Virtual shoppers spent a great deal of money online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but according to Retail Decisions, people perpetrating credit card fraud spent more. 23% more to be specific, spending an average of $248 per transaction across the two busiest holiday shopping days so far this year. The average actually makes sense, once you realize what they are spending other people's money on.

The top for fraud prone products are:

1) Virtual gift cards and gift cards
2) Xbox 360
3) Nintendo Wii
4) The "Call of Duty" Xbox game

We're going to assume that by Call of Duty then mean Modern Warfare 2, unless the credit cards are a few years old. No, that didn't make sense. The items do, however. Especially number one, which can then be used to buy numbers 2 through 3 with an added layer of anonymity.

Having spent the better part of last month struggling with my own credit card fraud woes, I can't stress how important it is to not let other people have my credit card numbers. You can do whatever you;d like with your own, just leave me mine.

That's right, surf the internet, watch online TV, buy stuff all via your Nintendo. All you need is an internet connection.

The browser was priced at 500 Wii Points (US$5) but was originally offered to Wii owners free of charge. To compensate, Nintendo is offering those who already have the channel a NES, Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 Virtual Console game. Offer endsbegins in late October. Life goes on.

[UPDATE: The offer to U.S. gamers differs slightly from the program in Japan. The Internet Channel is free in the U.S. as of today, though those who purchased the channel will only be able to claim an NES game from the Virtual Console service. Offer runs from late October through the end of the year.]

[UPDATE 2: A Nintendo rep informs Kotaku that Japanese gamers will also only be able to purchase a bonus NES game to compensate their purchase of the formerly for-pay Internet Channel. We regret the confusion.]

[Pic]

The "LAN in StarCraft 2 Please" petition isn't really all that much of a petition when you get right now to it. It's more of an attempt to reason with Blizzard, with a little bit of unabashed ass-kissery thrown in for good measure.

The new Battle.net sounds absolutely awesome from the sneak peeks you have given us, and people will most likely be using it exclusively, even if they only play single player. However, there is no harm in allowing LAN play as well, and it does bring further depth and life to what will probably become the top RTS of the next decade.

What kind of petition says "Please"? The kind that gets 5, 861 signees as of this writing. Nearly six thousand people, all politely demanding requesting that LAN be put back into the game, if that's okay with everyone involved. I guess it says something about the StarCraft fan base. Where Diablo fans were ready to set themselves on fire over a brighter color palette, StarCraft strategically weave their arguments together with shameless praise and respect, perhaps trying to sneak their way behind enemy lines to cut off their supplies or something. There has to be some sort of strategy involved here...I'm just not seeing it.

LAN in StarCraft 2 Please. [Petition Online - Thanks Kay!]

But how's it work? Built into the machine's browser, it's been developed by Astaro, a company that specialises in web security. Using "cloud-based internet filtering" - which it's important to note can be turned on or off - it checks in via proxy, and is able to block an estimated 35 million web sites.

Which sounds like a lot, but when you consider the whole entire internets, it's a drop in the ocean. Meaning it's only going to block access to the naughtiest of sites.

We should be OK. But checking in via proxy, I'd be more worried about potential issues with the speed of your browsing; any IT types got any idea on the subject?

DSi's parental controls block 35 million sites [Tech Radar]

The three companies, who manage three of the leading online gaming services (PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, OnLive), had the following to say to MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo. Again: These tiers have not been implemented yet. They will first be implemented in trials in August, in Rochester, N.Y. and Greensboro, N.C. Then they will go to San Antonio and Austin, Texas in October. No word on when it would take effect anywhere else.

Sony: "For most average users [Time-Warner's] 60GB plan is more than suitable for their PlayStation Network download needs," said Abigail Murphy, spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America. Murphy estimated that PSN multiplayers use anywhere from 25 to 55 MB per hour, and "significantly less" when they're in PlayStation Home. The 60GB "Turbo" plan will run $54.90 a month.

