Starting on October 11 and running all the way through October 29, the Game Over art show will be on display at Giant Robot in San Francisco – featuring such artists as Brian Ralph, Ben King, Ako Castuera and Aiyana Udesen.

If you don't know who any of those people are, don't feel bad. Just trust me when I say they're artists and that they love video games. Don't believe me? Check out some of the pieces after the jump. (Scans courtesy of Luke Martinez, Giant Robot Manager and champion of Game Over’s success.)

You can see (and buy) more pieces from the show here.

This particular store sold all of its MGS PS3 bundles at 10pm to people who were waiting in line although the GameStop employee I spoke with refused to divulge how many systems they received. I asked him if they had received lots of pre-orders and he informed me once again that he was not allowed to talk about it. Given that the line was quite long and everyone there had to have a pre-order, I would guess that their list was rather extensive. A nearby Best Buy that was also doing a midnight launch sold out of their twenty five PS3 bundles within a a few minutes after announcing them around 11:30pm. Apparently their employees have no such non-disclosure rule when it comes to numbers.

There were three local outlets doing midnight launches, but one store was conspicuously dark. The Sony store in the Metreon Center didn't hold a midnight launch. This is due to the fact that it's in a mall and the cost of keeping it open past hours would make it not quite worth the while. So if you live in the SF area and are keen to get your hands on a bundle, all your hopes lie on the Sony Store's door. A door that will open at 10am PST Thursday morning. Good Luck!

And it's quite possible that this is viral marketing for the upcoming title (out in June), if not the movie (this week). They roll this sucker in San Francisco, and LucasArts is around the block in the Presidio. Five million Legos is not something you buy or assemble that quick — if it is a solid 5 mil Legos. I don't really see them flaking off as it tumbles, so it may be a bunch of big pieces- parts made by Lego and assembled by this team. Also, it's S.F. in the middle of the day, no moving cars in the shot, very few parked, so they probably got a filming permit. And the big flatbed truck too ... good bet this is marketing.

But it's clever, and I admire any creative impulse that gets you to roll a Lego boulder down a big hill into a parked van. Plus it has a guy dressed as Sallah, and fezzes are awesome. But if this was Boston, they'd all be arrested for terrorism.

LEGO Boulder [YouTube, thanks cashius22]

Also, as I reported last week, tonight is the launch party for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII at the Sony Metreon Center in San Francisco. The event goes from 6pm - 9pm and space is limited to 200 people.

And if that's not enough for you, our own Crecente will be attending and telling you all about his adventures at the Tecmo event in New York. Launch events, ho!

Jonathan Newth, Corporate Development Officer of Kuju Entertainment, commented "The US, and San Francisco in particular, is a natural choice for our first non-UK studio. It's a hotbed of development talent, home to many leading publishers and some of the leading US games press.

Kuju America [Official Website]

It was an amazing trip across the country and between the stops at Graceland, catching sight of a 72oz steak, a 4lb hamburger and the Liberace Museum, I even managed to see some video game related things . Arcades in truck stops, game stations in fast food joints and the Spike VGAs, not to mention the myriad video poker machines in Vegas. Sure, you could argue that those aren't video games, but Xbox LIVE has Texas Hold 'Em which is basically the same thing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Reporting to you live from my favorite cafe in San Francisco, I will be bringing you some of the stories from the road mixed in with the regular enormous dearth of news there always is on the weekends and especially around the holidays. Hopefully there will be something in there that will interest you.

I never really thought I'd miss writing twenty four articles a weekend, but damn it's good to be back

If you're a Final Fantasy fan and reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, your dreams of going to a party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the long running franchise have just come true.

On June 26, Square Enix will be throwing a shindig at the Sony Playstation Store at the Metreon Center at 101 4th Street in downtown San Francisco to commemorate the occasion of twenty years of magic, mayhem and androgynous male characters. Party goers will get the chance to purchase the Final Fantasy I revamped for the PSP as well as getting a glimpse of the new FF II remake (also on the PSP). As an added bonus, the first hundred people through the door will receive exclusive FF merchandise. If you're one of those lucky hundred, be sure to snap pictures of this exclusive merchandise so we can post it here and make you the envy of every FF fan in the world (minus ninety-nine). Flynn De Marco

You have, by now, been flooded with images, video, Q&As, interviews, stories about Halo 3, heck, I wouldn't be surprised if not a few of you have even been playing the beta for the 360 shooter. But I still wanted to take a second to jot down my early thoughts after playing with the multiplayer beta of the game for more then a few hours last night.

Initially, I was blown away by the game. I liked the way it looked and felt, I LOVED the new touches, the new weapon tweaks, the new equipment. But that luster started to erode quickly as the night slipped by.

The first to go was my appreciate for the game's look. There is no, absolutely no anti-aliasing in the game currently and when viewed on a large high-definition television that equates to fields of jagggy hills, jaggy palm fronds blowing in the wind, even jaggie weapons and snow. Initially, it didn't bother me that much, but my irritation grew as I played it and it become less and less possible for me to ignore the harsh graphic lines.

The weird thing is that overall the game looks pretty good, it's just those jaggies, especially when played in a split-screen mode, that got to me.

Then, after playing the game for hours on end, I started to realize (I'm a slow learner) that the game was essentially a blending of the best of Halo and Halo 2 with a bit added on to tweak gameplay and make it feel different. I suppose I shouldn't have been expecting them to re-invent the wheel, but it would have been nice to see some sort of shift in gameplay, something that Halo 3 most certainly doesn't do.

