Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to help veterans.

Today is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 day, and there will be lots of dollars being poured into Activision as gamers hand over their cash for what will be one of the biggest titles of the year.

Also launching alongside the game is Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty Endowment (CODE), non-profit public benefit corporation will focus its resources on assisting organizations that provide job placement and training to veterans.

BG Gary H. Cheek, the Assistant Surgeon General of Warrior Care and Transition and Commander of the Warrior Transition Command said at the launch event, "I could make the case that based upon the service and sacrifice of our veterans that American employers have their own call of duty to ensure they have the opportunity for gainful employment and a viable career. Our soldiers have a lot to offer: integrity, discipline, teamwork, and personal sacrifice for a greater good. I can think of no stronger candidates for any positions employers might be looking to fill. These brave men and women willingly put their lives on the line to protect the blessings of liberty enjoyed by every business in this great country of ours."

Activision will use some of the proceeds from Modern Warfare 2 to fund the Call of Duty Endowment and raise awareness for this important issue.

Is that a Firefox in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Logos are very important in the computing world. A single logo can easily identify what the product is, as well as emotions of love or hate. Think of all the times when you see a product logo or placement in a TV show or movie and you say to yourself, "Oh I have that one too!" or "Grrr, I really hate that company with that silly logo!"

Also, logos are what helps us identify programs through pictured shortcuts. While there's always text that accompanies the icon, we often look for the picture before the words.

Mozilla has one of the most iconic images in web browsers with its Firefox that wraps itself around a picture of the globe, and it hopes to repeat that success with the mobile version of the software.

Check out the logo named "Pocketfox," which the artist hoped to capture the image of "A handy browser which is always with you." Read the full blog post here.

What do you think?

Pac-Man and ghost gang can clean your floors.

Sometimes art imitates life and other times life imitates art. In this case, however, we're not quite sure where it all starts.

A group of developers have adapted a piece of software they are are working on to use in Pac-Man and ghost navigation using Roombas. Check out the video to see:

The developers explained, "Built using our spare time, Roomba Pac-Man is designed to showcase the extensive Unmanned Aerial System software suite that we have developed to support our personal research. It was also a great opportunity to use some of our skills for our own entertainment."

Check out their website here.

Capcom released Ghosts 'n Goblins on Aplle's App Store.

While we have our share of Apple haters reading Tom's content, we're sure a few iPhone and iPod Touch gamers will be glad to hear that Capcom finally released Ghosts 'n Goblins today on Apple's App Store. This "Gold Knights" edition is a meager 11.7 MB download and offers a $2.99 introductory price until November 23rd.

According to the game details, Gold Knights will provide additional downloadable content at a later date. Gamers can also purchase additional "cheat" power-ups and extras for an additional $.099 each, however using the extras means that gamers wont' be ranked in the local high scores. The cheats will include unlimited lives, stronger weapons for Arthur, increased armor strength, and more.

New to Ghosts 'n Goblins is the ability to play as two different heroes (Arthur, Lancelot), each with a unique play style. Each character will have six different weapons which can be powered up with magic. The controls, on the other hand, are super simple, with the player moving the character using the embedded D-pad on the left and action buttons on the right.

For gamers who loved the original, the Gold Knights edition is a must buy. So far, we're loving the game, although it probably won't top Doom Classic or Dungeon Hunter.

Note: You can follow my game-related ramblings on Twitter here -kp

This week Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic was torn down 20 years ago yesterday and leaders from all over the world gathered in Berlin to celebrate the historic moment.

With thousands watching, a line of 1,000 dominoes, each measuring 8-feet in height and painted by German artists, was toppled in a dramatic recreation of the night East and West Germany were reunited. Stretching out for nearly two kilometers, the chain reaction was kicked off by the first democratically elected president of Poland after communism, Lech Wałęsa, who pushed over the first domino.

Check out the video below, which also shows some pretty neat fireworks over the Brandenburg Gate.

Who says you have to use the plastic controllers that come with the game, anyway?

I have never played Rock Band for fear that I will be forced to sing. Whether or not this woman shares my timorous thoughts on the game remains to be seen, however she has found a pretty nifty way out of having to sing or practice flute.

The musical maiden (who goes by the name of MsFrizzyHair) figured out that you can play musical instruments into the Rock Band microphone and it would pick it up. Switched reports the girl scoring a 98-percent with a 22-phrase streak and four gold stars by using her flute in lieu of the vocals for Avenged Sevenfold's Afterlife.

That's right: Blockbuster will rent movies via SD cards.

