In order to take a break from it all, she decides to visit her father in the suburbs. Since it's close to the Christmas holidays, she and her father talk about their family, including Victoria's grandfather, who used to be a private investigator. This discussion leads Victoria to read one of her grandfather's old case files, a file which reveals an uncomfortably high number of similarities between a seventy-five year old case in Europe and the current string of killings in Chicago...

If you're still playing Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne in mulitplayer (like me), you'll be interested to learn that Blizzard has now relaesed a new patch version 1.18. The patch includes:

• Six new maps from our Bonus Map program, including Excavation Site (4 players), Echo Isle ( 2 ), Hinterland Raid ( 6 ), Ruins of Stratholme ( 6 ), Azeroth Grand Prix ( 8 ), and Extreme Candy Wars 2004 ( 8 ). The six-player map, River of Souls, has also been updated to allow AMM play.
• Balance changes, including reduced build time for the Undead Banshee, increased gold cost for the Staff of Teleportation, and changes to the abilities of several neutral Heroes.
• New environment and floating text functions for the world editor, as well as new triggers and unit states.
• Numerous fixes to units and abilities for all four races.

Unfortunately, here comes the tricky part. While ATI has now officially demonstrated their 512MB technology, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to go out and buy a 512MB X850 XT tomorrow. As of right now, ATI has no official plans to introduce a 512MB card to the public.

McCormack: Jack, I'm working on an article about video game violence. I've read alot about your crusades against video games and the Devin Thompson trial and wanted to get you to clarify your position for me. With Thompson, do you believe that he would not have committed these murders had he not played these games? Is there a law in Alabamma that forbids retailers from selling M-rated games to minors? Do you have as much of a problem with less realistic violence, like with games from the 1980s?

What about Dungeons and Dragons, which was demonized in the 80s and blamed for several youth murders and suicides? What about violent sports game simulations; hockey, football, boxing, wrestling? How much consideration do you give to the idea that the responsibility for shielding kids from violence should lie with the parents instead of game developers or retailers? I need to get this story in over the next few days, so please email me back soon. Feel free to call me at 201-239-0449 if you need more details. Thanks,Shaun McCormack

Thompson: kiss the game industry good-bye

[...]

McCormack: why do you have a web site urging people to contact you if you don't want to talk about this stuff?

Thompson: read again whom I want to have contact me. have the games so disabled your frontal lobes that you can't understand the site?

Read on | McCormack's GamersHell Article

"I'm excited about the two epic game titles we will be developing," Sakaguchi said. "A number of talented creators have signed on to help develop these games, and I'm confident we will be able to create games that provide gamers with a new kind of thrill.

"Microsoft's cutting-edge tehnologies in the next-generation platform will allow me to bring to life an array of ideas that I have had for many years," Sakaguchi said. "I want these games to be alive with a new vision for gaming and vividly depict new characters that will transcend the game, find a place in the hearts of gamers, and make time spent with my games a fond and long-lasting memory."

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