It may seem like a timely process, but software can quickly hasten the process and if you’re willing to pay $10-$20, you can buy hardware which will further minimise the needed time.

You must initially decide how you will input your possessions into whatever software you choose to own. Naturally, you can input the product’s details but this can be timely. Other options are to buy an inexpensive barcode scanner or some software even allows you to utilise your webcam as a barcode scanner.

With regards to software, there are options for every platform.

The de facto official cataloguing software for OS X has to be Delicious Library. Delicious Library allows you to search Amazon for items, through keywords, barcodes, titles, authors, directors etc., and then import the data, including the current price used versions sell there, straight into the software. Items can then be displayed in a number of ways, including an aesthetically appealing ’shelf’ mode which shows the picture of each item on a shelf and is at the item’s size. One can also rate items inside the software. Supported input modes are typing, scanning barcodes with the iSight camera (to varied degrees of success) or using their Bluetooth barcode scanner (which costs over $100!). It also allows libraries to be shared over a local network. It costs $40.

MediaMan is similar software for Windows. It too grabs data off Amazon, displays it in a ’shelf’-like view. It supports USB barcode scanners and webcams too. It works on XP and Vista, and also costs $40! Basically, it’s like Delicious Library for Windows!

GCStar is free and open-source cataloguing software, for Linux, BSD, OS X and Windows. The software can grab data from a host of sources.

I use a CueCat Barcode Scanner, which when modified works with all of the above software. It simply converts barcodes into keystrokes. You can pick one of these up for around €10, but ensure it’s modified or it won’t work.

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There are two problems with movies and games alike, the first is that I think both are way overpriced (although games more so), the second, what if you try it and you don’t like it? First of all, it’s difficult to decide if you don’t like a movie until you actually finish it. With games this is a bit easier, but the ending can make or break a flick completely. In this case if you don’t like the film you probably wouldn’t buy it, although you did see it through to the end, so this is a bit unfair for the publisher. However, this would spur movie makers to make better stuff, since their income relies on people liking their stuff, at least more than it does now.

So do you think this business model would work? I think that it could in the long run. The problem is that many customers would consider this to a be a free ride, and wouldn’t think about the future quality they may get from paying now. If combined with a lower price I think the demand would be very high and could be as lucrative, or even more so than the standard model, what do you say?

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Companies seem to cling to those schemes although it has been proven that they are not helping fight software piracy. Games are usually available without copy protection on the Internet before or soon after they are released. This essentially means that someone downloading those games does not have to cope with installation limits and other copy protection schemes like CD checks while the people who bought the game do.

It was common in the past that customers had to call the game company or publisher if they reached their installation limit in order to have it reset so that they could install the game again.

EA, a company that made and is making heavy use of such copy protection schemes, has released a portable tool for Windows systems called EA De-Authorization Management Tool which will automatically scan a computer system for selected EA games and notify the user about the number of authorizations available.

The computer software program will recognize many of the latest games that have been released by EA. Among them Crysis Warhead, Read Alert 3, Fifa Manager 09, Fifa Soccer 09 and Mass Effect. A website will be loaded after the scan informing the user about the results of the scan.

The results will include links to de-authorization tools for supported EA games if they have been found on the computer system. Downloading those tools will then make it possible to free up a slot so that the game can be installed again.

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You have to move people between cities and move goods like oil and coal between the relevant industry. This probably sounds easy, but it is strangely fun!

The game requires the user to have a copy of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, as it relies on that game’s data for graphic files. If you have lost your copy, a bit of googling should return a few copies.

The game is highly extensible and users can modify vehicles, add and make maps (some available ones are real-life, such as one of the Boston metropolitan area or of the UK) and add new types of vehicles. These modifications and maps are on the OpenTTD Forum.

The default vehicles are planes, helicopters, hovercraft, ships, trucks, buses, railways, electric railways, monorail and MagLev train. The vehicles available, and the models of them, vary as the game progresses – you obviously can’t have a supersonic jet in 1950!

