I can't remember why my brother and I were down in the basement going through Dad's old stuff that day, but reading that kicker, I knew then I wanted to become a sports writer. I even used the same valedictory once when I was a college sports writer, taking a ribbing for using, by then, a rather dated means to close out my own column.

Fifteen years later, I'm back behind a keyboard with sports as a weekly subject, although in a bit of a different way, with a bit of a different readership. I absolutely promise not to plagiarize lines four decades old. But today, with your indulgence, this will be a column more about sports than video games, although it's illustrated with the help of one.

You see, at the end of this past year, Dad closed a 40-year career in newspapers. He had edited one he started with a colleague in 2007 and, before that, had been publisher of the paper in my hometown for nearly 30 years. If Dad leaves with a legacy, it is one of leading newspapers that insisted on local governments doing the public's business - all of it - publicly, and of holding officials accountable for that, on behalf of those they both served.

But on some level Dad's always been a sports writer to me, and more than just because he raised me with an interest in the same sports he loves. It was his first job out of college, where he wrote a column at Winston-Salem's Twin City Sentinel while waiting for my mother to graduate, and it was his duty when they married and moved to the town where I and my brother were raised.

Dad went to Elkin, N.C., in the early 1970s to be the editor of its small, then twice-weekly newspaper. It had no sports editor at the time, so the title also meant he was also its sports writer. Small town newsmen, then as now, must take their own pictures, whether or not they're trained photographers. Snapping broad daylight photos of big fish or check presentations or potatoes that look like Richard Nixon is one thing. The task is infinitely more complex, and critical, when you're covering the nighttime action of high school football in a blanket-mill town where that's the only thing worth reading in a weekend edition.

Working for Dad years later, I would confess the mortal fear I had of coming home from a game with no usable art. A strong vertical shot not only anchors a front, it keeps you from writing another 20 column inches just to fill out the three pages that advertising finally booked for you. In my time, we sent color film off to a local 24-hour processor, praying that what came back the next morning matched what was in the mind's eye the night before. When Dad was a sports writer, he was in a darkroom at midnight developing black and white photos off of two-inch negatives himself. And he had a trick to ensure, no matter what, that he always left the game with a magazine-quality image ready for print.

With the game all but won, Dad would sidle up to the Elkin head coach, a guy by the name of Harry Jennings, and innocently suggest the Elks run a sweep to their side of the field, where Dad would be waiting with perfect aperture, film speed and flash already set. Inevitably, Jennings would comply, knowing that it would get his players in a big photo and it would make all their parents proud to cut it out. And the picture usually looked like this: the running back coming at you, hard into the frame, driving for the corner, ball tucked, shoulder lowered, throwing out the classic Heisman Trophy stiffarm. Worked like a charm every time, Dad said.

I was born in the very early morning on a Thursday in 1973. That year, the Elkin varsity played on Thursdays. After my delivery, Dad took a long rest, got up and put on a tie - newspaper writers, no matter the circulation, always wore ties in those days. Then he went to the old office on Market Street and grabbed his Yashica Mat-124 and several rolls of film, and headed down to Memorial Park Drive for Elkin high school football. There he covered the game from the sideline, keeping track of whole offensive drives, players' cumulative yardage, completions, turnovers, the entire contest seen through his eyes and no one else's. All of this written into a notebook the width of his back pocket. All of this while peering down into a dual-lens box camera he held waist high.

And stripped across the bottom of the front page on Friday, Sept. 28, 1973, the first newspaper of my life, was his story of this game, and his signature photograph: Elkin on the toss sweep, the split end out, patrolling for trouble, the halfback turning upfield to meet the defense, his blue jersey and gold helmet rendered in black and white, arm flung out perfectly in the Heisman pose.

And the picture credited to Rebel Good.

This top-down, dual-stick shooter retains the arcadey appeal of the genre, while supporting its frenzied action with sharp visuals and impressive effects. Solo pilots are in for an alien-annihilating blast, but co-op world-savers may get lost in the chaos before finishing this fight.

Loved
Thumbs At the Ready:0 Day's action is fast, fun, and often frantic. There's always lots happening on-screen, and only razor-sharp reflexes will keep your craft from quickly becoming a plummeting ball of fire. Assisting your fight against Earth's invaders are multiple ships, power-ups, and abilities. An effective nitro boost will shoot you out of harm's way, while screen-stretching explosive blasts-that'd crane the necks of Mercenaries' pyro-loving protagonists-envelope bigger enemies in a tidal wave of flames. Additionally, expected genre power-ups such as three-way spray guns and flame throwers that deliver death from both ends of your ship, round out your alien-whuppin' arsenal. The swift action is also nicely managed by intuitive controls and a simple, clean HUD display.

