The next entry in developer Nadeo's free arcade racing series TrackMania Nations (PC) will debut a free download on April 16 via its official site.

Titled TrackMania Nations Forever, the second free TrackMania release will contain 65 new tracks for the racing-platforming series, more track customization options, and a number of online multiplayer options, including the ability to play in the Stadium environment against those who bought the retail release of TrackMania United.

"Since the game is free, fun and works on most computers, there is a big chance that many people that you know will play it," explained director Florent Castelnerac.

Those that purchased Trackmania United will receive a Nations Forever-compatible free expansion, known as United Forever, that will add new tracks, new design blocks, a graphics update, and more.

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Nadeo's well-received TrackMania series of PC racing games will see an iteration on Nintendo DS, according to a slightly tweaked version of publisher Focus Home Interactive's media blurb on the official website of publisher-oriented event Game Connection.

The relevant passage reads, "The coming months will be exciting and full of surprises with the release of highly awaited games such as Blood Bowl, TrackMania DS, Runaway on DS and Wii, or even sport games dedicated to major events such as the Tour de France." (Emphasis added)

There has been no official announcement of the game. Shacknews founder Steve Gibson, who recently purchased a Nintendo DS and is known to go weak in the knees at the mention of TrackMania, has yet to be informed of today's news.

Update: It appears the previously-embedded trailer is illegitimate!

So hey, this wacky column is back, and LNC is still gone. Cry some more. Seriously though, bear in mind that this isn't a replacement for LNC. The replacement for LNC is...console news on the front page. The purpose of this column is simply to mop up the remains of the day. All will become clear. These are interesting times.

And hey, check this out. Remember back when the PlayStation was going to be the Play Station, and was essentially an extended Super Nintendo?

Update: Numerous users have reported difficult to read formatting on this post. You may still have our old CSS style sheet cached. If so, try reloading the page while holding down the Ctrl button. ... Read more

Today we have a roundup of recently released screenshots for various upcoming PC and multiplatform games. Have fun.
- Artificial Studios / Immersion Software & Graphics' CellFactor: Revolution (PC)
- MercurySteam's Clive Barker's Jericho (PS3, X360, PC) character artwork
- JC Entertainment's FreeStyle Street Basketball (PC)
- Wargaming.net's Galactic Assault (PC)
- Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London (PC) DirectX 10 screenshots
- Rapid Reality's Phylon (PC)
- Infinite Interactive's Seven Kingdoms: Conquest (PC)
- Nadeo's Trackmania United (PC)
- Chaos Concept's UFO: Extraterrestrials (PC)

Ed Bartlett, founder of in-game product placement firm Hive Partners and now European VP at Hive's parent company IGA Worldwide, spoke with GamesIndustry.biz in an interview publised today about IGA's current in-game ad initiaves, including the company's multi-game deal announced last year with Electronic Arts. IGA has found publishers and developers receptive to advertising propositions, Bartlett said, though interestingly he also noted that "we've seen some resistance from the smaller independent studios."

One of the commonly reiterated benefits of in-game advertising and product placement has been its potential to allow smaller studios to remain independent by taking advantage of the model's alternative revenue stream. For example, by signing a sponsorship deal with the Electronic Sports World Cup, Nadeo was able to release its Trackmania Nations for free. "They've gone from the retail copy of the game having only sold tens of thousands to the free download having over 2 million players. By having a bigger audience you bring in more ad revenues which means you can offset the costs even further," said Bartlett. He added, "When you look at a big triple-A console release you're never going to be able to offset the entire cost of the release through advertising."

Today's interview comes in the wake of an independent report issued by behavioral research firm Bunnyfoot last month, concluding that in-game ads are currently having little effect on gamers. Bunnyfoot's research focused on sports games, the genre with the longest history of product placement and advertising, and included titles such as NBA Live, SmackDown vs. RAW, Project Gotham 3, and others. "Highest [Sponsor Fixation Index] scores were found with NBA Live and Smackdown Vs Raw; however, recall and recognition figures were surprisingly low; a pattern evident across all titles. Moreover, PGR3 elicited no consumer engagement at all, resulting in 0% on all scores," reads the report.

Games!
Additional Database Entries

• Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (iNiS, 2005, DS)
• Trackmania Nations ESWC (Nadeo, 2006, PC)

Featured ShackReviews:

• Mad Brahmin Disease warms up for Dreamfall (Xbox, PC) with a review of Funcom's The Longest Journey (PC).
• We've got two takes on EA Canada's Need for Speed Most Wanted (PC) this week, one positive from jrock and one negative from deceiver.

I've been playing some Zuma (X360) and some Wind Waker (GCN), and I swear I am finally going to beat Wind Waker. THIS IS THE WEEK.

Well, you guys seemed to like the new release schedule last week, but I realized it's kind of redundant with the ShackReviews database update, so I've combined them. Hopefully this works for you. I'm keeping the same visual format, and just linking to the newly released games that have been added to the database. PC is now included as well, and I've also appended a list of games that have been added to the database but are not new releases. You know how those games get in there? You request them!

EDIT: WordPad, of all things, just crashed and I lost this whole update and had to redo it all. I did not have it saved because I am an idiot. Learn from my mistakes: save your work every two seconds.

EDIT 2: Woooo, I've got the only update for Sunday! Eat that, Steve and Maarten!

Other Database Updates:

• Colony Wars (Psygnosis, PS1) / Colony Wars: Vengeance (Psygnosis, PS1) / Colony Wars: Red Sun (Psygnosis, PS1)

Featured ShackReviews:

• Frequent contributor Vermouth noted several significant problems with EA LA's Medal of Honor Pacific Assault (PC).
• Gbronzer, who only reviews TrackMania games, has a brief defense of the lack of collision detection in Nadeo's TrackMania Sunrise (PC).

I didn't have time for too many video games last week, but I did manage to sneak in some four-player Mario Power Tennis (GCN), and holy crap is it fun. I also went back to Ico (PS2) because, really, you can't really play that game enough. Mainly I'm just trying to keep my head from exploding in anticipation of Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS). It's almost here!