Online gaming has long been reliant on powerful Internet connections, especially for professional gamers that cannot miss a second of the action. However, there has long been debate and controversy over which Internet connection is best for online gaming: wired or wireless.

Both have their own advantages, depending on what you are looking for, but one is the overall best and should be used if you are frequently playing online games. If you want to take your gaming to the next level and ensure you don’t have any lags or other similar issues, then read on and find out which one is best.

Mobility:

If you play on a laptop, or if you are on a team where there are a lot of computers being used at once, then wireless Internet is more mobile. This allows you to easily connect a lot of different computers to the Internet at once without the need of extra hardware. However, these connections will take up your bandwidth, so be careful. You may need stronger Wi-Fi to ensure there are no lags.

On the other hand, wired Internet needs hardware for many connections and it is not quite as mobile. But, since wired Internet is not as dependent on the number of connections, it tends to remain more stable. If you are using Comcast Internet for this, then a LAN is important. This is because Comcast Internet tends to work best over a LAN network, as it improves reliability and speeds.

Speed:

In terms of speed, both wired and wireless Internet are theoretically about the same. If you are using 802.11b, then you should be getting around 11Mbps, which is roughly equivalent to wired Ethernet. If you are 802.11a or 802.11g, then you will be getting 54Mbps.

If you have the money for “Fast Ethernet” you should be getting over 100Mbps. It is more expensive then wireless Internet, but there is another major advantage to using wired. As you move away from the Wi-Fi spot, the speed will decrease. With wired Internet, the speed remains stable.

Reliability:

Both wired and wireless Internet can be reliable for online gaming. However, wired Internet is often more reliable, and for many different reasons. With wireless Internet, you have to be close to the Wi-Fi spot to ensure your connection is not dropped or that it does not lose speed. Not only that, but even then you have to worry about wireless interference from the sun, walls, climate conditions and other things that can decrease the Internet’s effectiveness.

With wired Internet, these problems rarely occur. Wireless interference does not affect wired Internet, since it does not rely on using waves to communicate Internet signals with connected computers. Also, since the Internet is directly linked into the computer, there is a much lower chance of the speed decreasing or the signal somehow dropping.

While you do have to check the condition of your wires to ensure they are pristine, as broken or cracked cables can lower reliability, this should not be much of a problem.

Security:

You don’t want your password or username stolen, because then all your hours of online gaming are lost. Imagine building up a character, spending 100 hours or more getting his skills and equipment just right for your playing style, just to have someone steal your password. It’s hard to swallow, so which Internet type is best for security?

Many people will instantly say wired, because it does not have as many weaknesses. This is because wireless Internet is transmitted through the air, so many people assume that it is easier to intercept those waves. This is somewhat true, but the weakness is not as pronounced as many would think.

The truth is that wired is more secure, but the difference between the two isn’t enough to really make a distinction.

Conclusion:

While wireless Internet is newer and often touted as the best type of Internet, you have seen that in many ways wired Internet is superior for online gaming. It has better speed, reliability and somewhat better security.

Wireless Internet is often better when it comes to mobility, but this mobility comes at a price. If you are serious about never lagging and getting the best performance, then it’s best to get out that Ethernet cable and connect your computer to the Internet.

About the Author: This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find internet service providers in your area like Comcast Internet and compare prices on different deals for your mobile broadband needs.

Meon, The Light Quest – Story Line and Game Play:

Professor Tagishaki, from Tokyo Quantum Mechanics institute found new elementary particles in 1997 which he named “Meons.” In this puzzle game, you must solve more than 120 levels to free Meons. Use Prism, Splitter and other various tools to light all the Meons and solve the Light Quest!

It is basically a puzzle game where you have to direct beams of light with the help of objects like Prisms and splitters in order to complete the levels and ultimately free Meons. In a single sentence – ‘Meon is challenging, fun, and addicting.’

