The games: Brain Age 2 (DS), Me & My Katamari (PSP), Clubhouse Games (DS), Lumines II (PSP) and Nintendogs (DS). All cute, all wuvable, all games a corporate media company can recommend kids play under the covers without their parents going blasto and writing the government.

MSNBC wants readers to comment, but I'll totally bigfoot that and pop the question here: What's your favorite game to play before you go to bed? Console or handheld. I like to cuddle up with Manhunt 2. Sweet dreams.

Top 5 Games to Play in Bed [MSNBC]

MSNBC video game section has been polling gamers about their favorite games in a number of categories, trying to narrow down the search for the Game of the Year.

Today the site put up the poll to decide which of the finalists, culled from the best of each genre, should be named the game of the year.

The finalists are:
Madden NFL 08
Project Gotham Racing 4
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Mass Effect
Bioshock
Call of Duty 4

At the time of this writing Call of Duty 4 was leading with 31 percent of the vote. BioShock was close behind with 22 percent and Mass Effect was in a distant third with 8.6 percent.

Which game deserves the crown in 2007? [MSNBC]

Remember that Newsbreaker Live story from last week? If not, it's the MSNBC-sponsored, in-theater Breakout clone controlled by crowd participation. You can see this new technology, bringing public humiliation and breaking news to theater going masses, in action above.

Sad. Haven't these people suffered enough by sitting through Spider-Man 3? Michael McWhertor

Using comparative image analysis of a live video feed and running on a Mac Mini, the RSS-enabled arcade game relies on crowd motion for paddle manipulation. NewsBreaker Live has already been installed at the Los Angeles theater The Bridge: Cinema de Lux and will run before some of this year's brainless Hollywood fodder. I'm going to head over there, subject myself to Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and see just what the hell this thing is all about.

Full press release post jump. Michael McWhertor

NewsBreaker: The Game

MSNBC.COM'S NEWSBREAKER LIVE BUSTS AUDIENCES OUT OF THEIR PRE-MOVIE DOLDRUMS WITH A LIVE VIDEO GAME EXPERIENCE

Interactive Game Keeps Moviegoers Entertained and Up-to-Date with Msnbc.com Headlines; Summer Blockbusters a 'Moving' Experience

Redmond, Wash. - May 7, 2007 - Msnbc.com liberates movie audiences from the out-of-date trivia, static billboards and the impatience of waiting for the summer blockbusters to begin with NewsBreaker Live, the first in-theater, audience participatory video game. Modeled after classic video games, NewsBreaker Live combines live msnbc.com RSS newsfeeds, the movement of the audience as a human joystick, and the big screen as a game board to bust audiences out of their pre-movie doldrums with an interactive game that delivers real-time news headlines to kick start the moviegoing experience.

NewsBreaker Live will have moviegoers of all ages swaying, swinging and rocking in their seats by utilizing groundbreaking motion-sensor technology dubbed "CrowdGaming," which tracks the entire audience's collective movement to control the game. Working together as a human joystick, the audience will move in sync to smash up msnbc.com's colorful brick spectrum of news with a bouncing ball and paddle. As each brick breaks, real-time headlines from msnbc.com fall. The audience then accumulates points and knowledge by using the paddle to capture the headlines before they drop off the screen while simultaneously maneuvering the paddle to keep the bouncing ball moving to break new bricks.

"This summer, instead of waiting impatiently for movies to start, msnbc.com's NewsBreaker Live lets moviegoers in on the action," said Catherine Captain, vice president of marketing, msnbc.com. "We developed the game for the msnbc.com consumer who we know enjoys the experience of finding news. It's designed to bring to life the msnbc.com experience they value, the compelling, original and quirky stories told in a colorful and entertaining manner, as well as give them the opportunity to discover and engage with the brand beyond the computer screen."

Exclusively at National Amusement's The Bridge: Cinema de Lux, NewsBreaker Live will debut in Los Angeles during the opening weekend of Spider-Man 3 and be featured as the opening act for the summer's most anticipated blockbusters including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Transformers in Philadelphia and White Plains, NY throughout May, June and July.

In addition to NewsBreaker Live, msnbc.com introduced the NewsStream screensaver and NewsBreaker online game, two entertaining and innovative ways for news explorers to keep up-to-date on the current news that fuels intellectual debate, watercooler conversations and cocktail party chit chat. Powered by msnbc.com's RSS newsfeeds, both online tools offer news across the spectrum, ranging from business and entertainment to health and travel, bound to appeal to everyone's interests.

Whether you're a sports fanatic, entertainment aficionado, political enthusiast or news generalist, the NewsStream screensaver provides the latest headlines on the topics that interest you. News explorers can customize their screensavers to deliver news tailored to their interest by selecting to receive any combination of msnbc.com's 14 category feeds at a time. As headlines pop out from a full spectrum of stories on the monitor, consumers can click on them and link to the full story on msnbc.com.

In NewsBreaker, the online version of NewsBreaker Live, players climb through ten game levels in total with each progressive level featuring a more challenging round of play. As they advance levels, the headlines will fall faster and players will have to move more quickly to gather them all. Scores are posted to a global leader board enabling gamers to compare their results against one another.

To arm themselves with the latest news, entertainment and information, news explorers can download the NewsStream screensaver at www.spectrum.msnbc.com and the NewsBreaker game at www.newsbreakergame.com.