Microsoft: Straight boilerplate, which right now means little other than they're not too worried. ""We're watching these tiering proposals as they evolve. Microsoft supports an environment in which users can access the content, applications and services of their choice, provided their activities are lawful and fall within the scope of their user agreements." No estimates of what kind of throughput gamers incur for multiplayer or streaming Netflix.

OnLive: Its business is centered on a choice between standard-definition and high-def gaming, with no hardware necessary. Low-def gaming would need about 350MB per hour; high-def, around 950Mb. But founder Steve Perlman is not (yet?) troubled by Time-Warner's posture. "Bandwidth caps will be bumped into by conventional movie/TV viewing WAY before we start seeing OnLive users bumping into them," Perlman said. "It will be a very long time before OnLive comes anywhere near the broadband penetration of YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, mtv, abc/nbc/cbs/fox/hbo.com, etc., if ever. So, we won't be the ones testing this issue."

Sony, MS, OnLive Weigh In On Tiered Internet Pricing [MTV Multiplayer]

Yesterday, the company announced a revised pricing structure. While the new structure still charges for usage, it does seem a bit more accommodating.

"Some recent press reports about our four consumption based billing trials planned for later this year were premature and did not tell the full story," said Landel Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, Time Warner Cable, in a statement. "With that said, we realize our communication to customers about these trials has been inadequate and we apologize for any frustration we caused. We've heard the passionate feedback and we've taken action to address our customers' concerns."

Here's a breakdown of the changes the company is making to their plan:

• To accommodate lighter Internet users and those who need a lower priced option, we are introducing a 1 GB per month tier offering speeds of 768 KB/128 KB for $15 per month. Overage charges will be $2 per GB per month. Our usage data show that about 30% of our customers use less than 1 GB per month.

• We are increasing the bandwidth tier sizes included in all existing packages in the trial markets to 10, 20, 40 and 60 GB for Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard and Turbo packages, respectively. Package prices will remain the same. Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

• We will introduce a 100 GB Road Runner Turbo package for $75 per month (offering speeds of 10 MB/1 MB). Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

• Overage charges will be capped at $75 per month. That means that for $150 per month customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds.

• Once we implement this trial, we will not immediately start billing customers for overage. Rather, we will first provide two months of usage data. Then we will provide a one-month grace period in which overages will be noted on customers' bills, but they will not be charged. So, customers will have an opportunity to assess their usage and right-size their service packages before usage charges are applied.

• Trials will begin in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in August. We will apply what we learn from these two markets when we launch trials in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in October, but we will guarantee at least the same level of usage capacity in these trials.

• As we launch DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, we plan to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month.

It's better than the original plan, but still a step in the wrong direction, one that could having U.S. customers facing the same sort of issues gamers in countries like Australia face on a daily basis.

(I'm not picking on Australia, I just visit there a lot and get lots of earfuls from Luke about it in the Tower.)

New Internet thing BringIt aims to solve this conundrum. The site acts as a secure third party that can let you set up cash prizes for games. Just set up a challenge - one on one or tournament and agree a prize amount. Monies are held in escrow by BringIt once the game is afoot, so nobody can run off with the pot.

Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, & Wii games are supported (no PC - presumably it is too easy to cheat) as long as you have a decent, stable net connection.

(full press release after the jump)

BringIt Delivers the Next Generation of Competitive Video Gaming with Skill-Based Competition for Cash… 24/7!

New Consumer Site Provides Secure Online Environment

Where Members Can Challenge, Play and Earn Real Money

CHICAGO, IL – November 21, 2008 – It’s time to BringIt! BringIt LLC today announced that the company’s flagship service, BringIt, has opened its doors to consumers and is inviting gamers to be a part of the BringIt open beta. BringIt is a leading online site at www.BringIt.com, where video gamers can put up money to challenge other players to matches, play their favorite games, and earn prize money by winning. The service was designed with gamers in mind, delivering the next level of competitive gaming by removing physical barriers and offering an online destination where players looking for real head-to-head competition and real rewards can test their skills wherever and whenever they want.

