Nancy Drew has been a legacy of mystery, murder, intrigue and suspense for decades. I first began to read the series when I was in grade school, and every book was a treasure to me. When I was told that I had the opportunity to review a Nancy Drew game, I could almost feel the sleuthing bug tickling my brain. This game is by Her Interactive and is provided by Brighter Minds Media.

Once the game arrived, the first thing that struck me was the artistry. The cover is dark and ill boding, featuring a cowled figure on a backdrop of the manor. The box is enormous, about the size of a large three ring binder. Opening the box I found that the inside contained an enormous plastic tray and a tiny DVD case with the game, which fits on one disc. The sheer waste, all that packaging for one disc, appalled the recycler in me.

I played the game using my Playstation 2 slim, a Playstation memory card and controller. If you play it using your PS2, be aware of what controls you need to use, or else you’ll wind up doing what I did: restarting your game on accident four or five times during the course of play. Also, if you’ve never played the Nancy Drew DVD/PC games before, when you start this game, set it to “junior” mode. You will thank me later.

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William Tines, a prisoner of Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee, escaped his confines in 1957. He went on, the next day, to rape a woman in Roane County. From 1957 to his execution date in November 1960, he received seven stays. This prisoner was the last recorded case of death by electric chair in the state of Tennessee.

Until today, that is. State law gave inmate Daryl Holton the option of death by electric chair or death by lethal injection. This option is only presented to inmates whose crimes were convicted prior to 1999. The self-confessed murderer of his four children has apparently been diagnosed with “post traumatic stress disorder,” as well as various other mental ailments.

More interesting than these men’s methods of death is the lack of relief currently conveyed in the media, the lack of concentration on the impact this inmate’s justice has had on the family he destroyed and those who mourn the man they once knew. Instead, popular media focuses on trivia to put a highlight on the “monstrous” electric chair.

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World of Warcraft is an online game which explores in great detail the landscape and story involved in the Warcraft pc game series. With nine million subscribers and growing daily, this MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) is one near and dear to this reviewer’s heart.

For fans of Blizzard Entertainment’s many strategy games, playing World of Warcraft is more than just a pastime; it’s homage to a long-standing legacy. Earlier in the year, millions of players braved the midnight rush to purchase World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the very first WoW expansion. Mere weeks ago, a German rating group leaked information regarding new content called “Wrath of the Lich King.”

Having had the beans spilled and with nearly every player I’ve run into in the time since the leak came buzzing to find out more, Blizzard Entertainment soon came public with just enough information to sink the hook in their subscriber’s wallets.

The official word is out, Wrath of the Lich King is coming. In the second expansion for the popular game, Wrath takes players to the continent of Northrend to explore never before seen content and brave even more challenging quests and adventures.

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In Games and Alawar Games bring you “Turtix”, a lively side-scrolling game featuring bigheaded turtles as its occupants. By now, if you’ve read up on Alawar Games, you know it’s downloads come fast and installation is even faster. In less than five minutes I was up and running, listening to jungle themed music as I entered my name to begin play in my own new profile. Easy to navigate and easy to read, the main menu has several options.

My recommendation is to begin in story mode, though you also have the option of arcade mode. Story mode allows you to learn more about the game and the (duh) story behind it. That, or you can keep reading here. First things first, you’ve typed in your name and now you have an extra information panel on the main menu. This panel tells you which profile is loaded, what level that profile is on, and what difficulty the profile is set to.

Clicking on story mode brings up the “new game” screen, wherein you’re able to set the difficulty rating. Easy is for beginners who haven’t played much of the arcade style games. Medium is the setting most of us who’ve played Super Mario Brothers even once will likely enjoy, and Expert is the setting for die-hard fans of side-scrolling fun. Once you’ve chosen your difficulty setting, you’re taken to the story panels. You learn that Turtix, the title character of the game, was the star pupil of an old shaman and together they ran the school of magic.

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Last Thursday, thirteen-year-old Katie Lasitter, a student at Highland Middle School of Louisville, Kentucky was just a normal girl on vacation waiting to get on a fantastic ride at Kentucky Kingdom. Kentucky Kingdom is a Six Flags theme park, and the ride she was waiting to get on was Superman’s Tower of Power. This ride brings its riders up almost two hundred feet into the air, and then drops them at a speed of about 54 mph.

During the course of Katie’s turn on the ride, a cable snapped, latching on to Katie’s legs just above her ankles and severing them at that point. This being the first injury on the Tower of Power ride, officials were quick to call for the shutdown of every version of this ride at all its parks. Dozens of Superman’s Tower of Power rides over the country were taken out of commission. Meanwhile young Katie was rushed from Louisville Kentucky to Nashville Tennessee, where she’s undergone medical procedures at Vanderbilt Hospital.

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Developed by Toybox Games and Alawar Games, “Nanny Mania” is a game I’ve been itching to play. Having been a nanny for three years myself, I wondered just how true to life this game would wind up being. It is a medium sized download, but on my high-speed connection it only took a couple minutes from the beginning of the download to the installation being complete.

