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Microids have finally announced the release date for the official demo of Syberia II. Whilst an unofficial demo from E3 has been doing the rounds, the new demo will be released on March 1^st.

Syberia II is the followup to 2002's critically acclaimed (and frankly stunning) graphic adventure game Syberia. Written by Benoit Sokal, a French novellist and artist also responsible for Amerzone, the sequely picks up Kate Walker's journey to Syberia, a mythical island in an alternate steam-punk reality.

Syberia II is scheduled for release on the PC in March, and on the PS2 and Xbox later this year. Expect a review as soon as we can get our hands on the game.

Vivendi Universal have opened beta signups for the multiplayer test of Ground COntrol 2: Operation Exodus.

Gamers interested in joining the test can visit http://support.vugames.com/betasubmission/ to fill out the online application. (Note that online applications will start with Europe this week-end and will be open to other countries by mid-next week). From the applications, five thousand players around the world will be chosen to participate, based on their computer's specifications.

Tiscali have announced the commercial launch of BiosFear in Europe. BiosFear is the translated version of Lagheim, a Korean MMO game that's also being released in the US under yet another name.

The game has a 14 day free trial, and costs €6.95 a month to play. The management team - based in Germany - will be running special events for UK players over the coming months.

(article by Media Create)

Total sales for the TOP 100 this week amounts to about 1,656,000 units, which represents 102.11% of the total for last week and 123.58% of the weekly average. The software market has stayed over the weekly average for a second consecutive week thanks to the enriched new releases as well as continuous favourable performance of a week-old titles such as "Sengoku Muso" and "Famicom Mini" series. A month of February is traditionally a slow season of the year, however, a trend of spring selling season being moved up is getting stronger and the market has been showing positive performance accordingly. Just for reference, the weekly average for the same period last week was 1,168,000 units, whilst it comes to 1,450,000 units this year.

Looking at new releases, "World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 International" (approx. 307,000 units), "SD Gundam GGeneration SEED" (approx. 270,000 units) and "Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission" (approx. 170,000) performed quite favourably this week, which has increased the share of PlayStation 2 significantly to 75% of the total.

Reports currently flying abou the Internet - apparently sourced at GameSpot US - have the release date for Doom 3 as April 15^th in the US, and in Europe the following day.

No official announcement has been made, and the date is attributed to a source inside Activision.

The results of last night's BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards have been published, and the winners are:

There's a new Call of Duty patch available - but it's a beta patch, and comes with some dire warnings if you choose to use it.

You can get the 3.8Mb patch from:

Konami have announced the name given to the Xbox version of YuGiOh, the stupidly popular trading card game from Japan.

The Xbox version will be called Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dawn of Destiny.

Updated throughout the day...

Reviews

Sony have released the first screenshots from installment number 3 for two of the most popular platform series on their current console.

And they're right here:

Borrowed shamelessly from Games Press, here is this week's All-Formats Charts.

POS.	TITLE
1	Final Fantasy X-2
2	Sonic Heroes
3	Need For Speed: Underground
4	The Simpsons: Hit & Run
5	Norton Internet Security 2004
6	FIFA 2004
7	Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King
8	Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
9	The Sims: Bustin' Out
10	Mafia
11	Eye Toy: Play
12	Medal Of Honour: Rising Sun
13	Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack
14	Looney Tunes: Back In Action
15	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
16	Championship Manager: Season 03/04
17	Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
18	Eye Toy: Groove
19	WWE Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain
20	Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004