The msnbc.com NewsBreaker Live game was conceived with New York-based strategic communications firm SS+K and brought to life with interactive design company the Brand Experience Lab. The revolutionary technology was developed in conjunction with Etcetera Edutainment, a sub-set of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

The NewsBreaker Live in-cinema game, the NewsBreaker online game and the NewsStream downloadable screensaver are all part of msnbc.com's new branding campaign - A Fuller Spectrum of News - that exemplifies the colorful journey and multiple perspectives of news, entertainment and information consumers experience on its site. Msnbc.com launched the campaign in early April on TV, in print, and online.

About msnbc.com

Msnbc.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft's advanced technologies, the site presents compelling, diverse and visually-engaging stories on the consumer's platform of choice. Based in Redmond, WA, msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and NBC Universal (NYSE: GE).

About SS+K:

SS+K is a creatively-driven, strategic communications firm that develops integrated communications programs including advertising, public relations, marketing, design, identity, digital media, corporate communications and entertainment marketing. Founded in 1993, SS+K employs more than 100 people in New York City, Boston and Los Angeles. Clients include: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Delta Air Lines, Lance Armstrong Foundation, msnbc.com, Revver and Time Warner Cable.

Creative Artists Agency [CAA] owns a minority share of SS+K. CAA is the country's leading talent and literary agency with offices in Beverly Hills, Nashville, New York City, Kansas City, St. Louis and Beijing.

About the Brand Experience Lab

Called "a playroom for marketers and agencies" by Advertising Age, the Brand Experience Lab is an experience design company that helps clients deliver on their brand promise by creating compelling, authentic and relevant brand experiences specializing in strategic platforms and new technologies that better deliver these experiences across multiple brand touch-points. Clients have included Unilever, GSK, Nike and Pepsi.

About Etcetera Edutainment

A spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), Etcetera Edutainment specializes in the design and development of computer-based, highly interactive content for education. Working with the leading entities in entertainment and education, projects at Etcetera and the ETC have included designing museum exhibits, theme park rides, virtual worlds, and immersive experiences.

About National Amusements, Inc.

National Amusements, Inc. is a world leader in the motion picture exhibition industry operating more than 1,500 screens in the U.S., U.K., Latin America and Russia. National Amusements delivers a superior entertainment experience in theatres around the world under its Showcase, Multiplex, Cinema de Lux, and KinoStar brands. Based in Dedham, Massachusetts, National Amusements is a closely held company operating under the third generation of leadership by the Redstone family. National Amusements is also an equal partner in the online ticketing service, MovieTickets.com, and is the parent company of both Viacom and CBS Corporation.

They may night out and out call him a tool, but it's there, right between the lines.

In a surprising bit of mainstream journalism, Winda Benedetti wrote a piece for MSNBC titled "Were video games to blame for massacre?" in which she essentially chides the media for being so willing to jump to conclusions and for so willingly listening to Jack Thompson.

The shooting on the Virginia Tech campus was only hours old, police hadn't even identified the gunman, and yet already the perpetrator had been fingered and was in the midst of being skewered in the media.

Video games. They were to blame for the dozens dead and wounded. They were behind the bloodiest massacre in U.S. history.

Or so Jack Thompson told Fox News and, in the days that followed, would continue to tell anyone who'd listen.

This excellent lede was followed up with two pages that spells out a point Heather Chaplin made on our site earlier today: Video games are this generation's boogie man.

It also seems to faintly echo our own analysis of Thompson's bold-faced malarkey.

But on with the grade-A Thompson bashing.

When Jack Thompson gets worked up, he refers to gamers as "knuckleheads." He calls video games "mental masturbation."

When he's talking about himself and his crusade against violent games, he calls himself an "educator." He likes to use the word "pioneer."

Certainly Thompson has made a name for himself. After all, he knows a thing or two about publicity. He's spent no small bit of time in front of a camera.

On those rare occasions when a student opens fire on a school campus, Thompson is frequently the first and the loudest to declare games responsible. In recent years he's blamed games such as "Counter-Strike," "Doom" and "Grand Theft Auto III" for school shootings in Littleton, Colo., Red Lake, Minn. and Paducah, Ky.

He's blamed them for shootings beyond school grounds as well. In an attempt to hold game developers and publishers responsible for these spasms of violence, Thompson has launched several unsuccessful lawsuits.

The story is a must read, something you should print out and enjoy over a beer while sitting in your favorite chair as you unwind for the day.

While I appreciate MSNBC finally seeing the light, it would have been nice if they had realized their mistake prior to putting Thompson in front of a live national audience in a time of fear and sadness to regurgitate his FUD.

Lets hope they and those like them have learned their lessons. Brian Crecente

Were video games to blame for massacre? [MSNBC]

MSNBC has an article up on stolen PS3s and the gray market crime fleshed out with quotes from Kotaku's own Michael Fahey. From the article:

...Demand dropped off steeply in the weeks following, with prices on eBay plunging from an average $2,367 on Nov. 16 to $724 on December 21, according to Michael Fahey, who detailed the price fluctuations in a recent post on gaming blog Kotaku.

'The root cause of all the prospecting and violence, in my opinion, was Sony's decision to release a console when they knew full well supply was nowhere near demand," says Fahey. 'Americans stole, lied, cheated, and hurt each other for the promise of a big payoff, which in the end amounted to nothing.'

Yup, yup. Silly humans. Brian Ashcraft

Thieves Steal Car And PS3 [MSNBC]

Tom Loftus put together the 12 Days of Gaming (totally not singable) over at MSNBC, and in addition to being a superb wrap up of the year in gaming, is also a pretty clever idea (I wish I'd thought of it). Here at Kotaku, we're not all "bah humbug," just Ashcraft - but I think it's the jet lag.

12 Days of Video Gaming [MSNBC]