Although people tend not to take in serious the real health and psychological effect that computer games may produce, these might really cause different aggressive reactions especially among the youth. It is already known that many children around the world suffer vary social problems, from communication ones to more serious problems, including violent reactions.

Violence in computer games can also produce many different psychological problems, like mania, dependence and plenty violent and aggressive temperaments. For instance, games which include fights, warriors or similar actions can easily affect children’s behavior. In such cases, parents should be very preventive while purchasing a computer for their kids and educate them upon its usage.

Few of the most popular computer games risks include low social integration and much more serious problems like autism. Thus, a kid who cannot detach from everyday gaming for sure has a pretty high predisposition towards the problems mentioned above. Still these kinds of problems can easily be met among the youngsters, not only among the small children.

There are also people who spend their whole time playing different kinds of games which transform them in gaming-dependants or maniacs who pass away the everyday important things like going to school, learning or especially meeting their friends. As mentioned at the beginning, both the children and the youngsters do not realize how dangerous these computer games are.

There is no wonder how many kids and young people tend to arouse personal conflicts because of a computer game confrontation, saying that virtual fights can easily produce real ones. Apart from this, many psychologists affirm that a virtual space (for instance, a game) is what a man needs in order to stage what he or she really is.

More exactly, this affirmation refers to the fact that although we tend not to take in serious a computer game (or any kind of electronic game) confrontation, the way we behavior while playing it is what we truly are. So, there is not just this excuse of a virtual space in which we are just playing without involving serious affects, but also a real space which is able to demonstrate us the way we really are, with all of these violent reactions, aggressiveness, irritations and so on.

For sure, there are many who do not agree with such opinions, but at least they should think about the way they really act while playing a computer game, more exactly they should ask themselves simply why people react in such ways if finally “it is just a simple game”.

In conclusion, there is to say that a computer game which includes vary kinds of confrontations, fights or any other violent actions, it isn’t including just these things, but also more real, serious and personal involvements.

For decades, extortion for money has been a powerful weapon for the Italian mafia to shakedown successful bussinesses and underworld operations. These extortions were legendary and such powerful images have been implemented in the American collective psyche through the popular gangster movies. Nowadays, mafia criminals wearing dark suits , glasses and threats of bloodshed are not a reality anymore. Due to the powerful Internet medium we are dealing with a new style of gangsterism, not quite visible but more powerful than in the past. This new-style  involves extortion of gambling websites carried out in the cyberspace by very powerful human forces, communicating demands all over the globe.

This is the case of the Russian mafia, extorting gambling websites of millions of dollars, hacking the websites and shuting down operations. Once a site is inoperable, the extortionists contact the website owners to ask for money. As a result, the afraid customers will place bets on rival gambling sites and produce great losses for a certain website owner. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, Internet has emerged a popular multi-billion dollars industry and we are facing a new type of gambler, who preffers to stay  at home, in front of the computer instead of traveling to Las Vegas to wage bets. This kind of gambler will place online bets  to worldwide casinos.

Mafia criminals use software tools to hack into websites of online gambling, corporate bussiness and financial institutions, ripping off millions of dollars in what is becoming an increasing global epidemic. According to the law enforcement agencies there is an increasing number of reports of organized criminal gangs carrying out denial-of-service (DOS) attacks with the intention to blackmail online gambling and ecommerce websites. These attacks have seriously affected the online casinos, who rely on their Worldpay system for their transactions and payment services.

DK Matai of MI2G, which monitors unauthorized computer hacking has reported criminal syndicates operating  from Russia and Eastern Europe having targeted online payments systems, mostly belonging to gambling sites. Technically, DOS attacks involve flooding a website with malicious traffic and exhausting the servers with false requests, resulting a great number of  frustrated customers who will leave for a competing website. Most of this criminal attacks come from Russia, Eastern Europe and recently Brasil, countries with  a high level of programming talents and  this is possible mainly because of the lacking cyberlaws and government monitoring. In the given conditions, a good Internet connection with some basic hacking knowledge and DOS tools will make this quite an easy task.

These kind of actions produce a huge damage for the global economy with both denial-of-service and productivity losses. Such criminal actions are closely watched by the FBI  and the Britain`s Hi-Tech National Crime Unit (NCU) but a real evaluation of this situation is being hindered by the refusal of the victims to report the threat, as it might seriously put them to risk.

For many PC games, a specialized game controller can provide you superior and more accuracy, even if in a FPS game, the accuracy of the keyboard and mouse can’t be surpassed. These PC gaming controllers are similar to that kind of Playstation or Xbox controllers offering you an incredible gaming experience.