Aliens Attack!: Evocative of over-the-top extraterrestrial invasion films like Independence Day and Minority Report, 0 Day pays as much attention to its presentation as its gameplay. Taking place over seven days and 20+ missions, the story sees you fighting enormous enemies in real-world cities. Where similar titles offer repetitive starry space backdrops and uninspired enemies, 0 Day pits players against massive metallic menaces erupting from the Hudson River and mechanical limb-flailing monsters that dwarf Manhattan's skyscrapers.

Hated
Chaotic Co-opWhile 0 Day seems tailor made for a kick-ass co-op experience, its up-to-4-player mode suffers from being way too busy. Between the enemies, explosions, allies, and power-ups, there's already a bit much crowding the screen during solo play. But add more trigger-happy players to the mix, and navigating the clutter becomes maddening. Competitive mutli-player modes, while similarly dizzying, do fare a bit better here. If you can manage to tune out some of the peripheral chaos, there's some fun to be had while battling with or against buddies, but more often than not I found myself flying solo.

0 Day doesn't stray too far from what makes the dual-stick shooter genre tick. But addictive action and some interesting abilities, complemented by a presentation ripped right from a Roland Emmerich flick, allow it to rise above the me-too competition. It gets a little crazy when the action ramps up during multi-and occasionally solo-play, but quick-reflexed gamers shouldn't have a problem saving the planet from its latest alien threat.

0 Day: Attack on Earth was developed by GULTI and published by Square Enix for Xbox Live Arcade on December 23th. Retails for 1200 Microsoft Points. A code to download the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game's campaign on medium difficulty and participated in several online multi-player matches.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

It's that time of year again. Time to take a data dive into the heart of eBay U.S. to gauge how well the video game grey market fared during the holiday season. Rather than charting the sales numbers of a specific console, as I've done for the past three years with the Nintendo Wii, this year I'm presenting a broader overview of the eBay grey market, charting the sales for all major gaming platforms during the 30-day period beginning November 26th and ending on Christmas Day. I've compiled data on console sales, game listings, and some of the top-items passing through the popular auction website. If you want to know which platforms thrived, which handheld completely tanked, and the most successful video game-related item on eBay, then read on.

Console Sales

The table below presents a general overview of the sales performance of the major consoles and handheld systems during the month leading up to Christmas. I've listed the total sales in U.S. dollars, the number of items sold, the average selling price, and the sell-through percentage, which indicates the success of auctions posted for each specific product. Check out the table, and then we'll break things out by console.

PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 in all its varied incarnations sold the fewest number of consoles out of the big three this year, but that shouldn't be taken as a measure of the system's success. Indeed, if you look at the sell-through percentage, the PS3 comes out on top. That means there were less people selling, but plenty willing to buy. Since the launch of the PlayStation Slim earlier this year, Sony has maintained a steady supply of the consoles to retail outlets, and the abundance of available consoles equates less people looking for them on eBay.

From a seller's point of view, that high sell-through figure means the PlayStation 3 comes out on top in terms of sales potential.

The highest price PlayStation 3 auctions mainly consisted of limited edition consoles, including the Final Fantasy XIII bundle recently released in Japan.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 brought in the most money of any console this holiday season, mainly due to its average price being slightly higher than the Nintendo Wii, which pushed more units overall. The Microsoft console's sell-through numbers were only slightly lower than the PlayStation 3. Between that figure and the larger number of consoles put up for sales, it seems like putting a new 360 up for sales is seen as a relatively safe bet among sellers.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle made up a large portion of the Xbox 360 sales during the period, with 322 of the consoles representing $126,924 worth of sales. The Infinity Ward-flavored bundle went for as high as $900.

Wii

eBay sellers continue the love affair with the Wii that started with the console's 2006 holiday debut. The Wii was the top seller of the big three in terms of units sold, but the slightly lower sell-through rate indicates that there might have been a few too many up for sale.

Also note that the average price for the Wii was $190, which is below the suggested retail price. Either sellers were taking advantage of discounts and sales, or they weren't making very much in the way of profits.

