GameCloud.com has a scoop on Acclaims rise from the publishing ashes. (Thanks Bluesnews) The revamped company will be publishing Asian based MMORPG's across the North American market, however there is no word on a European resurrection.

The new company, based in Los Angeles, is only taking the name and logo of the New York based publisher that went bankrupt in 2004 and will be bringing in Asian multiplayer games to the US market, beginning with the robot themed action game BOTS which is now taking registrations for beta testing the game that will launch later this year.

Black has hit the top spot, and along with TOCA Race Driver 3 has pushed Need for Speed: Most Wanted down the rankings and Shadow of the Colossus, follow-on from the seminal ICO has also made a repeat appearance in the charts.  As always, if you don't already have any of these games, click any game name to buy it from Amazon.

1. Black
2. TOCA Race Driver 3
3. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
4. The Sims 2
5. Shadow of the Colossus
6. FIFA 06
7. The Sims 2
8. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
9. Chicken Little
10. Torino 2006
11. Rugby 06
12. Call of Duty 2
13. Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
14. Star Wars: Battlefront II
15. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
16. RF Online
17. WWE Smackdown! vs Raw 2006
18. King Kong: Official Game of the Movie
19. Project Gotham Racing 3
20. Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

To jointly celebrate the impending launch of its revamped site and the fourth anniversary of the Xbox in Europe, Pro-G (www.pro-g.co.uk.) will be hosting a Halo 2 Slayer tournament on Xbox Live during the weekend of 18-19 March. The competition will be organised and run by industry veteran and AlienPants Marketing Director Luke 'Duke' Newcombe.

On day one all registered players will take part in knockout-style heats, with the winning players proceeding to day two to compete in a 1vs1 finale tournament. Prizes will be awarded to the overall winner and runners-up, comprising of a selection of Xbox and Xbox 360 titles.

"The revamped Pro-G heavily focuses on community features and interaction, so we felt that a Halo 2 tournament would be a fitting celebration," said Adam McCann, Director of Operations at Pro-G. "The site is due to re-launch during the run-up to the tournament and we very much look forward to unveiling it and announcing the various new services and partnerships we have been building over the past few months."

"I've personally administered, run and sponsored over 200 Xbox Live tournaments over the past few years and Pro-G's Halo 2 anniversary tournament is set to be one of the best," said Luke Newcombe. "Working with Pro-G on the forthcoming Halo 2 anniversary tournament has been great - gamers will be able to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Xbox in style."

According to the Mail on Sunday BT is planning on offering all of its existing customers free Broadband, but the odd 20million customers will have to wait until 2008 when the 21st Century Network (21CN) project is set to become a distinct reality.

Apparently Cardiff will be the first city to benefit from the £10 Billion project of the 'free broadband' deal and according to BT the service is going to be called 'broadband dialtone' containing the basic fixed line rental and a broadband PC plug to the internet. Obviously additional services can be obtained using the service such as faster download speeds for on-demand music, movies etc

We'll keep you updated on the 21st Century Network (21CN) project as and when we learn more.

Multiplay, the UK's largest LAN organisers have announced the involvement of Creative Labs at i27 who will be providing prize money alongside numerous prizes for the impending i27 event taking place in April 2006.

Creative will be providing the £1,750 prize fund alongside armfuls of hardware, including their latest Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty. Gamers will be able to see the Sound Blaster X-Fi alongside other cutting edge technology from Creative on their demonstration stand at the event.

i27 takes place between 14th - 17th April 2006 in Newbury, UK. With space for up to 1,000 players it's the UK's biggest and most successful LAN party. Find out more by going to www.multiplay.co.uk/i27.

With too little time to play games (damn that coursework!), Matt's been out instead. Of course, it's still related to games!

Anyone who spends long enough with me will know of my great passion for a little game called Phantom Crash: Is it the giant robots? Is it that it's Japanese? Is it that the game is just obscenely fun (if lacking in levels and variation)? Well, yes, but it's also the music.

Phantom Crash has one of the most interesting sound tracks I have come across as a gamer, not only is the range diverse, but it features a great deal of purely Japanese talent in the form of some really great bands and other musicians.

Infinity Ward, the developers of Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 have released an update via the Official Xbox Forums. Here is the update in full:

Dear Call of Duty Community:

As you recall, we announced plans that we were working on our second Title Update for Call of Duty 2, improving the Xbox Live multiplayer functionality. We're happy to report that this update is currently in the final stages of testing and all is going well. In fact, we will be releasing it soon, so stay tuned. To give you a better understanding of what we have been working on, the second COD2 Title Update will have the following enhancements:

1. Player Lag has been addressed
Plus, we have added the following functionality:
2. Private Game Lobbies / Reserved Slots
3. Enabled the Live Host to set custom game options
4. Map Preferences setting
5. Post Game Lobbies (all players at end of match will return to their game lobby)
6. Enemy Player Name Notification
7. Ability for the Host to kick a player
8. In game Lobby - Game Type, Map and Host Notifications

Again, thank you for your support... and stay tuned for future updates!
- Infinity Ward

A new Microsoft owned web site has appeared on the internet counting down to the 2nd March 2006. The new site refers to "a new kind of device" according to Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble.

Could the Origami Project be Microsoft's attempt at cracking the handheld market? Or could it be a major announcement for the Xbox 360? or even a new PDA/Smartphone? We are not sure yet, but all will be revealed in the next seven days.

Update: Engadget.com is running an interesting news piece on Mircosoft's Origami Project.

On Wednesday 1st March at 18.00 GMT, Xbox Live members from across Europe will have the chance to take on Gareth Wilson and Ben Ward from Bizarre Creations, playing on Project Gotham Racing 2 and Project Gotham Racing 3, games that they helped to develop. The lucky gamers selected to play against the developers will also have the chance to win one of only 100 places in this exclusive racing 'club' and bag themselves a slick, ultra limited-edition, Project Gotham Racing black-finished Xbox 360 console. But remember, speed alone is not enough since these winners will be selected by Gareth and Ben at the end of the Developer Showdown, based on who has showed the most flair, style and racing finesse when taking on the guys from Bizarre Creations.

Gamers who are not already a member of Xbox Live shouldn't worry, because there's still a chance of getting into the PGR 100. Details of other ways to win a place in the PGR 100, for both Xbox and Xbox 360 owners, are available www.xbox.com/pgr100. PGR fans should visit this site regularly as it's updated with new details on how gamers can take their place in this select group of enthusiastic gamers and petrol-heads.

How do I get the chance to play in the Developer Showdown?

All Xbox Live members need to do is:

1. Sign into Xbox Live

2. If you are playing on PGR 3 add the following Gamertags to your friends list:
PGR100 1
PGR100 2

If you are playing on PGR 2 add the following Gamertags to your friends list:
PGR100 3
PGR100 4

The Wall Street Journal is currently reporting that professional tournament hosts and league organisers Major League Gaming Inc has received $10million in Venture Capital (VC) funding and is set to usher in a new competitive ERA for electronic sports.

Major League Gaming Inc., of New York said it has received $10 million in funding from Ritchie Capital, an asset management firm with venture capital investments in the biotech, energy and digital media sectors. The company said the investment will strengthen its efforts to become a sports league. MLG holds game tournaments throughout the U.S., culminating in a final championship game every year.