For example, if you like flight simulator games, you certainly need to achieve a Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. For only $65, you can buy this joystick which, even if lit acks some high-end features, is an affordable and competent flight stick. You certainly will love this joystick because it will offer you smooth responsiveness and great force feedback. A unique feature of this controller is that it is able to switch the orientation for left and right-handers. It is easily to use and connect to a PC via USB. This joystick is excellent for a gamer which doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on high-end technology PC gaming controllers.



In our days, almost all gamepads feature feedback and the same number of keys placed in the same spot, so one of the most important factors in choosing a new gamepad is the personal preference. Here we present you the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad. At a price of $35, this gamepad comes with a very comfortable design and a switchable analog stick and D-pad so you can use it like an Xbox 360 or a Playstation 3 controller. Why it is so special? Well, the most attractive feature of this gamepad is that you can create different layout profiles for your favorite games. This gamepad has many other features like Precision Control and a special function which configures the buttons for a first-person shooter game (FPS).



If you love the racing games, you certainly need a Logitech G25 Racing Wheel. According to the customers, the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel can satisfy any gamer, offering everything you expect from a racing game controller.  Anyway, like all PC gaming controllers, this wheel controller can be connected to a PC via USB and is quite easy to use. Armed with 900-degree turn capability, great force feedback, leather wheel cover, clutch and six-gear shifter, the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel is capable to offer you impeccable gaming experience and makes the driving time seem so real. Because it has the best force feedback on the market, the G25 is made of durable metal components which offer a great resistance. Being one of the best racing controllers, the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel is available at a price of $225, a price which is not very affordable for everyone.



For those ultimate gamers we can only recommend the ultimate PC gaming controller, NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro. With an estimation price of $100, this controller is capable to offer you more realism and total game immersion. But what this controller exactly do? The NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro is composed of two devices: an infrared device which you need to connect to a hat or an earpiece and a special sensor which you need to set above your monitor. These two devices sense your head movements allowing you to zoom, change views or perform other functions during your gaming experience.

Serious gamers will look for every possible edge over the competition, and a high-quality gaming mouse can result in huge benefits. There is a lot of benefits that a mouse could bring to you, like: more buttons than you can count, something to get the heart of the matter well done, a glow to rival the sun. One of the most important benefits that a mouse can bring is DPI. Next you'll inform you about this important aspect in gaming.



Highest DPI (Dots per inch) possible: DPI for mice means how many points in a square-inch you can get a click of at. Higher DPI with mice is always better. A not so high DPI mouse will move the mouse pointer on the screen further the same movement of the physical mouse on the desk campaired to a lower DPI mouse, but at some point if you keep going up on the DPI even the smallest motion will make the pointer move. Far to be useful, you have to find a balance point which is why mouse software now allows you to change a mouse's DPI. Setting a lower DPI means more accurate movement but also slower movement and a higher DPI means faster movement. Its up to you to find what is the right balance point for your self.



If you have a good fine motor control, for sure you'll like a high DPI, but not everyone does. And if the mouse its optical the things are the same. How many dots per inch it can read on the surface? The more dots the more accurate. We know it's counterintuitive but this is actually backwords. Higher DPI on a mouse means faster but less accurate. However, for most accuracy loss is minimal for most mice there today and in the event that you actually do get one that's to high for you, there is usually a setting to make it lower.



One last thing that we want to mention about mouse DPI is referring at the correlation to resolution. Does a high DPI make a big impact on higher resolution? A mouse moves inside the sand box that it is your screen. On a higher resolution setting this sand box is bigger and it is making the mouse take longer to move across it. A higher DPI makes the mouse faster allowing it to move across it faster. So, remember, DPI means precision. A higher DPI means greater smoothness for your mouse movement. For example, in lay-man's terms, with a higher DPI mouse, you have a better chance of landing the pointer on a pixel you want, confronted with a mouse with a lower DPI. You also can stop the sensitivity for average gaming mouses, but you'll lose the precision.You will lose precision for a higher DPI mouse as well, but its not as significant.

Some of my favorite games in the whole world are, were and will always be detective games. Maybe it’s because I loved to read Agatha Christie novels back in high school. The truth is that quite a huge number of people have always been fascinated about murder stories and major theft and other mysterious crimes that only Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot could ever solve. Maybe you will never have the chance to play detective in real life… but that does not mean that you can’t do it in your virtual one...



