om Clancy is one of the season\'s hot properties, and Island Thunder, the expansion pack for his firmly instantiated Ghost Recon, is another release that doesn\'t disappoint. Ubi Soft has done right by the \"Clancyverse\", adding a whole new story and eight new missions to an already successful game.

he Xbox version of Serious Sam released yesterday, and man does it look sweet. A cult classic on the PC, Serious Sam is sure to find an audience on the Xbox, especially with sweet new extras and graphics. We got a hold of two interviews regarding the game: David Nottingham is a producer for Gotham Games and very excited about Serious Sam. Davor Tomicic is a game and level designer for Croteam and proves that those Croatians are wacky. Read on!

The Xbox version of Serious Sam released yesterday, and man does it look sweet. A cult classic on the PC, Serious Sam is sure to find an audience on the Xbox, especially with sweet new extras and graphics. We got a hold of two interviews regarding the game: David Nottingham is a producer for Gotham Games and very excited about Serious Sam. Davor Tomicic is a game and level designer for Croteam and proves that those Croatians are wacky. Read on!

Acclaim has responded to the recent controversy surrounding the release of BMX XXX, their latest extreme sports game targeted to a mature audience. The company makes some good points about unfairly characterizing videogames as exclusively kids\' stuff. Also noteworthy in their statement is the lack of any mention of toning down the PS2 version, as was previously rumored. Click here.

Bam! Entertainment, headed up by former Sega leader Bernie Stolar, claims the honor of being the first publisher to release a title developed through the Microsoft Incubator Program. Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver is the title, and it looks much better than that other stunt driving game that came out. Plus, it\'s developed by the only African dev house making games for the Xbox. That\'s a bit of trivia if we ever heard it. Click here.

Westwood Studios and Electronic Arts are finishing up a MMORPG that has us interested. Earth and Beyond breaks out of the fantasy confines to explore the nether regions of the universe. It looks amazing, plays cool, and we can\'t wait to get our hands on the release version. Click here for more.

Our man, Jake, checked out Sled Storm. Published in EA\'s Big line, this isn\'t really a sequel, but more of an upgrade to the original Sled Storm, released for PSone. The graphics are great, and there are some cool elements (racing for pink slips anyone?), but overall it needs some work. Click here for the scoop.

Jason loves his Nintendo Gamecube. And after a year of meager (to say the least) releases for the system, the Gamecube finally looks to be coming into its own. The new outlook for the system is all about The Nintendo Difference, and Jason would like to have a word with you about this difference. Get some hardcore, uncensored opinion -- click.

Microsoft will release Freelancer next spring, and thus will begin your virtual career as an intergalactic mercenary. You can haul stuff, fight stuff, and generally have a good old time cruising through space pretending you\'re Han Solo. The action parts are cool, too. Click.

Koei, makers of the Dynasty Warriors series, will release Mystic Heroes this fall, a new take on the old DW style. Set in a legendary China divided by two fantasy civilizations, you and up to three friends can hack, slash, and spell your way to victory. Click here.

Long awaited by gamers everywhere, the two big boys of the console market have locked horns. Sony announced earlier this week that the PS2 price would drop from $299 to $199. Click here for the details about Sony\'s price change. Microsoft had planned on surprising us all at E3 with a price drop for the Xbox, but in light of Sony\'s news chose to make the change immediately, dropping the price of the Xbox from $299 to $199. Click here for Xbox details. In other news, Sony Japan has announced the PS3 is in development and slated for Japanese release in 2005.

A war is breaking out, a struggle for your time, your loyalty, and, most importantly, your money. The next-generation console battle is raging and the battles about to get hotter.
It should be common knowledge by now that Microsoft has tossed its hat into the console ring, but how much do you know about the ominously named Xbox? New details have finally been released, so here's the lowdown on Bill Gates' new toy.

While there were many points of interest at E3 this year, the most consistently really crowded booth was Nintendo's, where gamers flocked, nay swarmed, to see the GameCube. For those skeptics out there who think the general mediocrity of the N64 experience has soured gamers, witness the intense interest shown for the new system. Let's face it, the N64 has suffered from a general lack of titles, and some companies have released really terrible games for it, further causing pain to gamers who have been forced to pursue the "any port in a storm" strategy (Big Mountain 2000 comes to mind, er, flashes painfully across my memory). However, there have been some very good titles, and it's no mistake that the best titles on the system have been made by Nintendo and it's 2nd party developer, Rare. Nintendo is, in many ways, the Disney of the gaming world “ they have created and continue to create incredibly popular and lasting characters, who appear in all sorts of games and have firmly lodged themselves in the hearts of mainstream USA (as well as mainstream everywhere else).

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that you might want to wait before you jump on the Sony bandwagon. Now, it looks like you're not going to have much of a choice. Sony announced this week that they would be shipping only 500 000 units of their Playstation 2 for release on October 26th”half of their intended. Sony claims that it is due to a component shortage, but one can't help but wonder if they are trying to build a Tickle-Me-Elmo Christmas frenzy.

This past summer I reviewed bleem!, a Playstation emulator introduced at E3 last spring. We rarely revisit software titles but because of the ongoing legal battles between bleem! and Sony, and the recent release of version 1.5b, we at GamesFirst! decided to take a second look. The initial review can be found in it's entirety here; let's get this updated review started by sharing a December 13, 1999 press release: