Ok, so recently a majority of the posts I have had dealt with the subject of malware and viruses. So I figured that it was time to change up the pace a bit and talk about some gaming a bit. Everyone loves games… from the little simple games such as checkers or bubble breaker all the way up to the highly intense games such as Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead. But no everyone has the cash to pay for some of these games that while being very fun, just aren’t worth the money in some people’s eyes.

So that led me to look around and actually stumble upon an article over at pc.ign.com which talks about the top 10 FREE to play Shooter games. Shooter games have been very popular as of late and more and more of the “Free to Play” games have been popping up left and right with some being worth it and some… well just don’t have any appeal and only make the others look that much better. Without wasting anymore time, lets go straight into the list!

• Alliance of Valiant Arms
• America’s Army 3
• Battlefield Heroes
• Combat Arms
• Quake Live
• Savage 2: A Tortured Soul
• Tremulous
• Urban Terror
• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
• World of Padman

So I won’t go into any details other than the fact that I personally have played a few of these games and can confirm that the list is indeed a good one. If you would like to check out these games or read up on what IGN has to say about them in the article, you can do so here.

The next time you are bored out of your mind, and do not feel like dropping $50.00 or more on a new game, check out one of these games from the list, you should be very pleased and entertained by any of the games on this list. So check them out and get to shooting!

The unnamed Staffordshire man, in his thirties, was apprehended after a joint raid by Trading Standards and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). Prior to the official raid, investigators set up a sting operation where they visited him to have their Xbox chipped and purchase pirated games. The console and games were then forensically examined to provide the evidence needed to obtain a search warrant.

Four computers with burners and more than 1,000 illegally copied games were seized in the raid – including 700 Xbox 360 games, 300 Wii titles and 100 PlayStation 2 games. Three Xbox 360 and two Nintendo Wii consoles were also seized. The man admitted to running an illegal chipping operation via his Gumtree.com site for nearly two years.

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, has said “Our team in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) will step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009. Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK. “ A POCA (Proceeds Of Crime Act) investigation has already begun to estimate the criminal gain from the offender’s illegal activities. The crime itself carries up to ten year’s imprisonment, and an unlimited fine.

It seems that this is going to be the first of many as companies are going to be cracking down on pirates and hackers that look to profit off of stolen software and/or video games. There will be more… so for you all out there that have an interest in this or do it from day to day… be warned that they are on the loose trying to hunt you down and catch you! So play safe online everyone!

Video games have come a long way since they have been around and are getting more and more realistic with every new title that comes out. But most people don’t realize that back in the “old days” video games had quite a different look and feel than they do now. Here I am going to show you what is considered the world’s first video game!

In 1958, Dr. William Higinbotham was working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on a simulation of bouncing balls and missile trajectories that could predict the paths objects could take. Suddenly, it hit him: why not apply this to tennis? He created Tennis for Two, which depending on your definition could be considered the world’s first videogame, in October of that year.

Designing the circuit board and its components took Higinbotham a few days, and building the machine took about three weeks. On October 18th, 1958, hundreds lined up to play the newly christened Tennis for Two. It used a whopping five-inch oscilloscope screen, and featured play mechanics pretty similar to 1972′s Pong, though the game was viewed from the side of the net rather than an overhead vantage point.

Why didn’t he patent the technology? Well, Tennis for Two used designs extremely similar to what Higinbotham had created in his federal-owned lab, so any patent would have had to belong to the government. Owning the right to every video game eversounds pretty sweet right now, given our monstrous debt, but that’s really neither here nor there. So if this game doesn’t look too appealing to you or something you think you could play for hours at a time… just be thankful that the video games we have come to love have made such big progress as they have since their start!