Welcome to datahq.net

Split/Second was one of my bigger surprises at E3 last year. I probably played the one airport track that was on demo a dozen times. The combination of arcade racing and screen-blurring speed with letting me blow up the environment to knock out the other racers completely got its hooks in me. I finally got to see and play some more of the game at GDC.

They turned me loose on a downtown circuit that looked like a mashup of any number of major U.S. cities--filled with tall buildings, freeways, and tight intersections on surface streets. Developer Black Rock has been at working tuning the different car types, and they let me use a supercar this time out. The difference was really noticeable when an explosion went off near me and I had to fight the shock wave in such a lightweight car....

The driver of a compact car that hit a light pole Tuesday night on Interstate 57 on the Far South Side, killing one passenger and ejecting a child, has been cited with driving drunk and may face other charges, police said.

The victim, a 34-year-old woman was in the front passenger seat of the compact car when the crash happened about 10:15 p.m., on I-57 just south of the Halsted Street exit, police said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was declared dead at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park at 10:24 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The car went out of control and crashed into a light pole, said Illinois State Police Sgt. Jason Lococo, reading from a report. It was a single-vehicle crash, he said.

The front-seat passenger was fatally injured, Lococo said. A child who was in the back seat of the car was ejected and landed on the grass near the car, he said. Details of the child's injuries weren't available.<...

Mayor Richard Daley signaled today that controversial recommendations for reforming the city's employee pension systems will be coming soon.

The announcement came more than two years after the mayor appointed a commission to of top financial managers to find ways to strengthen pension funds for the city, Park District, Chicago Housing Authority and City Colleges of Chicago.

"I expect these recommendations to come very shortly," Daley said. "We all recognize that the status quo will not work. . . . It's time to reform a system that isn't working for our city's budget, our city's taxpayers or for some of our employees, for that matter."

Read more on Clout Street.

...

Continuing to deliver downloadable goodies for those with access to Mass Effect 2's online Cerberus Network, developer BioWare has issued a new weapon: The Arc Projector.

"The Arc Projector is capable of discharging a massive electrical blast that can jump to multiple targets," explains the company.

Other upcoming additions include the new hovertank and five more missions.

Thus far, all of the downloadable content for the sci-fi shooter-RPG has been free of charge--provided that you bought the game new or ponied up the $15 for Cerberus Network access--through that won't last forever, as paid DLC is on the way.

Gov. Pat Quinn addresses Illinois state lawmakers in Springfield during his state budget address today. (Lane Christiansen/Chicago Tribune)

Gov. Pat Quinn today called for a 33 percent increase in the state income tax rate to raise money for education and ease deep cuts he's proposed in his new budget plan.

In his short budget speech to the House and Senate, Quinn argued that an income tax "surcharge" would be enough to restore Illinois' education budget to current levels and allow the state to get caught up on some of the millions owed to public schools, community colleges and four-year universities.

Quinn wants to increase the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 4 percent --- a 33 percent increase --- with the corporate tax rate rising from 4.8 percent to 5.8 percent. The tax hike would bring in $2.8 billion a y...

Mayor Richard Daley today threw his support behind state Rep. Art Turner for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination vacated by troubled Chicago pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen.

The mayor said it makes sense to add the veteran lawmaker to the statewide ticket as Gov. Pat Quinn's running mate because Turner came in second place in last month's Democratic primary election.
 
"Well, like anything else, there's only one winner for the lieutenant governor's position, and that's Turner, Art Turner, he won second," Daley said while talking with reporters after the City Council meeting at City Hall. "If you run for public office and the person drops out before the election or even after the election, the person who was second moves automatically up. If you forfeit a game, you win the game."

Read more on Clout Street.

Source: Chicago Breaking News | Published: 10 Mar 2010, 2:24 pm

Organizers are hoping a thousand undocumented Chicagoans will face their fears of deportation today and descend on the Federal Plaza to march for comprehensive immigration reform.

This morning, several organizers from the Immigrant Youth Justice League were joined by Latino City Council members in calling for support of another immigration reform rally in Washington D.C. on March 21.

Participants march from Union Park at Lake Street and Ashland Avenue today as part of the Immigrant Youth Justice League's national immigration rights mobilization. The participants marched to Federal Plaza, where they were going to demonstrate for reforms to the nation's immigration system. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Tribune)

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) was among several officials at a ne...

With Dawn of War II's standalone expansion Chaos Rising slated to hit North America / Europe tomorrow (it's already available in Australia/ New Zealand), developer Relic has rolled out a new update that adds new features to plain old Dawn of War II (PC).

Among the changes are five new units, nine new multiplayer maps, a new Free-For-All multiplayer game mode, and various other tweaks. As with all Dawn of War II updates, Steam (required to run the game) will automatically download the latest patch.

In addition, we've also got a per-region breakdown of when Chaos Rising will be available, along with a trailer that examines the expansion's new Last Stand heroes: [video]17550[/video] Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Chaos Rising Release Schedule Australia and New Zealand (Retail & Steam)...