Terrorists will use any tool available to them. Even MMORPGs? Yes, a new presentation given at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Conference in Washington gives a scenario on just how an MMO can be used to practice terrorist plots. First the White House... and then... the World! ...of Warcraft?

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.

 

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!

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.

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.

Here's one of the potentially great games that has left a lot of us in the dark. Details are scarce, no scans nor screenshots floating around, none of the Digital Extremes people even risked a teeny leak. But now, we finally score some details on Dark Sector (Xbox360, PS3) and the alleged concept changes they'll be making in the game.

Storyline: Contrary to our earlier reports, Haden Tenno, the protagonist, is not an FBI agent. Rather, he is an assassin hired by an American government agency to look into "strange happenings" in Balkin, Lasria. Upon starting the game, you'll discover that Dark Sector is a codename for a bioengineering experiment at Lotus Complex. The catch: the experiments go awry and bad as a virus capable of morphing humans and animals to monsters spreads throughout the city.

Haden's job is to seek out the sinister scientists responsible for unleashing the virus, but eventually he gets infected by the virus himself. But instead of turning into a partially metallic lifeform suffering in pain, as most of the infected organisms become, Haden is able to control the virus because of an unprecedented formation of Familial Dysautonmia -- a genetic defect that makes him unable to feel pain.

Read on for more info on animation, powers, and weapons!