OpenTTD can also be played multiplayer over a LAN or Internet. This is a nice thing to play with a friend whilst bored.

The game isn’t very challenging; you can easily go from a balance of -€200,000 to hundreds of millions in green figures in about 50 in-game years. Yet, it remains fun. Online gaming is much more challenging.

It can be played on all major operating systems and developmental ports exist for portable devices like PocketPCs and Nintendo DSs!

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Probably as disturbing is the fact that it is possible to overcome the problem by changing the date of the system to one prior to January 28. If this was supposed to be some kind of protection it was more than useless considering that the system data is checked for the data and not some server on the Internet.

It does look more like a blunder of someone forgetting to renew the certificate for the game. That again leaves the question unanswered why the game needs a certificate in first place.

No word yet on the piracy front but bets are 10:1 that the pirated copies of Gears of War are working just fine. If you bought the game you can either change your system date or wait for an official patch which is said to be out soon. Epic Fail so to speak..

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WOW Addons extend the functionality of the game by displaying new information, functions or visuals. One problem that World of Warcraft players run into regularly is that addons will stop working after game updates.

The options for non working WOW addons are to disable them for the time being or to search for an update on the Internet. This has become a lot easier with the World of Warcraft Updating System.

The WOW Addons updater will automatically scan the World of Warcraft installation. The software will then query a database and check the version of each installed addon with the version on the server. It will furthermore download and install all newer addons automatically.

The software can also be used to backup and restore WOW addons easily.

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Of course, as gaming companies have gotten smarter, so have the gamers. Gaming piracy is still rampant on the Internet and torrents are one of the fastest ways a person can get hold of a pirated game. In fact, TorrentFreak recently released their list of the top 10 most pirated games of the year, which made for some interesting reading.

At the top of this unofficial list is Electronic Arts’ Spore. The game has been downloaded 1.7 millions times since it was released in September. The top position can be attributed to the game’s ridiculous DRM, which allowed a user who purchased a legitimate copy to install the game only three times. Spore also holds the distinction of being the most downloaded torrent on Piratebay for a full week, a rare feat for a game.

Other games released this year that have made it to the list include Fallout 3 (#8), Far Cry 2 (#9), and Pro Evolution Soccer (#10). The second to the seventh positions on the list are occupied by older games like the Sims 2, Crysis, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, etc. In most cases, these games were available on torrent sites well before their actual release.

The general trend in gaming piracy seems to be greater the copy protection, the more chance a game will be pirated. Price is also an issue that encourages piracy. If I’m paying $50 for one game, I wouldn’t want to have my gaming experience restricted in any way. Another factor that promotes piracy is that games are often not released worldwide at the same time. So while a U.S. resident gets first crack at a game, the same title may only be available for purchase to someone across the world after some months.

Ironically, piracy can sometimes be used as an indicator of a game’s popularity. Almost all of these games occupy a position in the ‘best-selling games list’ released by Amazon. What do you think of the top ten games on the list? Is there a game you expected to see on it? What would you like gaming companies to do to ensure that games don’t get pirated? Let me know in the comments.

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AssaultCube

AssaultCube is a quite simple 3D FPS available for Linux, OS X and Windows, which just reached version 1.0 about a week ago. The graphics are not very advanced, but a benefit of this is that it’s easier to run a server and that it can run on nearly any machine.

The best aspect of AssaultCube is the online play; there’s always a few busy servers available where one can play capture the flag, deathmatches or variations on those modes. AssaultCube is limited to seven weapons: sniper rifle, assault rifle, handgun, grenades, knives, shotgun and submachine guns.

Maps can be created for AssaultCube quite easily.

Sauerbraten

Sauerbraten is an FPS built on the same engine on which AssaultCube is built but has much more sophisticated graphics and is built in a fantasy world as opposed to a real one.

In Sauerbraten, weapons include crossbows, guns and rocketlaunchers. This is definitely a more interesting variety than AssaultCube! Once again, CTF and deathmatch are popular game modes.

