Welcome once again to the our increasingly regular random round-up of events not quite worthy or detailed enough to deserve an entire story of their own. First off, comes a concerning French developer Arxel Tribe, who it is being speculated have gone bust, if Just Adventure's newsletter is to be believed that is.

The developer, whilst always diligently providing a consistent stream of adventure-style titles, has never really caught the commercial or critical eye with anything particularly spectacular - so if true, this would not be shocking news, especially given the deeply competitive nature of the at the moment.

Now on to happier news, as Sunflowers have today revealed a brand new free (!) add-on for their popular title Anno 1503. Sunflowers have created this expansion with Max Design, it would seem. Here's the official word:

Fans will be able to download the multi-player update free of charge once the comprehensive test phase has been completed. This week Max Design and SUNFLOWERS will begin an external test in which already chosen participants will subject the ANNO 1503 multi-player mode to weeks of exhaustive testing. This test will then be expanded to a public test. Interested parties will soon be able to register on the official ANNO 1503 website at www.anno1503.com. SUNFLOWERS will be informing all interested players about the opening date for registration both over the website and by press release.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds also went gold yesterday, according to a release from publisher Vivendi, who confirmed a street date of August 26th, which should hopefully mean a European date is not too far behind.

Once again, the title takes the form of a third-person title, and will be set in California. The game will follow the premise of a lost episode from the popular TV show's fifth series.

Finally, word on the street has it that have been hit by the Federal Jury in Chicago to the tune of $520.6 million dollars, which is quite a hefty chunk of change even for the world's most flush company. The damages have been awarded to the University of California and net browser company Eolas Technologies, who's patents were allegedly infringed by Microsoft's use of 'plug-ins' and 'applets'.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft plan to appeal against this ruling.

By Luke Guttridge