid a deadly obstacle, or simply avoid enemy fire. All the action is backed by a heart pounding sound-track featuring Stone Sour, Sum 41, We Are Scientists, Wolfmother and others.

The game will be out on PSP sometime next year.

A new studio has popped up, consisting of industry veterans from Raven Software, Radical Entertainment, GarageGames and Astral Entertainment. Titled Frozen Codebase, the developer announced that it has been approved by Microsoft to code games for the Xbox 360.

The company is led by President Ben Geisler, who has worked on a number of big titles such as Quake 4, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, X-Men: Legends and Soldier of Fortune 2. It is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The studio is yet to announce its first title, though the press release does mention that the project has been “receiving fantastic feedback” and that it’s “poised for success.” The Xbox 360 was mentioned as the only platform of development.

Additional details of Bust-A-Move Bash!, previously dubbed Bust-A-Move Revolution, has been sent out by Majesco. The game, scheduled to ship early next year, will utilize the Wii’s unique controller to bring a new perspective to puzzle games.

The new details revolve around the game’s various features: it will include 10 different characters, four game modes (see below) and a new Hyper option that speeds up gameplay. New modes being offered include a Puzzle Mode, offering 500 levels across five different puzzle areas; Endless Mode, which, as the title suggests, tests the players endurance; Vs.Mode, allowing up to 8 players to go at it head-to-head; and a Shooting Mode where bubbles come at players from all angles.

Bust-A-Move Bash! is being developed by Happy Happenings and is one of Majesco’s premier titles for the Wii.

In just two days the PS3 will be available across North America, and with it a bunch of accessories from Nyko. The peripherals manufacturer has announced that it will release a Dual Charger AC, HDMI cable and Charge Link for those lucky enough to get the PS3 this year.

The patented Dual Charge AC for the PlayStation 3 features dual-USB inputs, allowing two PlayStation 3 controllers to be charged simultaneously from any standard wall outlet using the two included four foot Mini USB cables. The compact unit features collapsible prongs for easy storage and can also be used to charge any USB compliant electronic devices, such as digital cameras and MP3 players. The Dual Charge AC for the PlayStation 3 will retail for $24.99.

For gamers who want to take advantage of the PlayStation 3’s high-definition capabilities, Nyko offers the HDMI Cable. Capable of full 1080p video output, the HDMI Cable offers true high-definition video and audio quality at an affordable price. Sharper images and more realistic, immersive sound await players craving the most out of their next-generation console. The HDMI Cable will retail for $29.99.

The Charge Link provides a simple charging solution for the SIXAXIS™ wireless controller, allowing gamers to charge and play with the controller simultaneously. The 10 foot cable can not only be used to charge PlayStation 3 controllers but also any other USB-compliant device. The Charge Link will retail for $14.99.

First, the demos:

• Arthur and the Minimoys on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell, Internode Games Network, Strategy Informer, VGPRO and Worthplaying
  
• Dark Messiah of Might & Magic v1.1 on Ubi FTP, 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gameguru Mania and Worthplaying
  
• Gunship Apocalypse on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell, VGPRO and Worthplaying
  
• Gothic 3 on 3D Gamers, 3D Downloads, ComputerGames.ro, eXp Download, FileFront, FilePlanet, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, Strategy Informer, VGPRO and Worthplaying
  
• Horse Racing Manager 2 on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell, Strategy Informer, VGPRO and Worthplaying
  
• Left Behind: Eternal Forces on FileFront, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying
  
• Melbourne Cup Challenge on the Official Website
  
• Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, ComputerGames.ro, FileFront, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, PixelRage, Strategy Informer and Worthplaying
  
• Sam & Max: Episode One on Telltale Games’ website
  
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent (SP) on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, ComputerGames.ro, FileFront, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, VGPRO and Worthplaying
  
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent (MP) on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, ComputerGames.ro, FileFront, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, VGPRO and Worthplaying

• Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs v1.01 on the Official Website
  
• Broken Sword: The Angel of Death v1.1 on 3D Gamers
  
• Earth 2160 v1.3.8 on the Official Website
  
• Falcon 4.0: Allied Force v1.0.8 on Lead Pursuit
  
• Gothic 3 v1.09 on the Official Website, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying
  