Game Features:

- Cute Meons
- Magical musics
- Game Center support, with 29 achievements
- Additive puzzles
- More than 120 levels to solve
- Two challenging modes : Classic and Time Attack

Moreover, this new version of Meon game has updated Graphics for Retina Display. It also features Cute Meons Magical music, Game Center support, with 29 achievements, more than 120 levels to solve Two challenging modes : Classic and Time Attack.

Meon – Video Demo

For all information about Meon (news, trailers…), visit their official site and connect to them on Facebook to be aware of all future updates and releases. Meon is available on Apple Store for free, download and enjoy this brainy game.

This week, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Star Wars Kinect Bundle ranked as the No. 9 best-selling pre-order product at Bestbuy.com. The bundle will include a R2-D2 blue-and-white themed 320GB console, custom Xbox 360 Wireless Controller inspired by C-3PO, white Kinect sensor, Kinect Star Wars game.

The bundle will retail for USD $449.99 (or AUD $599 & NZD $649 in the antipodes). Kinect Star Wars will include motion control functionality to wield a virtual lightsaber, use The Force, pilot a pod racer vehicle or fire guns from an X-Wing. The title will also recognize standard kick and jump functions.

Xbox Kinect Star Wars developers also confirmed that a pod-racing mode based on Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, would be featured in the game.

The game allows players to use gestures to drive pods across intergalactic landscapes, as well as wield light sabers and other powers of The Force.

The Amazon listing includes 23 images of the bundle and the following product feature descriptions:

- Xbox 360 Console: Bring the Star Wars characters you know and love into your living room with this custom R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console with custom sounds.

- Kinect Sensor: Includes the first ever custom white sensor. Immerse yourself into the Star Wars universe with full-body gameplay. Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: Includes custom C-3PO-themed Xbox 360 Wireless Controller.

- Kinect Star Wars game: Enter the Star Wars universe like never before. Use the Force like a Jedi, become a champion Pod Racer, pilot iconic ships and much more.

- Kinect Adventures game: Get off the couch and into the game in a whole new way. You and your friends and family will jump, dodge, and kick your way through 20 pulse-pounding adventures set in exotic locations.

- 320GB Hard Drive: The largest hard drive available on Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Wired Headset, and Xbox LIVE Token for exclusive downloadable content

Also check out our Ultimate Survival Guide To Xbox 360 Kinect [Top 5 Tips For New Users]

Though this interactive gaming bundle won’t be available till this fall, pre-orders have already started and you can’t possibly think of a better way to blow $449, especially if you are a Star Wars fan!

There must be games that are released by developers that don’t even see the light of day due to the cash rich marketers employed by EA Sports. Yet it feels like most game studios are scared to try something new due to the time involved in development and investment needed.

Recently I’ve been playing more indie titles like Stacking, Chime, Echochrome and World of Goo. The low cost involved for me as a consumer lowers the risk that I will feel ripped off once I complete the game. Plus the ideas are new and fresh with stunning graphics. And I’ve found that I’m more likely to buy DLC’s for these smaller titles too, it’s almost like giving the developers a little tip at the end of a meal.

Top 5 Best Unknown/Forgotten Games You Should Play

But it got me thinking. Why are there certain titles destined to become franchises? Why did some of the best games I ever played just die away quietly? I picked my top five gone but not forgotten computer video games and reawakened a desire to see either a follow up or a revamped version on the Xbox Live Arcade or Playstation Network:

In Cold Blood

Released on the Playstation back in 2000, this spy adventure game ticked all the boxes when I first saw it for rental in my local Blockbuster store. I ended up hooked and bought it. Playing as Special Agent John Cord, you attempt to uncover a conspiracy that could lead to war on a global scale.

Featuring robots, EMP mines, puzzle solving and the voice talent of Nickolas Grace and Patricia Hodge, the main draw was the storyline which continually left me surprised.

Black

Hailed at the time for having impressive graphics and sound quality, Black was released by Criterion Games in 2006. Black was a first person shooter where you could destroy your surroundings with the clever use of graphic effects that really helped to immerse yourself into the game. Highly stylised, you play as a Black Ops soldier based in Chechnya and play through several mission based levels. It truly was one of the first FPS to add touches like screen blur when reloading and realistic handling of the weapons you discover throughout the game.