I can understand why they didn't want to mess too much with a winning formula, and might not be as noticeable once the game hits retail. I do like that they've added this ability to record playback of your favorite matches and play them or upload them for later viewing. I suspect that's a much bigger deal than people realize.

The problem is that while their are new weapons and substantial changes to old weapons, the game is essentially the same at its heart. It would have been nice if there were more additions like the force walls that you can walk through but no shoot through. That changes the way you play those areas of the game. As does the bubble shield and the power drainer.

Of course the big deal, I think, to a lot of Halo fans will actually be the single player experience. Odd for a shooter, but it's the plot of this last in the trilogy that will make or break Halo 3. Brian Crecente

Being developed in conjunction with the movie for six different platforms, The Golden Compass certainly has a lot of obstacles to overcome straight out of the gate.

Sega's announcement at their event in San Francisco yesterday seemed more about the movie than the impending game. Sure, they talked about the platforms it's coming (all of them) and the fact that they have full access to the movie's props and lots of images of the actors, but the game just wasn't grabbing my atetntion.

In it you play through 11 levels, two of which are unique to the book and the game, as the movie's leading girl, a shapeshifting manimal and a gi-normous polar bear.

All but the DS version is being developed by Shiny Entertainment, with the DS version being made by Artificial Mind and Movement.

Despite the fact the fact that the people showing the game to the press used the phrase "very excited" at least three times during the very short presentation, I couldn't help but be most decidedly not very excited about its prospects. Brian Crecente

I'm heading off to Electronic Arts' Summer Preview in a bit here in San Francisco.

The event promises to show off, among other things, Boogie, the new Harry Potter title, NASCAR 08, NCAA Football 08, SimCity DS, The Sims 2 Pets Wii, The Sims Pet Stories, Tumble Bees and, wait for it, Wing Commander Arena. None of it is under embargo, so expect some impressions as soon as I can get them up.

There's also supposed to be a "special announcement" around 4:30 p.m. pacific, I'll try to get that up asap as well. Brian Crecente

ETech (short for "Emerging Technology") was going on for the last couple of days in San Diego (my brother just came back and commented on how "expensive" everyone looked). Microsoft sent their man, Dr. John Curlander, to present the technologies that made Virtual Earth, an application used to show 3D models of real cities.

Most of the discussions at the conference, however, revolved around what they haven't done and are only starting to think about doing, like lending their own application to the developers at Xbox 360 so they can make games with real world backgrounds.

This application launched in November of last year. If it's so great, why is Microsoft only starting to think about making it available to its own people? Kim Phu

Microsoft lays out plans for Virtual Earth [C Net]

Yah, I agree. We do need a San Francisco based-writer to beef up our US coverage. Got any one in mind or are we opening this up to the flood gates?

Speaking of flood gates, today's ban count: Two.

Just got back from the video store where I snagged a copy of the first two episodes of Lost: Season 2. They just hit DVD here and seem to be popular with the locals. Season one was a knock-out, though I hear the current season playing over there is in the States dips greatly in quality. Bummer!

What you missed while you were sleeping:

• Xbox 360 begins its great Japan crap-out.
• GameStop piles on the creepy.
• Here's info on how the 360 is doing in India.
• Retro gaming are a-lacking.

Odd thing. Remember that DS cookbook my wife was using? Thanks to its super healthy recipes, I'm actually dropping weight. Freaky, huh? Now, off to watch Lost, drink beer and put that weight back on!

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my connecting flight to San Francisco.

I'll be getting in at 7:30 p.m., or more than two hours after Electronic Art's surprise event starts there. I say surprise because they alerted me, and I believe everyone else, about 6 p.m. Tuesday. How's that for a heads up?

The event will feature Neil Young (EA LA), Alex Ward (Criterion), Kudo Tsunoda (EA Chicago), John Schappert (Ea Canada), Hanno Lemke (EA Canada) and Kevin Liles, CEO of Def Jam.

An hour before I land, there will be some sort of special guest. My money is on Will Wright, but wouldn't it be cool if it was Samuel L. Jackson? (I'm not giving up on my dream.)

The EA folks tell me the party, which will have some playable PS3 games on hand, will be in full swing until 9 p.m.

Sony is also having a welcome reception at the hotel I'm staying at, which runs through 11 p.m.

Or I could just go to sleep and hope I feel better tomorrow for the day of receptions, food, gaming and execie talk.

What should I do? Brian Crecente

Courtesy of Game Set Watch comes this amazing gamer's thesis: A List of Common Themes in Dream-Cast Land. It's wonderful: what are these themes, these elusive metaphors? What Freudian aspects cast surreally upon them? According to Dreamcast Junkyard, they are the following:

• San Francisco
• Michael Jackson
• Fish
• Bruce Lee knock-offs

And, of course, Bruce Lee in San Francisco beating Michael Jackson to death with nunchuku flounders! Florian Eckhardt

Common Themes in Dreamcast-Land [The Dreamcast Junkyard]

San Francisco Katamari March Photos [Kodak Gallery]

Team Nintendo hit San Francisco's famously hilly streets recently to show off Brain Age to the unwashed, non-gaming masses. It appears they hung out on a street corner and accosted passers-by. It sounds like it was an interesting experiment with even San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stopping by. I can't help but notice that it's not a Brain Age-packing DS he has in his hands.