Strategy fans looking for an updated experience in Rome are in luck. On Thursday, Paradox Interactive's Europa Universalis: Rome was patched to version 1.2 via the in-game auto-update system.

Patch 1.2 includes the original Day 1 patch as well as updates to the look and feel of the Roman environment and compatibility fixes on Vista and Intel graphic chip systems.

Europa Universalis: Rome was released on April 15 to mixed reviews and fan reaction. However, it appears some of the issues gamers found with the title are being addressed with automatic patches like the one released Thursday.

Major changes can be found after the jump.

Download the demo of Europa Universalis: Rome today!

Razer has just announced its latest lineup of gaming related accessories in the form of the Razer Goliathus soft-mat series. Goliathus is available in two flavors, one built for speed and the other for control and ship in three different sizes ranging from $14.99 to $24.99.

Co-developed by Razer techs and gaming professionals, the Goliathus brand promises to give gamers the edge in all gaming scenarios, from home all the way to professional gaming sessions, using Razer's woven fiber technology.

The pads will release later this month.

City of Heroes and City of Villains scribe Shane Lacy Hensley has been tapped by publisher FireSky to head Superstition Studios. Hensley, who is famously known for creating such pen and paper RPGs as Deadlands, will lead development of a new MMORPG that has yet to be detailed.

Prior to the promotion, Hensley was the creative director of Superstition where his vision and key hiring decisions made him the "perfect" candidate for the promotion, according to FireSky senior vice president of product development Rod Nakamoto. "With Shane's leadership, success is a given for Superstition Studios."

Without giving specifics on Superstition's mysterious upcoming release Hensley explained his work with the studio is helping to fulfill a career-long dream. "FireSky and Superstition Studios have given me the creative freedom to build the game I've been dreaming of since I entered the video game industry back in 1992."

Currently FireSky is developing Stargate Worlds, based on the long running science fiction series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, which is now accepting beta sign-ups.

On Tuesday NCsoft announced a strategic partnership with voice chat technology provider Vivox to add voice support across its library of titles. The partnership creates an NCsoft-branded communications portal between all games in the NCsoft library and will include a robust feature-set, including: voice mail and communication via regular phones and text messages.

"We will be able to offer our players a commanding set of communication tools that will simplify communications amongst the player base with far reaching options," said Peter Jarvis, vice president of operations for NCsoft North America. "We anticipate a successful integration and long-term relationship [with Vivox]."

No estimated date of implementation for the tech was announced.

[via Develop Mag]

Team Rainbow is all patched up and ready to fight for your right to gamble, again. Yesterday Ubisoft released a beefy 90Mb patch for Rainbow Six Vegas 2 which addresses numerous bugs, while adding new features to the popular tactical-shooter.

Most notably addressed in the 1.02 patch is putting a stop to the notorious Crashdump generation problem found in the original patch that horded up as much as 1GB of hard drive space during game crashes.

Added to Vegas 2 with 1.02 are speech recognition features as well as KillCam and SwapTeam options for the SADS (Stand Along Dedicated Server). Other bug fixes included in the patch promise to end game crashes while using customizable weapons and minimizing XP losses during server crashes.

The full list of additions and fixes can be found after the jump.

Download the Rainbow Six Vegas 2 1.02 Patch from Big Download!

PopCap co-founder John Vechey has revealed its upcoming, internally developed, casual title has had over one million dollars spent on its production thus far in an interview with CasualGaming.biz.

"It's been in production for some time – we took a few wrong turns with the product and turned back to go in different directions. It's really tough to get the simple gameplay out there, but we're there." Vechey said. While major developers have grown used to multi-million dollar production budgets, the million dollar title is a new step in the world of casual gaming. "We spend more time than anyone else in the casual games space on those things," Vechey explained. "Very few people are able to take that risk, except for rare cases like Valve or Blizzard."

The unnamed title has been in development at PopCap for sometime and is scheduled for a release by the end of the year.

Pixel Mine Games today launched its micro-payment based gateway for downloadble games, Pixel Mine Portal. The portal, which is a small free-to-register executable application, connects gamers to a world of new third-party developed PC games. At launch the service will include Iron Will Games' Ashen Empires and Dransik along with Beta versions of Fireteam Reloaded and Callipygian Games' Secondhand Lands.

Pixel Mine Games promises the service will be updated throughout the year, adding up to four new games from third party independent developers.

"We want to make games that we like to play and help developers like us get their titles to market." Pixel Mine President David Reese said in a press release, "Our internal billing and payment system allows developers on the portal to gain more from their hard work and retain ownership of their intellectual property."

The Pixel Mine Portal allows gamers to browse and play Pixel Mine games, check stats and chat with friends. Gamers can also purchase tradable tokens, which can be used throughout the Pixel Mine Portal library with a future plan to allow players to earn tokens for special prizes and items.

