One of the policies will affect popular online games such as Barameui Nara, Maple Story, Mabinogi and 16 others by cutting off access to underage users at 12am sharp. Another policy is “the slowdown policy” where gamers will find their Internet speed dropping to 56k levels if they play for too long.

There was no mention of regular Internet connections cutting off, just online access to those games. So, the underaged gamers in question will stop playing any one of these 19 games at 12am, then either a) load up a new game, b) find a way around the block, or c) surf for porn.

Then what happens when Star Craft II releases? The original Star Craft still draws millions of South Korean gamers online, in LAN parties, and at professional Star Craft competitions and tournaments across the nation. Good luck stopping people from playing that. Its practically a national sport.

As reports of this new online game ban circulate, the example of gamer depravity and addiction that keeps getting mentioned is the story of the death of a South Korean newborn through starvation. It has been claimed that the parents’ addiction to online gaming led to their neglect of the child.

A horrible story indeed, but will this new online game ban save millions of babies of underaged parents from a similar fate? Considering the parents in the story mentioned above are 41 and 25 years old, this new ban stands to only truly aggravate and generally hack off millions of (tech savvy) South Korean teenagers, force new games into the limelight, and drive porn profits instead of curbing online game addiction or saving babies.

No, say the parents of the would-be misanthrope, as they watch their progeny sink further into a headset.

No, says his social circle, shaking their heads and wondering why he’d enjoy such endeavors as they pile into a Pasat en route to giving Michael Bay $15 each.

No, says the FOX News anchor, as he spouts rabid talking points blaming videogames for the decline of modern everything.

But he deserves better. We deserve glory.

Being a gamer is no easy task. It seems that you will always catch some flak from people because of one person or another just because they probably don’t understand. Most all of us gamers have been in the situation where we do something in our favorite games that we didn’t think was possible or just got darn lucky. If it was beating the final level on the hardest difficulty, or finding that secret room that everyone said didn’t exist, we have all had our moments that we like to brag about.

Those of us that are gamers understand where our fellow gamers are coming from, but those who choose to miss out on the excitement of gaming will sadly never get to be a part of these great moments. So below is a list of nine moments that we gamers were proud to be gamers!

1. Finally Getting Past a Tough Boss
2. Reaching 100% Completion for the First Time
3. Beating a Game Without Cheating or Using Codes
4. Beating a Next-to-Impossible Game for the First Time
5. Getting a Higher Score Than Your Sibling
6. Being the First to Camp Out for Midnight Launch
7. Discovering a Cheat or Easter Egg Before Anyone Else
8. Beating a Smack Talker
9. Knowing More Than the Clerk at Game Stop

So there you have it… nine moments that without a doubt would make just about any gamer proud! I am not going to go into detail with each of these nine moments because they are all pretty self-explanatory. If you don’t seem to understand some of these moments listed… well then I am sorry to say that it looks like you are not a gamer and you just probably wouldn’t be able to understand.

It’s a sinking feeling because there’re so many confidential documents on the computer and since most of your trusted colleagues have also left for the day, there’s no point calling them for help.

So what do you do? Drive back to Office? Well that’s not required – just take out your cell phone or switch on the laptop at home, send an email (or an SMS or a tweet) and that will instantly lock your Office workstation. And if you share the same computer with multiple people, you can use another email command to remotely log off or even shut down the computer from anywhere in the world.

There’s no magic here, it’s the power of TweetMyPC utility that lets you remote control your computer from a mobile phone or any other Internet connected computer.

It works like this. You first install the free TweetMyPC utility on any Windows PC and associate your Twitter account. The app will silently monitor your Twitter stream every minute for any desktop commands and if it finds one, will act upon it immediately. The initial version of TweetMyPC was limited to basic shutdown and restart commands, however the current v2 has a far more robust set of commands, enabling a far more useful way of getting your PC to carry out certain tasks especially when you’re AFK (Away From Keyboard).

Before we get started, it may be a good thing if you can set up a new twitter account for remote controlling your desktop and also protect the status updates of this account to ensure better security. Protecting the account means that you prevent other users from reading your tweets which in this case are email commands that you sending to the computer. To protect your Twitter profile, log in to Twitter with the credentials you want to use, click Settings and check the box next to “Protect my Updates”.

Let’s get started. Install the TweetMyPC utility of your computer and associate your Twitter and Gmail account with the application. It will use Twitter to receive remote commands (like shutdown, log-off, lock workstation, etc) from while the email account will be used for send your information (e.g., what process are currently running on your computer).

Now that your basic configuration is done, it’s time to set up a posting method. You can use email, SMS, IM, web or any of the Twitter clients to send commands to the remote computer.

By Email: Associate you Twitter account with Posterous (auto-post) and all email messages sent to twitter@posterous.com will therefore become commands for the remote computer.

By SMS: If you live in US, UK, Canada, India, Germany, Sweden or New Zeleand, you can send associate Twitter with your mobile phone (see list of numbers) and then control your remote computer via SMS Text Messages.