DS

The Nintendo DS managed to outsell the newer, more advanced DSi this holiday season, pushing more than 2,000 units beyond what Nintendo's latest North American handheld sold. A failure for the DSi? Not exactly. Take a look at the sell-through percentage and you'll see that the DSi has the largest number of any game console. eBayers wanted to buy them, but the sellers just weren't selling.

PSP

The PSP sold strong on eBay this holiday, with the PSP-1000, 2000, and 3000 generating more money than any other handheld, though the DS trumped them with sheer numbers.

The top selling PSP was a used red God of War limited edition PSP, which went for $1,009.

Unfortunately, the PSPgo didn't fare nearly as well as its older brother. In fact, Sony's UMD-less alternative to the regular PSP performed abysmally, pushing only 250 units. It's not a factor of demand behind too high for supply either - the sell-through rate of 76.47% indicates that people simply weren't buying it.

To help paint a more complete picture, let's compare units sold versus monetary sales. If you look very closely, you'll notice that both graphs do indeed contain the PSPgo. You might need to zoom in.

Games With Legs

Now let's take a look at the games that traded this holiday season. This time around I took the top ten titles sorted by number of auctions, to see which ones were moving the most.

Certainly not a surprising list. Modern Warfare 2 seems to be showing up at the top of any list as far as sales are concerned these days, and Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are two of the titles meant to showcase what the Wii can do, so those both sold in droves. World at War traded heavily, perhaps due to people swapping out the old for the new, and the Pure / Lego Batman combo disc packed inside select Xbox 360 consoles over the holiday season scores a tidy profit for those who received it for free.

And Uncharted 2 making the list makes sense, but what about the extremely more expensive edition?

Forty-five of the ultra-rare Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition made it onto eBay during the 30 days leading up to Christmas, but it seems some sellers set their hopes too high. Of the 45, only 24 sold, giving the package a 53.33% sell-through rate. The average price for the package was $891.52, with one going for as high as $1,136. Didn't get one? Maybe you should have made it to Kotaku's Child's Play fundraiser this year.

What People Look For In An Online Video Game Auction

Selling on eBay isn't just a matter of having a strong product, but being aware of what your prospective buyers are searching for and using search terms accordingly. Let's see if this list of the top 10 search terms used in both the games and system category can help.

The console search terms are pretty much common sense. Let's face it - if you're selling an Xbox 360 and you forget to include Xbox 360 in the title, there's something wrong with you. As far as game search terms go, folks initially seem to be going for specific games, but then desperation sets in. You have to be pretty desperate in order to type "Wii games" into an eBay search page.

Wii Remotes Are The New Hotcakes

Finally we come to the hottest selling video game item of the holiday season. With 8,359 items sold between November 26th and December 25th, the Nintendo Wii remote is the hottest selling gaming item this holiday season, generating more than $202,000 for sellers over the course of one month. The remote, bundled with a nunchuck, a skin, and a wrist-strap is sold as a "Nintendo Wii Remote+Nunchuck Game Controller+Skin 4 SET," though counting the wrist strap as an actual item is a bit shaky. Still, with The New Super Mario Bros. Wii making four-player gaming fun on the Wii, its no wonder the controllers are flying off the shelves, onto resellers' shelves, and then back off of the shelves again.

Another Year Goes By

And there you have the 2009 holiday season, summed up in 30 days of eBay data. A look into what happens to games and consoles once they pass from retail into the hands of the wheelers and dealers that populate the world's largest online marketplace. Bids were sniped, Buy It Now items were pounced, and in the end, everybody got feedback. A++++! Would research again!

Methodology
Statistics in the 2009 Grey Market Report were gathered using eBay market research tool Terapeak. Data was drawn for a 30 day period starting on November 26th and ending on December 25th. Console statistics were pulled directly from the Video Games / Systems subcategory to allow for mis-filed system listings, while game data was puled directly from the Video Game / Games subcategory. Console searches were limited to items in New condition, with a range of $100 to $1,000 used to ferret out accessories. Certain terms were omitted from the search in order to allow for a more accurate reporting of console pricing, including "games," "extras", "accessories," "lot," and others on a case-by-case basis - for instance, "Wii Fit" was omitted from search terms for the Wii in order to make sure systems bundled with Wii Fit did not influence the pricing data.

Two years ago Mark Wilson suggested that we should try and put together something a little special for our readers: A delightful thank you to all of those gamers out there who spend their busy work days reading Kotaku. The result was a funny little ditty written and, sadly, performed by Kotaku's own. We called it Still Not Banned.

