The two items that seemed to pop up this week in my mail over and over again were the sale of Vivendi's games division and the map hack for Warcraft 3. Many of you were upset that Blizzard seemed unwilling or unable to deal with the map hack. Just as I was starting to agree with you they came out and made an official announcement about it on Wednesday. Apparently anyone caught using the hack will have their CD key banned. I understand that all they would need to do is go out and purchase another copy of the game but I still think it's a good deterrent. I honestly don't know if I have ever played against someone using the hack. I'd like to think that my many losses could be attributed to some form of treachery by the other player rather than my own incompetence. Blizzard has asked that you send in any replays in which you feel like you may have been the victim of one of these unscrupulous cheaters. After careful study of my own library of replays I could find no evidence of a hack that turns off fog of war. However I did find something even more dangerous. There appears to be an even more prevalent hack that lets people utilize a highly streamlined build order, intelligent troop configurations and strategic hero management to totally destroy my puny forces. Blizzard really needs to do something about this if you ask me.
Some of you took my advice and ordered Raging Bless from VGD last week only to discover that it was an import title that would not play on your US Playstation 2. I apologize if I did not make it clear enough. VGD is an import store. So whenever you hear me raving about some new game from them for any system just assume that it's and import game and you'll need to take certain steps in order to assure it's compatibility with your hardware. If you ever have any questions about what you will need to do to play a specific game from them please don't hesitate to mail me. While I'm talking about VGD I want to let all the other Neo-Geo fans out there know that they are now carrying Phantom 1 converters. Those of you new to the Neo scene may not be familiar with these little wonders. The Phantom 1 converter allows you to play MVS cartridges (Cartridges intended for use with the Arcade Neo-Geo hardware) in your home Neo-Geo system. When you consider the fact that cartridges designed for the Arcade system are often hundreds of dollars less than the exact same game made for the home system you can see why one of these converters is such a Godsend. If you have any questions about them feel free to mail me as I have one myself and can probably help you out. I have been getting lots of mail about when the next part of my guide to purchasing a Neo-Geo will be up. I apologize that it's taking me so long. This month has been crazy what with the Comic-Con and all. We will be heading out of town again next weekend for the Necrowombicon as well. I will try and get the next part of that feature cranked out once we get back.
-Gabe out
