But before we get our chance one question remains: Which show had the best dress up?

Take your time, look through the pics of cosplay from Germany's Gamescom, Blizzcon, Penny Arcade Expo and the Tokyo Game Show and then cast your vote. Four will enter, one will leave.

Last year drew 58,500; this year at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, the show had a fixed amount of tickets to sell due to overcrowding and safety concerns.

The figure is also south of back-of-the-envelope estimates that the con would draw 75,000. However, Khoo told Big Download he hopes more will be able to attend next year's expo, in light of expansion plans for the convention center. In late March, there also is PAX East in Boston. Khoo provided no early estimates of its attendance.

Exclusive: PAX 2009 Brings in 60,750 Attendees [Big Download via Joystiq]

I also wanted a longer look at the giants' table level. The level interested me the first time I saw it, but some alpha-stage bugs made it difficult for the developer to walk me through it.

It turned out to be the perfect place to show my friends why I thought Fairytale Fights deserved more than a "meh." Because while the game is violence-heavy and while it definitely appeals to me that you can beat the beejesus out of your co-op buddy, there's more to the game than that.

In the giants' table level, a mermaid is on the menu for dinner. Playing as one of the four titles characters – Snow White, Red Riding Hood, the Naked Emperor or Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk – you trying to navigate the drawers, countertops and dirty skink in the giants' kitchen to get to the table and save the mermaid. While moving through the level, the giantess in the background keeps coming into the foreground where you're playing to remove or add items to the shelves.

This creates all kinds of mayhem for the player – especially if there's another player on screen at the same time because it restricts the camera. My friends had a hell of a time getting past this one section where the giantess is lifting glass jars to her face to inspect. You're supposed to jump on one jar, then on the other as she raises it while lowering the first one, and finally leap for the sink. You can that part of the level in this new-ish trailer.

If any of you got the chance to play the game at PAX, hit me up in the comments and tell me what you really think. Was it monotonous or did the various weapons and dynamic glory kills keep it fresh?

I met with Funcom creative director Ragnar Tørnquist and The Secret World's lead designer Martin H Bruusgaard on Friday afternoon at the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo, packed into a small meeting room in the back of the main exhibit hall, where the two had to use a microphone to communicate due to the noise of the giant The Beatles: Rock Band stage just outside the door. As convention-goers warbled their way through a sloppy rendition of "A Hard Day's Night," we began to delve into the secrets surrounding The Secret World.

What is The Secret World? Funcom's third MMO after Anarchy Online and Age of Conan is a game that takes place in the real world of today, only everything is true. Aliens and demons exist. The world is hollow. There are monsters under your bed. There are mystical forces hiding just beyond sight, and if you see something moving out of the corner of your eye, odds are it isn't just a trick of the light.

Think The X-Files, or perhaps for a more modern point of reference, the television show Fringe. It's an intriguing concept made even more intriguing by the unconventional way Funcom is going about structuring this world.

As mentioned in previous articles, there are three secret societies operating beyond the veil of normalcy in The Secret World. In London, the ancient Templar organization wages a holy battle against evil. They are the closest thing that The Secret World has to good guys. As Tørnquist puts it, "They don't participate in the war on evil. They ARE the war on evil. They're good in the sense that in order to get to that one demon in the middle of the town they're willing to burn the whole thing down, so good is a relative term."

Then comes the Illuminati...The Secret World's answer to bad guys. The Illuminati is the most secret of the three societies. Driven out of Europe by the Templar in the 1600's, the Illuminati operate out of an abandoned warehouse in New York City. To the Illuminati, power is their currency. Getting it, controlling it, and keeping it is their goal, and they will achieve it at any cost.

Finally we have my personal favorite society, the Dragon. The Dragon believe in chaos in order to achieve a balance between good and evil. Their motivations are known only to them, and their actions make sense only to them. From the introductory trailer I was shown: "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. We are Dragon, and we have both." The Dragon are master manipulators, playing the two other societies against each other from their base in a monastery in Seoul, Korea. I particularly liked Tørnquist's description. "These guys believe that the world needs to descend into chaos before achieving balance. They're unknowable...they are chaotic...they are like the Chinese puzzle box - secrets within secrets within secrets."

