Downloading torrents is one thing, but attacking merchant ships with guns at the ready and stealing their goods is quite another. I'm talking real maritime pirates here.

Attacks from pirates off Somalia have been increasing recently, which might force merchant ships to take different trade routes. This could potentially cause shipments of various goods, including video game hardware and software, to get seriously messed up.

A small group of journalists was invited to an exclusive preview of Halo 3 in Seattle. There they were given control of the human forces to what may be mankind's final battle as they face off with the Covenant. But they did so only for two missions.

The group previewed the third and fourth missions of Halo 3, both set in South Africa. The third mission, named Tsavo Highway, is the first vehicle mission of the game. The mission starts with you riding a Warthog through a mountain path as you fight your way through enemy forces.

You are eventually forced to leave your vehicle and move forward on foot, through a destroyed highway and over a bridge. Suddenly, you are ambushed by Covenant Brutes backed by a Covenant Wraith tank.

The fourth mission, called The Storm, takes you through a factory complex where you will face off with hostile forces until you come face to face with the Scarab. The battle, as one of the group testifies, "has more enemies and allies than the entire first mission of Halo 1."

The Scarab will have have improved AI in this game. Jamie Griesemer, the design lead, describes it:

In Halo 2, he was a big piece of moving geometry. He wasn't really real. He was hand-animated and didn't really react to what you were doing. He had a scripted path that he went on. But in Halo 3, he's an AI (artificial intelligence). He'll chase you around, he'll acquire targets. If he can't find you, he'll search for you. He's the biggest character we've every done, essentially. And there are dozens of ways to kill him.

Developers promise that this game will provide all the answers to the huge questions by the end of the game. Halo 3 will be released this September 25 on the Xbox 360. It's time to finish the fight.

The Hitman series owned by IO Interactive has developed such a big following that a movie is being made about it. The game released for the the PC and various other consoles basically revolved around Agent 47 who had to eliminate certain people. This is normally accomplished by sneaking around in disguises until he can get close enough to kill the target.

The movie, which aims to have capture the feel of the game has recruited some of the best actors in the business. If you've been reading up on this, it has been confirmed that Timothy Olyphant will be playing Agent 47 in this suspense flick. Dougray Scott was confirmed as well, and he will be playing the villain in the movie. Other actors who have been casted include: Olga Kurylenko ("Paris je t'aime"), Robert Knepper ("Prison Break"), Ulrich Thomsen ("Festen") and Michael Offei ("Casino Royale").

Fans of the game should be happy to know that director Xavier Gens (Tyro) has already begun lensing the movie in Sofia, Bulguria's capital. They plan on doing additional filming in South Africa, Istanbul, St. Petersburg and London, so watch out for them there.