Editorial ‘game of the year 2011′ picks favored the likes of Uncharted 3 and Skyrim, but the pirate vote went to Crysis 2. According to statistics published by BitTorrent blog TorrentFreak, the PC version of Electronic Arts’ first-person shooter was the most-pirated game of the year 2011 with an estimated 3.92 million downloads.

The fact that Crysis 2 was more popular in the bootleg department than the year’s biggest-selling game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (which came in second with 3.65M BitTorrent downloads) could be attributed to the fact that an advance copy of Crysis 2 leaked to the internet one month ahead of its launch at retail. But according to TorrentFreak, downloads of this version only reached the tens of thousands, “the real boom came when the full version was released in March”.

Rounding out the top 5 list for the PC are Battlefield 3 (3.51M downloads), FIFA 12 (3.39M) and Portal 2(3.24M). TorrentFreak also compiled rankings for console games that saw the greatest number of BitTorrent downloads. On the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1.28M) was ahead of Mario Sports Mix (1.09M), while on the Xbox 360 Gears of War 3 (0.89M) outgunned Modern Warfare 3 (0.83M).

Some BitTorrent download numbers were ‘helped’ by long gaps in game releases between different territories. The third most pirated Wii game was the European version of acclaimed role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles. Until recently, Nintendo had no plans to publish the game in North America, which saw its BitTorrent download numbers rise to 0.95M. Last December it was finally announced that Xenoblade Chronicles would see a North American release in April 2012. One can’t help quoting Valve’s Gabe Newell, “Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem”.

TorrentFreak compiled the list using several sources including public BitTorrent trackers; all numbers are estimates. According to the blog, the PlayStation 3 is among the platforms that “get considerably less downloads and are excluded for that reason.” This might be attributed to higher ethics standards among the system’s user base or – more likely – larger file sizes due to the Blu-ray disc format.

Top PC game downloads on BitTorrent in 2011:

1. Crysis 2 (Electronic Arts), 3.92M
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision), 3.65M
3. Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts), 3.51M
4. FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts), 3.39M
5. Portal 2 (Valve/Electronic Arts), 3.24M

Top Wii game downloads on BitTorrent in 2011:

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo), 1.28M
2. Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo), 1.09M
3. Xenoblade Chronicles (Nintendo), 0.95M
4. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney), 0.87M
5. FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts), 0.86M

Top Xbox 360 game downloads on BitTorrent in 2011:

1. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft), 0.89M
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision), 0.83M
3. Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts), 0.76M
4. Forza Motorsport 4 (Microsoft), 0.72M
5. Kinect Sports: Season Two (Microsoft), 0.69M

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is one of the best-selling video games of all time. It broke launch-day sales records without even batting an eyelash, and will undoubtedly be found under millions of trees across the country this holiday. So how could you make an already fantastic video game even better? By adding Lego, of course!

The video is the latest in a line of Lego spoofs that has been a big hit on YouTube and other video sites, and it shows just how adorable war can be. Its directors at Kooberz Studios took every frame of the much-hyped Modern Warfare 3 launch trailer and gave it a Lego twist. They kept the soundtrack in tact to add to the epic action that is now presented entirely in plastic.

Check out the Lego version above and compare it to the original, somewhat less-cuddly version below and let us know what you think in the comments!

The Occupy movement may move to occupying the airwaves by hackers hijacking radio and TV stations to broadcast their message across the country. The potential plan to Occupy the Airwaves was reported ABC7News after interviewing a hacker and computer expert called “Jake” aka “Secret Squirrel.” Jake’s plan would be to hack into the FEMA Emergency Alert System (EAS) with a pro-Occupy movement message from Anonymous.

“The potential is that you could hijack all radio and TV stations across the country,” Jake told ABC7. “There’s no authentication, there’s no encryption, there’s no passwords, there’s nothing that is required to send what would appear to be a valid message. I would then play the tones on my laptop, they get transmitted by the radio, I then play my audio message and then I just pack everything up and walk away.”

The EAS messages are automated and go straight to the air, so a fake emergency alert would not likely be caught before it broadcast. His example of a message might be “there were 20 dirty bombs or something like that that were detonated,” but a War of the Worlds type message could cause wide-spread panic and chaos.

San Francisco State Broadcast Professor Marie Drennan. suggested that it’s wasn’t just “backwoods rural folks” who fell for War of the Worlds as people in New York City were running around in a panic. Drennan told ABC, “I have to admit the idea of taking over the EAS, I love it, I love it, I love it — but I can see how it could go horrible wrong.”

