Kimi Leads Home Ferrari One-Two

Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory in a Spanish Grand Prix that was marred by an horrendous accident involving Heikki Kovalainen.

The McLaren driver miraculously suffered nothing more than concussion after ploughing into a tyre wall nose first at 150mph at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

The McLaren driver was eventually airlifted to a nearby hospital with his neck in a brace to undergo a series of precautionary checks.

Raikkonen, meanwhile, led from pole to flag, the eighth successive occasion that has occurred at this track to strengthen his lead at the top of the drivers' standings.

The main concern, though, surrounded Kovalainen who was heading the race on lap 21, although he had yet to pit compared to the leading trio at that stage.

Suddenly, Kovalainen flew off the track at turn nine before burying the front half of his car in a tyre wall.

On-board camera footage showed what appeared to be a part of the car breaking off, which instantly led to the front-left tyre deflating, and with Kovalainen unable to turn out of the smash.

Not only was the safety car immediately deployed, but also the medical car such was the severity of the impact.

When Kovalainen's car was eventually hauled out of the tyres by a tractor, there was nothing left of the front of the McLaren.

Kovalainen at least gave a thumbs-up sign as he was taken away on a stretcher to the track medical centre before being moved to the hospital.

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren F1 CEO, remarked: "He banged his head and has concussion, so as a precaution will undergo tests.

"There are no other visible signs of injury, although he says he is aware he has hurt his elbow."

When asked as to what caused the accident, Whitmarsh added: "There was a sudden deflation of his tyre.

"Part of the rim was machined off, potentially by some debris or by something that got lodged inside the wheel.

"Until we get the data back then we don't really know at this stage."

Either side of Kovalainen's accident, it was a race of attrition such was the casualty rate as a spinning Adrian Sutil took the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel out of the race on lap one.

That led to the first introduction of the safety car as marshals cleared debris off the circuit.

The second Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais was bundled off the track on lap six by the Renault of Nelson Piquet who had tried to dive down the inside at turn 10.

Piquet, who had dropped towards the rear of the field due to an earlier spin, retired immediately, and although Bourdais made it back to the pits, his race was also run.

Anthony Davidson then retired after a stone punctured the radiator of his Super Aguri, which was a sad way to exit in what may be his last race if the cash-strapped team are unable to saved from their financial crisis over the next few days.

Rubens Barrichello suffered a collision with the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella as they exited the pit lane, dislodging the Honda's nose cone.

For an entire lap, and with the safety car on track in the wake of Kovalainen's smash, Barrichello was forced to trundle back to the pits again with the nose lodged under his front-right suspension.

Although the veteran Brazilian was given another new nose, it was clear his car had also suffered further damage as he too retired soon after.

The biggest disappointment for the majority of the 120,00 crowd was the sight of Fernando Alonso's Renault engine blowing on lap 35.

Alonso had started second on the grid, but off the line was unable to defend his position as Massa passed him.

Although he was also predictably running light on fuel, he was on course for a decent points finish as he was running in fifth when he pulled off the track, as did Nico Rosberg in his Williams that also sustained a blown engine.

At the head of affairs it at least proved a close run thing, but on a track where it is notoriously difficult to overtake there was never a chance for the top order to be reversed in any way.

Raikkonen now has a nine-point lead over Hamilton, with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica a further point back in third after he came home fourth.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was fifth, with Jenson Button picking up Honda's first points of the season in sixth, while Kazuki Nakajima broke his duck for Williams in finishing seventh, followed by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

source : www.sportinglife.com

Guinness World Records Eyes Release of Grand Theft Auto IV as a Potential Record Breaking Giant

As part of its continued interest in chronicling the world of video game achievements and accomplishments, Guinness World Records will be closely watching the release of Grand Theft Auto IV as a potential record-breaking phenomenon. Easily one of the most anticipated games of the year and biggest releases in the entertainment industry, the GTA franchise is no stranger to the famed pages of Guinness World Records. Ever since the franchise released its first third-person game with Grand Theft Auto III, the series has been racking up record after record.

First Full "Sandbox" Action-Adventure- GTA III
Biggest Selling Game of 2001- GTA III
Biggest Selling Game of 2002- GTA: Vice City
Best-selling Playstation 2 game of all time- GTA: Vice City
Best-selling PSP game of all time- GTA: Liberty City Stories
Largest in-game soundtrack- GTA: San Andreas
Largest Voice Cast in a video game- GTA: San Andreas
Most Guest Stars In A Video Game Series- Grand Theft Auto Franchise

With fans counting down the hours to GTA IV's debut, it will only be a matter of time until a new record is added to that impressive list.