Now here's a concept: ditch the annoying DVD and Blu-ray disks and rent movies by way of SD cards. Apparently that's the road fledging movie rental outlet Blockbuster is now taking to stay ahead of Amazon, Netflix, and Redbox. The company claims that the SD movies will be distributed in kiosks--similar to Redbox--and will cost $1.99.

According to Fast Company, consumers will actually keep the SD cards. They will come in different sizes, depending on the device the consumer wants to use: mobile phones, TVs, computers, or whatever else is capable of reading SD cards. Like downloadable rentals, the DRM allows viewing for a limited time, and afterwords the data becomes useless (unless you can crack the DRM, of course).

Blockbuster is hoping to win customers back who have crossed over to online movie streaming by offering movies at a higher resolution. The company also plans to provide downloadable movies with DRM, also providing higher resolution, however these movies will cost around $4 each... almost a whole month's worth of Netflix.

While the idea is unique and could bring Blockbuster some extra needed revenue, the market may not be ready for SD movie rentals. As Fast Company pointed out, some TVs aren't built to play SD media, and many smartphones use micro or mini SD card slots. As for actually getting out and renting the movie, that should be simple: there's nearly one Redbox kiosk on every other block.

Now about that piracy issue...

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A recent survey conducted by games industry representative TIGA discovered that 40-percent of its developers aren't affected by piracy.

A recent survey conducted by industry body TIGA reveals that 40-percent of game developers--those surveyed in the UK--don't believe that piracy is currently hurting revenue. The other 60-percent did admit that piracy affected business, however the actual threat is rather low they said.

Overall, developers feel that piracy is an increasing problem, and will be a major issue later on.

Develop reports that TIGA surveyed an unknown number of its current developer membership to get a better picture on how piracy is affecting the "development sector." Develop tried to calculate the number of members involved, only to theorize a possible "small cluster." While the study doesn't provide names, it does indicate that 10-percent view piracy as a huge threat.

The survey also discovered that only half believed that the government's plan to tackle piracy (by throttling or cutting of Internet connections) was a good idea. Half of the surveyed group said that they were adjusting their business to tackle piracy; 75-percent are considering digital distribution as a possibility.

“The results of the TIGA piracy survey clearly demonstrate that UK developers are taking the initiative when dealing with the issue of piracy and looking for new ways of delivering content and communicating directly with their consumers,” said TIGA CEO Richard Wilson.

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As the heading indicates, a judge has banned twittering from his courtroom.

While Twittering is somewhat of a craze, many are growing annoyed with the service. Recently the NFL banned players from twittering shortly before, during, and shortly after football games. Now a Georgia federal judge is jumping on the anti-twitter bandwagon, and will throw out any spectator sending live updates from a criminal trial.

According to CBS News, the judge uses Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure as a basis for his Twitter defiance, claiming that live updates through Twitter are considered as a broadcast. "The Court finds that the term "broadcasting" in Rule 53 includes sending electronic messages from a courtroom that contemporaneously describe the trial proceedings and are instantaneously available for public viewing," he wrote in a four-page order last week (PDF).

The judge added that the drafters of Rule 53 intended to extend the Rule's reach beyond the transmission via television and radio. "Although "broadcasting" is typically associated with the dissemination of information via television or radio, its plain meaning is broader than that. The definition of "broadcast" includes "casting or scattering in all directions" and "the act of making widely known," he wrote.

With that said, it's no wonder why the NFL banned Twittering in games: they're mini-broadcasts that could easily drain revenue. But as for twittering during a trial, it would seem to be more of a privacy issue in regards to the defense and prosecution.

Those who are interested, can follow Tuan on Twitter.

The game launches today, so why is Steam telling us to wait until Thursday?

Today is November 10, the official release date of Modern Warfare 2. Console gamers have been happily playing for hours. Some went to line up at midnight while others managed to bag themselves a copy earlier this weekend. Either way, anyone who purchased Modern Warfare 2 for the PS3 or Xbox 360 is good to go.

 Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for PC users. Today we learn that Steam users will have to wait even longer to play as the game is locked until Thursday. Valve today confirmed to Kotaku Australia that, despite both using Steam as DRM, those who purchase the game on Steam will have to wait two days before being allowed to play.

Valve:

Those who purchase the retail copy will be able to activate and play the game on November 10 via Steam.

Those who purchase on Steam will be able to activate and play on November 12.

Yesterday Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling tweeted that the PC version was locked until the official release date, meaning that even if you managed to purchase it on Saturday or Sunday, you still couldn't play.

[UPDATE] User IronRyan21 reports that according to his account, Steam has changed the date to November 11. Anyone else seeing the same thing?