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Reader Mini-ReviewI am proud to introduce a new element to the Game.Ars experience: Reader Mini-Reviews. As many of you know, Ars Technica has an intrepid game editing staff of one (me!), so I have handed the reigns to Game.Ars reader Ben Kuchera (aka Stasis) and let him run with a review. He has given Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast the once-over and offers his worthy opinion to all of those who may be looking to add this game to their collection. But please, dear reader, I have to ask you not to offer unsolicited reviews. As the game content in Game.Ars expands into new, uncharted space, I may, in the future, request some freelance submissions. Until then, enjoy Stasis' review of Jedi Outcast. The mini-reviews feature may become a regular part of Game.Ars so that we can all get more gaming goodness from our total Ars experience. Check out Stasis as he works over the details of Jedi Outcast. Tribes on the fast trackThe editors at Gamespot.com recently talked with Sierra about its next installment in the Tribes series. Called Tribes Fast Attack, the next game will run on an upgraded version of Tribes 2, and will include a series of single-player games in additional to its renowned multiplayer combat. But even the multiplayer component will be undergoing some changes, with smaller maps that Sierra hopes will appeal to a broader audience base. Additions to the series will include new models, weapons and vehicles. Multiplayer games can also be played free-for-all style. Check out the full preview here. Hooked on gaming?Strange as it would be, could games may one day have labels that mark them as "addictive"? A Milwaukee paper reported last week that a lawyer plans to file a lawsuit on behalf a woman whose son killed himself last November. The 21-year old young man was an avid EverQuest player, and had previously been diagnosed with mental illnesses, including depression. While this case, in and of itself, is not prompting game companies to act on warning labels, some think that a verdict for the prosecution could be the catalyst for such a thing. As far as I'm concerned, anything can become addictive, or perhaps I should say habit-forming. Look at people who over-eat as an example. Food is not addictive, but can become an addiction when certain, self-destructive emotional states are factored in. It's tragic, and sad, but is it really necessary to find blame in something like a video game for such heartbreak? Myst on the small screenThe Sci-Fi channel announced that it would air a mini-series based on one of the most popular games of all time: Myst. Billed as an adventure show, the plot will follow intrepid investigators who set out to discover what really happened on the island of Myst. Who knows, if it gets enough viewership, maybe we'll be looking at Myst in our weekly TV guide. Free stuffGot your attention with the "free" thing, didn't I? Well, yes indeed, Game.Ars is giving something away. This time it's not much more than a Star Wars Jedi Starfighter T-shirt. It's sized large, it's white and it has the PS2 Jedi Starfighter logo emblazoned on the front. If you want it, you'll have to work for it. It's not hard work, though, in fact it's rather easy, since I'm going to be kind enough to offer this e-mail link. Click it, write Star Wars Shirt in the subject line, include the answer to the Star Wars trivia question below and you'll be eligible to win the shirt. Plus, next week, I'll put your name up and you'll have bragging rights in the forum for a day or two. Man, it doesn't get any better than this... or does it? Put on your thinking cap... here's the trivia question: If a train leaves Cincinnati for New York going 60 MPH, and a train leaves New York for Boston going 70 MPH, which train... Just kidding, that isn't the trivia question -- this is: For the filming of Star Wars Episode IV, in which country were the desert scenes filmed? (By desert scenes, I mean the ones where we are first introduced to the handsome and charismatic Jawas.) We've heard the hype beforeEach time a game developer says that its game will be "revolutionary," "a genre bender," "totally original" or "the best ever" do you flinch? I do, and recently Codemasters has been laying it on thick about its upcoming first-person shooter called, Shoot to Kill: Colombia Crackdown. Here's just a taste of the hype machine at work on this one (as reported by Steve Hildrew for GamesDomain.com): "Game developers are complacent with first-person shooter games, relying on better graphics and broadband gameplay to spice up ageing dinosaurs," "The first-person shooter market really needs its arse kicking�" - Gavin Raeburn, Studio head at Codemasters Normally I'd respond with a quick "whatever," but these are the people that made Operation Flashpoint, the Game.Ars 2001 GUGOYA winner. So, keep your radar dishes up for this one if you're a FPS fan, it may have a chance to live up to the hype. We'll be keeping tabs on it at Ars and let you know when more details become available. More Reader OpinionsI can always rely on Game.Ars readers to give me the straight dirt (whether I like it or not). Last week, Rob N. (aka ronelson) sent me what at first seemed like a list of demands from kidnappers. But, since I don't have any kids to nap, I quickly figured out that he just wanted me to pimp his Warlords Battlecry 2 review. Here's what he had to say... er, demand. "I'm submitting a review of Warlords Battlecry 2. You wrote about the first game sometime over a year ago in Game.ars and I owe you for making me try it. You also owe ME, since it has since eaten up a large chunk of my time!" - Rob N. Well, if you say I owe you, then lets consider this making things even. Anyone interested in the facts on Battlecry 2 can click here and head to the forum where Rob posted his in-depth thoughts. Bullet news
Patches
On Shelves (or soon will be)
Gone Gold
Keep Gaming. And don't answer the phone, it's a telemarketer.- CarlDiscuss this edition!
Past Game.Ars action: 03/31/2002 - Games of the Year; Novalogic
goes to Afghanistan; the new Counterstrike Even more past Game.Ars Action can be found here.
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I wish I had a gamepad that could control people in real life. One thing I would
do would be to make people standing in the express line at the grocery store wander off to the freezer aisle,
thus making a nice opening for me to buy my Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Then, I would go to the movies and make the projectionist
show the fight scenes in Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies over and over again. Ah, what power
I would wield.
