One of the most exciting bits of news that gamers can hear is that of the release date for highly-anticipated games. Fortunately for gamers in the United Kingdom, Play.com has spilled the beans via a booklet. Release dates for various games such as Fable 2 and Protorype have been announced.

Got a particular game in mind? Why not check the full article for the list of games?

Nobody knew that independent Lionhead Studios would hit big, but Black & White was a spectacular debut. Their next game, Fable, went on to become one of the best-selling Xbox games. Fable 2 is packing a lot of promise and we can't even imagine what more good stuff they'll put in it. We can only be certain about one thing - gaming legend Peter Molyneux from Lionhead doesn't like games on mobile phones.

Molyneux sees great future in the handheld space, saying "there's no doubt in my mind that we will be playing more games on mobile devices." However, mobiles aren't exactly where mobile gaming is.

"Clicky buttons are useless for playing games, and it's down to some other stuff, display drivers and hardware chips obviously," he said regarding phones that try hard to be gaming devices.

Right now, the gaming industry giants are simply leagues ahead against mobile phones. "It's just very clunky at the moment, and every time I try and play a mobile game I end up wanting a PSP, or DS," Molyneux continued.

We've seen a number of titles that use Kynogon's AI engine called Kynapse. A lot of video game developers have chosen to use it in their games - Turbine (for Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online), Lionhead Studios (for Fable 2), and Bethesda Softworks (for Rogue Warrrior).

Deadline Games (Chili con Carnage and Total Overdose) has taken them up as the AI middleware guys to handle all their next gen engine. And subsequently, Kynapse would most probably be also used for their upcoming titles for next gen. Deadline Games' production manager Per Kyed Laursen said about the AI solution choice:

We were looking for a solution for AI for inclusion into the second generation of our Kapow engine that will form the basis of our production for all of our next gen titles. We found that the combination of functionalities and tools, the quality and responsiveness of the technical support, the overall performance and hardware acceleration for next gen platforms made Kynapse the obvious choice for our AI needs.

CEO of Kynogon, Pierre Pontevia, is also enthusiastic about the new partnership. "We are pleased to announce our long term relationship with Deadline Games today," he adds. "Deadline Games have shown their commitment to making games that have solid technology and that are great fun to play, and we look forward to working with them on their future projects."

There will be no snakes on this plane, sadly, but there will be a ton of heroes. At least, that's the plan of IR Gurus and Red Mile Entertainment as they release a sequel to their combat flight sim Heroes of the Pacific.

Titled Heroes Over Europe (working title), the game has already been under pre-production for six months and is planned for release on the newest generation of consoles. IR Gurus is hoping that to get the spirit of the original and add a lot more into each and every dogfight to up the ante from its predecessor. They should be able to do it easily enough, especially since they got Kevin Buckner, formerly of Lionhead Studios, to produce the game.

As it's tentative release will be in 2008, there's no need to rush for a pre-order. Something to note is that they intend to release it for the Xbox, PS3, PSP and the Wii, so we should be seeing a relatively intuitive control scheme to work with all the consoles. The most important thing that ought to get into this game though, would be using the Wiimote like a joystick and shouting "pew-pew-pew" at the TV screen, because that's what makes shooting flying things down so much fun!

Stay alert and watch the skies over QJ for more on this dogfight extravaganza.