(Photo: Ripten)

For competitive Call of Duty players like Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, the amount of time it takes for your local Internet signal to hit remote Xbox servers could actually cost you your title. Mr. Dotcom, he of lavish hot tub parties and trollish a Twitter account, wasn't about to let that happen.

Before the raid on his New Zealand mansion, Mr. Dotcom became the number one ranked player in the world on Modern Warfare 3. According to the New Zealand Herald, his handlers investigated his Internet connection during this time to make sure it was fast enough. Writes the Herald:

Information held by the Herald shows Gen-I studied data showing the amount of time it took information on the internet connection to reach the Xbox server. It went from 30 milliseconds to 180 milliseconds - a huge increase for online gamers.

The reason for the extra time emerged in a deeper inquiry, which saw a "Trace Route" search which tracks internet signals from their origin to their destinations. When the results were compared it showed the internet signal was being diverted inside New Zealand.

This means that Mr. Dotcom was illegally being spied upon by the Government Communications Security Bureau long before it copped to its shady dealings.

Of course, Reddit gamers aren't exactly convinced that his Internet connection would have had any bearing on Mr. Dotcom's MF3 performance. Quipped one: "Any excuse with these COD players... ANY."