“BringIt is going to transform the videogame landscape by allowing individuals to compete online for bragging rights and real money through skill-based gaming,” said BringIt CEO and founder Woody Levin. “Gamers have shown great interest and support for competitive gaming, so we are pleased to offer BringIt as a player-driven service that quickly connects gamers, allowing them to play legally for cash while getting a more intense competitive rush.”

BringIt works with any video game platform with online capabilities and with any game that supports online head-to-head competition. BringIt will support a diverse portfolio of popular games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo Wii. Featured games during the beta period will include Madden NFL 2009, Gears of War 2, FIFA 2009, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Rock Band 2, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Kart, to name a few. Games will be added constantly with the help of feedback from the BringIt player community.

BringIt makes competitive console gaming easy, adding only one step to secure online game play. Registration is free and available to gamers 18 years and older. Players can fund their BringIt account via PayPal or major credit card and access their secure account at their convenience. As a special welcome, BringIt will match initial deposits up to $20 for those individuals who register and use the service during the open beta period. Accounts are limited to one per person, insuring player identities are verified.

Players can ‘BringIt’ for as little as $1 or up to as much as $100,000, so both casual players and those who crave the adrenaline of high stakes can engage at their own pace and be assured their BringIt challenge experience is safe and secure. During gameplay, the collective entry fees are held in an escrow account until the winner is declared and verified, at which point the funds are released to the winner’s secure account, minus the BringIt service fee. BringIt provides neutral arbitration as well as a self-regulating player feedback system that lets members know an opponent’s standing in advance of initiating a challenge or accepting a match.

Because videogames are games of skill, the BringIt service does not violate any United States or international anti-gambling laws, including the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2006.

BringIt is a venture-backed company founded and managed by CEO Woodrow “Woody” Levin, an entrepreneurial veteran of the sports, entertainment, and finance industries. Mr. Levin has previously worked with the NFL and MLB as President and founder of InStadium, an innovative sports advertising firm, and was Managing Partner of Riverbank Capital Management, an equity options trading firm based in New York and Chicago.

BringIt is currently in open beta at www.BringIt.com, and scheduled to launch in winter.

About BringIt

BringIt is an innovative and unique consumer gaming site where video gamers can put up money to challenge other players to matches, play their favorite games, and earn money by winning. BringIt provides a safe, secure environment for gamers, allowing them to take on players of comparable skill and compete in videogames for cash. Through the service, gamers can elevate their skills and play legally for real money against their friends or gamers in their skill rank in a wide variety of game and match options. Registration is free and player funds are maintained in a secure account they can access at any time. BringIt works with any online-capable gaming platform, and games for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and PlayStation 2 are currently supported. For more information about BringIt, please visit www.BringIt.com.

If you don’t take care of your web application vulnerabilities, someone else will.

You tell 'em Dancho!

Sony PlayStation’s site SQL injected [ZDNet via CNET] [Pic]

On March 12 McPherson returned from SXSW to discover that his home had been broken into and that the burglar had made off with his Xbox 360, an old Powerbook and a television.

Familiar with the competence of the Philadelphia police, McPherson decided to hunt for the items himself and soon found that the burglar had tried to sell his laptop at a local pawn shop, which has images of the guy from their camera. He tries to give the info to police, but never hears back.

Fast forward to Friday when McPherson's workmates present him with a replacement Xbox 360. He goes home, hooks it up and discovers a voice message on his 360 from some guy saying he has his 360 and wants cash to give it back. Better still the idiot uses his current account to leave the message.

McPherson calls police again and is hung up on... so he turns things over to the Internet and business is handled.