Last year Adam Barenblat helped produce a Live Action Holiday Special featuring many of us talking to a camera in different parts of Kotaku Tower. It also included an impressive line-up of special in-game guests. Ignore my deliberately bad acting (and Princess Leia quoting) and dig the fact I was wearing my wife's robe when we shot A Very Special Kotaku Holiday Podcast.

This year we looked to Barely Digital and the Gregory Brothers for our little digital thanks to readers. They prepared this short, but sweet send off of autotuned video games.

Enjoy and make 2010 your best year ever. I know we intend to.

This is the time of the year where most sites are doing their top ten lists about different subjects. Personally, I hate top ten lists. If I'm going to do one, then it's going to be about something I'm passionate about. Therefore, we have two top ten list articles on GamingAngels.com. Here we are looking at the ten women that influenced the gaming industry in a big way over the last ten years. This isn't an all-inclusive list and I'd love for you to join in the conversation by including your nominees in the comments. The game industry is starting to see change and some of it is due to the women on this list paving the path. Here in random order, are ten women that really changed the game industry over the last ten years.

Lucy Bradshaw has to start the list with her work on the Sims beginning in the year 2000. Lucy and the Maxis team created a game that would be named the best selling PC game to date. The Sims is also credited for bringing more women into playing games. Lucy Bradshaw now leads the efforts of the Maxis team on the various Spore titles. She is an amazing speaker and is always pushing the industry forward.

Kim Swift took the game industry by storm with the much praised hit, Portal. Swift was hired by Valve after graduation and won many awards with a title that appealed to casual and the hardcore. Swift has now joined Airtight Games to assist with games aimed at a more diverse audience.
Jade Raymond was the producer on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. While she had been a producer on previous titles including The Sims Online, Jade definitely had to put up with controversy from men that couldn't get over her looks. Yes guys, it is possible to be gorgeous and talented.
Corrinne Yu is an amazing woman. She's the principal programmer at Microsoft's Halo team. I met her at a GDC Women in Games luncheon where she was rewarded for her work on the Halo series. She dresses like a rock star and talks about programming theory unlike anyone I know. Corrinne is an inspiration as we look at the problem of not enough women going into programming as a discipline.
Megan Gaiser is the President and CEO of Her Interactive. Through her work at Her Interactive, she has helped make intelligent games for the younger female audience. Her Interactive games create the Nancy Drew series of games that are very popular. Megan works hard in both talks and through her work at Her Interactive to get more girls interested in gaming both as a hobby and as a career.
Kellee Santiago is an amazing young woman from the Interactive Media program at USC. She is the president and co-founder of ThatGameCompany, a company that strives to create games that create an emotion in the player. Their first two games, flOw and Flower on the Playstation 3 are not only beautiful but also appeal to a more diverse audience. During our interview with her at the Spike VGAs, it was great to see her passionate and excited about the future of ThatGameCompany. We look forward to Kellee pushing the boundaries of what we think about games.
Amy Hennig works as Naughty Dog as the Creative Director on Uncharted and Uncharted 2. Uncharted 2 is second in the top 20 ranked Playstation 3 games on Metacritic. Amy concentrates on story and actors and it shows. Uncharted 2 has some of the best voice acting of any game out there. It will be interesting to see how close to films that Amy and the Naughty Dog team can take video games.
Deborah Mars is the Managing Producer at SCEA Santa Monica Studio who worked on PSN title, Fat Princess. The title had early uproar from various websites because the game was built around the mechanic of feeding your princess cake so she would weigh more and be harder to kidnap. In the end, Deborah and her team proved that Fat Princess is an incredibly fun title.
Cammie Dunaway is the executive vice president of sales & marketing at Nintendo. As one of the most powerful people at Nintendo, she led the way to reach out to women gamers with the Nintendo DS and Wii. She has had a rough road being criticized for being too nice or even fake. I interviewed Cammie at the 2007 Women's Conference and she was sweet but also very knowledgeable about the products available. She genuinely wants to see a more diverse audience enjoy gaming.
We end our list with a female that has taken community on the Xbox 360 to another level. Christa Phillips Charter, better known as Trixie360, was responsible for many community initiatives for the 360 that is what makes us feel at home on the 360. She organized Game with Fame nights, Community Spotlights, Gamer Spotlights, and created/founded GamerChix a place where female Xbox gamers can gather to talk about gaming. Christa has always made herself available to gamers. Her new title is Social Media Lead of Xbox LIVE and we can't see where she takes Community and Games next!