For more information on these and other exciting video game records, pick up the inaugural, Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008, in stores now.

source : www.ign.com

Aussie GTA IV Bundle Coming

The US and the UK just got their announcements - now it's Australia's turn. SCE Australia today annnounced that an official Grand Theft Auto IV bundle is on the way exclusively for the PS3. The bundle will be available on May 1, 2008 and will come with a 40GB PS3, a SIXAXIS wireless controller (where's the Dualshock, Sony?) and a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The package will retail for AU$749.95.

source : www.ign.com

World of Warcraft Patch Plans

Blizzard has revealed the latest 2.4.2 patch notes on its official WoW website. No word on when the patch will officially roll out, but here is what the patch sets out to accomplish:

Hunter
• Dire Ravens in Blade's Edge Mountains now tameable.
• Tamed Drywallow Snappers now will know Bite 5 (instead of Claw 5.)

Mages
• Talent: Improved Blink (Arcane) now reduces chance to be hit by 13/25% and the duration of Rank 1 has been increased to 4 seconds.
• Completing the quest "Arcane Refreshment" will now properly teach the spell Conjure Water (Rank 7).

PvP
• Arenas
- If a character's personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.
- If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team's rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.

Professions
• All 23-hour profession cooldowns are now 20-hour cooldowns.
• All 4-day cooldowns are now 3 days, 20 hours.
• Enchanting
- Removed the cooldown from Void Shatter.
- Void Shatter recipe now correctly requires 375 enchanting.
• Engineering
- The Engineering supply item Delicate Copper Wire will now properly fit into engineering bags.
• Jewelcrafting
- Brilliant Glass no longer requires a forge.
- Brilliant Glass now has a small chance to make an epic gem.
- Quick Dawnstone, Reckless Noble Topaz, Forceful Talasite are now all available at the Quel'danas gem vendor.
• Leatherworking
- Completing the quest "The Journey Has Just Begun" will now properly teach how to make an Onyxia Scale Cloak.
- Greatly reduced the reagent cost for Glove Reinforcements. Also reduced the skill gain range slightly.

Quests
• The categories for the quests "Wanted: Sisters of Torment" and "Wanted: The Signet Ring of Prince Kael'thas" have been fixed to now properly read as Magister's Terrace.
• The Shadowy Disguise will no longer be applied to druids while they are in Moonkin or Tree of Life form for the quests "Who Are They?"
• Jailor Eston and Jailor Marlgen for the quest "The Rescue" should now respawn more frequently.

Dungeons and Raids
• Black Temple
- Illidan will no longer despawn if a raid group wipes during his death speech.
• Karazhan
- Nightbane's Charred Earth ability will now properly deal Fire damage.
• Magister's Terrace
- Vexallus is no longer immune to taunt on Normal difficulty.
- Kael'thas is no longer immune to taunt on Normal difficulty.
- Wretched Skulkers, Wretched Husks, and Wretched Bruisers will now reset properly.
- Sunblade Imps will now reset properly.
- The doors in Heroic Magister's Terrace will no longer respawn after a soft reset if a boss has already been killed.
• Sunwell Plateau
- Hellfire will no longer remove Dark Touched in the Eredar Twins encounter.
• Tempest Keep: The Eye
- Void Reaver's Arcane orbs now generate combat log entries.

Items
• Arcane Charges now deal arcane damage.
• Abilities and trinkets that trigger after killing an opponent that gives experience or honor will no longer activate after killing mobs during bombing quests.
• Battlecast's Garb should now properly grant pushback resistance in addition to interrupt resistance.
• Borderland Fortress Grips have had their stats updated.
• Botanist's Gloves of Growth have had their texture corrected.
• Bow of Searing Arrows and Red Whelp Gloves will no longer break crowd control effects.
• The Cloak of Swift Mending now has a level requirement (70).
• Goblin Jumper Cables are no longer a trinket item.
• Items that enchant other items no longer have tradeskill requirements (Mithril Spurs, Shield Spikes, Weapon Chains, etc.).
• The Helm of Fire has had its casting range reduced.
• The Magic Candle has had its casting range reduced.
• Many items sold by Consortium vendors are now bind on pick up: Formula: Enchant Weapon- Major Striking, Design: Delicate Blood Garnet, Design: Shifting Shadow Draenite, Design: Lustrous Azure Moonstone, Design: Thick Golden Draenite.
• Many items sold by Aldor reputation vendors are now bind on pick up: Design: Gleaming Golden Draenite, Design: Royal Shadow Draenite.
• Many items sold by the Shattered Sun quartermaster are now bind on pick up: Naaru Ration, Design: Ember Skyfire Diamond.
• The Lower City reputation item, Recipe: Flask of Chromatic Resistance, is now bind on pick up.
• Most Main-Hand weapons are now One-Hand weapons.
• Naturalist's Preserving Cinch have had their stats updated.
• Reins of the Black War Elekk spell and buff now correspond to the item name.
• Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite now properly share the same cooldown.
• The Romantic Picnic Basket will now display the blanket properly.
• The socket bonus modifiers of some items will now properly display the bonus healing.
• The reduced cooldown of Shaman Nature's Swiftness provided by the 4 piece set bonus from the Seer's Ringmail Battlegear PvP armor will now apply properly.
• The Skyshatter Helmet's gem socket bonus will now properly reflect the plus damage in the tooltip.
• Shadowsong Panther will no longer prematurely despawn.
• Talasite Owl: This trinket will now properly restore full mana as described.
• Troll Male off-hand items are now the same size as the main hand item.
• Tauren weapons while sheathed have had their graphic readjusted to their pre-patch (2.4.0) state.
• The Winterfall Firewater buff is no longer dispellable.