As everyone probably knows mob justice is a bitch and Digg Mob justice makes that look pretty. Since the story hit Digg the person who left the message asking for 360 ransom has been identified, his address and high school location posted, he's been harassed, seemingly endlessly, via AIM.

Eventually the kid caved and told his parents, McPherson was, apparently in touch with them and now seems to have all of his stuff back. According to his Twitter, the kid actually hand-delivered some of the stolen goods on Sunday.

Makes you feel good inside doesn't it?

Update: Wow, You're a Moron. When the Internet Attacks [McFearsome]

Wii party invites at Evites [Evites]

"Despite the growing popularity of YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities," James Kuai, a research analyst at Parks Associates, said in a prepared statement.

Over the last year, casual gaming has risen 79%, while social networks like MySpace and Facebook only rose 46%. Things aren't completely rosy for gaming's dominance, however, as the casual video viewing portion of the audience grew a massive 123%, which I attribute completely to Chocolate Rain.

"The casual gaming industry cannot rest on its laurels," Kuai said. "In order to counter the growing competition from other online activities, the industry needs to continue to grow its fan base and find ways to better monetize its existing audience."

Game-Playing Eclipses Social Networks, Online Video [Yahoo! News]

For a generation of marketers raised on TV and print, the internet is a gray nebulous. What works in traditional media? Getting as many eyes on a new product as possible — that creates buzz. But since the internet doesn't have "Prime Time" per se and is powered by a series of sites (not channels or publishers), focusing those eyes all at one time and one place poses a challenge online.

Hence countdowns.

We've touched on this before. Yesterday, even. We hate countdowns. Lemme reiterate that, we HATE countdowns. They're lazy, unimaginative marketing. The hope is with these countdowns that everyone will be looking at something at the same time — like with TV and print to a lesser extent. It's a way for people in business suits to measure publicity. Thing is, with the internet, more eyes doesn't always mean good publicity. This of course is not unique to the internet, but the key different is that we interact with the internet more so than traditional media. Of late, we've seen the following:

• Super Smash Bros.
• Island of Rhodes? ISLAND OF CRAP
• Bethesda Counts Down To "Please Stand By"

There are of course more. Are the game developers to blame? To extent yes and to an extent no. Developers develop games. That's what they do. The success of these online campaigns should not reflect on the actual game because they don't. Yet, the front office people hire marketers and approve plans. In that regard, they are at fault. What about us? Why do we cover them? That's what we do, we cover gaming trends, news and other stuff. Are we to blame? Yes and no. If we report on them, gazillions of people find out about them. If we don't and actual information is released, then we are not doing our job. But, just for second if companies had a month or a week countdown for a press release. That would annoy every press outlet to no end! But companies have no problem doing this via a game's site, and we have a big problem covering this lackluster marketing.

What works online? From what I can see, snowballing. Take a look at internet memes. They start small and get bigger and bigger. Sometimes they are unintentional, sometimes intentional. But they all start with something being posted. And because that original post is interesting, it gains ground. Companies tried this with viral marketing, but that style is often insulting. So now, these countdowns build up to that original posting. Why don't companies just release that info without announcing that they plan to do so X number of days later? Because it's scary, risky. What if nobody looks at their site? What if nobody notices? How horrible! Having faith in whatever information they are releasing means not hyping up that information. If it's really important, people will find out about it. Put it up on your site, don't lie to us and if it's good, we'll click away and crash your site with traffic. That's how the internet works, and that's how it works beautifully. Wise up, companies. The rules have changed. Brian Ashcraft

A long time ago, Nintendo was a big, mean scary company. Today's Nintendo is a big softy that adores pink children and Christmas. The cause of this turn around? Nintendo had to learn to love the internet and chill the heck out. Speaking at San Francisco's MI6 conference, Nintendo marketing boss George Harrison said Nintendo is a "controlling company" and that embracing user-generated content and blogs was a "big deal." He continues:

Opening up a MySpace area doesn't sound all that innovative to you guys... But for us it was a big deal. When people previously said bad things about Nintendo on our community areas, we deleted. Now we had to take the decision not to meddle. We had to allow consumers to say bad things about us. It turned out that our own supporters were much more articulate in supporting us than anyone in our offices at Redmond could ever be.