Being able to pretty much destroy everything around me was fun and inventive and my only gripe was the cheating way you could finish the end mission by keeping your distance. All guns blazing I’ve not played a FPS that I’ve enjoyed so much since.

Black 2 was shelved after problems with publisher EA but it is rumoured that Bodycount (Led by Black designer Stuart Black) is Black’s lovechild and is set to up the destruction stakes.

Impossible Mission

First seen on the Commodore 64 then later on the Mastersystem and DS, Impossible Mission is possibly my all time favourite game. The gameplay is simple. You play as a secret agent who must defeat Professor Elvin Atombender by searching a series of rooms and collect puzzle pieces. The pieces form a password which allows you into the room where Atombender is holding out.

It sounds easy but add in a collection of electrified robots, killer orbs and a time limit and this platform game becomes a heart thumping race against time. I loved the digitized speech in the game, from the scream your character makes each time he plummets to his death down a lift shaft to the mocking Professor “Stay a while…stay forever!”, nearly twenty years later and I still get a warm glow thinking about playing this game. I’d hate anyone to make a totally updated version as the original graphics are part of what makes this game great but it would be immense to be able to play on my PS3 or Xbox 360.

Parasite Eve

If you ever played the survival horror role-playing video game Parasite Eve or Parasite Eve 2 then you, like me, probably spend a fair bit of time each year searching for that elusive remake or follow up. PSP owners are lucky to have the chance to play The Third Birthday which reboots the story of Aya Brea but there is no talk yet of bringing out a version for either the PS3 or Xbox 360.

Made by Square before they became Square Unix I am surprised they didn’t churn out a batch more like Final Fantasy, which in my opinion always lacks the charm and cohesive storyline of Parasite Eve.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Ok this one may sound a little off the wall and if you read the storyline it is. Based on the group as the name suggests, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a gem of a game on the Commodore 64 released back in 1985. As you hunted for a murderer on the way to the Pleasuredome, you collected love, pleasure, war and faith in order to become a complete person. Yes really.

It was a fun game that didn’t always make sense and sometimes you walked into a room to search and accidentally switched the lights off rendering it impossible to leave the room and thus ending your game. I must have had much more patience back then as I reloaded the game several times having made this error. And as all of you who ever owned a tape based computer system know could take ages.

I’m sure many people will disagree with my choices or cite other underground games that should have made into franchise status but perhaps the reason I still hold these particular games in high regard is the uniqueness of each of them. Had they gone on to spawn sequel after sequel would I love them quite so much?

Guest Author: This is a guest article by Katherine Bond who works as a Content Manager at Review Centre. Review Centre is a community of real people sharing their product and service experiences.  The website was founded in 1999, and now has over 500,000 reviews, covering 100,000 products and services such as digital cameras, sat navs, and computer games.

If you ever come across a 15-foot tall and pink giant monster on a rampage, jumping and roaming around your city, causing millions of dollars in damage, and seeing the local law enforcement completely powerless in its path of destruction, the last thing you would want to believe is that the monster is just having some fun. But that’s exactly what Zilla is doing in dreamfab’s latest game, Demolition Dash.

The main protagonist of this run ‘n’ jump iOS (iPhone and iPads) game is Zilla, a neat monster whose only desire in life is to properly smash up the world and destroy cities round the globe.

While playing Demolition Dash game by DreamFab, you play as Zilla who has decided to travel around the world to run trough the its most iconic cities, such as Paris, Moscow, and Tokyo etc. You got to use Zilla’s wild roar and different movements to kill enemies and collect points.

You move up in the game levels as you keep destroying different cities and thus keep collecting more and more points. But obviously, the enemies and other hurdles in the city increase with increase in level of the game. But the levels are designed in such a way that they will ensure that you will be at the edge of your seat while playing Demolition Dash.

