Microsoft has made a range of free downloads available for Xbox Live! owners who also own Rallisport Challenge 2.

In the download are two new career modes; Mountain Challenge (Hill Climbs) and Arena Challenge (Ice Racing and Rally Cross). Gamers that enjoy personalizing their cars will be thrilled to learn the download offers two new paint jobs or "skins" for each of the 43 original cars in the game, providing numerous new visual designs to enjoy while racing. In addition, each of the four new cars comes with six new skins.

Also new is a "Challenges" mode that features daily, weekly and monthly new contests that feature a specific car and track, with all the results recorded and presented for easy bragging rights via Xbox Live scoreboards.

The move towards cross platform gaming is gaining momentum. After the deliberate decision to prevent Dreamcast Quake 3 online players from competing against their PC-bound brethren, there has been little in the way of true cross platform gaming, with the closest being Final Fantasy XI, available on both PC and PS2.

An abortive attempt was made to allow cross platform gaming between the PC and the mobile handset with a UK-developed massively multiplayer game, a project that unfortunately never saw the light of day.

And now Microsoft has announced there will be the possibility of cross-platform gaming in conjunction with the Xbox 2 across Microsoft's Xbox Live! gaming network. How this will actually work is yet to be seen, and PC players will require a copy of Longhorn, but it does look promising.

Despite the original exclusive announcement back in January of a special edition Crystal Xbox to celebrate the Xbox's anniversary, Microsoft has decided to make the Crystal Xbox a more permanent offering. From October 8th, the Crystal Xbox will go back on sale for £99, with Crystal Xbox controllers being sold seperately for £24.99.

Michel Cassius, Senior Director, Xbox Platform and Marketing, commented: "The response to the Crystal Limited Edition Xbox was so overwhelmingly positive and demand for the console so high that we made a decision to bring back the Crystal Xbox and give even more people the opportunity to own a beautiful piece of technology. It really is the ultimate fusion of sexy design, powerful hardware and fantastic gaming experiences and the ultimate home accessory this winter."

Updated throughout the day...

Reviews

Following the recent Chapter 11 filing by Artifact Entertainment LLC, creators of the MMO game Horizons, an announcement has been made revealing a potential buyer for the game's assets. Here's the release:

TULGA GAMES LLC REACHES AN AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE THE ASSETS OF ARTIFACT ENTERTAINMENT

September 24, 2004 MESA, Ariz. - Artifact Entertainment, developers of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Horizons", announced today that it has reached an agreement, subject to court approval, with Tulga Games, LLC., in which Tulga Games has agreed to purchase the assets of Artifact Entertainment.

Artifact Entertainment's CEO and Creative Director, David Bowman, said, "Tulga Games has made a very exciting offer to purchase the assets of Artifact Entertainment. This offer has been agreed to by our secured creditors and, pending approval of the court, or a superior offer, we will accept Tulga's offer."

Tulga Games' Managing Member, Chris Tulumello, said, "The two companies have reached agreement, pending approvals." Continued Mr. Tulumello, "Tulga Games is very committed to Horizons the game and Horizons the brand. When this sale is approved, I will make certain there is team continuity through the entire process. The Artifact Entertainment team produced an excellent product, and knows it best." Regarding the future of Horizons, Mr. Tulumello said, "Tulga Games believes in the longevity and endurance of Horizons: The Empire of Istaria. This is tremendous asset, with great long-term player potential. Everyone involved wants to see Horizons continue to grow in the coming years and feels, quite simply, that it is wonderful game. Tulga Games, as a company, and I personally, are very proud to be associated with Horizons: Empire of Istaria."

Reports are starting to come in of an auto-update for the Xbox BIOS that is run - without confirmation - when you play one of the bonus DVDs from the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. The bonus DVD, which contains extra features and a documentary, also contains a playable demo of Star Wars Battlefront for the Xbox, and it is this demo which reportedly overwrites the BIOS on the Xbox when you launch it.

