MikeyBear has been on a round-the-world trip recently using Flightsim 2002, and has been documenting the flight in columns. Having recently completed the trip, he's been playing around with some of the stranger and more out-there mods available, as well as checking out a new "flight" sim package...

Check out his latest column for more information.

More gone gold news... Blizzard send word that the much anticipated expansion for Warcraft III entitled Frozen Throne has gone gold and should be shopside on July 4th in the UK and Europe (July 1st for the US).

Among the new features included are such diverse elements as:

Bioware send word this morning that that the first expansion pack for their groundbreaking RPG Neverwinter Nights, entitled Shadows of the Undrentide, has gone gold and is headed for disk duplication.

There's no word on official store dates yet but if it follows the normal pattern for such things your tights should start to get twitchy in about 3-4 weeks.

Following on from a very early, two player only alpha test, the Multi Theft Auto team have released v0.3b of the first truly multiplayer mod for Take 2's seminal Grand Theft Auto 3 for the PC. The mod, which also includes a dedicated server for those who want to run a server of their own, can be downloaded from the official website.

There are already a number of servers hosting the game, and if you need help, support for the game is available in The All Seeing Eye server browser.

Oh, the details? Deathmatch only at the moment, but the mod does support up to 36 players. Make sure to read the instruction manual though, as the mod makes modifications to game files which will break single player unless launched properly.

Want to run me down? Look for cro on the servers. See you on the streets of Liberty City.

Update: Whilst the mod certainly has a lot of teething troubles, and getting into a game can be daunting, once you do it is an enormous amount of fun. If you're a fan of Grand Theft Auto 3, then this is highly recommended.

Update 2: A 207Kb patch for has been released that addresses the common Runtime Error 126 crash for Windows 98 users.

MTV Networks Europe recently bought themselves 50% in the French video games Channel Game One (Atari are also a major shareholder), they have since announced that they are looking to bring the channels format to the rest of Europe including the UK (although it may not be the first country to the see the new channel).

It seems the ITV / Granada TV show "Game Stars" did well for the shows makers, the show premiered on Easter Sunday and was watched by over 5 million people.

Planning on Game Stars year 2 has started and details are expected later this year.

With what has to be one of the longest development cycles of any game (rivalled only by the elusive Team Fortress 2) Duke Nukem: Forever (rapidly becoming known as Duke Nukem: NotNever round these here parts) seems destined to be in permanent development limbo after news being widely reported today.

It seems that the wise cracking gun slingers much anticipated outing will not be a 2003 title and 2004 is still being debated by the grown-ups at Take 2.

Game engines and hardware move on much quicker than this games development cycle and it's hard to see how it will possibly be able to compete once it is launched. Team Fortress 2 (while we're on the subject) would seem to have been out TF2'd a number of times already by titles that have come and gone and some that are soon to be... you have to wonder really.

The "was gonna be a boxed product but now its a free gift" Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory has finally been released.
Developed by the crew at Splashdamage under the ever watchful eye of id software the standalone, full multiplayer game (yes, you don't need Wolfy to play it), weighs in at a respectable 258 meg.

Bargains don't get more bargainy than this.

See the ever resilient 3DGamers.com for a list of mirrors.

We've had a little dig through some archived files and managed to dig up 19 screenshots taken from the planned sequel to Zanzarah. All of these screenshots were originally released on the official website via the forums.

We have another 4 screenshots that were sent to us late last year when were speaking to Funatics about the future of Zanzarah, however they have never been publicly released, so we will wait and see what Xicat have to say about us releasing them publicly.

One of the most underrated PC games of last year, Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal will be making it's way to the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube later this year.

Xicat Interactive have announced that they will be recreating, with the help of Virtuacraft, the PC version of the game.

Xicat hopes the title's broad appeal, varied gameplay, and stunning visuals will tame the hearts of console gamers everywhere.

Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal is an amazingly enjoyable adventure game brought to life by a vividly depicted and amazingly produced world. The story revolves around a young girl named Amy, who when estranged from her parents escapes to the magical world of Zanzarah. There she is charged with melding the world of Zanzarah back into the world of reality, and saving it from destruction. Along the way Amy will use magical powers and items to collect and train fairies and demons, who both of which she will use in fast-paced battles to defeat the evil that pervades Zanzarah.