The Hardy Boys computer games are a great example of a fun activity where you can practice your detective skills. Between you and me, I played each and every single Nancy Drew game that ever appeared. And if you know about Nancy Drew, you have surely heard about the Hardy Boys. Not only have they starred in some Nancy games but they are also the “babies” of Her Interactive and great detective wanna-bees. “The Hidden Theft” is one of the first Hardy Boys computer games as we have got a feeling there are still many more to come.



We don’t know if Nancy Drew was their source of inspiration, but right from the beginning of the game you can tell that these 2 boys love solving mysteries. The central idea, or crime committed in the game, is the theft of security bonds which belong to Samuel Spencer, a rich and rather odd character which lives on a very large estate. The bonds were kept in the personal safe of the man to which only he and his brother new the combination so you can guess who the prime suspect is. Since security bonds can be cashed in by anyone who possesses them, it is important that they are recovered as soon as possible. As the Hardy boys, Joe and Frank love a good mystery they are delighted in taking this case.

If there is something else you have to so in this game besides snooping around, it’s definitely talking to other people. Basically you have to interview every person that you come across in this game because a great part of being a good detective is knowing what questions to ask and when to ask them. You have to pick up items and figure out where to use them to get the desired result. I have not played this game yet but I can tell you that out of all the Nancy Drew games played, I have managed to finish only 1 without using a walk-through. Some puzzles are just… puzzling.



There is no need to worry if your computer or laptop is not exactly the best one around because all this game requires is about 1.5 – 2 GB of free disk space. It needs a unit that runs on at least a 1.4 GHz Pentium 3 processor and which has at least 256 MB of RAM. You need a video card, nothing fancy, just one that is compatible with Direct X 9 and that uses at least 64 MB of video memory and a 16 bit sound which is Direct X compatible.

Even if Toshiba was never thought of as the best laptop manufacturer in the world, it managed to produce some decent models (like the ones from the Satellite series) which sold quite a huge number of machines worldwide. However, I think it’s fair to say that Toshiba has struck gold when it launched the Qosmio series of laptops. This series is composed by some of the best gaming laptops.



The X505-Q850 is probably the best Toshiba gaming laptop simply because it offers performance without having to pay $4000 for the unit, like you do for an Alienware laptop. The starting price for this Toshiba Qosmio laptop is $1499 but if you want a unit similar to the one configured here, you have to pay $1899 to get one. The unit delivers speed and multitasking capabilities with the help of the 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7 720 QM processor and 6 GB of DDR3 RAM. We have seen lots of laptop models with processors and RAM far below the ones we are dealing with here and which can work and run applications at an incredible speed so you can only imagine what this Toshiba gaming laptop can do. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 320 GB and the graphics card is the nVidia GeForce GTS 250M worth 1 GB of video memory. It may not be the best GPU on the market but it can definitely handle some serious gaming.



The 18 inch display is a beauty and it is also one of the first signs that this is a desktop replacement. The other signs of this obvious fact are the dimensions (11.7 x 11.5 x 1.8 inches) and the weight (11.8 pounds). All in all, this laptop may be huge and bulky, but it offers performance for a very decent price. The unit comes with the preinstalled version of the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. When it comes to the selection of ports and features, the Toshiba Qosmio is above what others call “the category average”. The unit comes with 4 USB ports (one of them is actually an USB and eSATA combo port), an SD card reader, a mini FireWire port, an Express Card slot, a HDMI port, a VGA out, an Ethernet port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. You will love the HDMI port especially since it comes with a Blu-ray optical drive which allows you to watch full HD movies straight from your laptop.



Since Toshiba is the name and gaming is the… game, this beauty can handle some top of the line games at acceptable frame rates. It can handle Unreal Tournament III at a 1900 x 1050 pixels resolution and with 60 FPS which is not bad at all. You must never expect great performance levels from a 18 inch desktop replacement which is also a gaming unit. The Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q850 has managed to stay on for 1 hour and 55 minutes on that severe video test that drains the battery. Even if it sound terrible, 2 hours on a gaming laptop is not bad at all.

Games: The Netherlands does not know which way to turn
The Netherlands has entered the list of countries that do not know precisely determine their policy on online gaming. Gambling on the net still remains a social taboo.

The Netherlands has entered the list of countries that do not know precisely determine their policy on online gaming. France has often been mentioned as it has repeatedly stressed the guide for online casinos: www.casinoweb.org. This directory has often wrote papers explaining the many twists to explain his state monopoly and to announce the opening of sites online casinos and online poker players.

