News.
Release dates, announcements, and anything else worth noting. No PR fluff, no embargoed opinions. If it matters to people who actually play the games, it's here.
Half-Life Game of the Year Edition ships June 30 with new multiplayer content and Team Fortress Classic, after 40+ awards and a million copies sold.
Microsoft has released a free trial of Pandora's Box, the new puzzle game from Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, with eight puzzles across two cities.
Microsoft will build a game ratings blocker into next year's Windows, checking rating data embedded directly in the games themselves.
Intel is shipping the CA810 MicroATX motherboard: Celeron support, integrated 810 chipset graphics, and SoundBlaster PCI audio from $110.
Diamond Multimedia ships the 64MB Rio 500 digital audio player in August at $269, with USB, PC and Mac support, and pre-orders opening today.
Reel.com is auctioning its last out-of-print Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition tapes June 24–29, with all proceeds going to the Starlight Children's Foundation.
Diamond Multimedia has spun off RioPort, a subsidiary building a full digital audio platform: a portal, player software, and new Rio designs, deploying in August.
Interactive Magic launches ICONS II next month: community software for running free, subscription, and pay-for-play games, pitched to ISPs and telecoms too.
Gaming site WON.net is sponsoring the second Yahoo! Internet Life Online Music Awards, set for July 19 at Studio 54 with Penn & Teller hosting.
AMD is shipping its seventh-generation Athlon processor to PC makers in 600, 550, and 500 MHz grades, with systems expected in the third quarter.