Free Republic

It promises to be the biggest game of Monopoly the world has ever seen. In a 21st century twist on the popular board game, toymaker Hasbro and tech giant Google have made the game available online, allowing players to compete in a worldwide, real-time version of the game. Launched today, Monopoly City Streets uses the Google Maps platform to let users "buy" any street in the world. Once players create an online profile, they receive a handsome -- albeit make-believe -- $3 million to purchase, build and trade in neighborhoods close to home or the farthest-flung cities. The site went...

The Bush administration is moving in its last weeks to complete regulations to enforce a controversial law that seeks to block Internet gambling. The move is drawing hot protests from Democratic lawmakers and supporters of online betting.

A Brussels think-tank has accused the US government of reneging on commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over internet gaming. Panellists at a trade forum levelled harsh criticism at the US, focusing on a burgeoning trade clash between the US and Europe over internet gaming. The forum believes that the US could be liable for up to US$100 billion in trade concessions to European industries after placing illegal discriminatory trade restrictions on European gaming operators. The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding...

The majority of video games out there today are far from great – that’s why we get so excited whenever we find one that’s truly enjoyable. But sometimes a game can be so much fun that we might start ignoring other things – important things like work, school and relationships. Though we’d like to think of this as a healthy love of games, some people might say we have an addiction. If that’s the case, then these are the games we’re most addicted to.

In what is thought to be the first comprehensive, empirical study of online-gambling behaviors, Harvard Medical School's Division of Addictions characterizes a majority of online gamblers' behavior as "moderate," concluding that its findings do not support previously-made claims that online gambling has "an inherent propensity" to cause problem or "excessive" gambling. The study, "Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior," was conducted with the support of the Austrian online-betting group Bwin in order to guide the company in its efforts to implement and promote responsible gambling. As its authors explain, the study responds to...

The US has failed to change legislation that unfairly targets offshore-based gambling websites, a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has ruled. The WTO said the US could only continue to block such websites if its laws were equally applied to US firms that offer off-track betting on horse racing. Shares in UK online gambling firms rose on the news. However, analysts said it was unlikely that the UK firms would be allowed back into the US, a very profitable market. Washington could simply carry out the WTO ruling or lodge an appeal. Also, the WTO has yet to give its...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA--Online gaming has been "the next big thing" for years now, and the success stories are beginning to show their impact on the industry. From Counter-Strike to World of Warcraft, breakthrough games are piling up, increasingly making some form of connectivity a mandatory feature for upcoming products. snip "The entire video game industry's history thus far has been an aberration," Koster told the audience. "It has been a mutant monster only made possible by unconnected computers. People always play games together. All of you learned to play games with each other. When you were kids, you played tag,...

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 84 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (19 gamers) World Of Warcraft (15 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (10 gamers)

One of China's newest factories operates here in the basement of an old warehouse. Posters of World of Warcraft and Magic Land hang above a corps of young people glued to their computer screens, pounding away at their keyboards in the latest hustle for money. The people working at this clandestine locale are "gold farmers." Every day, in 12-hour shifts, they "play" computer games by killing onscreen monsters and winning battles, harvesting artificial gold coins and other virtual goods as rewards that, as it turns out, can be transformed into real cash. That is because, from Seoul to San Francisco,...

Rejoice gaming fans, for the latest new “feature” of Blizzard Entertainment’s smash hit multi-player online videogame World of Warcraft is here! No, it’s not a new Sword of Destruction or Staff of Power—it’s spyware! Yes, unbeknownst to many gamers, World of Warcraft now has an unwanted special feature—a hidden program called “Warden” that snoops gamers’ computers looking for any "unauthorized third-party program" that “enables or facilitates cheating of any type.” According to Greg Hoglund, co-author of "Exploiting Software, How to Break Code," this hidden program opens every process on a gamer’s computer, from email programs to privacy managers, and sniffs...

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean man collapsed and died from exhaustion after playing computer games for 10 days without a proper rest. The 38-year-old man collapsed Thursday as he was playing an on-line game at an Internet cafe in Incheon, west of Seoul. "He was carried to a nearby hospital but declared dead on arrival," a police officer told AFP. The officer said the man had played computer games from morning to night every day and had barely stopped to sleep. In August, a 28-year-old man died in southeastern Taegu city after playing an online computer game for more...

Blizzard faces a lawsuit from Chinese parents, who say World of Warcraft caused the death of their son. In the latest saga over online gaming addiction in China, the parents of a 13-year-old Tianjin boy are suing the makers of World of Warcraft, blaming the game for the death of their son, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. The parents filed a suit against Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday, saying their son jumped to his death while reenacting a scene from the game, the report said. The parents are backed by the anti-Internet addiction advocate Zhang Chunliang. Mr. Chunliang has...

China blocks online gamers from playing for more than 3 consecutive hours By Faye Wang Shanghai. August 23. INTERFAX-CHINA - The Chinese Government unveiled a new system Tuesday to prevent individuals from playing online games for more than three consecutive hours, which must be installed for every online game in the country. "This timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to online games," Kou Xiaowei, Deputy Director of the Audiovisual and Internet Publication Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said during a press conference. The new system, developed under the guidance of the GAPP,...

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 33 gamers playing over 45 different games.

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- Jeremy Chase admits to shaking down his enemies. His Web site advertises extortion, hits and prostitution for a hefty fee.</p> <p>Chase is a mob leader -- but only in the virtual world. He is one of hundreds of players who found the path of lawlessness and deviance too irresistible when "The Sims Online" challenged them to "Be Somebody ... else."</p>

NEW YORK - Jeremy Chase admits to shaking down his enemies. His Web site advertises extortion, hits and prostitution for a hefty fee. Chase is a mob leader — but only in the virtual world. He is one of hundreds of players who found the path of lawlessness and deviance too irresistible when "The Sims Online" challenged them to "Be Somebody ... else." The popular commercial game, where thousands of people interact electronically, is turning into a petri dish of anti-social behavior. And that's raising questions about whether limits on conduct should be set in such emerging virtual worlds, even...

Call it obsessive, compulsive, or just plain crazy. A growing number of Americans are becoming addicted to online gaming. Video games like EverQuest and the recently-released Sims Online are turning real lives upside down. The games allow you to take on an identity in a “virtual” world, and interact with thousands of strangers around the world doing the same thing. In a recent survey of 4000 EverQuest players, 62 percent said they considered themselves addicted. Some are calling it an “underground epidemic.” Hudson, Wisconsin native Shawn Woolley logged in, then logged out -- of life. "He quit taking phone calls,...