The game notably lacks a crouch mechanism and struggles to run at higher resolutions on my MacBook Pro. However, it is an amazing open-source game with many fantastic maps.

Once again, Sauerbraten is orientated towards online pay but the CPU games are much better than AssaultCube’s.

Interestingly, the game can also be played as a 3rd person shooter!

Nexuiz

Nexuiz is an FPS with quite fictional weapons, like electricity guns etc. The game clearly belongs in the realms of fantasy, being set on a space station where one must shoot aliens.

I find the game difficult to play. Movement is far too fast compared to Cube engine games and it really does require quick reflexives.

The game isn’t smooth either. Before a game starts, there’s a text-only screen telling me what is loading etc. and the menu at the start looks terrible, especially at my screen resolution.

It’s still a fantastic game to play, however.

AssaultCube

Sauerbraten

Nexuiz

Needless to say there’s scores of other good games, these are just my favourite free (as in beer and freedom) shooters.

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Those players would probably prefer a way to display the time directly in games. Applications that can do that are limited to a handful. One of the better solutions is to use the free software Xfire which is some sort of Instant Messenger for gamers. It’s like Steam in many aspects as it provides access to a chat and the installed games even when playing a game.

One of the features of Xfire is that it displays the time in the screen overlay. The feature can be activated by pressing the chat hotkey while playing the game. This opens up the time and other interfaces. Don’t worry, everything can be closed so that only the time remains on the screen. Once the overlay has been activated each element of it can be moved around the screen.

Move the time to a location where it does not interfere with the gameplay. A corner at the bottom is usually a great spot.

Click in the tiny pin to pin the time to that location. Now close the main overlay again. Everything that has not been pinned will be closed again leaving only the time on the screen.

Xfire requires registration before the features become available which is a nuisance. Does anyone know of a better application or way for the purpose? Let us know in the comments.

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This first plans were watered down after the Internet community noticed the plans and the regular checks on the Internet were canceled. Gamers were still not pleased with several other aspects of the protection such as forcing them to have the game DVD in drive and only allowing them to reinstall the game three times before they had to contact EA to be able to install the game again.

The release of Spore saw some heavy protests which concentrated on pushing bad ratings of Spore on the Amazon.com website. The game has currently been reviewed by nearly 2400 customers of whom 2133 have rated it with the worst possible rating.

This protest seemed to have an effect on Electronic Art’s decision – according to online gaming portal IGN – to ease up on the DRM of the upcoming Red Alert 3 game.

The maximum amount of installations before having to contact EA was raised to five and the DVD is no longer required to be in the drive to play the game. While that does not meet the demands of gamers worldwide who want the games that they purchase to be on pair with the games that can be downloaded from P2P sources.

Buying the game would mean to pay money for it, to be restricted in the number of installations and face the hassle of contacting EA whenever the maximum number is reached, to have a resident program on the computer that wont play the game if certain software is installed on the PC, that might stop working in the future because of closed activation servers. It does on the other hand come with a manual (most game manuals cannot be really called that these days), a box and the knowledge that the developers and publishers have been paid for their work.

The guys who download the game from the Internet do not pay a dime for it, get the manual as a PDF as well, get a game that they do not have to activate online, a game that they can install as often as they want and a game that does not install the resident software. It is however illegal to do that.

The problem that arises for gamers who know about DRM is that they feel cheated. They pay money for the game but get the “bad” version while the downloaders can enjoy a hassle free game.

The whole story feels more like a “Oh god they are protesting so much, let us throw a bone at them and maybe they stop protesting”. Is that bone enough? Definitely not. Will the DRM stop the game from being pirated? Definitely not.

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While that is not that difficulty it could be a problem for inexperienced users. Flash games can usually be found in the browser’s Internet cache. There are also many programs and browser plugins that can download them right away.

Once the flash games are stored on the computer system’s hard drive they can be added to FlashOffliner. A click on Create New FlashOffliner Package opens a windows that might confuse some users at the beginning.

