In a world where virtual gaming crimes are starting to carry real world consequences people are starting to understand what serious business online games really are. Serious enough that if you delete someones character or trick them out of their l33t raid gear you could face real life repercussions and even prison sentences. Still these cases can usually be laughed off being the exception and not the norm as far as online worlds go, or so I thought.

Apparently the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority feels differently as they recently granted MindArk, the makers of Project Entropia and now the brains behind the Entropia Universe MMO status as an official bank.

Entropia has already gained a great deal of attention for being a leader in the craze of real world currency MMO's, another example being Second Life, where players can make and exchange game money (Entropia's PED) for real money at a fixed rate of exchange. With more then 820,000 registered users that works out to millions of transactions every year.

While the lure of being able to make money by playing video games is certainly a draw for some, actually being able to make a profit while having to invest money to level and equip your character takes a level of commitment that rivals that of a real job, with a less consistent payout rate.

On the one hand, since these types of games are dealing with real money, Entropia's bid to be recognized as a legal financial institution is actually pretty noble in a way. Since the virtual bank will now be regulated by “strict European banking regulations” players should be freed of some of their concerns about the safety and legitimacy of their earned money. The deposits they make will now be guaranteed by the national government (of Sweden).

Still the idea of an in-game bank having such an impact on the real world doesn't sit too well with me. The games rate of inflation is at such a ridiculous amount, (Entropia made it into the Guinness World Records Book twice for selling the most expensive virtual world objects ever), that it seems like granting MindArk true banking status only makes it easier for them to rip people off in the long run.

While the game is free to download and start playing, users have said that continual deposits are required to really get anywhere as far as gameplay is concerned. The average cost a few years ago was about $1.50 per hour of gameplay.

Should the government really be giving this much legitimacy to virtual worlds?What do you guys think, is this the next Ponzi scheme waiting to happen? Anyone got Bernie Madoff's phone number?

The BBC is reporting that a computer and video game website, Awomo, has discovered a means of allowing people to jump right in and start playing their digital download games before the download is finished. Think of it as the iTunes of the video game world.

Essentially the core files have been separated and are downloaded first which allows you to fire up the game while the remaining files sip coffee and continue downloading in the background.

This is great news for those of us who hate waiting for anything at all, ever. I would've thought us American's would be the first to take the need for instant gratification in game buying to the next level, but I guess those crazy Brits are every bit as impatient when it comes to their Tomb Raider.

Though I'm not a big fan of digital downloading, Awomo site manager, John Houlihan has assured the BBC, "that will also change over time."

He adds that the nostalgia of physically buying and owning a game is still very prevalent in the minds of many gamers, but that the future of gaming ultimately lies in digital downloading. This is good news to my media shelves, but bad news to my compulsive collecting disorder. How can I feel like I own something if it only exists in my computer? I get shaky just thinking about it.

In the meantime don't get your hopes up too high for super-fast downloads of your entire gaming wishlist as the developers have explained that not all games can be broken up this way and the process to decide if they are possible candidates can be a bit lengthy.

I have to admit, my first thought when reading the article was that if I started downloading and playing a game that was crap I would be able to quit the download before it had fully asserted itself on my hard drive. I can't count the amount of time I've wasted downloading or installing games and all their updates only to have to turn around and promptly remove them due to suckage.



Of course there was no mention in the article if you'd be able to return the unused portion of your digital download for a partial refund at digital gamestop, but I guess that technology is still a few years down the line.

On Tuesday four more sword wholesalers were publicly shamed to the tune of $600,000 by Japanese juggernaut Square Enix, for selling unlicensed gunblades based off the Final Fantasy franchise. This settlement comes riding the coattails of a similar one against four other replica dealers, who were also fined and who subsequently released a prepared statement designed as much to invoke fear as to stroke Square's already massive ego:

"We regret having sold unauthorized replica merchandise based on the Final Fantasy franchise to our customers. We would not have begun importing and selling these swords if we knew that Square Enix would respond so aggressively to stop us. We will never make this mistake again."

I love the verbage of this quote. As if the wholesalers were genuinely surprised that Square Enix would actually find out or care that they were completely ripping off their brand. Its like a kid apologizing for stealing cookies. He's not sad that he stole, he's upset that he got caught and really that's what the statement boils down to. Bascially it summarizes to "Oh snap, we won't do that again."



The timing of the suits falls perfectly behind the unveiling of Square's Americanized webstore which currently doesn't offer much in the way of scale gunblade replicas, but I'm sure will at some point at a "collectors" price that is sure to keep away all, but the most hardcore fans. Most who likely already have an inferior quality blade from one of the pirate vendors.

Naturally Square follows this with their own statement about how they are trying to keep a certain standard of content available to their customers (I can hear teeth grinding over this one), which is why they had to put a stop to the mass production of these infringing harbingers of death.

Now don't get me wrong, Square has created one of the most bad ass and completely impractical weapons of all time and should be allowed to milk it for all they can. If I'd come up with anything half as cool I'd be madder then a bag full of cats if someone else was making money off of it without my consent still it makes me a little sad that should I get a hankering for a full scaled gunblade to hang on my wall I'm SOL for the time being. I'm sure these little beauties will still be making their way through ebay for a time so if you're serious about needing one of these things for decor or recreational purposes



better pick one up now.