By IM: Add the Twitter bot – twitter@twitter.com – to your list of Google Talk buddies and you can then send commands via instant message.

By Web: If you are on vacation but have access to an internet connected laptop, just log into the Twitter website and issue commands (e.g., shutdown or logoff) just as another tweet.

Now we will look at how to download Files, capture remote screenshots & more… While the TweetMyPC is pretty good for shutting down a remote computer, it lets you do some more awesome stuff as well. For instance, you need to download an unfinished presentation from the office computer so that you can work on it at home. Or you want to download a trial copy of Windows 7 on the Office computer while you are at home. Here’s a partial list of commands that you can use to remote control the PC – they’re case-insensitive and, as discussed above, you can send them to Twitter via email, SMS, IM or the web.

Screenshot : This is one of the most useful command I’ve come across after the shutdown command. Want to know what’s happening within the confines of your PC when you’re not around? Just tweet screenshot and TweetMyPC will take a screenshot of your desktop and post it to the web (see example).

ShutDown, LogOff, Reboot, Lock : The function of these useful commands is pretty obvious from their names.

Standby, Hibernate : Don’t want to shutdown the remote PC? Save power by entering standby mode with this command. Or hibernate your PC with a tweet, thereby saving even more power.

Download <url> : You can download any file from the Internet on to the remote computer using the download command. For instance, a command like download http://bit.ly/tCJ9Y will download the CIA Handbook so you have the document ready when you resume work the next day.

GetFile <filepath> : The Download command was for downloading files from the Internet onto the remote computer. However, if you like to transfer a file from the remote computer to your current computer, use the GetFile command. It takes the full page of the file that you want to download and will send that you as an email attachment. If you don’t know the file page, use the command GetFileList <drivename> to get a list of file folders on that drive.

GetProcessList : This is like a remote task manager. You’ll get a list of programs that are currently running on the remote computer along with their process IDs. Send another command kill <process id> to terminate any program that you think is suspicious or not required.

Conclusion:

TweetMyPC is a must-have utility and you never know when you may need it. And if you have been trying to stay away from Twitter all this time, the app gives you a big reason to at least create one protected account on Twitter.

That said, there’s scope for improvement. For instance, the app will wait for a minute to check for new messages in your Twitter stream so it’s not “instant”. The developers can actually increase that limit because the Twitter API now allows upto 100 checks per hour. And since the app is dependent on Twitter and Gmail, it will not work during those rare fail-whale moments.

I was pretty impressed that it was able to load up the entire game in about 15 seconds and was able to start playing. It even let me pick my difficulty and had a large portion of the music from the game (everything from the sounds to the level music playing).

The game itself looked and felt a lot better than I was expecting when I entered the first level. While I was only able to go to the left or right (and jump of course), the details and he models of the guns, bad guys, and myself were so crisp it felt like they had been taken right out of the original game and stuck into what I was playing.

I would also like to mention that while the little levels didn’t look like they were similar to the original game (I don’t really see how they could be in 2D)… I was very pleased at how your objective was the almost the exact same. You simply need to get to the exit button killing anything that gets in your way and if you are lucky stumbling across a secret or two in the process.

Even though this post won’t be as long as they usually are, being a big DOOM fan I just couldn’t resist taking some time out of my morning to talk about this nifty little game I just so happen to find. I am sure some of you are wondering where you can try out this as well so fear not… I do have the link for you to go play it! If you wanna try it out for yourself, just make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed and CLICK HERE to go enjoy this little game.

According to the PC Gamer preview, the five campaigns of the sequel will be set in the American south — in Georgia and Louisiana. The game will feature new playable boss infected characters alongside the Boomers, Smokers, Hunters, and Tanks of the original. Melee weapons will also be introduced, including fire axe, chainsaw, and even frying pan. No word yet on backward compatibility with the original Left 4 Dead, though we would expect that Valve won’t split their community in two. You’ll want to check out the PC Gamer preview (the Official Xbox Magazine has their own exclusive preview and interview for console fans) for more details, including the new levels, environmental effects, and how the sequel’s story ties in with the adventures of Bill, Louis, Zoey, and Francis.

Here are a few of the highlights of the upcoming sequel:

• Survivors: Nick, Ellis, Rochelle, and the Coach
• Missions played in full daylight
• Witch behaves differently during the day – wanders around like an old homeless woman
• New weapons: silenced SMG (silencer has no gameplay implications)
• One new gameplay mode not revealed at this time
• Stronger narrative thread to connect the campaigns
• Savannah campaign where “the zombie infection hasn’t hit yet”
• Instead of a Last Stand-type finale, survivors may have to fight through a hazard-filled highway
• Director can change the layout of the map
• New boss infected: The Charger

Even though this game will have a lot to live up to with Left 4 Dead being as popular as it was, people are already talking about it as the next big game to hit later this year. But only time will tell if it can deliver as it promises but I for one have high hopes that it can take over where the original left off and provide us with countless hours of mindless (and satisfying) zombie killing that we have all come to love!

So I will leave you with a few videos of gameplay that have already been released for us to start drooling over…

Click HERE to watch the rest of the videos that have been released so far!

