Star Wars Galaxies Beta 2 has been announced on the official forums as starting this friday. Before you all rush off and sign up, perhaps you should read the comments beforehand - Beta 3 is the gameplay balancing and testing beta - Beta 2 is about bug fixing and server stress testing - so it won't be much fun in terms of actually playing within the Star Wars galaxy.

That said, I hope I'm picked :) I thoroughly enjoy beta testing new games when they're still at the actual testing stage and not the balancing stage.

Empire will be launching Big Mutha Truckers at tonight's Joystick Junkies club night. Developed by Eutechnyx, (who have developed driving games for Eidos, EA and Infogrames), Big Mutha Truckers sees the player take command of an 18-wheel rig, trucking from city to city, wheeling and dealing and upping the stakes as they battle to build up a personal fortune. Along the way players will run into the local biker gangs, corrupt sheriffs and even their own redneck siblings, who are also out to amass their own fortune – even if it's at the player's expense!

In addition to the normal collection of classic arcade machines at Joystick Junkies, there will be a number of demo pods showing off the game, in-game action will be displayed on the big screen and one of the family is turning up with some of ma's finest moonshine vodka to dish out - yes that right, lil' ol Bobby-Sue is a comin' ta play. So git yer finest sunday best on and come and perty!

*cough*

So come on down to the Medicine Bar, Great Easter Street in Shoreditch, London (Nearest Tube is Old Street) from 7pm. If you can't make it, then check out these screenshots to tide you over until the game hits the shelves on November 29^th.

Sony have finally announced their online plans for Europe. The Playstation 2 Online Adaptor will be rolled out across Europe - starting in the UK - from Spring 2003, following on from recent launches in the US and Japan.

The initial launch pack will cost £44.99 and will include the adaptor, an online game and a startup disc. A number of what Sony are calling "network enhanced" games will also launch around the same time, with titles including SOCOM: US Navy Seals, Destruction Derby Online, Twisted Metal Online, Frequency 2, ATV Offroad, This Is Football 2004 and World Rally Championship Online, along with a PS2-specific version of the hugely popular MMORPG Everquest. (read more...)

A short while ago, we reported that Nintendo faced a hefty fine from the European Commission for keeping prices artificially high.

Today word has come through that the EC has decided upon the exact amount for the levy: 149 million Euros (just under £100m)!

After a two year probe into Nintendo's distribution practices between 1991 and 1998, the EC found that Nintendo had blocked cross-border trading within the European Union, which meant that prices remained too high. They also discovered a number of official distributors had assisted Nintendo with their dodgy dealing and who now also face significant fines.

Nintendo are expected to appeal against the ruling although a recently issued press statement said that "Nintendo accepts the finding that, up to 1998, its distribution practices did not comply with EU competition rules."

Yes, I know the headline is trite. We've had the NewsNow logo on our site for a while now, and we're now happy to say we're being listed.

We've long been fans of NewsNow for the aggregation service it provides and we find it invaluable ourselves in updating not only this website, but our SMS News Service.

It's also useful if you're interested in more than just games news, as they cover an enormous range of genres, including Movies, Current Affairs, Business and Finance and Sport.

SikhNet.com is running a petition against recent gaming blockbuster, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, asking for it to be removed from general sale.

They accuse Eidos' number 1 hit of "linking Sikhs and Dalits to terrorism" and that it also "glorifies violence against Sikhs within a Gurdwara". Another 36 Sikh organisations have partnered with the community website in support of this campaign.

The offending material that has caused this backlash is the final level of the popular game. The action takes place in a large temple that apparently bares a startling resemblance to the holiest of all Sikh shrines - the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. The player is tasked with entering the temple and eliminating all of the "fanatical believers" inside.

Many within the Sikh community also feel that the mission is too close for comfort to controversial events of 1984, when the Harmandir Sahib was attacked by Indian troops in order to eradicate the Punjab independence movement.

Eidos have since removed all images and content on the official website that depicts Sikhs and released a statement saying that "no offence was intended by the developers or the publishers and both parties have taken considered steps to help rectify the situation."

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin remains on general sale and carries an ESRB Mature rating for blood, strong sexual content and violence.

Burut, the Russian developer, have launched the official website for the upcoming 3D game Kreed. The website contains an enormous amount of information about the game, and includes quite a number of large screenshots, as well as an extensive two part FAQ.

As pundits keep claiming, the console wars were won by Sony before they even started, leaving Microsoft and Nintendo scrabbling for second place. Sony have announced an increase in the number of PS2s being shipped this year, up an extra two and a half million to 22.5 million.

Worldwide sales of the PS2 console and games have increased over the year, except in Japan where sales declined slightly, perhaps due to a much richer console and handheld market.

Sales of the PS1 fell over the year, as did PS1 software.

Unsurprisingly, sales of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City have been exceedingly strong following it's release in the US recently. Electronics Boutique are saying that initial sales of the game exceeded the half-million mark on it's first day at retail, including pre-orders.

Take2 claim that four million copies of the game have been ordered worldwide, although they also say they don't expect all copies to be manufactured and distributed at the same time.

GTA: Vice City is released in the UK on November 8, and sales are expected to be just as strong.