The Netherlands was in 2006, through the lower house passed a bill to allow online gaming. But this law had not only the Holland Casino is the French equivalent of the games in the Netherlands. Only the site was legal and all other casino sites that abound on the web were considered outlaws.

The upper chamber of the Netherlands has recently voted against the proposal to legalize online gambling in the Holland Casino. The Netherlands had taken a step forward and two are back by voting against this law. The vote was played on the wire because 37 votes were in disfavor the online gaming cons 35. The Netherlands then return back and all forms of online gambling is now illegal in the country of Gouda. Every Dutchman who played on a casino site online or bluffing a virtual poker room is considered illegal.

Europe is trying to speak as one voice will have trouble being heard because everyone is his own decision without consulting other countries. Brussels is clear in its policy on online games and expects every country to open its market. However, as can be seen with the Netherlands, countries make the decisions they want even taking the risk to alienate the European Commission. The United Kingdom and Malta have clear policies on online games and "whitelist" English gives carte blanche to casino sites, poker or sports on the web on this list. Of course, to be on this list, specific criteria and stringent checks are held for the online player can play without worrying about the reliability of the company behind a banner sports or casino.

It is likely that Amsterdam is called to order by Brussels. Moreover, it is one that fills the Netherlands rejected the games online. ACC 2008 (Casino Affiliate Convention combining the global online games editor's note), held, like every year, in Amsterdam last weekend. All the major casino groups as Euro Partners Cpays, 888, Vendome, etc. are given appointments to meet with the ACC directory of casinos and discuss the evolution of online gaming in the world.

The time that European countries are in tune on free online games, players continue to play on game sites online. Internet is a world without borders and free movement of people, goods and services and the basic foundation of the European Constitution.

The major global provider of innovative treatment solutions in the computing, graphics and markets consumer electronics, AMD  has announced a new and innovative program that was intended to help the election of the consumer computers completely agreed to the last game of high definition - the AMD Game!, combining the balance of powerful processors multidisciplinary basis, exceptional HD digital media processing power and graphics of the next generation, with the intended to simplify the process of determining system requirements for computer game for mainstream consumers.

"With the support of industry leaders in the computer game, the AMD GAME! ensures that consumers do not need a knowledge level of enthusiast computer hardware for an optimal gaming system, "said Nigel Dessau, vice president and senior marketing officer Chief , AMD."We in the computer industry owe consumers the same predictability, simplicity and affordability in finding a computer to play the console industry currently provides."

In addition, AMD has teamed with industry leaders including Acer, Alienware, Logitech and Microsoft to help built computer configurations that are optimized for all types of users.

"AMD and Microsoft share the vision of delivering a better experience playing on the running of computer operating systems of Microsoft Windows," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Microsoft's Games for Windows. "The program and AMD are both working to expand the accessibility and playing ease of use for consumers. Games for Windows titles and playing material from Microsoft, with AMD PLAY! initiative, are great examples of how we can bring more value to PC gamers across the industry. "

"AMD GAME! is a major initiative that will help Acer to drive consumers toward the best solution for their playing, "said Brian Bogaard, director of business product - the computer EMEA, Acer."The computer game is an important area for Acer and with the help of AMD, we can meet the expectations of consumers with an experience playing strong."

"We are pleased to see growing interest in computer game and now AMD adds much needed program to help continue this trend," Patrick Cooper, director of product group, Alienware. "The AMD Thurs! Experience enables Alienware to quickly and easily help consumers identify the experience that is right for them and the high performance Alienware solution that delivers. "

According to the company, "AMD PLAY! systems combine proven AMD technology including AMD Phenom processors, forthcoming AMD Turion processors Hyper AMD Athlon processors, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series graphics and AMD chipsets to deliver an improved and simplified the traditional computer playing the Experience". AMD's  game platform is available online and retail is available since the second half of 2008

Game video online at the foot of the Christmas tree, then it is the rapid drift in the virtual teenager blossomed. Faced with this nightmare scenario, European companies are alarmed a new "disease" for which the therapeutic means are lacking.



More Online Games - According to a recent study published in Germany and Britain in 2007, more than a regular player in ten shows signs of addiction. Even if these practices more excessive concern Asia, where the culture of online gaming is widespread, experts believe in France as in Germany than 1% to 2% of players' games massively multiplayer online (MMO) simulation games endlessly, have a practice of pathological nature, with a negative impact on their social life.