FEMA is apparently not nearly so amused by the idea of hijacking EAS for an Occupy movement message. On the I-Team blog, FEMA responded about the security vulnerability in the EAS. “FEMA takes any potential threats seriously and we evaluate all such claims to determine their validity. The Emergency Alert System already has adequate safety and security measures in place to ensure that it will only be used by appropriate officials as a way to communicate with the American people in the event of a real emergency.”

There has been a video on the subject since Matt “DCFLuX” Krick presented it at DefCon 16 in 2006, so it’s hardly new but certainly attention-grabbing. Jake was “inspired”  by V for Vendetta as was the creative hack by the V for Vendetta hacker who hijacked the projector system to broadcast his message at Washington State University, urging students to “Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November.” In fact, it reminds me a bit of Live Free or Die Hard or at least some of the projects that have come out of it.

Jake was previously “convicted of causing damage to a protected computer — hacking into his former employer’s system — but the conviction was reversed on appeal because of insufficient evidence.” He would doubtfully be so lucky if the DOJ has its way about the new wording of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), since the anti-hacking law would make criminals of most of us. While Jake claims not to be a part of the group Anonymous, connected for “social interaction,” he handed his plan to Anonymous “The Plan” which supports the Occupy movement.

Kmart kicks things off at 5am this year with their ‘Blue Friday’ Doorbuster specials running from 5-11 am.  The Nintendo DSi special runs on Saturday from 6AM-Noon.  The rest of the deals run all day Friday and Saturday!

Highlights include:

• Console/Handheld Deals:
  • Flaming Red Nintendo 3DS w/ Super Mario Land 3D – $179 + $25 Gaming Coupon (Friday Doorbuster)
    • ShopYourWay Rewards members only
  • PlayStation 3 Holiday Bundle – $199.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
    • Includes Ratchet & Clank All 4 One & LittleBigPlanet 2 Special Edition
  • Xbox 360 4GB Console – $149.99
  • Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor – $99.99
  • Nintendo DSi – $149.99 + $25 Gaming Coupon - (Saturday Doorrbuster)
    • ShopYourWay Rewards members only
• PS3:
  • Battlefield 3 – $34.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Madden NFL 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • NCAA Football 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • FIFA Soccer 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Need for Speed The Run – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Medal Gear Solid HD Collection – $34.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Driver San Francisco – $19.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Rage – $29.99
  • Call of Duty Black Ops – $29.99
  • Killzone 3 – $29.99
  • ICO – $29.99
  • God of War III – $14.99
  • Heavy Rain – $14.99
  • Uncharted 2 – $14.99
  • Dualshock 3 Controller – $34.99
• Xbox 360:
  • Battlefield 3 – $34.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Madden NFL 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Gears of War 3 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Forza 4 – $39.99
  • Call of Duty: MW2 – $14.99
  • Dance Central 2 – $29.99
  • Kinect Sports 2 – $29.99
  • Gears of War Triple Pack – $14.99
  • Transformers – $14.99
  • NCAA Football 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • FIFA Soccer 12 – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Need for Speed The Run – $39.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Medal Gear Solid HD Collection – $34.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Driver San Francisco – $19.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Medal of Honor – $9.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Enslaved – $9.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Michael Jackson The Experience – $24.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Rage – $29.99
  • Call of Duty Black Ops – $29.99
  • Xbox 360 Wireless Controller – $39.99
  • Xbox LIVE 3 Month Gold Card – $14.99
• Nintendo Wii:
  • WWE All Stars – $14.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Top Shot Arcade 2 Pack – $17.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Go Vacation – $14.99
  • Wii Wave controller – $4.99
• Nintendo DS:
  • Tangled – $9.99 (Friday Doorbuster)
  • Transformers – $14.99

Video games getting leaked onto the Internet aren’t anything new. So far this year we’ve seen the likes of Killzone 3, Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm all finding their way onto torrent sites. These games were all just severeal weeks away from public consumption, however Gears of War 3 has now been leaked several months before its release.

Footage of the leaked build has spread like wildfire on several sites, but particularly YouTube. The leaked build appears to contain a playable version of Gears of War 3′s single player campaign. Said videos contain spoilers, lots of spoilers, so it’s advised that fans of the series avoid searching for Gears of War 3 specific videos for now. YouTube have already begun taking down several of the videos.

gamrFeed got into contact with Microsoft and they provided us with the following statement:

We have seen the reports of Gears of War 3 content being propped on the Web and working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. This content is not from a final build and is not representative of what fans will enjoy when the game launches worldwide on September 20, 2011.

It’s not known at this time who’s responsible for the leak, but some are beginning to wonder if this was an inside job. Could someone from Epic Games (for whatever reason) be behind it? Let us know what you think in the comments below.