Source: GA-Strategy.com

"Without a doubt the coolest part of this game is the big mechs (aka ComBots). You build all the components separately in factories then assemble the custom mechs and assign a crew to pilot them. The mech animations are beautiful and you will clap your hands and jump up and down screaming like a school girl the first time you see one of your mechs smash the shit out of an enemy tank."

Be sure to check out the rest of our Metal Fatigue review including a mech full of screenshots. Enjoy!

The Chicken Run Fun Pack will feature a variety of activities for families including mini games, Chicken Run desktop themes and movie clips. The pack also allows fans to use accessories like an animated desk clock, or play their CDs using a customized CD Player called Rocky's Radio.

The mini games in Chicken Run Fun Pack center around themes from the movie. In the mini game Spring Chicken, players guide the farmyard rats, Nick and Fletcher, as they stage a daring escape attempt, and in Run Chicken Run players fly the coop as they guide the fleeing chickens to freedom.

Timeline will feature a strong emphasis on plot, interaction and rich environments modeled with historic precision, a press statement said. It correlates with Crichton's popular tale about time-traveling students sent on a mission to feudal France to locate their missing professor amidst the warring parties of the English and French. Assuming the role of a student, people in the Timeline world will experience first-hand the suspense, adventure and danger of this medieval era. With its unique design focused on ease of control, Timeline will allow people to navigate through this world without complex commands or hint guides.

Welcome to the year 2150, in one of the darkest chapters in the history of mankind. While the Lunar Corporation, Eurasian Dynasty and the United Civilized States wage ferocious battles down on Earth; on the Moon a secret research project has just been unveiled.

To find out why the Lunar Corporation is so obsessed with this project, the UCS has assembled a giant armada and sent it off to snoop around the lunar landscape. The action in "The Moon Project" runs simultaneously to EARTH 2150 - Escape from the Blue Planet.

World War III and EARTH 3 are two more upcoming titles from the EARTH universe. Both games are based on a new EARTH 2150 engine. This state of the art technology looks set to set new limits and drastically change the face of the real-time strategy genre in the coming years.

Updated features will include a full complement of realistic environmental effects, including sea conditions ranging from smooth waters to punishing squalls. In addition, weather, rain and cover of night will have an important role in the tactics and strategies of the U-boat commander. A selection of more than 50 ships, airplanes and submarines will complement the four U-Boat models.

Silent Hunter II will also capitalize on the latest video rendering technologies, with external views rendered in full 3D and full 360-degree viewing capabilities. A first-person mode will enable commanders to target and fire at both sea and airborne enemies using machine guns or cannon. A multimedia presentation will feature detailed interviews with combat veterans as well as interactive tours of a German U-Boat. Finally, an advanced scenario editor will enable users to create their own unique missions and patrol routes.

"The Intel 815E chipset will appeal to all segments of the PC market," stated Dan Vivoli, senior vice president of marketing at NVIDIA. "We have worked closely with Intel to provide companion-optimized GPUs for each of these segments."

"Intel is pleased to have closely worked with NVIDIA to optimize their family of GPUs for the Intel 815E chipset," said Tony Sica, Director of Marketing for Intel's Desktop Platform Group. "The combination of NVIDIA's GPUs with the 815E chipset allows for a platform which offers increased performance and flexibility for all levels of computer users."

Windows Me will provide an easier, more intuitive and stable computing experience. Added features enable users to roll their OS configuration to a date or time when it was functioning without error, forestall the accidental or unauthorized overwriting of critical files, and download important updates without user intervention. In addition, it will also come optimized for fast-boot PC hardware.

Windows Me will also feature enhancements for entertainment features such as pictures, video, music and games. These include an image acquisition application that will help users transfer digital images from digital cameras and scanners, a movie creator that will contain the tools to edit, save and share home videos, a media application for finding, organizing and running a broad selection of digital media; and a voice chat application that will allow PC gamers to communicate with one another across the Internet.

