Call of Duty: Black Ops Most Pirated Game of the Year

Two weeks ago, I took a look at piracy in video games by platform. Now, the same source of TorrentFreak gave their annual report of the most pirated single games of the year. This year, it is Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops taking the honors.

Black Ops is estimated to have been downloaded 4.27 million times on PC, with another 930,000 copies on Xbox 360. This would be the second year in a row that the Call of Duty franchise took the "prize," with Modern Warfare 2 being pirated over 4.1 million times in 2009.

On the Xbox 360 the title of most pirated game goes to Dante’s Inferno. It holds a somewhat advantage being it was released way back in February and amassed a total of 1,280,000 downloads. Alan Wake came in second (1.14 million), and Red Dead Redemption in third (1.06 million) .

Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii had over 1.47 million downloads, with Wii Party coming in second (1.22 million), and Donkey Kong in third (920k).

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Kinect for PC Confirmed

anuary 4th, Microsoft denied the notion of Kinect straying away from the Xbox 360 by saying: 'there are no plans to take it anywhere beyond the Xbox 360 platform'.

Today, less than a week later, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer made the confirmation that they are working on the development of a PC version for the Kinect. Speaking with BBC, Ballmer explained that they do intend to support the PC with Kinect, and once they are ready, they will be making the official reveal.

Right now, ASUS is collaborating with the inventors of Kinect's motion-sensing depth technology, PrimeSense. Early word is that it will be called WAVI Xtion and will be available in the second quarter of 2011.

In a statement from the GM of ASUS:

"ASUS combines its wireless cross-room solution with PrimeSense's simple, intuitive, gesture-based control technology to allow users to enjoy and share PC content on TV with gestures. Natural Interaction's appeal to consumers means more monetization opportunities based on personalization , various branding and advertising programs inside applications."

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Microsoft Attempting the Episodic Gaming Once Again

In 2009, Microsoft released the mob trivia game everyone grew to love known as 1 vs. 100. The game ran on a regular season, with a live audience and contestants, though was eventually cancelled in the middle of 2010. Though this coming Spring Microsoft is attempting something similar. This time instead of trivia, it's gambling. In Full House Poker, playing will compete against up to 30 other poker players in tournament style play. There will be live events where the winners of each table will move up while the losers will move down tables. The winner of the top table will end up the winner of the event.

Full House Poker for both Xbox LIVE and Windows 7 phones.

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Marathon Gamers: Gaming for a Cause

With the marathon closing in, the people behind the scenes of Marathon Gamers have been working hard to bring 2.0 to the audience. With a public equipment test being broadcasted tonight, we will be one step to bringing everything to the public. Though we are still taking suggestions on games to play, donation challenges, and we are still looking for a way to give back to the donators in the way of prizes and doing crazy things! There will be a couple more updates as we continue to build towards the desired 2.0 interface, so stay tuned to Marathon Gamers while we work towards March 11th!

Also feel free to donate prior to the marathon, the more we get the better, and if you would like us to do something during the marathon for your donation just leave a comment with your donation or email us a challenge!

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Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software co-developing Modern Warfare 3; Reportedly.

You all remember the hubbub about Infinity Ward's heads Vince Zampella and Jason West leaving the company last year. Thoughts that the great games of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 would not get their much deserved 3rd title.

A report on the LA Times' Company Town blog, says that there won't be a worry of that anymore -- according to the piece (read here), says both Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software have been tasked with helping develop the next, still unannounced Modern Warfare title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The claims are that Sledgehammer is working with the remaining staff at Infinity Ward on developing the game's single-player campaign, while Raven Software is in charge of bringing up the multi-player side of things. The sources also says that MW3 is expected to ship this November, making that easily my new number one on my list of Most Anticipated Titles of 2011.

Activision's response to all of this? "There's been much speculation recently. We look forward to releasing details for the next Call of Duty in the near future." No straight denials make this a very interesting story to keep an eye on.

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Duke Nukem Forever Release Date Revealed

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Nintendo 3DS Features

Details on the Nintendo 3DS are starting to get around the Internet, with the March 27th North America release date looming. First, the 3DS will have a Home button like the Nintendo Wii - taking you to the Home menu, even when in the middle of a game. What's new about the 3DS is that you may open a new app without having to quit your game.

One inclusion is an app called Game Notes. You have the opportunity to hop out of a game, and write something down - say a password for the game you're playing, important tid-bits to remember the next time you play, etc.

Possibly the biggest and best feature will be the eShop, launching in May. There will be a lot of content to be downloaded from there, and once you get into the eShop, you also will want to download the free web browser. With the multitasking capability of the 3DS, you can check the web for info that might help you in your game.

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