Coming this fall from developer Replay Studios and publisher Gamecock Media Group is the stealth-action World War II title, Velvet Assassin. Inspired by real-life British secret agent Violette Szabo, players take on the role of Violette Summer who must infiltrate enemy territory to defeat the growing German war machine.

While Sam Fisher takes a break from action and Solid Snake only sneaks onto consoles, could Violette fill the stealth-action gap gamers have been craving? Promising "lush-visuals" and a unique combat system, we'll have to wait and see.

Hothead Games today announced that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One will be available via the Greenhouse digital distribution for the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms on May 21.

Based on the characters from the wildly popular online comic Penny Arcade, Episode One features heroes Gabe and Tyco in the deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, which has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB, promises a 10-hour adventure when it releases for $19.99 next Wednesday.

In an interview with Videogamer, Lucasarts producer Cameron Suey blamed the variance of computer hardware for the lack of a PC release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

"Someone with a $4,000 high-end system would definitely be able to play the Euphoria [the game engine], the DMM and really technical elements of the game. But someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience," Suey said when asked why The Force Unleashed would not see a PC release.

Suey went on to assure PC gamers that ignoring the platform that shot Lucasarts development into stardom is not a company mandate. "We're not shutting the door on PC at all. Just for this project it happens to be that we don't have a PC SKU. I really hope that everyone can experience this game on a platform eventually." Unfortunately PC is not included as Suey straightforwardly answered "No," when asked if the anticipated title will ever hit make it to PC fans platform of choice.

In an interview with Games Industry, EA Mythic senior designer Josh Drescher claims the upcoming Warhammer MMO contains up to five-years of playable content.

"All the under-the-hood numbers all actually scale through the next five years," Drescher said. In the interview Drescher explains Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has been specially designed to extend the life of the MMO from launch rather than face balance issues most other online titles see during future expansion pack releases.

"You need to spec the game out in such a way that you actually have those progressions [leveling] in mind for later - so you don't wind up trampling all over the earlier experiences every time you expand the game."

The only question that remains is whether or not Warhammer Online carries a strong enough buzz to compete with Blizzard's heavy-hitter, World of Warcraft, for a piece of the profitable online gaming space.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is currently in closed beta and is set for release this fall.

Racing fans looking for their next fuel-injected fix need look no further. The demo for Race Driver: GRID, the latest installment in the long running Toca Race Car franchise, is now available from Codemasters. Included in the demo are three races from the GRID World campaign mode as well as time trials and a multiplayer mode to test against other racings fans online.

Weighing in at 893Mb, the GRID demo allows gamers to experience three regions and multiple rides from homegrown U.S Muscle cars in San Francisco, Europe Touring Cars at the Jarama Circuit in Spain and Japanese Drift Racing at the Yokohama Docks in Japan.

Download the demo for Race Driver: GRID today!

With releases like these who needs Grand Theft Auto IV? Potential Game of the Year candidate Bus Driver finally hits stores this week along with, soon-to-be best seller, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Alright. This week isn't the most memorable for PC gamers, but with buzzing MMOs, red-hot racers and epic RPGs on the horizon it appears PC quality is returning to form. In the meantime we'll have to cope with the bargain-bin throw aways we're used to shoveling through in hopes of reaching potential gaming gold.

Sure there's buzz around that Grand Thefting game, but with news of problematic gameplay and glitches we're happy to wait for its PC release--because no one is denying it'll happen eventually.

PC Releases: Week ending May 17
* The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
* Supreme Ruler
* Bus Driver
* Marine Sharpshooter 4
* Jungo

10tacle Studios AG has revealed its intent to cancel the planned acquisition of Berlin-based development and marketing firm The Games Company Worldwide (TGC). The original acquisition plan was announced in December 2007.

10tacle, famously known for the car simulation series GTR, has decided to cancel the acquisition so it may continue to restructure and better focus future business initiatives.

"With the reverse transaction we have taken a step in the interests of all parties involved," The Games Company CEO Markus Malti commented to Games Industry. "TGC can continue its successful work and 10tacle Studios AG are free to newly position their company strategically as planned."

[via Games Industry]

Today the Gamecock Media Group reaffirmed its stance against the new Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) promising to mock the event in 2008, as it did in 2007 with an open funeral for the event.

Under the guise of a fictitious campaign to be elected ESA president, Gamecock CEO Mike Wilson promises to "bring the fun back to the gaming industry." Wilson's candidacy headquarters will be located at the Hotel Figueroa between July 15-18 and invites gamers, "who love fun and just want to play games," to attend.

No word on specific titles being showcased at Gamecock's E3 party-crasher, nor did the press release mention when Wilson would shake hands with voters and kiss babies in his (fake) quest to become ESA president.

Jump in for Mike Wilson's official announcement in all its hilarious and fake glory.