Hmmm, something seems amiss in the Mac magazine world. One of the most highly-anticipated entertainment events in the Mac world this year was the appearance of celebrity Lara Croft, star of the hit Tomb Raider series of games for the PC. Ever since word got out back in July that Tomb Raider II was being ported to the Mac platform, Mac gamers have been waiting for Ms. Croft's virtual debut. And a couple of days ago, MacAddict magazine announced that she'd make her first appearance this Friday, in the form of a TR2 demo that would be downloadable exclusively from the MacAddict web site for forty-eight hours. What a coup! Striking a deal for temporary exclusive distribution rights was a great way to raise the magazine's visibility and their web site's traffic.

But then on Thursday afternoon, suddenly we were notified that the demo had already been posted-- by publishing rival MacWorld. What gives? Faithful viewer Colin Crawford even forwarded to us the text of a MacWorld press release, in which they crow about being "thrilled to be the first to bring Tomb Raider to the legions of Mac gamers who have been anxiously awaiting Lara Croft's premier appearance on the Mac platform." So what gives? What happened to the MacAddict exclusive? Where did MacWorld get the demo to post? And why is the demo so short and easy? (That last one's an unrelated question, we suppose, but we're curious, because we've never finished a demo for a game like this in a little over an hour before.)

In reaction to MacWorld's act, MacAddict also posted the demo to download on Thursday night-- earlier than planned-- in order to salvage at least some of the debacle. At the time, it seemed odd that they still claimed to be the exclusive provider of the demo until Monday, October 12th. Will this be the event that launches the War Between the Mac-azines? Granted, it's not exactly the assassination of an archduke or anything, but wars have been fought for sillier things. But perhaps not, because when last we checked, all mention of the TR2 demo had mysteriously vanished from MacWorld's site. We can only imagine the exchange between the two magazines that led to this resolution... At least there was a peaceful outcome.