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I was also told that a few people that bought illegally the discs were playing them in Xbox Live online. The next day, I was told, federal agents presented themselves to the persons house along with a security officer from the Microsoft Manufacturing Facility. They arrested at least one person and interrogated him as to how he had obtained the illegal copy. This was the rumor. It sounded like a story we have heard thousands of times.

Today while I prepared for my Gaming Update in El Circo Mega 106.9fm, I spoke with our news department and they contacted the press offices for the FBI and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They neither confirmed, nor denied that there was an investigation in progress for theft at the Microsoft Manufacturing Plant.

Once I went on air about this rumour and the answer I got by the federal agencies I received a call from one of our listeners that confirmed the rumour. This person told us that a young man bought the original copy of Halo Reach from somebody in the street, went to work the next day and while at work his little brother logged in to Xbox Live and played the game online. The next day the agents and the security officer showed up at his doorstep and confiscated Microsoft’s property. The young man was also asked to name the person that sold him the disc (or as the agents put it: “tell us who sold it to you or you will face the full extent of the law and we will hold u totally responsible for these acts”) I have been told also that there is a total of 100 original copies of Halo Reach in the streets of Puerto Rico.

We spoke with a Microsoft Press Official in Puerto Rico and they said to have no comments on the matter for now.

An anonymous source inside the FBI confirmed the investigation to our news department in El Circo de la Mega 106.9 FM. This is a rumour, no more.

In most of the western world the actions of the Iranian Government are often met with skepticism. Foreign governments get an uneasy feeling when Iran opens a nuclear facility, fearing it might lead to a nuclear arms program that would be an international threat.

Aside from nuclear issues, Iran has gained a bad reputation for censoring the public in its own country. These censorship issues reached new highs last year during the election protests, where the Government went as far as cutting citizens’ Internet access.

For copyright holders worldwide, the Iranian Government poses a significant threat. The country’s copyright law is set up to protect all copyrighted works produced by Iranians, but not those by creators from other countries.

Since 2001 Iran has been a member of the WIPO, and has acceded to several WIPO intellectual property treaties. However, the Iranian Government never signed the WIPO copyright treaty and other international copyright agreements that would make copying of foreign products unlawful.

This means that Iranians can share movies, music and applications as much as they like, as long as the copyright is not owned by an Iranian. In fact, even Government agencies actively help to distribute these works among the public, most notably the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST).

From a publicly accessible FTP-server Iranian citizens have free access to a wide range of software, including multiple versions of Microsoft Office (97 to 2010) and Adobe’s Photoshop (5.5 to CS3). All the ‘pirated’ files come complete with serials, cracks and keygens and can be downloaded for free.



To make the search for new warez even more convenient, all the files are neatly categorized in folders. Those looking for image editing software should take a look in the ‘Graphics’ folder which includes Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere and dozens of other titles.

Iranian web-designers should definitely take a look in the ‘Web Design’ folder, and the ‘Multimedia’ folder is of interest to those looking to play, burn or convert video and audio files. TorrentFreak’s personal recommendation is the ‘Screensaver’ folder, which includes beautiful waterfall and aquarium animations.

Again, all of this is perfectly legal to download, for Iranians at least. Luckily Iran is full of bright and young people who are eager to learn but don’t always have the means to pay for software. For some of them free software is the path to a better life for them and their families

Throughout the last decade, the console continued to get new games — from licensed developers in Japan and homebrew developers in the West.

At the recent Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany, developer RedSpotGames had Dreamcast demo kiosks placed proudly between the Xbox 360 and the Wii demo kiosks.

RedSpotGames has published Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles, a puzzle game developed by a Costa Rica-based studio, in 2008 and Rush Rush Rally Racing, a top down racer, last fall.

Other developers and publishers continue to work on Dreamcast titles. Even in 2010, when we are well on into the console lives of the current gen, the Dreamcast keeps on keeping on. Dreamcast games have found a home on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as games are hitting the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this fall.

The Dreamcast's pulse is faint, but make no mistake, the console is still alive.