GamePlay:

In Demolition Dash, you get to choose between 2 game modes — World Rampage mode and Endless mode. In World Rampage mode, the player can go on a destructive mission to search and demolish enemy gangs in various cities. There are 8 major metros in the game with a total of 24 levels in the campaign.

When playing as Zilla, you can run and jump over the enemies to destroy them. The key here is the right combination of speed and jump if you intend to collect as much points as possible. But you have to be careful while jumping though – if the player performs an unsuccessful jump and falls into the pit, then Zilla loses it life. Also everytime an enemy is not roared out of the way, Zilla loses a part of the tail.

In the Endless mode, the player will keep playing as long the Zilla is alive. The idea is to survive as long as possible as the hardness increases pretty quickly. So imagine this mode as an quick-fire round where you need to survive and at the same time try and gather as many points as you can.

Zilla can collect different artifacts to power itself. For instance, the chilli peppers increase the Zilla’s roar radius, by collecting wings Zilla can transform a cuddly little monster to Super Zilla. Red Starts will activate the invincibility mode and turn the Zilla to GodZilla for a short period. There are more such items that can boost Zilla’s powers but we don’t want to spoil your gaming experience by disclosing them all here.

Demolition Dash Game Trailer

iTunes Download Pages: The Normal version for iPhone and iPod can be found here and the HD version for iPad and iPad2 can be downloaded here.

The price for which these awesome games come is pretty reasonable as well – grab this game on your iPhone now at the introductory price of  just 99 cents! So get ready to take a world tour with Demolition Dash game when the top 8 metros of world become the playground of Zilla’s rampage.

Though it is by no means uncommon for user data to be stolen by hackers, this is one of the largest and most high profile online data thefts to come to light. Playstation owners are upset and angry over this escapade ever since PS3 network went down last week!

PSN Accounts Hacked: How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Termed as one of the biggest internet security breaches, a hacker reportedly broke into Sony’s PlayStation video game online network and may have obtained access to personal data of about 77 million users, including credit card information, addresses, user names and passwords.

“We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network,” Sony said in a blog post Tuesday.

In response, the company said it has now turned off both of the services — which weren’t working anyway — and hired a well-known security firm to conduct “a full and complete investigation” into what happened.

Nevertheless, Sony is likely to face questions about when it knew that customer data had been stolen and why it waited so long before issuing a statement.

“They have almost let people believe that it was a harmless problem, when in actual fact they just weren’t telling us that someone might have our information,” a PS3 gamer stated.

“While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility,” Sony said. “If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.“

Now, while a credit card number is not required to set up a PSN account, the information listed above could be used to access bank accounts, so even if you didn’t attach a credit card number to your account, you’re still not entirely free and clear. For now though, just let’s just say your credit card info (minus the security code, per Sony’s statement) and personal data have been compromised.

The company also advised users to change their PlayStation Network passwords as soon as the service is restored. Sony expects to restore services “within a week,” their blog post says.

Sony now advises users to “remain vigilant” and be on the lookout for e-mail, telephone and postal scams. Hackers will sometimes use personal data they have stolen to target users with phishing attacks or try to trick them into handing over further data. If you have attached your credit card to your PSN account and if  are concerned that your account has been compromised then read our guide on how to protect yourself from identity theft.

UPDATE: Sony is saying it may take another day or two to deal with the outages and the Playstation Network will be offline during these two days.

UPDATE2: Sony Admits Massive PlayStation Network User Credit Card Details Theft — 77 million PlayStation network accounts compromised.

It is interesting to note however, that Sony has often had network trouble in the past few months. But today’s outage is seemingly more severe than the other latest problems and expected to take days to get fixed. Infuriated gamers left comments including ‘I hope it’s not related to those hackers. This has got to stop!‘ And another gamer went ahead to comment — ‘Did Anonymous take down Sony’s Playstation 3 network?‘

With so much of chaos associated with the downtime, we are left to wonder if this is a technical muck up with the servers or an attack by the infamous Anonymous hackers, whose attitude towards the Sony/George Hotz legal settlement has been “unforgiven”.