The three societies are united in their war against evil, make no mistake. Their difference lie in their pursuit of power. They share common goals, but when the dust clears and evil is vanquished, each society wants to come out on top.

Your choice of secret society determines your starting location, with the action kicking off at the home base of the Templars, the Illuminati, or the Dragon. Home bases contain the social spaces, vendors, and mentors for each society, so they'll be an important place to visit as you progress through the game.

And what of progression? The Secret World is a game without levels and experience, so how do you show the rest of the game how good you are?

First off, players can progress in ranks in their particular secret society. Each player begins as an initiate; your actions affect your ranking in that secret society. A higher ranking might mean access to more powerful items and equipment, or titles that display your rank.

The ranking system also extends to your Cabal, which is The Secret World's answer to a guild. Much like EverQuest 2's guilds, your Cabal gains rank as new members join, tasks are completed, and the talent pool swells, unlocking special benefits that aid the entire Cabal, from special rooms in the Cabal's housing to items and equipment that will aid in the struggle against your enemies.

To gain rank, a Cabal needs to attract top players across all areas of expertise, which leads us directly to the other way to stand out in The Secret World. Leaderboards.

Funcom plans on tracking every statistic possible in The Secret World and presenting the results in the form of global leaderboards. From how many items you create to how many monsters you've killed to the number of enemy players you've taken down in PVP, all of these statistics will be tracked and displayed. Tørnquist explains that they'll be keeping track of so many different aspects of the game that odds are you'll find yourself on top of one of the lists, be it crafting or killing.

Being on top of the boards will mean more than simple street cred. Since Cabals will need to have top players in order to increase their rank, Funcom expects that the leaderboards will often be used as a recruiting tool, with rival Cabals trying to lure top players to their ranks, increasing the feeling of manipulation and intrigue that permeates the game.

Plus, you'll be able to display your stats on Facebook, and who doesn't love showing off on Facebook?

The battle for ranking and status finally brings us to the player versus player combat in The Secret World. While above ground the battle against evil is the main focus, deep within the hollow Earth, Cabals and secret societies battle for control of the world's most precious resource: anima. Anima is a key component for crafting items and objects in The Secret World. In short, it's the lifeblood of the economy, and the only way to get it is to either trade for it or take control of an anima node hidden deep under the planet's surface.

The PVP combat in The Secret World is called Battle for Hollow Earth PVP. Both solo players and Cabals do battle underground in order to control the precious anima, with Cabal coffers slowly filling the longer they possess a node. There is an element of strategy to the PVP battles, with players able to construct turrets and defenses to aid in the protection of their valuable property. There's also diplomatic strategy to consider, urging Cabals to form alliances and help defend each other from attacks from rival societies or risk being helpless when the enemy reaches their gates.

While players don't have to participate in PVP, what happens beneath the Earth's surface will have effects topside. Funcom couldn't say much now, only hinting that there will be consequences on the surface that could lure players down to give PVP battles a try, and that the Battle for Hollow Earth would be a very important aspect of the game.

Our presentation ended with a short clip featuring actual gameplay from The Secret World, created by internal testers at the spur of the moment a week before PAX. It showed fast-paced, action oriented combat, complete with a targeting reticule. Says Bruusgaard, "It's a very RPG system, but it feels like an action game as well. You can run around, strafe, and shoot the zombies in the head. Hopefully we can cater to those who are sick and tired of the point and click MMOs and want something more dynamic."

There are plenty of secrets left in The Secret World. There are new enemies to discover, bizarre characters to meet, and mysteries to unravel. When will the truth be revealed? Funcom has been working on the concept for the game for nearly a decade, and the game itself since 2006, and they're not prepared to nail down a date just yet. Just rest assured that Funcom won't stop until The Secret World is perfect, and if their ambitions match the final product, we could be in for something spectacular.

(A glitch earlier made this story disappear off of the site. It is back now, obviously)

"We are always concerned, but we're not tracking individual cases," said Gordon MacCracken, with the health department's Communications Office.

Penny Arcade Expo organizers told Kotaku earlier this week that there was a confirmed case of the flu at the show. Today PA's Robert Khoo said that number has jumped to nearly 100.

Last week there was an outbreak of the flu at Washington State Univeristy with 2,500 people feeling sick, according to KOMO News.

