WHAT TO FEED YOUR GAME MACHINES; KEEP ON PLAYING WITH NEW SOFTWARE.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

So Santa was very good to you, my little gamer friend, and brought you the PlayStation or N64 of your sugarplum dreams, or maybe just that video accelerator card for your computer, or the Color Game Boy you wanted. Well, here's a quick guide to some of the latest releases in the usually slow winter season that can help dress up your new toy:

PC/Mac

StarCraft: Brood War expansion pack (Blizzard): StarCraft was last year's best-selling PC game, with terrific play balance between three competing races duking it out for control of the cosmos. Blizzard is the same company that created the somewhat-related and equally brilliant WarCraft franchise. Brood War is Blizzard's first StarCraft expansion, adding new units and scenarios, and broadening the game. And of course, it means loads more fun on Blizzard's free Battle.net online gaming site.

Railroad Tycoon II (Gathering of Developers): Build your own railroad empire on any of three continents and with a variety of systems in this wonderfully involved economic strategy game. All aboard!

Tomb Raider III (Eidos): Bosomy adventure chick LauraCroft is back in another round of puzzles to solve and places to explore. If you liked her before, this one'll probably float your boat as well. Otherwise, it's more of the same thing you didn't care about in the first place.

Heavy Gear 2 (Activision): This simply gorgeous robot soldier game is what's left after Activision lost the MechWarrior franchise, but it's definitely not reheated leftovers. Fluid graphics and great controls make for an excellent adventure.

Heretic II (Activision): This top-notch shooter returns in fine sequel form, with gorgeous graphics and Quake II's great game engine undergirding the action.

Winnie the Pooh & Tigger Too Animated Storybook (Disney Interactive): The latest in Disney's terrific series of storybook titles, this one follows our favorite bear through a series of reading and puzzle-solving activities for children 3 through 6 years old. Thumbs up from the Personal Entertainment Testing System units (my children, my P.E.T.S.), though they're slightly too old for this title.

Putt-Putt Enters the Race (Humongous Entertainment): A very sweet adventure involving a talking car that must find various items to help others while making it possible for him to run in the big race. A series of mini-games are sprinkled in among educational material pitched for kids between 3 and 8. It has absorbed my P.E.T.S. for weeks now.

Dr. Brain Thinking Games: Puzzle Madness (Knowledge Adventure): Outwit an evil alter ego and restore a ravaged futuristic city by figuring out puzzles that change every time they're played. It focuses on problem solving, logic and sequence recognition. Both for ages 9 and up, Mac and PC.

Dr. Brain Thinking Games: IQ Adventure (Knowledge Adventure): This Windows-only game sends a player into an alternative world where she must solve hundreds of puzzles to get through 15 levels of missions. Clever graphics, free Internet play, which includes the possibility of cooperative or competitive scenarios with others, and a chat feature.

Nintendo 64

Star Wars Rogue Squadron (LucasArts): I can't say enough good things about this game, which puts you in the pilot's seat of a variety of ``Star Wars'' fighter craft, fending off the Imperium baddies. It's particularly gorgeous and cinematic if you have the Expansion Pak, which doubles the N64's memory. A great game that shows off the N64's graphical advantages.

Mario Party (Nintendo): This somewhat indescribable collection of dozens of ``mini-games'' covering all sorts of genres lets up to four people play against each other as noted Nintendo characters. The array of games and their multiplayer nature make this a great title for families and friends who like to play together.

South Park (Acclaim): This eagerly awaited game was released just a few days before Christmas and allows you to be any of the four foul-mouthed third-graders from the animated Comedy Central hit. It shares that show's funny foul mouths, but not nearly enough additional inspiration to keep it from getting quickly repetitive. Good for a weekend rental, though.

Virtual Pool (Crave): Like its PC/Mac cousin, this billiards simulator looks really great and comes packed with a variety of games, both U.S. and U.K. rules, trick-shot practice and more. Well-done and no smoke-filled pool hall required. Of course, that means no smoking biker babes, either.

Milo's Astro Lanes (Crave): A decent bowling game with a twist: roll your ball through various powerups that allow you to disrupt your opponent's ball, or protect your own. The game is at its best when revenge spices up such head-to-head play.

Magical Tetris Challenge (Capcom): Disney characters meet the durable puzzle favorite, with an extra level of head-to-head competition and character story lines that goose up the standard block-clearing challenge. The story line is superfluous, however, though competing head-to-head is a nice addition.

PlayStation

Civilization II (Activision): The much-beloved PC strategy game goes PSX, with all the joy of building your own civilization through the ages. The unit icons are annoyingly difficult to differentiate on a TV screen, but the game play and balance remains magnificent. Civ II also requires a whopping 10 memory blocks to save your progress, but it's worth buying a couple of spare memory cards just to keep your empires at hand.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune (Hasbro Interactive): Hasbro has turned these two game shows into solid if unsurprising PlayStation games, featuring Alex Trebek and Vanna White. My kids and their playmates loved Wheel, which is simple enough for anyone to play. Jeopardy, with thousands of the same obscure questions seen on the show, is probably best for the family trivia freak.

Contender (Sony): Boxing may be in these days, but some of us still have a profile we'd like to preserve. With Contender, we can whale away on an opponent and still look OK the next day when we walk into work. Train and develop your own boxer from a choice of 20, then fight your way up to the world championship.

Metal Gear Solid (Konami): This much-vaunted, long-in-coming shooter actually emphasizes stealth and tactics over brute force and blasting away. It's winning plaudits as best of breed from many directions - and for good reason. If you like to use some brains with your bullets, start here.

NCAA Final Four '99 (989 Sports): A pretty good basketball game, just in time for March Madness. Comes with about every team you can think of, authentic uniforms and floors, and even team tendencies that mirror the real world. Controls are kind of a pain, but it seems like it's that way with virtually all sports games. This one's better than most.

Game Boy

Hexcite the Shapes of Victory (Ubi Soft): I'm still trying to figure out the best strategies for this addictive one- or two-person strategy game, which involves piecing in various shapes on a game board for points and bonuses. Like many of the best games, this one has simple rules that create complex challenges with endless replayability. A good one for puzzle freaks.

Pitfall (Crave): Take another swing at the Pitfall franchise, with challenging game play from virtually the first seconds. Well-done, attractive sidescroller.

Looney Tunes Twouble! and Carrot Crazy (Infogrames): Both these games use the Color Game Boy's talents wonderfully and are otherwise engaging little adventures. In Twouble! Sylvester the Cat has to dodge obstacles in Granny's neighborhood while trying to catch Tweety Bird. In Carrot Crazy, Bugs Bunny and Lola Bunny have to navigate a challenging world to collect all their stolen carrots. I thought both of these were striking looking and well-done.

Gex Enter the Gecko (Crave): This game is cute enough and relatively well-done, though it lacks the gleeful smarm and mocking media sendups that made Gex our favorite Hollywood lounge lizard on other platforms.

MIB: Men in Black, the Series (Crave): Based on the television show based on the movie, this is a mediocre sidescroller that at least has great animations between each level.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Winnie the Pooh & Tigger Too Animated Storybook for PC and Macintosh is designed for children ages 3 through 6.

(2) NCAA Final Four '99 for PlayStation features college basketball teams with authentic uniforms playing on realistic-looking floors.