Ordinarily this would not be a problem, but for anyone who is using a non-standard Xbox where the BIOS has been updated in some way, this will overwrite the update. Again, this shouldn't really be a problem - the issue being raised most vocally is not the update, but the fact that the update to the Xbox's BIOS is being done without any form of notice or confirmation, leading to the possibility of a completely unuseable Xbox should the console be reset whilst the bonus DVD is stealthily overwriting critical parts of the Operating System.

Updated throughout the day...

Reviews

Today sees the resumption of the marketing season for PC and console games in the UK, with a wide variety of titles finally being released after the summer slump. Big name releases today include a new YuGiOh! game, Call of Duty: United Offensive for the PC, the latest on the Colin McRae series, and Silent Hill 4: The Room.

PC

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, Barbie Fashion Show, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Colin McRae Rally 2005, Pilot Down, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Star Wars Battlefront, Strike Fighters Gold, The Saga of Ryzom, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Yu-Gi-Oh! Power of Chaos: Joey the Passion

Colin McRae Rally 2005, NHL 2005, Pilot Down, Samurai Warriors, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Star Wars Battlefront, Terminator 3: Redemption, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, Vietcong: Purple Haze

Colin McRae Rally 2005, Crescent Suzuki Racing: Superbikes and Super Side Cars, EyeToy Chat, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, NHL 2005, Pacific Warriors II: Dogfight, Pilot Down, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Star Wars Battlefront, Terminator 3: Redemption, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, U Move Super Sports, Vietcong: Purple Haze

Animal Crossing, NHL 2005, Terminator 3: Redemption, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force

(article by Media Create)

Sales of the top 100 titles were 1,488,433 this week, 315.94% of last week' s total and 156.91% of the weekly average. It was the first vigorous week since the slowdown at the end of the obon holiday in August, with new releases taking charge in the market, namely "Pokemon Emerald" selling approximately 791,000 units, "Samurai Warriors: Mosho Den" some 191,000 titles and "Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia" around 104,000. Sixteen games entered the ranks, with new releases garnering 80.11% of all sales.

Top-selling "Pokemon Emerald" is a different version from "Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire" and could be said to have the same position that "Crystal" had to the 1999 "Gold/Silver" release. Compared to the performance of "Crystal", which sold approximately 549,000 units in its first week to the 1,199,000 of both "Gold/Silver" versions, initial week sales in the region of 791,000 units for "Emerald" stack up well against approximately 1,093,000 first week sales for "Ruby/Sapphire". The title also has potential for more growth than "Crystal," which has total sales of around 1,551,000.

Top 10 Java Downloads - August 2004.

POS.	TITLE	DEVELOPER
1	Tetris	Ifone
2	Pac Man	Namco
3	Racing Fever 2	Sumea
4	Mafia Wars	Sumea
5	Pub Pool	IOMO
6	Street Soccer	Sumea
7	Collapse	Jamdat
8	Steve Davis Snooker	IOMO
9	Space Invaders	Digital Bridges
10	3 in 1 Arcade Puzzle Pack	AMS

Data Source: O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone

The games^TM awards were held last night in London. Fifteen categories were awarded, with 9 voted on by games^TM staff, and 6 by readers of the magazine. The results were:

Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (Ubisoft)

PC Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
Far Cry (Ubisoft)

PlayStation2 Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
EyeToy: Play (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)

Xbox Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic (Lucasarts)

GameCube Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
F-Zero GX (SEGA)

GBA Game of the Year (Sponsored by O2)
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Nintendo)

Best Mobile Phone Game (Sponsored by O2)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (Activision)

Best use of a licence
TRON 2.0 (Ubisoft)

Best Comeback
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (Ubisoft)

Best Offline Multiplayer
Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (Konami)

Best Online Multiplayer
Rainbow Six 3 (Ubisoft)

Best Visuals
Max Payne (Rockstar)

Best Sound
Battlefield Vietnam (EA)

Best Developer
Intelligent Systems

Best Publisher
Ubisoft

games^TM Special Award
Microsoft

According to a story on Gamespot, Take 2 Games has purchased the publishing right to Juiced, the street racing title that was orignally going to be published by now bankrupt publisher Acclaim.

The deal is not final, and Take 2 have reserved the right to retract the offer.