I hope you enjoyed our list and I'd love to hear who you think should be on the list. We didn't include the wonderful women that run amazing communities or clans, but they definitely could be here as well. I'd like to thank Robin Yang for working with me on ideas for this list. Here's to another 10 years of greatness from women in games!

Reprinted with permission from GamingAngels.com.

If you ask Trina, she was born a geek girl at heart. Starting with the Atari 2600, Trina was quickly hooked. By eight she was programming games in Basic and starting her collection of comic books. Trina created a female-based guild for Phantasy Star Online. This started the idea of what a place on the web for women gamers would look like. GamingAngels.com was born in 2003 as a video game cosplay site and transformed in 2006 to an online gaming community. Today GamingAngels.com is more than just gaming. With the help of her team, Trina has created a community where women that love all things geek can speak freely about their hobby.

Trina has appeared on panels and been interviewed about her strong opinions about women in gaming and technology fields. If she's not working on GamingAngels.com, she might be cheering on the Vikings, playing videogames or reading Twitter.

Find her on Xbox Live with Gamertag, GamingAngel or on Twitter as GamingAngel.

Of the top ten most voraciously "read" posts, two feature Zoey from Left 4 Dead in various states of undress. The word "porn" appears in two headlines, the word "stripper" in another. Another features the highest concentration of unicorns we've ever seen on Kotaku. In other words, you guys are pervs who come for the steady stream video game coverage, but pounce on an opportunity to see a boob.

While many of our original reviews—Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands—and features—Owen's on the Gamerscore obsessed and Fahey's on the Everquest obsessed—garnered heaps of attention, it's these posts, for better or worse, that outperformed everything else.

Seriously. This Should Be Illegal.
Best Buy's bullshit pricing on Geek Squad services isn't anything new, but the screengrab tag was in 2009. These lightning quick hit posts are often light on editorial, but always generate interesting discussion.

L4D is NS4W With Nude Zoey Mod
Everybody loves Left 4 Dead survivor Zoey. And some lust for her, expending enough effort to get the poor girl's pants off in the game by way of the nude Zoey mod, a hit with the readership. We've not yet heard of Left 4 Dead 2's Rochelle getting the same treatment.

Tales Of Horror From The Circuit City Liquidation
Danny. What a dick.

Games, Not Porn, is Adult Actress' Secret Pleasure
Porn stars, they're just like us! Minus the constant, overacted sex, of course. Unsurprisingly, Ms. Raven's two other Kotaku posts, drew similar horny crowds and our fair share of detractors.

Leaked Star Wars Battlefront 3 Gameplay Footage
Portions of the remains of Free Radical were on display for Star Wars Battlefront fans to mourn the developer's passing. It was this video, the most viewed video of the year on Kotaku, that gave us a peek at Battlefront 3, showing just what some of that artwork would have looked like in motion.

Strippers or Counter-Strike - Which Gets a Gamer's Attention?
It was a rhetorical question.

Left 4 Dead Reaches Ultimate Milestone: Parody Porn
Pretty disgusting, considering the fantasy rape nature of these Left 4 Dead parody videos that feature full penetration, but Zoey fantasies really go far with the fellas. I'm glad my mom doesn't read this site!

PS3 Slim Vs. Xbox 360 Elite: Tale of the Tape
Not much more than a feature spec for feature spec comparison of the then relatively new PlayStation 3 slim redesign and the Xbox 360. And readers flocked to it.

The Year, NSFW
Owen's end of year wrap up of the year's stories that required shutting one's office door, which really wasn't that bad to begin with, considering the nightly pantsu stories that Ashcraft posts.

The Konami Code Makes ESPN.com Magical!
For a few, glorious moments, ESPN.com was "cornified." Type in the classic Konami code and visitors were soaking in rainbows, ponies and unicorns. It's the post that launched a thousand tips of the "Hey! Did you know that the Konami code works on Facebook?! LOL!" nature. Yeah, we heard. Thanks!

Well, thanks for sticking with us another year, Kotaku kids! We appreciate your business and promise to never post anything not safe for work in 2010. Pinky swear!

How spectacular you ask?

The grand prize is a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, a Spirit Tracks t-shirt, a $1,000 Nintendo World Store gift card, a Zelda's "biggest fan" trophy and a white Nintendo DSi system personally signed by longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma.