While MacCracken said it is possible that the outbreak at WSU and the cases reported at PAX are connected, he thinks it is doubtful. The university is located in the other corner of the state, he said.

MacCracken said that the state health department does not track individual cases of Swine Flu until they reach the level of hospitalization or death. But he added that doesn't mean it isn't serious.

"Seasonal flu is serious," he said. "Roughly 36,000 people die each year. [Swine flu] isn't necessarily worse, but that's not to say it isn't serious."

The National Center for Disease Control told Kotaku that don't track individual cases either anymore, leaving that to local doctors and health officials.

The Swine Flu vaccines aren't due to arrive in Washington State until next month, MacCracken said.

"If someone is feeling as though they are coming down with something they should try to stay away from other people and consult their doctor," he said.

People infected with Swine flu may be able to infect others from one day before getting sick to five to seven days after, according to the CDC.

Khoo says that he hopes that people will be mindful next year at PAX and make sure to use the hand sanitizer dispensers located throughout the show.

From John Q (and, no, I did not ask him to call me "Mr."):

Thanks to Ben Galley and Kotaku.com, I was able to experience PAX in all its gaming glory. Playing Uncharted 2 and God of War were some of the best parts of my trip, but the very best part of my trip happened by coincidence. I just so happened to sit behind a Mr. Stephen Totilo at a Spike special! Meeting Totilo was worth the trip itself, but as if that wasn't cool enough, I got to meet Geoff Keighley and Daniel Kayser from Game Trailers TV.

After all the gaming, and all the swag collecting, and seeing Totilo everywhere after meeting him, I was looking back on my trip to PAX and wishing I could rewind the day just to do it all again. All in all, I couldn't have had a more amazing trip to my first convention. Thanks again Ben and Kotaku, you've made this gamer's year! – Jon Q

How will Blog Talk Radio change your life? Tune in today. And dare to call in to talk to Ken Levine live!

Throughout the event, panelists Joel DeYoung of Hothead Games, Jennifer Mercurio of the Entertainment Consumers Association, James Portnow of Divide By Zero Games and moderator/journalist Aaron Ruby tried to define what "gamer" really means. There were some arguments made that we don't need that term anymore, or at least that it no longer means 1) fat, 2) unwashed or 3) male. But ultimately nobody could quite put their finger on what made every single person in that room different from every single person over at the Bumbershoot festival.

Then, a man who'd been waiting in line for nearly half an hour for a turn at the microphone put it something like this: "[I define] ‘Gamer' as someone dedicated to the perfection of fun. You can't do that in 10 [minute intervals]."

There was an audible hiss from the crowd and the panelists shifted uneasily. Was this guy saying casual gamers didn't count as gamers, or just classifying all short gaming experiences as casual games?

Either way, it pissed a few people off. My QA tester friend who'd been sitting next to me put down her DS and loudly said, "Have you ever heard of The Sims?"

I'm pretty sure most of the women in the crowd were annoyed, plus a few of the panelists. I imagine especially so DeYoung who'd made a point about the need for episodic gaming experiences that family-minded gamers could work into their busy everyday lives.

The statement was wrong-headed, though, not just because it alienated all of casual gamers, but because it implies that short games are somehow not really games.

Alright, fine, people who play Bejewled exclusively probably aren't "gamer" enough to comment intelligently on Mass Effect 2. However, it's not fair to say that Plants vs. Zombies doesn't contribute in some way to the perfection of the real time strategy genre, or that the storytelling in Portal didn't have an impact on the way longer games construct their narratives.

Come to think of it, lots of what we call "core" games (that is, the kind aimed specifically at "gamers" and not at anyone else) are short or episodic experiences. Games like Ico, Uncharted, Rez, Shadow Complex and even Batman: Arkham Asylum were all on the short-ish side at or around 10 hours each – and yet all contribute in some way to the "perfection of fun" somehow, don't they?

Ruby responded to the question right away with, "Those are fighting words." Sadly, though, there wasn't enough time left in the panel for a discussion to kick off.

So, Kotaku, I leave it to you to weigh in on the casual versus core debate with respect to the term gamer. Is one flavor of gamer somehow less gamer than the other? Does length have anything to do with it, or is that a penis joke waiting to happen?

