The hits just keep on coming with Day 2 of the legendary Mecca of videogames, E3, and this time it's Ubisoft strutting its stuff for all the videogaming world to see. We give you the facts and just the facts, directly from their exclusive E3 2007 Conference.

The little shindig of Ubisoft's started the crowd off with casual games - namely the MyCoach series, the Petz series, and the rather revolutionary guitar simulator on the DS, Jam Sessions. They then finished up with big three bombshells, all of which with the hardcore gamer demographic's name written on 'em. More about those three later, let's tackle the casuals first.

The full E3 update after the jump!

There's no doubt that Chow Yun-Fat is doing his own character's voice in the upcoming action game Stranglehold, but light has been shed lately on who the supporting cast will be. We were thrilled with what we found out recently as top talents happen to be in the roster.

Spearheading the support cast is Arnold Vosloo. The name may not ring a bell, but if you remember the movies "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns", you know the guy because he's the mummy himself. He also played the role of the African mercenary colonel in Blood Diamond.

Randall Duk Kim from "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Enter the Matrix" is also in the mix along with other industry veterans like Grant George, David Lodge, Lydia Look, Neil Kaplan, Stephanie Sheh, Michael Sorich, Russell Wong, Danny Bernardo, Jin Kim, Phuoc Nguyen, Andrew Lee, Joseph Yau, Philip Chan, Ronal A. Cheng and Alexander Brandon.

Screenshots and videos have revealed that the game carries that distinctive and gritty atmosphere that separate John Woo's flicks from the rest. The action also seems very "Asian" with martial arts-inspired moves like kicking off walls and stylish close combat. Will Woo's film mastery along with a talented cast be complimented by an equally engrossing game? We'll see. Right now, it's safe to say that Stranglehold shows some serious promise.

According to Computer Supermarket UK, they've got the cheapest 20.1-inch, widescreen LCD TV/Monitor in the world, and its sporting an attractive GB£ 129.95 (US$ 250) price tag, although that doesn't include shipping and handling or VAT. So if you were always hoping to replace that bulky CRT or break the 17-inch barrier for your PC's LCD monitor, here's your chance.

Computer Supermarket's NQ211 is primarily an LCD TV, complete with a built-in TV tuner and interfaces for all applicable home entertainment systems. While still using rather dated, but trusty Active Matrix technology, the LCD does sport a widescreen profile (16:9 aspect), allowing viewers to enjoy widescreen-formatted movies and games.

Along with S-Video, component and RF connections, the LCD TV will also accept DVI and VGA input, allowing it to interface with PCs and consoles. It also boasts a 1200:1 contrast ratio and an 8ms response time for vivid color and performance.

As of press time, Computer Supermarket's got 192 of these black beauties in stock, so interested parties better hover their cursor over the read link below before stocks run out.

Yep, you got that right, the most-awaited space combat game Starshatter: The Gathering Storm has spaceshipped to retail stores all over North America.

Brought to us by Matrix Games (same company who published Forge of Freedom) and indie dev company Destroyer Studios, Starshatter: The Gathering Storm is actually only the second major title developed by Destroyer but not to worry, as you'll see in the screens below, they've done a superb job in rendering the space visuals.

So anyway, for those who haven't heard of Starshatter prior to this post, allow us to put you up to speed. Starshatter: The Gathering Storm actually combines the space flight combat sim and real-time strategy genres by allowing users to take command of a battle by launching fighters and destroyers while at the same time, engaging in ship combat.

You start the game by choosing whether you wanna be a fighter pilot or the captain of a small Frigate-class starship then as you gain more experience and progress through the game, you'll be able to get promotions and awards that will up your position in the command chain.

So if you wanna skyrocket those space combat fighting fantasies of yours and you need a break from playing Space Empires or you can't wait for Galactic Command to come out, then why not check out Starshatter: The Gathering Storm, and send your rocket sky high, eh? Whaddya think?

  

About a week ago, we reported that the American Civil War video game, Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War has reached gold status and is soon to see the light of mass production. Recently, Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software announced that the game based on the Crown of Glory engine is finally released. At least, these two weren't lying when they said that they'll release it in early December.

In case the game sounds like a boring supplementary reading for your history class, you should know that it is a turn-based strategy game that will let the player command brigades at the tactical level in classic hex-based combat.

Not only will you be in-charge of the military maneuvers, but you'd also have to be on top of the economic and political developments.

And another PC game shall see the light of mass production. Matrix Games and Western Civilization software recently announced that the American Civil War game, Forge of Freedom has reached gold status and will be available soon. The strategy wargame will allow its future players to relive and refight the American Civil War from either side.

That's not all. Forge of Freedom provides players with a little extra as the game is not limited solely to military action. You would also be able to control the economic policy with governors and use your diplomacy skills to win the support of foreign nations - support that you'll be needing when you go into battle. Also, the game is based on the versatile Crown of Glory engine, that most players are already familiar with.

Over a thousand historical generals are included. Then, there's an option to know their abilities ahead of time, so as you would come in battle knowing your enemies weaknesses and strengths. Railroads, rivers and cities all play important roles, as do elections which occur at both state and national levels.

The game is slated for a late November to early December release.

Former Atari CEO Bruno Bonnell didn't get to finish his re-organizational plans for the company when he was replaced by David Pierce last September. It would be remembered that when Atari was suffering from heavy losses, Bonnell suggested that the answer lies in re-focusing their creative efforts on external studios rather than internal development. On the other hand, Pierce announced recently they are now ready to move on.

"With the sale of the Shiny development studio, we have completed the divesture of our internal development studios streamlining our development operations," explained Pierce. It's uncertain if the new guy is gearing the company towards a new direction or if the plans of the former leader was completed. Aside from selling Shiny dev studio, a good number of Atari studios had been sold off:

• Stuntman developer Paradigm Entertainment to THQ
• Reflections Interactive and its once-coveted Driver license to Ubisoft for U.S.$ 21.6 million
• Enter the Matrix studio Shiny Entertainment to Foundation 9 for only U.S.$ 1.6 million

Regardless of which path they followed, the plan seem to have paid off in some way as Atari announced its first profit in years (for the July-September 2006 quarter) at U.S.$ 311,000. Unfortunately, overall revenue is still down as it took a U.S.$ 28.6 million blow. With that mentioned, Pierce chose to see the brighter side of things as he said, "finally, we are realizing the results of our previously announced cost reduction plans as general and administrative expenses are down 31 percent."

Speaking of the same period, Atari's best offer could be the well-accepted Neverwinter Night 2 (PC) which was release at the end of last month. If plans continue to turn out well, other notable releases from Atari this fiscal year will include: Bullet Witch for the X360, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for Wii and PSP titles Dungeons and Dragons: Tactics and HOT PXL.