In the mean time, according to PSN’s EU blog, playstation network down time is “the possibility of targeted behavior by an outside party.” Did they mean ‘Anonymous‘ when they said ‘an outside party‘?

But countering this line of thought, Anonymous wrote in a post on its Facebook page: ‘ATTENTION: For everyone coming here complaining about the PSN or inquiring about it, We Do Not Know What Happened. This is not the work of Anonymous.‘

Still no ETA for when services will be restored.

And it turns out that the in-game engine render released for Japan quake relief features Elena Fisher, the journalist from the uber-popular action-adventure/platforming/third-person shooter video games developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console.

The screens show Elena standing around with Drake and Sully. Yep, that’s it. But these screengrabs show evidence to the rumor that Elena is making a return in the upcoming Uncharted 3 video game. This rumor had been going rounds ever since the Elena character’s voice actress Emily Rose mentioned doing work on the series last September.

If you ask us, the character model looks much better than that in Uncharted 2 and we’re really looking forward to how the love story between Drake and Elena takes shape in this third edition of the game. Did you like the look of Elena in Uncharted 3? Let us know your thoughts.

In fact, news is circulating in the rumor-mills that the company that developed the game, Rovio, is taking a serious look into more commercial avenues for the title, including movies. The company has already done a great job with the animation within the product, including a cinematic trailer released on YouTube. But is there enough to this to make for a good story?

Angry Birds Cinematic Trailer [Animated]

Taking this another step further, the folks at Rooster Teeth decided to release a preview of the inevitable: an Angry Birds action movie complete with action trailer. This might be a surprisingly elaborate and hilariously funny spoof but just imagine if it becomes a real movie some day!

Angry Birds: The Movie (Trailer)

But do you think something like Angry Birds could translate well enough to other mediums? Is there a potential story in there worth developing? Honestly, who can watch a whole movie featuring er… darting birds into pigs?

ChatHopper is an online chat service that lets you video-chat with complete strangers while giving you the added ability to also play interactive games! As an extra bonus, it allows strangers to play games against one another without the need of registration. Isn’t that just too cool?

In ChatHopper’s newly added game section random users can challenge each other by playing games through their web cameras. Using only your webcam and hand gestures (without any additional hardware or software), you can participate in cool and interactive hand-guided games.

As soon as you enter the site, it asks you to enable your webcam and mic. Once you enable them, you’ll see yourself displayed in your webcam on one side of the screen. The gaming system will auto-detect any active users who are logged in concurrently and available to play a game with. Once they connect, you’ll see the other user appear in the right side window. Don’t worry if you do NOT like the person (partner) whom you see on the screen. You can easily skip to the next partner by clicking ‘Next’!

As this site connects you to another chat partner who is also connected through web cam, you can see (your partner’s expressions) and hear (your partner’s yay/eek etc) while playing. That kind of interaction simply adds more fun to this new kind of gaming.

Once you’re both logged in with your camera and mic and you both press “Play”, the game starts. Right now, there are 2 games available on ChatHopper Games – PowerMath and Color Buzzer. Both are actually cool if you like math or colors!

Power Math makes you solve 10 puzzles one after the other. Each question has 4 options with it. S/he who answers first wins the game. On the other hand, Color Buzzer game gives you and your chat partner the task of changing color sequences. All you got to do is — to remember the correct order and repeat it on-screen. After 90 seconds your results are compared with those of your chat partner – you win if you have more correct answers than your partner.

After few rounds of play, it’s actually a little creepy how effortlessly the gaming system can recognize your selections just by watching your finger movements in the air in front of the webcam. In fact, the reactivity of the game’s sensor is so awesome that it actually reminded me of Kinect. And remember, you need not spend a fortune (like with xBox Kinect) to play these hand gesture interactive games; all you need is a webcam, a mic and internet connectivity and you’re all set to experience these cool games. Don’t believe me? Give the ChatHopper games a try and tell me if you’re not amazed!