Windows Me will also further enable the ?connected home? through a home LAN wizard that will help users find shared resources and connect them, improved Internet connection sharing technologies and simplified USB. The product will also contain enhanced features for browsing the Internet, shopping online, sending and receiving e-mail, running games online, doing basic web publishing, and chatting or conferencing with other users. Internet Explorer 5.5, which adds print preview and other performance enhancements, will also be bundled within the package.

Source: Adrenaline Vault (avault.com)

The AMD Duron processor is a descendant of the AMD Athlon processor and is designed to provide an optimized solution for value conscious business and home users. Utilizing a new design, the AMD Duron processor features a cache architecture with 192KB of total on-chip cache; a high-speed 200MHz front-side bus, and a superscalar FPU with enhanced 3DNow! technologies. AMD Duron processors are manufactured on AMD's 0.18 micron process technology in Fab 25, Austin, Texas.

With two USB controllers, the ICH2 offers 24 Mbps of bandwidth across four ports and includes dual Ultra ATA-100 controllers to support the fastest transfer rates possible at this time. The ICH2 also has an enhanced AC97 interface supporting full surround-sound for digital audio found on DVD and supports a modem connection. Intel also integrated the PRO-100 Fast Ethernet controller into the chipsets.

The controller functions with one of three new Intel components that enable three solutions for computer manufacturers. These solutions include: managed 10-100 Mbps Ethernet with Alert on LAN technologies for businesses; basic 10-100 Mbps for the value segment; and 1 Mbps home LAN connectivity. These components can be placed on the PC motherboard or used on a new adapter card such as the Intel PRO-100 VE Adapter.

Intel also announced the D815EEA, a motherboard based on the Intel 815E chipset and accommodating the latest FC-PGA Pentium III processors with 133 and 100 MHz bus speeds and Intel Celeron processors with the 66 MHz bus. The D815EEA board supports PC133 or PC100 SDRAM and the new ATA-100 hard drives. This board also features Rapid BIOS Boot for faster startup and a digital video output header for TV and DVI, as well as four USB ports.

In addition, users can choose between on-board, integrated graphics or AGP graphics. The board also supports optional on-board Creative Labs SoundBlaster PCI audio, an optional Intel PRO-100V, and an optional communictions and LAN card. Intel Express BIOS Update, an OS-based utility that simplifies the process for upgrading the BIOS, is also supported. The D815EEA will be available through resellers this month for prices estimated between 150 and 170 dollars, depending on features.

The new mobile Pentium III with Intel SpeedStep technologies at 750 MHz is the fastest mobile processor available. Averaging less than two watts of power consumption in optimized mode, the processor is also suitable for thin-and-light laptop designs. The new low power mobile Pentium III 600 MHz features Intel SpeedStep technologies, which detect whether AC power is available and scales the speed. The processor operates on 1.1 volts and consumes less than one watt of average power in optimized mode. Intel also introduced mobile Intel Celeron processors at 650 and 600 MHz. A new mobile Intel Celeron processor at 500 MHz offers 1.35 volt operation to enable ultra-portable mobile units at value price points. All mobile Pentium III processors feature a 100 MHz bus, 256 KB full-speed advanced transfer cache, advanced system buffering and streaming SIMD extensions.

"Beachhead 2000 is supposed to "simulate the drama of military conflict". For starters, any country that defends their beaches with a lone gunner is one sandwich short of a picnic basket. It's pure nonsense to think that a sole soldier can defend the land from such an onslaught of enemy fire. For the sake of this game though, we'll look past the lack of realism and dig into the heart of this game. What is at the heart of this game? Endless shooting, that's about it."

Be sure to check out the rest of our Beachhead 2000 review including a bunker full of screenshots. Enjoy!

In related news, Take 2 Interactive, current distributor of Bungie titles, announced it has acquired all rights, titles and interest to a number of Bungie properties including the popular Myth franchise and the upcoming action title Oni. Oni is slated for release in October while the next title in the Myth franchise is currently in development. Take 2 Interactive has sold it's interest in Bungie to Microsoft.

Source: Gamers Alliance (ga-source.com)