Insane Nintendo fanboys: Henchmen, minions, scary. Brian Ashcraft

Nintendo Chills Out [Next-Gen]

A developer from the Opera Desktop Team has announced that they have a "ppc-linux.6" package available now for the Playstation 3. This means for any of you who had the cojones to pry that thing open and install Linux on to your Playstation can tinker around with the coveted Opera Browser. Kim Phu

Approaching 9.2 [Opera desktop Team]

Buzz word of the month: SKU. It stands for Stock Keeping Unit and is pronounced as a word, "skew." It's a short hand way to say "individual retail product." Actually, I've never felt a big need to use "individual retail product" in a conversation and, let's say a few months ago, neither did most of the internet. While McWhertor tells me its been in use for a while now, it seems like recently, it's EVERYWHERE. Tim Rogers over at game site Insert Credit offers this insight as to why:

So why has this acronym suddenly popped into the videogame blogosphere? Because we like feeling elite? Maybe, maybe not. Keep in mind that a lot of the guys who get interviewed by videogame blogs are not actual game developers — they're videogame PR guys, and unlike, say, movie PR guys, who more often than not have at least seen a couple dozen movies in their lives, videogame PR guys tend to come from strict retail backgrounds. Nintendo's Reggie used to manage a Pizza Hut (or something), for God's sake. Spewing "SKU" left and right is these guys' revenge for you guys' talking about mysterious things they don't understand, like "graphics" or "gameplay".

I've actually used "SKU" in a post. Back in October. A tipster in retail used it in an email — Hence my inclusion of the term. Don't think that it's just that the typically verbose Tim Rogers hates brevity — This actually seems to be a trend. Something to think about. Or not. Brian Ashcraft

On SKU [Insert Credit]

What's the final version the Opera browser for the Wii like? Don't ask Opera reps, they don't know reports Wired's Chris Kohler. Of course, they'd love to add things like widget support and tabbed browsing, but it's not exactly Opera's decision to make. It's Nintendo's. And why isn't the Opera browser for the DS out in America? Once again, that's up to Nintendo. So, the point of involving Opera was what again? Brian Ashcraft

Wii Opera Browser Issues [Game|Life]

Just go into your Wii's internet channel and navigate to the URL below and you'll be all set. Happy spanking! Michael Fahey

Wii Flash Games [Albino Blacksheep - Thanks Odelay!]

Time Warner Cable, the company that was first at fast and first at fiber optics, is increasing your speed again. We're doubling it in the new year ... for no extra cost.

In the first quarter of 2007, Road Runner will be doubling the download speed for its residential customers to 10 Mbps. Our Time Warner Cable Business Class customers will experience similar increases in speed.* The same monthly price that you've been paying will stay the same.

Increased speed. Same price. Great deal.

We haven't told the media yet. This is a special notice directly to you, our loyal and valued Road Runner customer. In the coming weeks, you'll see more information about this exciting improvement in your internet service.

There was a time when this would have been great news for PC gamers who use the service, but nowadays it's great news for all gamers who use the service. I hope that as more providers realize the importance of high speed for gaming, more of them will offer free upgrades like this to keep us. We are, after all, legion. Brian Crecente

Road Runner Doubling Bandwidth [Loot Ninja]

Here's how it works:

The console, as I pointed out in a video, has an address book. In the address book you can find out your console's Wii Number, register a friend or send a message.

To register a friend you have to be connected to the Internet. Next you tap in their nickname then enter the Wii Number for their console or, if your friend is on a PC or cell phone, you enter their email address.

Keep in mind that to register another person as a Wii Friend, both of you need to register each other.