USA Chart: Madden dominates August sales, but ESPN NFL makes gains

It was the battle of the NFL titles in the USA last month, as both EA and Sega/Take Two released annual updates to their American Football titles - and while Madden came out a clear winner, Sega's title made up significant ground.

New emulator tech could enable Xbox 2 backward compatibility, say creators

The Xbox 2 rumour mill has turned over once again, after a Silicon Valley start-up boasted that a new piece of software emulation technology would allow the next-generation console to play original Xbox games.

Sony officially drops PSX prices in Japan

Following reports that Japanese retailers had unofficially slashed the price of the Sony PSX hybrid media system, the company has now dropped the official RRP of the devices to less than two thirds of the original price.

Future reports rising turnover in first half

Magazine publisher Future Network has announced its interim results for the first half of 2004, showing a rise in both circulation and advertising revenues and continued growth of its share of the games magazine market.

UK Chart: Burnout 3: Takedown storms in at number one

Electronic Arts' hugely anticipated arcade racer Burnout 3: Takedown has gone straight in at number one in the UK leisure software chart, with the Xbox SKU becoming the fourth fastest selling Xbox title ever in the process.

VU Games posts major first half loss

The financial performance of Vivendi Universal Games continued to decline through the first half of 2004, according to the latest figures released by its giant parent company, with losses of 156 million Euro recorded for the period.

GAME extends online reach with Gameplay purchase

Leading UK videogame retail chain GAME has made an aggressive move into the online retail space with the acquisition of online retailer Gameplay, which is expected to continue to operate as a separate brand.

King of Fighters uncensored for European release

JoWooD plans move into console publishing, reports strong H1 results

BreakAway to open new Austin studio

VU Games to distribute Mithis' Nexus worldwide

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that it has signed a global distribution agreement with HD Interactive to distribute Nexus - The Jupiter Incident, which will be launched next month.

Gizmondo announces UK launch on October 29

The latest entry to the handheld console market, Gizmondo, is set to launch on October 29th - with the UK leading the rest of the world, where the powerful games, multimedia and communication device will roll out during 2005.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 launching this year in America

LucasArts' eagerly awaited title Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 has moved forward in the release schedules, and will now arrive before the end of the year - but only on Xbox, and only in North America.

Nintendo plans five-city Japanese tour for DS

Details of Nintendo's promotion plans for the DS console in Japan have emerged at last, with the company planning to bring the new handheld to five major cities in November, around the time of its launch.

Take Two reports loss for Q3 as San Andreas looms

Publisher Take Two Interactive has announced a $14.4 million loss in the third quarter of 2004, slightly underperforming marker expectations, but all eyes are on the firm's strong projections for GTA: San Andreas.

ELSPA launches free research paper on women and gaming

Sega collaborating with Kenshin creator on new action title

SCEI reveals key new titles ahead of TGS

Two of Sony's biggest forthcoming titles have been unveiled ahead of their first showing at the Tokyo Game Show later this month - including the long-awaited announcement of the next game from the team behind cult classic ICO.

Japan Charts: Winning Eleven 8 passes the million mark

Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 exceeded a million sales in Japan this week, three weeks faster than the previous game in the series, despite overall slow sales which saw the market sink by a further 25 per cent.

Elkware appoints new US vice president

Mobile game specialist Elkware has announced the appointment of a new VP for America, with Domenica Dinkheller replacing Dirk Nagel, freshly promoted to head of sales worldwide, as head of the North American division.