Let's start this week early, shall we? Coming up on retail shelves starting July 27 all the way to the first few days of August is another hailstorm of PC games from the independent front, though you'd probably love this week for the release of Namco Bandai's SoulCalibur IV and its limited edition kits. But if there's anything more significant this time, it's the appearance of more Olympics-themed games as the week heralds the eve before the World Olympics in Beijing. We take them all at the full story.

Bored? Well, here's a World of Warcraft machinima video to entertain you: Azerothian Super Villains episode 5. The creator of the series, Ian Beckman, has done it once again and has released one of the funniest videos we've seen in quite some time.

If you want to check it out, head on over to the full article for more details.

 

What seems to be another contender to the survival-horror scene is Rainy Woods, a spine-chilling title set in a creepy town with the same name. Sounds familiar? You could be wrong, because this isn't your casual Japanese horror fare; it's coming from Marvelous Entertainment, known as publishers of brutally addictive yet painfully cute Harvest Moon.

According to IGN's coverage of Famitsu's revelation, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners are in for a ride. When the body of Anna Graham suddenly appears outside Rainy Woods, commotion starts and the FBI gets involved. To the rescue comes David Young Henning, FBI agent sent to investigate and find out if the legendary Raincoat Killer is behind the incident.

Unlike other survival horror titles that squeeze players into tight hallways and force them to walk a scare-filled path in linear fashion, Rainy Woods takes the sandbox approach. This isn't Grand Theft Auto, but you can freely move and even take your car for a ride around an open-ended town clearly inspired by modern west American houses.

  

More details and screens after the jump!

The following is the sad story of a businessman from Louisville kidnapped, beaten, and tortured by two others in a motel room in West Knox County for nine days. But like they say, there's always a glimmer of home no matter how tragic and that hope for the said businessman was in the form of a PlayStation Portable.

After the local police and FBI agents have solved the case, it became known that the businessman Jose Ignacio Ortega Garcia was another victim of the "Mexican mafia" who have been perpetrating similar crimes against fellow Hispanic citizens in America recently.

Ortega Garcia reportedly suffered both mental and physical torture from Jose Sanchez and Juan Gonzales as the assailants forced him to write numerous checks totaling approximately US$ 27,000. The following is part of the report filed by FBI Agent Buddy Early:

On June 21, Gonzales gave Sanchez a handheld video game that would prove to be Garcia's savior...

Sanchez played the video game virtually all day that day and much of the night. Garcia used the distraction as an opportunity to loosen his bindings. When the exhausted gamer fell asleep, Garcia bolted, running from the room to the hotel office, screaming, "They are trying to kill me..."

Suspect Sanchez's thumb print was recovered from a PlayStation Portable hand-held video game box recovered from victim Garcia's car...

The suspects were nabbed in Houston on a federal complaint filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Stone.

Last week, Jack Thompson had spoken on FOXNews about the Virginia Tech shooting, saying that video games were somehow linked to the worst shootout in U.S. history. Later on, upon catching a video of ace attorney's said stint on the new channel, Brian Crecente of Kotaku did a bit of analysis and dissected Jack Thompson's statements on TV.

And with that article, Crecente seemed to have gotten the attention of Jack Thompson himself. It goes that Thompson asked Kotaku to pull down Crecente's "dissection" article, but Kotaku declined to do so. The following note was then faxed by Thompson to the FBI in Colorado:

Dear FBI:

This web site at the below url is targeting me:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/virginia-tech/

breaking-idiot-thompson-blames-va-shooting-on-games-252702.php

I ask that something be done by the FBI to stop this or prosecute it:

Kyle81 says: Actually the VT shootings are now the biggest mass shooting in US history with 31 dead, not just school shooting. Jack should be shot for taking the opportunity to leech off a tragedy to push his own agenda 04/16/07 03:25 PM

Regards, Jack Thompson

Crecente has contacted the said agency and was told that "it was unlikely they would handle such an investigation, if one was even needed, but that the local police might look into it."

Photo from Kotaku reader Torokun.

At the request of MMORPG Second Life creator Linden Lab, FBI investigators have visited some of the virtual casinos in the virtual world, but just how gambling in Second Life stands from a legal viewpoint is still in question. This according to reports from Reuters.

Casinos offering poker, slot machines, and blackjack can be found pretty much everywhere in Second Life. Linden Lab is currently seeking guidance from the FBI regarding all of this virtual gaming activity in their virtual creation. The company has yet to receive any clear rules from U.S. authorities, however.

"It's not always clear to us whether a 3-D simulation of a casino is the same thing as a casino, legally speaking, and it's not clear to the law enforcement authorities we have asked," said Ginsu Yoon, who until recently was Linden Lab's general counsel and is currently the company's vice president for business affairs.

Reuters reports that while most lawyers agree that placing bets using Linden dollars - Second Life's own form of virtual currency - "likely violates U.S. anti-gambling statutes, which cover circumstances in which 'something of value' is wagered." What remains uncertain is the degree of Linden Lab's responsibility in the matter.

