If this is successful, there could be a whole line of similar titles - and not just with guns, but with knives, nails, and other articles of death - all in hi-res first-person view!

Other possible titles:

U.S. Politics:
Lincoln Reloaded (experience jumping from an 11 ft balcony!)

Pop Culture:
Ron Goldman Reloaded (play a member of a dreaded Columbian drug posse)

Middle East:
Rabin Reloaded (you too can shape the future and get married from prison)

Europe:
Franz Ferdinand Reloaded (not the band)

Historical:
Caesar Reloaded (you tu can walk in the steps of Brutus!)

Religious Historical:
Jesus Reloaded (how well can you hammer without missing a beat?)

Add yours here! I smell a winner.

Tasteless or not, the free demo at least lets you observe the sightlines of this terrible day in history. If it causes someone to want to maybe pick up a book and read some real history - while taking a break from GTA or America's Army - then maybe it will not be a total loss.

As far as running over, bombing, or shooting "nameless, faceless" cardboard people as most games are setup to do - is this supposed to be a plus in their favor? "Oh, its okay... that dude doesn't have a name. Kill him. No harm done."

>>Columbine Reloaded

>>Now you too can experience the Eric Harris and Dylan >>Klebold simulation.

I guess you forgot what simulator they trained on.

>> P4 2.6 on a budget mobo, 1 GB RAM, RADEON 9800 Pro.

I hope this doesn't sound too cornball, but how about Blue setup a "Wishlist" where people can buy him stuff, or maybe a PayPal contribution button geared for hardware purchases? (I don't think this is our Blue... http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/103-0033769-2546244?%5Fencoding=UTF8&id=20FAMXFNT9Z1R ) This wouldn't be cyber-begging as it would be driven by the userbase. I bet a lot of us probably thought Blue was getting loads of this stuff sent to him anyway, but apparently not.

How about it? Time to give back.

P.S. Matt Damon is the new Bond. :O

Gee, the registration page is down.

I guess this is supposed to inspire confidence right?

Why is always 1 step forward, 2 steps back in this industry?

I am a sad financially strapped gamer today. : :-sniffle-: :

robnkester. Quit being sad and miserable. Trust me, Bill doesn't need your money (think Scrooge McDuck in one of his vaults). They make plenty from corporate licensing, so that means the rest of us are off the hook. If you want to be a good citizen, start first with coming to a full stop at Stop signs, and work up from there. Its a much better investment to put those $$ towards the RAM you're going to need if you start using XP.

c r i s p y -->http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20031004-104637-7272r.htm

What is the world coming to? First HL2 is stolen, and now tonight the "suicide concert" is post-poned due to a DOS attack on the website! These hackers must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... they are bringing our society to a screeching halt.

Shul, no one said it was going to be easy. Its a pain, and requires discipline, but at least your product is protected.

Everything you wrote about can be done on the designated PC, just make sure you don't have HL2 sitting on it.

I agree with your point about port 80. Obviously some heads need to roll at Valve. I think we can safely call this the gaming equivalent of the 9/11 intelligence failure, although I know its obscene to even compare the two events.

Tom, nice scenario, but it doesn't fit this situation.

Valve was negligent in the extreme by even allowing PCs with HL2 on them to have access to the Net. I, like others, was flabbergasted to read this. Is this how a top of the shelf gaming company operates?

The rest of the gaming industry can thank Valve for providing an object lesson in how NOT to secure your product during development. You can bet that other gaming houses are re-examining their in-house security practices after this one.

Its very simple. Stay off the *!@(#*` Net. You want email?... you want to surf?.... go use a designated PC.

This is security 101.

Blue, we are hoping and praying for the best. I'm in my late 30's, but I still don't know how I would ever deal with losing my Mom..., yet I have seen many friends who have had to suffer through one, then two deaths. Recent circumstances around me have taught me to learn to embrace what was once a cliche, live and cherish every day...every moment.

I sometimes wonder if I am supposed to outgrow bluesnews at some point. I sometimes feel guilty for checking in, even when I no longer am playing games... and find it difficult to find one that interests me. But there are good people here. And with all the scammers, lowlife's, and fly-by-night sites out there, this place has been a Rock. Thats why I keep coming, and because Blue exudes decency and is a good guy we'd all like to sit down and have a coffee or beer with.

I don't currently subscribe to WW2Online, but if I had the time, I probably would be. No question, this game is not for the kiddies and the ADD crowd (see below) is warned to steer clear. I've had some incredibly tense moments in this game, and its an indescribable rush. The game world is immense, probably the biggest in Online gaming, although of course it can be sparsely populated at times.

If you're looking for Quake style action and respawning, then please, don't buy this game. However, if you are into using tactics, strategy, and have patience to plan and wait for the kill, then by all means... try WW2Online... you will love it.

I'm definitely going to be trying the "Welcome Back Soldat" promotion.

Hell 2/3s of their name spells fat!

Shouldn't that be 3/5ths?

A good objective report.

So Nvidia gets caught yet again, and using the renaming technique noless which ATI infamously once used. Doesn't anyone ever learn?

I've bought plenty of Nvidia cards over the years, but frankly I'm sick of this company and their underhanded tactics. And even when they caught, they pull a Martha Stewart and deny, lie, and lie.

Fuck them. They have broke faith with the gaming community, and now its time they paid the price.

We are not mindless consumer stooges. We cannot be toyed with and lied to without consequences.

Boycott Nvidia, and any products that have their chipsets, whether it be Graphics cards, X-box, or motherboards.

Time to send our own message to corporate america and the scumbags at Nvidia.

DON'T FUCK WITH US!!!

Whats scary about X-10 is the fact they are still in business... I don't know what the response rate is (.000001%?) but it shows that wannabe stalkers and sexual deviants are alive and well on the internet (no, I'm not surprised).

(Btw, for the best pop-up blocker I've seen yet, check out the free Avant browser... www.avantbrowser.com)

I am disturbed that any company would even THINK of bringing a game like this online.

If you saw Tom Hank's in Mazes & Monsters, you will know what I'm talking about.

Since when is Blues covering console sh*t?

Why would we care?

Why can't they make games like M.U.L.E anymore? Give me one good answer.

Just another lame attempt to generate publicity for a lame game.

Rather than nitpick on the realism issue (there are enough pro & con arguments to go around), I see the Chainsaw as emblematic of how freakin' scary this game is going to be... just like that little movie from Texas was when it came out oh, some 29 years ago. Gone will be the cartoonish violence, replaced by some of the most photo-realistic stuff we've seen yet in a video game. Personally, it's probably going to be a little too dark and gory for my tastes, but hopefully the MP will be fun.

Also, I think a lot of you were a little too hard on Mr. Willits. I think his point about watching the Zombie's shadow grow larger as it approached, then collapsing down some stairs in "rag-doll" fashion after being hit and thrown through a window, was actually quite good and representative of the type of thing we can all look forward to in the SP.

http://www.dailywav.com/1299/entertnd.wav