You begin the game greeted by lively music, clear graphics, and easy to navigate menu screens. Beginning play with all the audio and video options set to their defaults, cheery background music brings you to the opening screen, which explains the background of the game’s story. You’ve been hired as the nanny for the newly elected mayor, his wife, and their darling baby.

Your tasks begin on day one, week one. Lucky you, because you have two days off per week. Each day has goals based on time; a perfect time is set and a crucial time, as well. To obtain a perfect score, complete all tasks presented to you before the first time goal is shown. If you’re not fast enough to get a “perfect” score, don’t worry because the “crucial” time is ample time to complete any tasks you’ve not finished yet.

The mayor, as you will see through the weeks, is a golf fan, his wife enjoys long baths and playing with the baby, and the baby loves it’s bottles. Your tasks for each day include picking up the mail, answering emails, straightening bookshelves, laundry and bed making. You’re also expected to feed the baby and prepare a meal, wash dishes and when the mayor comes home from his golf games, he’s tracked in muddy footprints so make sure you clean those, too. Lastly in these early stages, you’ll be expected to clean fish tanks and straighten the couch cushions.

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Recently I received a copy of a rather uninteresting game, and while I’m hesitant to give negative reports of any product I receive I have to say this game had me yawning. The game in question is “Gutterball 2″ by ArcadeTown.

While the install was simple, and the game was ready within minutes of download, the first thing I encountered upon starting the game was fuzzy graphics and cheesy introductory music. As with many other ArcadeTown games, the first thing you do once you’ve reached the main menu is to add your name to your profile. Upon doing so, you are given the option of playing on one of five alleys. Two of these alleys must be unlocked by scoring high enough in a particular alley.

The options are varied and are highly customizable for audio, special effects, and video. Leaving everything set to the default settings gives you two commentators who are as amusing as Ben Stein, the gentleman who does the Visine commercials. Their “witty commentary” consists of about a half a dozen phrases, which they may or may not rotate through during the course of your play.

Each alley has it’s own particular theme, and playing through to unlock Iceberg and Wacky alleys was simple. All in all the entire game was simple. From what I played before turning the game off in disgust, there isn’t much difference in each of the levels unless you’re playing against a smart opponent.

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ArcadeTown and Grab Games sponsor a delightful bit of eye-candy in the theme of “Diner Dash” and other progressive strategy games. I had the honor of accepting for review a game called “Belle’s Beauty Boutique”. Something stoked my pseudo-feminist heart to see another game appealing to the idea of a young female entrepreneur making her start all on her own.

On the technical end, the game is relatively small. The installation is easy, and every step of the installation and activation process is simple. From the beginning of the download to the opening screen, it took less than two minutes, a definite bonus for those who wish to play a cute game without the fuss of waiting for a long download.

Once you open the game to play, cheery music and colorful icons greet you. Definitely a game designed for the females of the species, the main menu is a lovely shade of pinks and purples. Belle, the title character, is a hip young woman with pink hair and an easy smile. The art is crisp, and reminded me quite a bit of the retro Bewitched comic style.

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When presented with the game “Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island”, a brief synopsis of the game itself, and instructions for download, I was excited and eager to get started. The name itself is catchy, and as I would find out after playing for a few rounds, so is the game! The download itself is small, a mere 50 megabytes, and took less than a minute to download on a cable Internet connection.

The installation instructions were concise and clear, and the installation itself was quick and painless. Within five minutes of receiving the download instructions, the game was installed and ready for play. The initial start-up of the game brings you to an activation screen that requires Internet access, however once the game has been activated it can be played without the Internet connection.

Ready to begin play, I activated the game and within moments was presented with a screen of vibrant and rich color, which was crisp and easy on the eyes. This was the main menu. Here, I was given many options, the first being the creation of my user profile. Typing in my name, the main menu changed to include the now active profile name. From this menu you can play in story mode, create your own bird, email photos you’ve taken to a friend, view your field journal, or even offer feedback to the developers of the game!

Each screen fluidly shifts based on your menu choices, animations are clean and smooth. The game is brought to you by Large Animal Games and published by iwin.com. Having seen the caliber of games iwin.com is known to put out, I can say with all honesty I am impressed with this one.

Story mode starts with a background as to why you’re playing. In the game your grandfather has gone missing from a plane crash, as both a newspaper article and a letter from the coast guard tell you. Six months later you find a shoebox containing a field journal, a camera, and a map of the United States. An odd message from your grandfather is revealed within, and investigation of the map gives you the name and address of several individuals. It is here that your quest, and the game, begins.

Your first mission is to capture five pictures of a robin. This is your first chance to use your camera to earn points and complete game objectives.

I found the camera interface to be quite easy. It’s point and click, and the capture area is a square that zooms in automatically. Moving your mouse over the screen, the capture area shows you a closer view and once you’ve got the bird you’re trying to take a picture of in that square you simply left-click and the picture is taken.

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