"If you're buying money on the Lindex (a virtual currency exchange) and utilizing it for gambling purposes, Linden could have a much higher level of responsibility," said Sean Kane, a lawyer at New York's Drakeford & Kane who has studied the legal issues of virtual worlds. "If they would be found in violation, that's difficult to say, but I can see a much stronger case being made."

A Massachusetts man was recently charged with gun violations and had his laptop taken away as part of the investigation. The FBI found some information which may be useful for the trial along with other exciting data.

It turns out that the computer also had records of legal correspondences, pornographic site links, and videos of the defendant and his lover engaged in explicit sexual acts.

Defendant Michael Alan Crooker is now on the warpath against Microsoft and Compaq, whom he claims did not fulfill their part in keeping his data secure. He says that Internet Explorer failed to keep records of his internet activities secret and that Compaq's Drivelock feature was useless in keeping federal agents from accessing his files. The incapacity of the two firms, he claims, led to "great embarrassment" and has led him to seek compensation for damages.

   

Crooker was originally involved in the sale of an air rifle which was equipped with a silencer. After interrogation and a search, his Compaq Presario was seized by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Finding the security features hard to crack, the Bureau sent the notebook to the FBI Cryptologic and Electronic Analysis unit. The FBI team created a mirror image of Crooker's PC and were able to dig deep into his locked chest.

Crooker filed a suit against Microsoft and its business partners in a Massachusetts superior court in pursuit of $200,000 in damages.

A US$ 25,000 reward has been offered for either the drive itself or information regarding the location of a certain Iomega hard drive that has been missing from the FBI's VA office in the Pickwick Convention Center, Birmingham, AL. since January 2007. Apparently, the drive belongs to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Some really classified information must be on it for it to fetch such a hefty bounty since the drive isn't that expensive (it goes as high as US$ 300 for the 500 GB version).

This reward is also extended to any information regarding the identities of those involved in the disappearance of the item. If anybody out there has information regarding this loss, we think it might be a good idea to call the FBI and inform them about it. If not for the money, then do it because it's the right thing to do. Seriously.

To contact the FBI:

VA MEDICAL CENTER BIRMINGHAM: 205-933-8101 EXT: 4401
FBI BIRMINGHAM: 205-326-6166
VA OIG HOTLINE: 1-800-488-8244
VA MEDICAL CENTER POLICE (24 HRS.): 205-933-8101 EXT: 6444

An 18-year-old teenager walked into a Utah shopping mall this week and shot nine people, killing five and wounding four. The suspect, a Bosnian immigrant named Sulejman Talovic, walked into the Trolley Square shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, armed with a .38-caliber pistol, a shotgun, a backpack full of ammunition, and fired blindly into the crowd. The FBI said that there was no reason to believe that the suspect was motivated by religious extremism or terrorism.

Talovic lived in a tiny ranch house with his family; parents Suljo and Sabira Tolavic and three younger sisters. Neighbors describe the lanky Talovic as a loner who's always dressed in black. The Talovic family fled Bosnia for Utah in 1998. Sulejman's aunt, Ajka Omerovic, in retaliation to people tying their religion to her nephew's acts said, "we are Muslims, but we are not terrorists."

Citizens freely trade their views on the issue. It must be remembered that throughout the years, the issue of teenage gunfiring has stirred up some quite contrasting opinions. Outspoken citizens have expressed their concern, also, that the issue might be used by some politically-inclined individuals to advance their agenda.

Some gamers and non-gamers alike are only happy to put out that the blame must not be placed on the computer game industry and on computer games, but rather, on the suspects themselves. The gaming community now holds its breath over a possible barrage of blame to be poured on their industry.

 Yeah, you all probably know already that the l2extreme Lineage 2 "service" got shut down by the feds. Well, here's the story behind it according to the Feds. Really, we got this from their official website.

In 2003, a computer user in China was able to obtain the Lineage 2 source code from an unprotected website. The code was then bought by a Texan, among others in 2004. The code was then passed on to a business partner in California, who set-up a website, www.l2extreme.com, to offer Lineage 2 at a discount.

The cheaper service gathered around 50,000 users by 2006 - which of course drained on the legitimate game's bottom line.

Despite warnings from the owners of Lineage 2, NCSoft, and despite having promised to shut down the service, the California man rented more powerful servers and solicited donations from users to help defray the costs and collected more than US$ 25,000 in less than two days.

Last November, the FBI raided the California man's home, shut down the game, seized the l2extreme domain and posted an anti-piracy warning on the site.

What's odd about this news post on the FBI's Official Website is that it has this creepy reality-TV feel to it. We say creepy because the thing uses language that reminds you of those reality law-enforcement shows. What's worse is that it just forces you to imagine William Shatner's voice reading it out to you.

Not only was the article itself reeking of reality-TV law-enforcement drama, so were the statements from the FBI personnel involved. Agent Thompson - the FBI agent responsible for the raid - actually said that several other servers running pirated games "ran for the hills."

Hear that, you evil pirate scum! Run! Run for the hills!

But yeah, the FBI will go after you if you run private servers using leaked code. So be good people, ok? If you want to check the FBI story yourself, feel free to check our read-link below.