Misc. gaming news

Constitution protects video games - A federal appeals court gave the video game industry a big boost Tuesday, reversing a controversial lower court decision and ruling that games are protected by the First Amendment.

A few days ago we posted about the demo of Colin McRae 3 Rally game, Codemasters has released a demo patch that includes many bug fixes, getting the demo up to final shipping code.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced that it has signed an exclusive multi-year agreement with renowned rock band Metallica. The contract grants VU Games the worldwide rights to publish and distribute a multi-platform vehicle combat action game featuring music, voice-overs and inspiration from the band.

A number of Japanese magazines are reporting that Microsoft is moving ahead with plans to release a redesigned Xbox, dubbed "Xbox 1.5", which will come in a significantly smaller case than the original model.