Sony Online Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast today announced that they are developing Magic: The Gathering – Tactics, an online 3D turn-based strategy game for the PC, with a PS3 version coming later.

"The growing Magic: The Gathering community has an insatiable desire for great strategic game experiences. Sony Online Entertainment is the perfect partner to transform the best of Magic's story, strategy and competitive play into a fantastic ‘Tactics’ game experience for current and new Magic fans," said Greg Leeds, president, Wizards of the Coast.

Developer Introversion reveals the long awaited arrival of Darwinia+ is "next side of Christmas", despite the studio begging Microsoft to ditch it in favour of Multiwinia.

Early multiplayer prototypes of Darwinia+ were trying to "satisfy Microsoft," which Chris Delay says is "the most awful motivation" ever to make a game. Darwinia+ is a redesign of the original.

Orson Scott Card has said how there aren't enough turn-based strategy games out, and he doesn't want to get locked into "endless battles." He would rather create than just war.

Card nods to Sid Meier as "the only guy" who does turn-based "reliably." More should learn lessons from the "way he does it." Others "emphasize the tedium", but not Civilization.

From the creators of Warcraft III mod Defence of The Ancients, League of Legends is a free-to-play RTS/RPG hybrid strategy game that's just fired up its open beta phase to fans.

It's billed as a highly competitive multiplayer romp, which is no surprise given the enormous success of the DoTA mod for Blizzard's classic Warcraft III. Open beta runs for a week only.

This week on Xbox Live Arcade a game from Star Wars: Empire at War developer Petroglyph Games will be available to the masses, Panzer General: Allied Assault.

Digital Chocolate has been busy prepping Tower Bloxx Deluxe for its HD release too. Both of these XBLA newcomer titles will be available tomorrow for 800 Microsoft Points each.

Tomorrow on the PlayStation Network will be Creat Studios' seventh title release this year for PlayStation 3, and it's called Mushroom Wars, where you "do battle for" mushrooms.

Yes that's right. You take charge of "cute armies" as you upgrade your mushroom bases, with a "quaint, anime-inspired" art style. You can challenge the AI or "kick your friends' butts".

Developer Relic Entertainment have unleashed their latest free content update for Dawn of War II, and this one adds arena style action as squads must survive enemy waves.

The new mode adds leaderboards and new wargear to help you try and make it through. This update also adds an ocean of balance tweaks to multiplayer and bug fixes. Get it!

Director man Sam Raimi has revealed the 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'The Patriot' screenwriter, Robert Rodat, is going to be crafting "an original story" for Warcraft.

Raimi says they'll be "really faithful" to the game lore, he wants it "accurate and true" to Azeroth's inhabitants. So gold farmers confirmed? It will feel like a "'World of WarCraft' adventure."

The Stronghold franchise will be re-releasing this month on the 27th as publisher 2K retails the Stronghold Collection, which includes all five titles. It's the castle siege wet dream.

The real-time strategy games are all about protecting your masoned walls from dirty invaders, but what's more it'll be a DRM-free collection. It's only for the US for now, pity.

Following the success of Archon for iPhone, React Games will be bringing the cult classic back to the PC. This much improved version will support multiplayer modes and HD.

It will also have online leader boards and achievements. The developers have been careful in "maintaining the classic feel" of the 1980's game. Another iPhone game is out soon.

Paradox Interactive and Nitro Games today announced a "Designer's Cut" update for East India Company. Based on ideas from the game's developers, as well as feedback from the community, the development team will be releasing a free add-on.

The free add-on introduces a vast amount of enhancements for improved gameplay, including new port views, tactical battles can now be fought on an island environment providing completely new tactical elements, the introduction of multiplayer modes "Beehive" and "Breakthrough", history graphs to help track long term progress, and many more new features to make East India Company a deeper experience than ever before.

AMD have a new fancy graphics chipset and so they're pleased to announce that developer Phenomic is "demonstrating its commitment" to Battleforge fans by enabling DX11.

Which of course "when matched" with AMD's new "cutting-edge" DirectX 11 hardware it helps deliver an "improved game experience" in performance and visuals. HDAO is here.

Sega and Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War can now have its Warpath expansion downloaded exclusively from Steam, with the 1.5 update now available to gamers.

Warpath adds an expanded Native American campaign to North America, and 5 brand new factions. The 1.5 update brings "major improvements" to the game AI, plus 5 new maps.

Developer Creative Assembly will say "thank you" to the community by including five new multiplayer maps free when the 1.5 patch goes live, which is when Warpath retails.

Warpath is the mini-expansion to Empire: Total War. The patch is said to include significant tweaks to the game AI and the new maps support "all team sizes". Warpath here "soon."

A huge swathe of changes have arrived for Ironclad Games' space strategy Sins of a Solar Empire, with all units getting a tweak and some even an outright overhaul.

Logging into Stardock's Impulse will get you the mega patch. It's really surprised the developers how strategies "have evolved" over the one and half years the game has been out.

Paradox Interactive has announced the Elven Legacy Trilogy, three expansion packs for the Fantasy Strategy title Elven Legacy from Paradox Interactive, releasing in October, November and December 2009.

Continuing the intense tale of a world that pits elf against human, the first of the trilogy, Ranger, is set to release on October 20th and will feature 16 new campaign missions, two new main heroes, along with new artifacts and spells.

This week the Xbox Live Arcade will have three new gems in its vault. Taito's Bust a Move, I-Imagine's Football Genius and Backbone's Military Madness are on their way.

Each of the XBLA titles will be up for 800 Microsoft Points. Military Madness: Nectaris is a remake of the original game back in the day, that day being in 1989 on the TurboGrafx-16.

Microsoft has confirmed the existence of Snoopy Flying Ace and Toy Soldiers, with both expected to make an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show for all to see.

The first title has "fast-paced" aerial combat with a hangar full of "customizable planes and weapons." Toy Soldiers is a strategy game with WWI toy soldiers, hence the oh-so clever name.

Stardock has gone live with v1.19 for Demigod, the real-time strategy game involving a Demigod avatar and legions of mythical beasts. The update tweaks a few things.

It removes the option for skirmish in multiplayer, leaving it to singleplayer. They hope to include new maps in the future but it's unclear. Two new Demigods still coming.

The latest update for Empire: Total War has now been released. The update will be applied to the game automatically when your Steam client is launched.