The official PAX Twitter account wrote today "Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the show. PLEASE if you feel symptoms (fever, etc) go to the doctor." That's potentially alarming news for the approximately 60,000-plus estimated attendees of this year's Penny Arcade Expo. We contacted Penny Arcade reps to get more details on the reports of Swine Flu.

"This is the real thing. If you get this number of people together in this close a proximity it is the perfect storm for these kind of wild fire virus spreads," Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo told Kotaku. "We just want to make sure everyone is informed."

Khoo said that the reported case came from a Boston-based game developer, one who confirmed contracting the H1N1 virus with a doctor. That developer contacted PAX officials with confirmation of the infection.

We contacted the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention to see if any other reports of Swine Flu infection had been reported from the show and are waiting to hear back.

As PAX officials already noted, we'd highly recommend seeking medical help should you notice any symptoms, which include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. We'd also recommend reading more information about the virus at the CDC's web site.

If that's the case, what would you say the cosplayers of Penny Arcade Expo say about PAX?

First up is Naughty Dog's very own Arne Meyer and Sam Thompson. Can they justify their Uncharted 2?

Before we could talk about DeathSpank, we had to get past the subject of my magical pen. I use a Livescribe pen during interviews, which records sound while I take notes, allowing me to later touch the pen to the text and play back exactly what it recorded while I was writing. Ron was astounded to the point of accusing me of cavorting with the devil.

"It's magic! That's not technology - you're a witch."

Having established my unholy status, I moved on to asking Ron exactly what DeathSpank meant to him.

"DeathSpank to me is Monkey Island meets Diablo. Obviously I love adventure games a lot, and I wanted to take some of the really great things about adventure games - the way they tell stories, present dialog with characters, and include puzzle solving. But I'm also a big fan of action RPGs like Diablo, and I wanted to marry those two things together."

The marriage of classic 2D adventure games and a 3D isometric action RPG like Diablo carries over into the art direction for the game as well, with 3D characters, NPCs, and enemies doing battle and interacting amidst 2D scenery, creating something that almost has the look and feel of a pop-up book.

Ron walks me through a little combat, showing me how any of DeathSpank's powers and abilities can be mapped to any action button, allowing players to play however they want. Powers like the ability to summon a pack of wild chickens to attack your enemies. It sounds like a great power to have, but it has a major drawback - if you accidentally hit the birds with an attack, they'll turn on you.

"One of the guys on the project summons 100 chickens, gets them to attack him, and then runs around with this horde of 100 chickens following him everywhere. It's amazing to see."

So Ron's trademark humor is intact, and seems to translate well into a 3D action game, but what of the adventuring elements? He warps to a place further along in the game, where DeathSpank has to talk to a retired hero in order to get a new weapon. Like the classic Monkey Island games, the dialog options aren't simply decisions you make, but a way to flesh out the story, with humorous exposition that is only there to entertain the player. Eventually DeathSpank gets the old man to tell him what he wants in exchange for the weapon - "A tank! No wait...a taco!"

It's more than you'd expect from a 3D RPG, with more than you'd expect from an adventure game.

"Adventure games and RPGs share a lot in common. They tell stories. They're both about collecting items. RPGs have quests; adventure games send you off to solve puzzles, and I really just enjoy them both. Why should I play two games when I can just play one?"

That one game is coming from Hothead Games sometime next year, playable on everything Ron can possibly release it on.

"Everything with a chip on it. It'll be on microwave ovens."

Three levels were available in the demo that 8monkey had up and running at their PAX booth, which was festooned with period weapons and employees dressed up in historical garb, right up to publisher Phantom EFX's CEO and game designer Aaron Schurman wearing Roman hardened leather armor, complete with plumed helmet.

Schurman gave me a basic overview of the game as I played through the opening level as a member of General Custer's doom band during the Battle of Little Big Horn. Your character is an MIA - missing in action - a person who was unaccounted for at the end of a major battle or disaster. The concept behind the game is that a futuristic time agency warps in and recruits these MIA's to put them to work fixing errors in the time stream. He explained that one of your character's contacts is an MIA from 9/11, a policeman who was off-duty on the day of the tragedy, running to help but managing to (nearly) get killed in the process.

The concept made me a little sad, but Andrew made me look at things another way. "It is sad that they are gone, but it's good to imagine that these MIAs are actually still out there somewhere, making a difference for the rest of us."