• Mage Knight: Apocalypse v1.02 on the Official Website
  
• Might and Magic V v1.4 on Ubi FTP, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, FileFront and Worthplaying
  
• Stronghold Legends v1.11 on the Stronghold forums
  
• Space Empires V v1.13 on the Official Website, 3D Gamers, FileFront and Worthplaying
  
• Sid Meier’s Railroads on 2K Games
  
• X3: Reunion v2.0 on Egosoft

Shipped:

• Blitz: The League (Xbox 360)
  
• Call of Duty 3
  
• D.I.R.T.
  
• Digimon World DS (DS)
  
• Every Extend Extra (PSP)
  
• Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
  
• Final Fantasy XI: The Vana’diel Collection
  
• Gears of War (Xbox 360)
  
• Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)
  
• Lumines II (PSP)
  
• Need for Speed: Carbon
  
• RoboBlitz
  
• Snoopy versus the Red Baron
  
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent
  
• The Sopranos: Road to Respect (PS2)
  
• The History Channel Civil War
  
• Tony Hawk’s Project 8
  
• World Championship Poker: Featuring Howard Lederer “All In” (X360)

• Air Assault Task Force
  
• Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii)
  
• FLYBOYS Squadron
  
• Heroes of Might & Magic V: Hammers of Fate
  
• Left Behind: Eternal Forces
  
• Medieval II: Total War
  
• Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. (PSP)
  
• Viva Pinata (X360)
  
• Untold Legends Dark Kingdom (PS3)

Confused about the Knights of the Nine expansion for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? An official clarification from Pete Hines from Bethesda Softworks has cleared up the perplexity of obtaining the expansion for those who have already bought the DLC it contains.

First, I wanted to clarify a couple things on Knights of the Nine. The retail version of Knights of the Nine is a collection (for PC) that includes Knights of the Nine plus all the other DLC released to date. That’s why it’s $19.99. If you want just Knights of the Nine for PC, you can download it for $9.99 and get just that DLC without the rest of it. Same on 360…800 points for just Knights of the Nine. A retail version for 360 isn’t technically feasible at this time. If/when it becomes a possibility we’ll let folks know; it’s certainly something we’d like to offer. Release date for Knights of the Nine is 11/21 for the retail version as well as the 360 version on Xbox Live. It will be available to download for PC (from www.obliviondownloads.com) on 12/4.

It also contained word that the PS3 version of Oblivion has been delayed until Q1 2007.

Love blowing up stuff? Then you’ll love this: Codemasters has revealed Heatseeker for the Wii, PSP and PS2 that will let players watch “military machines explode into blazing fireballs of fuel and molten metal in cinematic slow motion.” Here’s the deal:

Heatseeker’s unique Impact Cam™ enables players to get up-close and personal with their kills in bullet-time. Lock-on to your target and fire. Hit it right and the Impact Cam™ will reward you with cinematic, flyby camera shots of your enemy disintegrating into blazing pieces.

Heatseeker’s exclusive camera action puts players right in the combat zone with all the intense face melting speed that comes from extreme close-quarters flight combat. Strap yourself in the cockpit, get the enemy in your sight, fire your weapons and experience what it feels like to be an angry missile screaming towards its ill fated target at over a 1000mph.

The effects don’t stop there; throughout the game players face a seemingly insurmountable number of enemy air, land and sea based defenses, all with a weak spot for your explosive payload. Heatseeker’s target-rich terrains will deform, blacken and ultimately fall apart as missile after missile detonates with laser guided accuracy. Just don’t aim for the friendlies…

Heatseeker is due for the aforementioned platforms in March 2007.

Sony sent out a press release announcing that it has sold over 40 million PS2 units throughout Europe and PAL territories. Quite a hefty number, this actually surpasses that of the original PlayStation console which has sold just over 39 million units.

”We are extremely proud of the continuing success of PlayStation 2”, said David Reeves, SCEE President and CEO. ”PlayStation 2 remains the computer entertainment system of choice for new and experienced gamers alike.”