User Interface
• Black Lotus will now show up under the Herb subcategory in the auction house.
• Primal Nethers will now show up under the Materials subcategory in the auction house.
• Mailboxes can now be tracked on the minimap.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

World Environment
• Creature versions of the Polymorph spell no longer heal the affected target.
• The dragons in Blade's Edge Mountains will no longer instantly knock you off your mount.

Mac
• Fixed a bug causing ATI kernel panics; all spell effects should now be visible.
• Weather effects are again visible on systems with ATI 2x00 graphics such as aluminum iMac.
• Fixed a bug that precluded use of the FireWire iSight microphone with voice chat.
• Symlinks can be used again for Interface and WTF folders and subfolders.
• Cinematics playback is working again.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where secondary sound effects would not work with the Use Hardware option enabled in the Sound options of the User Interface.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to use some instant cast spells with Auto-Dismount in Flight checked in the interface would fail.
• Items that have multiple charges will now properly display the amount of charges.
• Fixed an issue where chain damage spells were chaining to critters.
• Female Draenei horns will now correctly protrude through certain plate helms.
• The Vengeful Gladiator's Rifle will now play the proper sound when used.
• The Cursed Vision of Sargeras now gives the buff, "Sense Demons" which can be canceled normally. Additionally hunters and druids are able to track two things at once while using the item.
• It is no longer possible for pets to get stuck in place after exiting the Spectral Realm in the Kalecgos encounter.
• Blood Elf Priest: Consume Magic will now require the buff to be active in order to work properly.
• Undead and Blood Elf Priest: Touch of Weakness will now properly reduce the melee damage of the attacker.
• Fixed an issue where some spells had extraneous Floating Combat Text messages when using the Auras option.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes debuff icons on a target did not scale properly to indicate the spells had been cast by you.
• The hunter pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power.
• Druid Talent- Primal Fury (Rank 2) will now be properly unlearned when it is untalented.
• Druid Talent (Restoration)- Natural Perfection will no longer proc by normal melee attacks.
• Mage Spell - Molten Armor will now do damage while a damage absorption shield is active.
• Mage Spell - Noxious Breath (Ysondre) will no longer cause Arcane Missiles to only damage on the first volley.
• Mage Spell- Fixed an issue that was causing a pink hue to appear when a mage would phase out via Invisibility.
• Paladin Talent: Crusader Strike (Retribution) will now properly receive a damage increase from Seal of The Crusader.
• Paladin healing spells used in castsequence macros are now properly completing the cast sequence when a rank is not specified.
• The Paladin talent Precision (Ranks 1-3) will no longer improperly display daggers and staves as a weapon class in the tooltip.
• Paladins that already have Apprentice Riding skill can now properly learn Summon Warhorse from the trainer.
• Priest Talent- Power Infusion will now consume the correct amount of mana when cast on yourself.
• The rogue talent Mutilate (Assassination) will no longer incorrectly appear multiple times in the combat log when used.
• Shaman Talent: Frostbrand (Enhancement) Rank 6 will now properly do more damage than Rank 5.
• Warlock Spell- Drain Soul will no longer continue to do damage to another player after they have died.
• Ritual of Souls (Warlock) and Ritual of Refreshment (Mage) will no longer be placed on cooldown without having completed the summon.
• Priest Spell: Power Word: Shield now has the correct sound associated with it and can no longer be heard from large distances.
• Priest Spell: Fear Ward will no longer be consumed while under the effects of cyclone.
• Looting a boss while a player is outside of the instance will no longer cause the corpse to despawn in 2 minutes if the player still has loot on the corpse.
• Whirlwind now has the correct sound associated with it.

source : www.ign.com

Soulcalibur IV Gets AU Release Date

Thanks to Ubisoft Australia, we now have a firm release date for the strangely non-canonical but highly anticipated brawler, Soulcalibur IV. According to the announcement, both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will be released simultaneously.

John Parkes, EMEA Marketing Director at Ubisoft, had this to say about the release:
"We are thrilled to be bringing Soulcalibur's successful heritage to PAL territories as it sets into motion a new echelon of dynamic gameplay and exceptional game graphics on next generation platforms.

"Offering players an ultimate fighting game experience, Soulcalibur IV will definitely be an owners 'must have' in building their game collection library."
The official date for Australian release is July 31, 2008. No local pricing has been announced at this stage.

source : www.ign.com