Well, it wouldn’t be rash a posts from me without at least one post dropping all of the interesting gaming links on you, so here goes:

Make sure to patch your installations of Zoo Tycoon 2 and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines up to the latest levels. Both patches have some important bug fixes.

If you prefer to anticipate new games instead of patch old ones, then I’m happy to tell you that the class of 2005 is already shaping up nicely. Tom Clancy fans will enjoy the February 2 release of Ghost Recon 2 for PC and can look forward to the sequel to Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, now officially titled Rainbow Six 4: Lockdown. Gaming isn’t all about the shooter genre, though, so you might want to jump up and down about Age of Empires III, the next game in a great RTS series, or you can wonder how you too missed the memo that the creator of Wizardry was making a co-op multiplayer 3D action RPG called Dungeon Lords.

Finally, it’s time to fess up to the new addiction. Blizzard may well have created the most perfect MMORPG to date in its stunning World of Warcraft, and you don’t have to take our word for it. Blizzard has sold 600,000 copies of the game in less than a month, and exceeded 200,000 simultaneous players over the holidays, so Desiree and I aren’t the only ones caught up in the frenzy. If you played during closed beta and were underwhelmed (as I was), then trust me that the released game is a whole new experience. A must-have for anyone who has played MUDs or MMORPGs (or even thought that the idea of massively multiplayer fantasy gaming might be cool). Make an Alliance character on the Hyjal realm if you want to say hi.