In the last few months, I saw various articles about a game called Bioni Commando, but I simply skipped them for most of the time. Those of you who were gaming already in late 1980s will surely call this "blasphemy," but I think you have to excuse me - living in a Communist country at that time, access to computers was extremely limited, and while I had the chance to work with some early Commodore clones, I surely didn't have the luck to get around a NES. Why a NES?

...well, because the Nintendo Entertainment System was one of the platforms for which Bionic Commando was released over 20 years ago! My first encounter with a NES happened in early 1990s, but I simply missed this classic game. Not that bad, since I can grab the new release from Capcom, a remake that already managed to sell over 130,000 copies!<-125x125 Button - right->

Currently, Bionic Commando Rearmed is available for the Xbox, PlayStation and PC, and most reviews gave it huge scores, usually above 9 out of 10. According to its producer, Ben Judd, the Bionic Commando is changing the gaming world once again.

"Basically, we have set a standard in digital gaming. Consumers voted with their dollars. They have sent the message loud and clear - We are tired of meta-emulated crap; we want the titles of yesteryear to be paid the proper respect; we want them done right, and if the price is right, we'll buy. The bar has been raised," said Judd.

So...what's next? I hope we won't have to wait another two decades for the next breakthrough version, but I also hope we won't get a new Bionic Commando quickly pushed into the market next year, just to destroy all our hopes for a better one...

If you're wondering about the link between gold and games, probably you never played a game involving Gold as a resource, no matter if it's about Age of Empires or some MMORPG. Anyway, here's something to help you - we're talking about the so-called "gold farming," a general term usually used to point player attempts to acquire items in a game by exploiting repetitive elements of its mechanics, like killing various creatures. Why "farming?" Well, this is sometimes done using bots or automatic clickers, but when talking about the financial gains of such gaming procedures, the numbers look pretty impressive, as we're going to see next...

In most cases, if you're going to look for "gold farming" on the Internet, you'll end up facing pages with tips and tricks for World of Warcraft, but it gets much deeper than just that. Anyway, we're not going to talk about a specific game, as I was saying earlier, because this is all about the numbers. If you ever had the crazy idea that games only involve spending money...your world is going to be turned upside down right away, believe me!<-250x250 Square - right->

According to a research conducted by the University of Manchester, quoted by GamesIndustry.biz, gold farming "could be worth as much as USD 500 million," and if this is not impressive, I guess you met King Kong when you were a kid, and instead of running scared, you simply said "Hi, monkey! What's up?" and moved on...

In the report written by Professor Richard Heeks it is mentioned that gold farming employs over 400,000 people, earning an average of $145 per month. If we sum it all up, we can figure out that the "gold farming industry" is worth over $500 million, since I am sure we're talking about more than 500,000 people "farming" on the Web.

Interviewed by the BBC, Heeks said "I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry. In a way that is still true. It's just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands." (a teacher who's also a gamer! awesome!!!)

At last, it should be noted that, in most cases, MMO players sell in-game currency for real money, going against the terms of service they agreed with when starting to play the game, and also risking their accounts. Well, it's nothing new how far could go some people for money... but would you spoil your turn your gaming experience into a hunt for cash? I wouldn't!

You know why some chicks playing tennis are worth watching, no matter how bad or boring could turn to be a match? If you don't, look at Anna Kournikova. If you still didn't find out why, then maybe you should start watching chess, because tennis is surely not your thing! Anyway, as a final hint - take a look below, and try to imagine what could be the link between tennis and gaming. Without any help, I couldn't guess that either, but since I know the whole story already, here's what you should know...

...since it happens a lot for various celebrities to step in and help promoting a certain game, why not add some hot tennis chicks into this human equation? How? Well, by offering Top Spin fans a chance to meet Maria Sharapova, of course! Here's an excerpt from the official press release: <-125x125 Button - right->"2K Sports announced today that top-ranked tennis star Maria Sharapova will be autographing copies of Top Spin 3 for Wii home video game system at the Nintendo World Store on August 25. From 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., fans can meet Maria Sharapova and have her autograph their copy of the most authentic tennis experience available for Wii."

As you can see above, the whole thing is expected to happen between 12PM and 1PM on the 25th of August, at the Nintendo World Store, in Rockfeller Plaza, New York, NY. Probably you missed it, but that doesn't really matter for now - if it happened now, it will probably happen again, and if someone would ask me, I would really like to meet Maria Sharapova dressed as a Dark Elf. How would you like to meet her? Don't answer "naked," please! :)

Finally, I should also add that Top Spin 3 has been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, so you're all free to take the tennis ball and give it a spin with Maria!