Back at the Battle of Little Big Horn, I fired my primitive pistols as hordes of Native Americans swarmed about on horseback and on foot, charging the small hill we were trying to keep. Soon I found myself felled by an arrow, seeing it sticking out of my chest as I struggled to take as many of the enemy down with me as I could. Then a strange bubble appears and a man dressed in futuristic armor beckons me to join him, only to be shot dead as I enter the warp and the level ends. Interesting.

During the swarming of the Indians, I did notice a little bit of slowdown due to the sheer number of enemies on screen at once, but the effect was still rather impressive overall. Another thing I noticed was that the enemy NPCs didn't seem to be all that interested in me, a worry that carried over into the next level.

The second level saw me fighting Germans during World War II, only this time around I had a futuristic shotgun at my disposal. The Germans charged our trenches, and I hopped out, running through the enemy and taking them down in what I can only image was a very surprising way as far as they were concerned. I didn't spend too much time in this level, but again I noticed that the German soldiers didn't seem too concerned with me hanging about.

The third level cast me as a Union soldier during the Battle of Antietam, armed with a primitive musket with a rather long reload time. Luckily Darkest of Days has a quick reload function, with your character getting things done a bit quicker if a button is pressed at the correct time. The first pitched battle I fought was very, very period, with both armies facing off across a ditch, simply standing, firing, and then reloading as quickly as possible in order to fire again. Primitive, but entertaining nonetheless.

Soon our forces were on the move again, and I met up with a fellow time operative who hooked me up with an automatic machine gun. An automatic machine gun during the Battle of Antietam. Lovely.

Butternut-wearing members of the Confederacy fell in great numbers, but 8monkey was careful to make sure that you couldn't simply unload with your future ordinance all willy-nilly. Certain key soldiers are marked as survivors, and you cannot use your future weapons while they are awake and aware. In order to overcome this obstacle, you toss out a handful of these little balls, which will seek out survivors and put them to sleep, allowing you to go to town with your little friend.

Falling to put a survivor to sleep, however, will alert the rival time-travelers who are trying to alter history. Once they realized someone that was supposed to live has died, they get a fix on you and come to investigate. This is not a good thing.

So I played through most of the three levels available, finding Darkest of Days to be a solid little shooter with some great ideas behind it. As I was leaving, Aaron Schurman explained that while the demo gave players a great feel for the gameplay, there's a deep, enthralling story behind the game that the demo just doesn't communicate.

I suppose we'll find out if he's right soon enough. Darkest of Days hits the PC and Xbox 360 tomorrow.

Announced earlier this summer and opening to the public on September 9th, the new Dungeons and Dragons Online relegates subscription fees to VIP members, allowing anyone to play for free, relying on a cash store that sells extra dungeons, quests, classes, and items for revenue. According to Turbine director of communications Adam Mersky, the early access program is already indicating tremendous success for the new business model.

"They all got a ton of points for being loyal subscribers, for being in the beta. We weren't really expecting a ton of sales...they had no incentive to. They already had access to all of the content as VIP subscribers, and we just gave them a buttload of points."

With a buttload of points and access to all of the premium content through in-game quests, one wouldn't expect the early access folks would need more points. One would also be mistaken, apparently.

"They've gone through their points, and we've already sold millions more Turbine points, and we've not even opened up the world to the public yet."

And what is selling? What would subscribers rather pay for than unlock through in-game means?

"The hottest selling items are the new Favored Soul class, which is unlockable in game, but all of our subs just went ahead and spent points on it, unlocked it, and they're playing it right now. We're real excited for September 9th when we open the world up to everyone else."

It sounds as if DDO, a game that had all but dropped off of our radar, could be coming back in a big way. We'll check back with Turbine once things go live to see if the buying trend continues.

Yes. Yes you can.

Holkins and Krahulik took time out of their hosting duties at the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo to talk to Kotaku this weekend. We chatted in front of the camera and under the boom mic of a crew that's filming a reality show around this pair of the world's most successful gamers.

How successful? Three sold out days of Penny Arcade Expo 2009 at the Washington State Convention Center, expanding next year both to the first PAX East, in Boston, and, with the addition of a four-story annex across the street, to an even bigger 2010 Seattle show … Successful enough to garner millions of readers of their online comic strip… And, Krahulik told Kotaku, when I pressed him to name the most expensive thing he ever bought at once, successful enough to buy a Mercedes three years ago in cash.