On average, gamers engage 35 to 40 hours per week online games, according to estimates. In France, nearly 60% of players recognize, however, have already played once at least ten hours and 5% reported spending more than 30 hours per week in the virtual world, according to a recent study by the "Rights Forum l 'internet' French agency for regulating the Internet.

It is usually far, however, 50 hours in a row having claimed the life of a compulsive gambler South Korea 28 years in a cybercafe in 2005. According to many experts, the criterion for assessing a pathological practice of online games is not so much the number of hours but the social disruption in reality.

"Unlike the forms of dependency-related substances, addiction to online games is recognized in society as a moral weakness but not as a disease," says Jakob Hein, head of the addiction to the Charity Hospital Berlin.

Yet this addiction "leads to similar problems in families and in the economy" and deserves the authorities treat "on the same level than the others in terms of prevention and intervention, he said. In Germany, the diagnosis of addiction to games is not recognized by health insurance funds, and specialized treatment centers can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

In his study, the German psychiatrist heard parents say they "prefer to see their children play on the internet rather than smoking cannabis. "Most experts agree that it is time to take seriously the issues of Internet addiction," says Professor Jean-Luc Venisse, chief of addiction to the hospital of Nantes.

And "they agree that they are not action games or puzzle games but simulation games, especially multiplayer role-playing (...) MMORPGs that have the highest risk of drift addictive in subjects fragile. These games continue to evolve in the absence of the player who then feel lacking when no longer connected or excluded by the rest of the gaming community.

"World of Warcraft," one of the games most likely to create dependency, more than 9.3 million subscribers worldwide.  This behavioral dependence, which moves slowly, is indicative of some discomfort (academic failure, lack of self recovery, etc. ...). In a parallel universe, players will find a virtual social environment, clear rules and a system of rewards and sanctions that they lack daily.

The phenomenon does not exist only at teens but also at fathers and mothers and the elderly, according to Laurent Baup, Legal Rights Forum on the internet.  When to sound the alarm? "From the moment you begin to wonder, is that we should have reacted long time," said the psychiatrist Jakob Hein. Ironically, it is often on the Internet platforms that parents of problem gamblers seek advice and support.

Mistakenly called videogames, the computer games, wich are in part one of the summits of technology industry, are not having a long history. What we call now the computer games industry, at the beginnings was not even close about an industry in the real meaning. A few early programmers and game designers came up with some ideas which nowadays means the foundation of computer games industry.



All started in 1952, when Alexander "Sandy" Shafto Douglas (a british professor of computer science) wrote in his PhD degree (Doctor of Philosophy) at University of Cambridge about Human-Computer interaction. This was the perfect opportunity for Douglas to creat the first graphical computer game (at that time in Cambridge were one of the only two stored program computer in the entire world). This was a simple where a player could compete against the computer. It was a version of 0X0 (Tic - Tac - Toe). So this is the first step that in the computer games history.

The second step was made after six years from first, in 1958, when William Higinbotham (American physicist) created an computer game called "Tennis for two". Higinbotham also created at Brookhaven National Laboratory an oscilloscope where visitors could play the game. With different mechanics this game has no resemblance to the future games.

The third step came up in 1962, when Steve "Slug" Russell (programmer and computer scientist) invented SpaceWar, considered by many the first game for the computer use. Russell used a PDP - 1 (Programmed Data Processor - 1) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design his game. SpaceWar is a shooter game with animated spaceship on a black and white monitor and two players could play it against each other in order to stay alive. The fourth step was made in 1967 when Ralph Baer (German engineer, known as "The Father of video games") who invent the first game played on a television set. The game was named Chase.

In 1971 the first arcade game was invented. It was called Computer Space and it was based on the SpaceWar, the Steve Russell’s game. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney were those who created it. In 1972 Nolan Bushnell found Atari Computers and in 1973 a new game was created, named Pong, the first commercially video game. Pong was a simple concept, with white rectangles graphics on a black background.

An important step in the computer game history is the Activision appearance, the first company exclusively dedicated to computer games programming. Activision was founded by four ex Atari employees (1979).

In the early computer games history the programmers created only games for more than one player, like SpaceWar and Pong but time from 1977 and 1993 is totally dominated by games for single players like Atari’s “Asteroids” and “Lunar Lander” or Nintendo’s Pac Man, Game Boy, Tetris and Super Mario Bros.

The multi player game reached a huge rate of popularity when Doom (1993) allows for connecting several PC’s for the same time with several players in the same game. We can say with all responsibility that Dome is one of the most influential game ever. Some think that is too violent, but Doom it was making history, leading to a whole genre of games, 3d shooter or first person shooter.