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Source: Interviewed by Karen Roche, Publisher, The Gold Report Not only does Chris Potter stand by his claim that India’s big gold buy late last year was a game-changer, the way he explains it in this exclusive Gold Report, interview, it’s a 21st century take on the classic alchemist’s quest of old—transforming lead into gold. Nowadays, the alchemists are the central bankers of the world, and they’re successfully managing to turn the paper money their countries are producing (their devaluating currencies, that is) into the precious metal. Poof. There’s gold in them there rupees,… ...

In a conference call Q&A after their earnings report, Electronic Arts executives waxed about recent successes and strategies with downloadable content.

EA CEO John Riccitiello shared the motivation behind their inclusion of paid DLC in all their titles this year. "We sort of initiated our approach here originally with NBA Live with Dynamic DNA almost a year-and-a-half ago. In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and in each case, particularly with Dragon Age, a strong pickup in revenue per user. By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move...we've got similar strong PDLC programs with all of our titles this year."

COO John Schappert embellished on the success of Dragon Age DLC. "We had downloadable content in addition to the pack-in content, if you will, available for purchase on day one. The first week, we did over a million dollars in sales on that title - that's just ...

Visceral Games' Dead Space 2 may not be the next game you play in the sci-fi franchise. Recent surveys point to an Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network port of Wii misfire Dead Space Extraction and something brand new, Planet Cracker.

One survey's description of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 port of Dead Space Extraction indicates that any planned port of the game would feature the same on-rails "guided first-person experience" gameplay, pitched as an "interactive horror experience" in "full HD." A tentative price of $15 USD was mentioned in the survey forwarded to Kotaku.

Another title, known as Planet Cracker, was potentially more interesting. Described as a "resource strategy game where players will manage a CEC Mining operation," Planet Cracker focuses players on attempting to "maximize their daily profit" and "defending their hard-won o...

Three children and an adult were injured in a two-vehicle crash on the city's Southwest Side.

The crash happened at about 6:45 p.m. near the intersection of the 43rd Street and Pulaski Road.

Three victims were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, while a fourth victim was taken to Stroger Hospital, according to a fire department spokesman. Three of the victims were children and one was an adult, the spokesman said.

A police spokesman said they were notified of only two child victims, but added that none of the crash victims appeared seriously injured. Details of how the crash occurred weren't available.

--Staff report

...

An area winter storm warning has been issued for late Monday through early Wednesday with up to 12 inches of snow expected to blanket the area, according to the National Weather Service.

WGN-TV's Tom Skilling thinks there's a possibility the final totals could be closer to 14 inches, making this storm the worst of the winter for Chicago. According to the WGN Severe Weather Blog, the storm could last 35-40 hours, affect three rush hours, and generally make life unpleasant until at least Wednesday.

The warning takes effect at 9 p.m. and will continue until 4 a.m. Wednesday. The heaviest snowfall is expected Tuesday afternoon and early evening. Blowing and drifting snow with near blizzard conditions in open areas can be expected Tuesday night, the weather service said. Both surface and air traffic are expected to encounter severe difficulties.

By Tuesday night, snowfall will generally be in the 6- to 12-inch range, with some locally higher totals possible, especial...

At a White House meeting today on the Asian carp threat to the Great Lakes, federal officials said they may seek to close navigational locks on Chicago-area waterways for up to three or four days a week, a move that would restrict cargo shipping and recreational boating.

The idea is only one option for dealing with the problem, but shipping industry experts reacted swiftly and negatively, saying even a partial closing of the locks in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal would deal an economic blow to the region, cost jobs and force some companies to shut down or leave the area.

"It's a very critical time; there's a lot at stake here," said Darren Melvin, board member for the Illinois River Carriers Association. "If there is any kind of closure, which we're against, you're going to see a significant impact immediately."

Advocates of closing the locks permanently didn't like the partial closing idea either. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who has sued Illinois i...

The City of Chicago today was awarded possession of a 161-year-old cemetery that lies in the path of a future runway at O'Hare International Airport and could begin moving about 1,200 graves within weeks.

DuPage County Judge Hollis Webster ordered that the title of the 5.3-acre St. Johannes Cemetery in Addison Township be transferred from St. John's United Church of Christ to the city. She also ordered that Chicago pay the church $630,000 for the land, which stands between two segments of a new runway that are already under construction. The acquisition was considered one of the last major impediments to the $15 billion O'Hare Modernization Project.

"We appreciate today's court decisions allowing us to purchase the St. Johannes Cemetery and begin the relocation process," said Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino. "We realize relocation is a very sensitive matter and we will continue to proceed with respect and dignity in dealing with the fa...

Watching the credits to Mass Effect 2 all I could think about was the continuing struggle it seems to be for video games to nail an ending. It's one of the clearer examples of the hurdles designers face in uniting the narrative of a game with the playing of it. While an uneasy balance can often be struck during most of the game, climactic moments expose that fractured relationship between the two.

After the ongoing internal push-pull between the action and the narrative for dominance throughout the game, this particularly held true in Mass Effect 2. I appreciate the dilemma facing the team at the end. With so much invested in improving the combat for the sequel there had to be this tremendous sense of need for a big payoff. From there it must have been a very short road to the cliched ending sequence that resulted.

Giving in to that -- taking the easy way in a sense by falling back on formulaic design -- took the wind out of my sails at the worst possible point in t...