One of Krahulik and Holkins' achievements has been to turn their love of video games into an opportunity to make video games. They helped put together Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, their 2008 Xbox Live Arcade debut. They have released two episodes of the adventure game and say they are now "on the cusp" of an announcement about their game development future. They declined to provide specifics, so we talked about what they learned from the first project.

The lesson: Game-making did not turn out to be the joy they both may have anticipated.

"I discovered that I had no desire to make games," Krahulik told me during our interview.

"And I discovered that I like writing games a lot," Holkins said. "I would describe the process internally as very complex."

For both their comic strip and the game, which was developed by Hothead Games, Krahulik had art tasks. Holkins did writing.

Krahulik didn't like his role. "I think it's a lot more work than making comics," he said. "I don't think the end result is as entertaining. For me, what I like is drawing a comic, putting it up in a few hours and I get immediate feedback. .. And if you don't like that comic, there's another one Friday. With a game, I worked on that for two years, but my work was all concept, right? None of that work shows up in the game. Nobody sees it. I get no feedback."

"You get feedback on other people's work," Holkins quipped.

But while Krahulik is happy enough with his comics job, Holkins found game-making much more fulfilling. "The process is so different from our regular writing process [of the comic strip,] where it's mostly about a process of refinement, of distillation," he said. "You can write in a much more broad way in games… I could add as much text as I wanted to [in the game]. And so, for me, a lot of ideas that, under the ordinary strictures of the writing process, would be gone, I was able to keep and then polish up. … I found that process of characters having conversations in my head that I would transcribe very enjoyable. And I think it's excellent training for other kinds of writing that I might be asked to do in the future."

Holkins said that his future writing could involve books or scripts. I suggested songs. He said he already writes those.

Their comic won't stop. Their shows are bursting and beloved. They're on a game-making cusp. They seem not even slightly miserable, but if anyone thought that two guys who love playing games would automatically love making games, that's not so. It's more complex and more interesting than that.

Inside the Turtles Tour bus (modeled to look as much like the Turtle Van as spray paint would allow), there were all kinds of nostalgic mementos from times of turtles past. Concept art, comic books, classic play sets (sadly no Technodrome). But the best draw of all was the massive wall of Turtles toys — many of them from the original Playmates line.

Feast your eyes on the follow and feel young again. Or just go and ogle all the stuff you wish you had in your oversize vehicle.

Actually, not all of the PAX swag this year was completely "free." To net the majority of the T-shirts, PAX-goers were asked to wait in lines to sit through demos. Only then were they able to walk away with a shirt. This is the reason why I don't have as big a haul as in years past (hey, those lines got long!), and sadly I missed out on the Star Wars shirts because of a mismanaged time schedule.

The Good
I like the All Points Bulletin shirts, the C.O.P. The Recruit magnet that I mistook for a bumper sticker and the inflatable Dragon Age: Origins swords. The NOS energy drink contains scary ingredients, but it was useful during the 3 PM hour when lunch had worn off and there was still a ways to go before the 5 PM panels started. And all the comic books and magazine really came in handy for those long waits in line when I wasn't willing to bust out my DS. Pro Tip: Mouse pads and assorted video game buttons make excellent stocking-stuffers.

The Bad
I'm not as fond of the orange shirt that came standard with the default PAX swag bag because I find it insulting. The Intel shirt also gets poor marks because of the process I had to endure to get it: An Intel rep handed out big blue buttons to people in line. She told us to walk around PAX with them on and "someone" would find us and give us a little card with a barcode on it. Then we had to take the card to a booth and a teller would trade it for a prize. I imagine I would have been less annoyed at being a free billboard for Intel if I'd won a laptop — but since all I got was a shirt crammed into a plastic mold in the shape of a shirt, I say bah.

The WTF
The funny thing about that Brink shirt is that the game was probably one of the most interesting on the show floor, but it's easily the least interesting design for a video game shirt. Not as funny, but twice as clever was the Assassin's Creed II advertisement where you sever a guy's head by opening up a booklet. Too bad you only get one use out of that one, though.

Ten points to those who can spot the hidden cat toys in the picture below: