Play Ten Interactive and WorldForge Studios today revealed the upcoming real-time strategy title, Golden Horde. Based on the same engine and gameplay principles as Ancient Wars: Sparta, the game is scheduled for a late 2007 release.

In addition to features first seen in Ancient Wars: Sparta, such as player-designed units and the capture of enemy equipment, the project will include the use of ice in battles on rivers and the deplayment of explosives during sieges.

The game will come with three playable sides — the Crusaders, the Russians and the Mongols. Each will have a set of special bonuses. The Crusaders will include the Germans and Scandinavians, who will join forces to stop the Mongol invasion. Their specialty will be the use of faith to convert pagans to their cause and to aid their warriors in battle. The mobility of the Mongols will enable these warriors from the east to foil the attacks of their enemies. A loose grouping of East European nations will form the Russians. Accustomed to fighting during the winter months, they’ll use weather to their advantage.

Golden Horde will include three campaigns as well as a number of scenarios portraying historical battles. LAN and Internet play are promised.

Strategy First has released a 202MB demo of Call for Heroes: Pompolic Wars. Call for Heroes is a 3D action RPG set in a fantasy world developed by Quotix Software, a game maker based in Serbia and Montenegro. The PC version is due to ship in June.

Secret Stash Games will publish Glory Days 2, a new strategy action game for the Nintendo DS. The title will hit store shelves in North America this summer. Glory Days 2 casts you as a fighter pilot who must use tactical skills to deploy units, rescue civilians and capture enemy bunkers. The game will feature customizable battles with three gameplay types and eight environments. Glory Days 2 will also feature a multiplayer mode that will supports up to eight players at once. ODENIS Studios is developing the game.

THQ today announced Drawn to Life, an action adventure game that lets you create your own protagonist, is in development for the Nintendo DS. In Drawn to Life, you’ll pass through numerous worlds with a hero you create using the Nintendo DS stylus. You’ll also draw environmental elements that will help your hero throughout his or her journey.

In Drawn to Life, you’ll save a village from a shadow-like evil that has covered it in darkness. Using one of four different Hero forms, including Flying Hero and Aquatic Hero, you’ll overcome a variety of environments, including snowy fields, tropical islands and dark forests. The drawing tool will contain different methods of hero creation in addition to numerous colors, brush types and stamps. Drawn to Life will also allow you to trade your created heroes with other players via the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi function.

Developed by 5TH Cell, Drawn to Life is expected to be available this fall.

Acclaimed actor Liam Neeson will lead the cast providing voice work in Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout 3. Neeson will play the role of the heroes’ father, and will appear throughout the game. Fallout 3 is under development at Bethesda Game Studios, creators of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Neeson is known for starring roles in films such as Schindler’s List, Star Wars: Episode I, The Chronicles of Narnia and Batman Begins. Throughout his career, he’s received numerous honors for his work in film and theater, including Academy Award, Golden Globe and Tony Award nominations.

The Xbox Live Spring update supporting Microsoft Live Messenger is now available to Xbox 360 owners. The Live Messenger service enables users to engage in six conversations at once using an on-screen keyboard, and will support the Xbox 360 QWERTY keyboard device due for release later this year. The service can be used to interact across Xbox 360, PC and mobile platforms. Go here for additional details on what the update includes.

Source: Next Generation

The wraps are off: Blade Interactive today unveiled the first official details of its new game, Hydrophobia. Screenshots and particulars on the story can be found at www.bladeinteractive.com. Hydrophobia is a survival adventure about conquering fear in a series of dynamic waterlogged environments. The game features Blade’s new HydroEngine technology.

Got Game Entertainment today shipped Penumbra: Overture, a PC game that combines the mechanics of a first-person shooter with the puzzles and story of an adventure game, to North American retail stores. The game places you in the role of Philip, who receives a letter from a dead man — his father. The letter insists he burn a particular book, but Philip studies it instead. Following clues in the book, he’s led to a metal hatch in Greenland’s frozen wastelands. Below, in a maze of mines, Philip must solve the secrets of the inhabitants and unravel the mysteries of his father’s death. Penumbra: Overture carries a suggested retail price of $19.99 and is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB for blood, gore, language and violence. Visit www.penumbraoverture.com for more.

Exosyphen Studios has released Hacker Evolution via digital download. In the hacking simulation, you play the role of a former intelligence agent specializing in computer security. When a chain of events leaves critical services around the world disabled, you assume the role of a computer hacker who sets out to learn what happened. This entails hacking into various computers to look for exploits and information, steal money to buy hardware upgrades. Hacker Evolution is set in a virtual operating system environment. Learn more about the game and download it here.

Epic Games has launched the official Unreal Tournament 3 website. Formerly known as Unreal Tournament 2007, UT3 is the sequel to Unreal Tournament 2004. Using Unreal Engine 3, it’s a first-person shooter designed for multiplayer gaming. (UT3 will not have a single-player experience.) Epic is developing and Midway will publish. There’s no official release date for UT3, although Epic has hinted the game might be released in the second half of 2007. Epic has also mentioned a beta for the Windows version will be released before the console versions.

Nintendo of America yesterday added three classic games to the Wii Shop Channel. Mighty Bomb Jack is an action adventure game released for the NES in 1987. In Final Fight, players battle their way across town to rescue their loved one. Ordyne is a port of the popular side-scrolling arcade shooter for the TurboGrafx16 that includes simultaneous two-player co-op play.

Distributor sources have revealed that Lucasarts is planning to bring its LEGO Star Wars games to Wii in time for Christmas. Although Lucasarts hasn’t made an announcement, and Eidos published the first LEGO Star Wars, the release is said to be a compilation of the first two games dubbed LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. More forthcoming.

Source: Codename Revolution

Developer Revistronic plans to bring its third-person tactical combat game Witches to Wii. First announced in 2005 for Xbox 360 and PS3, the game carries a tentative 2008 release date and lacks a publisher. Witches revolves around a dark medieval world where players struggle for survival against the Hordes of the Beast, an evil creature that has established a reign of slavery and terror. Players will control the warrior Gwen, one of the few people capable of resisting the overlords.

Revistronic has said Witches focuses on cooperative play, whether through the artificial intelligence of allies or with human players across the Internet. All in-game objects, even the dismembered limbs of adversaries, can be used to achieve goals and fight opponents.

Source: The Wiire

Could a revised PS3 console be on sale in less than 18 months? Online reports, including one on Digital Spy, are quoting a Sony insider as saying the machine will be based on the same chipset as the PS3, differing from the current model in the drive bay and attachment area. In addition, the new system will reportedly offer a software suite for managing streaming content from TVs to hi-fis. Sony is even said to be looking at a home server based on PlayStation technology that would allow consumers to connect home automation devices to the Sony server while also delivering online gaming and access to an extensive movie and music library. The news adds weight to a recent report from Reuters, which stated that Sony is considering launching a PS3 with a larger hard drive.

Source: Digital Spy

As blue-laser pick-up heads for use in the PS3 are expected to increase in supply and decrease in price, the production cost of the game console could be reduced by as much as $100, according to Taiwan-based makers of game consoles and components. Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony, on April 23 announced an expansion of its monthly production capacity of blue-violet laser diodes, a key component of HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc pick-up heads, to 1.7 million diodes as well as the beginning of volume production of 240mW blue-violet laser diodes in November of 2007. This will greatly increase the supply of blue-laser pick-up heads at lower prices.

Source: Smart House