As many as 100 people suspected of illegally sharing computer game files over the internet are to be sued for copyright infringement, it emerged today.

A London-based law firm said it would launch legal proceedings on behalf of the computer game publisher Topware Interactive after a woman was fined £16,000 for illegally sharing a pinball-themed game over the web.

The woman, who has not been named, was forced to pay £6,000 of damages and £10,000 in costs to Topware after she was found to have uploaded the game Dream Pinball 3D to the internet and distributed it using file-sharing networks.

Interesting that they are focusing on what's more of a casual game rather than a "hot ticket item."  After all, a simple search of any number of torrent sites will bring up a huge number of games, including new ones such as Space Siege.  In general, most of them contain cracks as well.

Many have said those downloading would never buy the games otherwise, or that many try the games and buy a legal copy after becoming enamored of them.  What do you HH readers think?  Have any of you (ahem) downloaded a game?  We're not going to ask you which  one!