The whole process of adding web games to FlashOffliner can be broken down into two steps. The user picks a swf files in step one from his hard drive that he wants to add and selects a destination for that file in the second step. It is a good idea to store all web games in the same folder to be able to keep an overview of the games.

Once a web game has been converted into the FlashOffliner format it has to be added to the application. This is done by clicking on the Install FlashOffliner Package link. The user simply has to pick the file that he just converted from his hard drive.

Every game that has been added this way can then be started from the system tray. One interesting feature is the option to set the game size. Available sizes range from 400×300 to fullscreen.

The advantage of using FlashOffliner over executing the flash games separately is twofold. The application provides easier access to the games from the Windows system tray. It also offers the option to set the window size of the web game.

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The process should work on other Valve games like Counterstrike Source as well. The requirements are a picture with a resolution of 256×256. That’s the biggest possible logo size, it is possible to use a smaller size like 128×128 or 64×64 but 256×256 seems to work best in most cases. The only other requirement is a software program called VTFedit which turns the image into a file format that can be imported into the game.

It is a good idea to start by preparing a few images that you want to turn into Team Fortress 2 sprays. Start VTFedit and File > import one of the images that you have created. Importing an image loads the VTF Options screens automatically. The only parameters that need to be changed during first usage are the Texture Type which has to be set to Volume Texture. The other parameters are optional, you do get good results if you use the same settings that are shown in the screenshot. A click on OK creates the new texture.

Now select File > Save As from the top menu and save the newly created file in the Steam \steamapps \username \team fortress 2 \tf \materials \VGUI \logos folder. You might need to create the VGUI and logos folder if they do not exist.

The last step is to import the Team Fortress 2 sprays in game which can be done in the options.

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Game Key Revealer supports more than 500 popular computer games from well known publishers like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, THQ and Lucasarts. The game key of games like The Sims 2, Call of Duty, Crysis or Far Cry can be revealed if the game is installed on the system.

That’s another handy application which might serve well if you cannot read the game key printed on the CD case or do not have the CD case at all anymore, only the game CD. Game Key Revealer is fully portable and can be executed from any location on the computer.

Once started the user is presented with a huge Find Games button which crawls the computer for game keys. Every game key that is discovered during the process is listed in the main pane of the application. The list can be saved or printed after the scan.

Supported operating systems are Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 / 2007.

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There are some resources however, so I’ve put together this list of the best sites to find free (and commercial) applications and more:

Mosh

Nokia’s portal for free apps, games, audio and images. Accessible from your phone and computer. It has a pretty rubbish selection of applications, but if you’re looking for some semi-decent free games then Mosh has quite a few.

Symbian Freak

Symbian Freak provides news and downloads for Symbian phones. It actually has one of the best selections of freeware, some of the applications are even useful! If I had to recommend one resource is would be this.

Symbian Freeware

If you filter through all the crap you might find some decent downloads in here.

Nokia Beta Labs

Actually fair bit going on in here; a number of apps which are coming out of development are worth taking a look at.

Nokia Download!
Download! is another Nokia Portal for free and paid applications. There are few apps here, not a huge amount, hopefully Nokia has some plans to improve this aspect of their products.

My Symbian

Forums and download directory, fair bit here if you browse through.

Dot Sis

Hang out on these forums and you’re likely to find a whole lot of games and apps. If you can be bothered registering =P

Carbide

Carbide.ui is software to create user interfaces for your Symbian device. Easy to use, great for making custom themes.

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It is obvious that game developers cannot give credit to warez groups even if their cracks are the perfect solution and that’s probably the reason why no credit was given.

It’s nevertheless highly hypocritical to ban forum members at the official Ubisoft forum for posting links to no-cd cracks while using one of those to fix a game.

I like no-cd cracks because they simplify the gaming experience. I do not have to pick and load a CD or DVD every time I want to play a game and it also saves me from hassles with copy protections.

You can read up on the story at Torrentfreak, Slashdot and the official Ubisoft forum. Props that they have not deleted the topic but only locked it.

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