But fortunately, for those who were not able to get keys from them, I am happy to say I found another site that is still giving them out (for free of course) to whoever wants them while they last. So, before I talk about the game a bit I will go ahead and link those who are interested to the site. All you need to go is go here: http://tllg.net/rqnwd6.

For those interested in the game and what it is about… here is a quote from Wikipedia about the game!

Battlefield Heroes features a modified conquest mode providing each team 50 tickets and eventually one flag at the start of the round. Killing enemies and holding more flags than the opposing army will progressively reduce their number of tickets. The game also features matchmaking, to keep players of the same level together. Developers of the game have talked about levels going as high as 40 or 50. The two armies are called the National Army (possessing a red base color flag) and the Royal Army (possessing a blue base color flag). 

You can read the entire page on the game right here: http://tllg.net/5cxsba. So enjoy it and just maybe I will see you in-game!

**UPDATE** It seems that shortly after this article became available that they too ran out of keys. While this outage isn’t permanent, there is no set time on when more will become available… so it seems for those who weren’t able to grab one will just have to keep checking back and hope to get lucky!

**UPDATE #2** Well I have found another site that is still giving them out! Check it out and hurry over to http://tllg.net/6rfz32 and near the top right side of the page, there is a simple form (just enter your email) and poof, in your email is a key!

While some of these methods are quite simple and will do most of the job, there are also some more in-depth things that can also be done for users who swim in increasingly dangerous waters and need the extra security. So without me talking for pages about what can be done, I am going to jump right into the list and let you know what can be done to help secure your system from the dangerous waters known as the internet!

1. Turn off File Sharing
2. Install a Firewall
3. Scan for Spyware
4. Use Antivirus Software
5. OS Updates
6. Security Scanner
7. Secure Instant Messengers
8. Secure Email
9. Secure your Files
10.  Safe Passwords
- Taken from source. 

While some of these steps are more complicated than others, they are all worth looking into. Most of them are pretty easy to setup and use, and even the ones that do take a bit more knowledge to use have plenty of good websites that do a great job of explaining how to use them in amazing detail! 

So check this stuff out, and if you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment about this and I will respond as soon as I get a chance. Also the orginial article / source for this list is listed right under the steps, which also does a good job in explaining so check it out and stay safe!

• Gears of War 2
• CoD: World at War 
• Resistance 2 
• Saints Row 2 
• Left 4 Dead
• Fable 2

After much testing of the following titles there was a winner crowned. Left 4 Dead has won the title of the best co-op game of 2008 by their panel of judges and I couldn’t agree more. Lately I (and everyone where I work) has been pretty obsessed with Left 4 Dead with a couple of us on a mission to complete as many of the achievements as we possibly can! The gameplay it has for both 4 player co-op and 4v4 versus mode couldn’t be better. It seems as though Valve nailed this game right on the head for an addictive co-op shooter which in my opinion couldn’t have been any better. Check out this HD video review of Left 4 Dead if you would like to get a little taste of what it has to offer! Lastly if you would like to check out the original article for some more details on each game reviewed, simply go here! So, Enjoy!

28. Return to Castle Wolfenstein
27. Blood
26. Tribes 2
25. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
24. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
23. No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way
22. Alien vs. Predator 2
21. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
20. Counter-Strike: Source
19. Thief: The Dark Project
18. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
17. Battlefield 1942
16. Far Cry
15. Unreal Tournament
14. Metroid Prime
13. Perfect Dark
12. Crysis
11. Deus Ex
10. F.E.A.R.
9. System Shock II
8. Halo 3
7. Duke Nukem 3D
6. Quake II
5. Doom II
4. GoldenEye 007
3. BioShock
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
1. Half-Life 2

So there it is, the games that are in bold are the ones I either own myself and/or have played a good bit of. (which happens to be quite a few of them) For anyone who wants to read up on the full article from GamePro.com which has little summaries for each game and why it was picked, just follow this link to read it from their website.

Without wasting anymore time talking about the list, here it is:

32. The Sims 2
31. Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
30. Counter Strike: Source
29. System Shock 2
28. Grim Fandango
27. Deus Ex
26. Command and Conquer: Red Alert
25. Half-Life
24. Indigo Prophecy
23. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
22. Thief: Deadly Shadows
21. Crysis
20. Fallout 2
19. Supreme Commander
18. TIE Fighter
17. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
16. Battlefield 2
15. The Longest Journey
14. Psychonauts
13. Half-Life 2
12. Sins of a Solar Empire
11. Diablo II
10. Company of Heroes
9. Unreal Tournament 2004
8. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
7. Starcraft
6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Peggle
4. The Orange Box
3. Civilization IV
2. Quake 3 Arena
1. World of Warcraft

So there it is, while its a pretty good list overall, there are a few games on there I am not a big fan of but as you can see, I have played quite a few of them (ones I have played a bunch or own are in bold). I have to give it to the guys over at GamePro for another great list and if you would like to read the original article with little summaries of each game… just follow this LINK to check it out there!