You'll have to live in any of the Americas (North or South) to enter. If you're interested and have the day free then go check out the official rules.

Quickly browsing through the entries page I notice that there seem to be 11 entries for the 11 finalists that will be choosing, so your odds are pretty good.

Win A DSi Signed By Zelda Director, $1000 Shopping Spree (And More!)

The Howard County Sheriff's Department in Indiana discovered that Hightower, was a big fan of some "warlock and witches game", eventually piecing together that it was World of Warcraft.

The investigating deputy contacted Blizzard to see if they would help track him down, the Kokomo Perspective reports.

"They don't have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn't," Roberson told the Perspective. "It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from them. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information."

Blizzard provided the sheriff the suspect's IP address, account information and history, his billing address, and his online screen name and preferred server. Deputies then used the information to pinpoint Hightower's location in Canada.

Hightower, who was wanted on charges of dealing in a schedule III controlled substance and dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance, and two charges of dealing in marijuana, was picked up by Canadian authorities and will be returned to Howard County on Jan. 5.

While it's good to see Blizzard helping out law enforcement, it is a touch Big Brothery to hear just how much information they track and keep and are so willing to give away... even when not legally required to do so.

Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft [Kokomo Perspective, thanks Tim]

Noah Wardrip-Fruin, assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz and author of Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies, pokes some holes in the game's seeming perfection.

The design of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves should make integrating gameplay and fiction easier in two particular ways. First, it's linear, so there's no need to worry about unexpected traversals of the fictional space. Second, it's almost entirely scripted - a matter of how adeptly things are accomplished, rather than what approach is taken or what tasks are attempted - so there's little chance of unexpected emergence from game mechanics coming into play in places, times, or combinations other than what the developer intended. Given these advantages/limitations, the game's creators shouldn't have much trouble making sure that gameplay action is solidly motivated by, situated in, and consistent with the fictional world.

And it appears to have worked, at least from the game's reception. As you probably know, the game has been getting great reviews that call it "a rollicking good yarn" that "gives up nothing to the biggest action films you can think of."

I've just started playing myself - thanks to winter break - but I'm actually a bit disappointed in Uncharted 2. It seems as though the gameplay and fiction have more disjuncture than even in the first Uncharted, much less a well-written movie.

Consider, for example, the first major chunk of action (after the prologue in the snow). This is set in a museum, and Nathan Drake (the main character) takes pains to explain to his accomplices that he doesn't want them to bring guns, because they're just going up against museum guards - and he doesn't want to kill anyone. This leads to a bunch of non-lethal hand-to-hand. Next it is revealed that one of the accomplices has brought guns. But they're non-lethal dart guns, so it's okay, and a bunch of museum guards get tranqed. Then, in the midst of this, Drake is hanging from a roof edge when a guard walks toward it. The game prompts the player to hit the square button - which results in grabbing the guard and throwing him to his apparent death. An accomplice makes a joke of this and Drake makes no mention of this completely out of character action. Others have also found this strange. But the associated joke (the one that starts, "There's a guy above you!") also appears to be one of the game's most-quoted.

The next big chunk of action has an even-odder break between the fiction and the design of the gameplay. Here the scenario involves a set of explosive charges that have been placed around a camp. The player character must arm them so that they can be used as part of a diversion. But the process of arming them requires fighting a camp of men armed with automatic weapons - an accomplice says we'll have to "clear the place out" - and the game neither prompts nor seems to provide the possibility of doing this via stealth. So the only way to play is to have a large firefight against people armed with automatic weapons and presumably aware of the route back to the main camp to warn their fellows. This seems likely to create at least as large a "diversion" (at the wrong fictional moment) as blowing up a few explosives mounted to the sides of the very platforms around which the firefight takes place. It's as though the fiction authors said "Let's have them arm some charges" and the gameplay authors said "Let's have the associated challenge be a firefight with several waves of goons" and no one checked to see if the gameplay made any sense with the context and motivation of the fiction.

Starting the game this way was leaving me a bit dispirited, though wanting to press on, given the Edge review's reassurance that the "opening chapters do not see the game at its very best." But then I heard the questions I was asking myself. "Did they put that guard's death in there just so they could work in that joke?" "Why didn't even a single one of the many goons we fought think to run the short distance to the main camp, if they were cut off from their radios?" I realized - these are exactly the sorts of questions I find myself asking after seeing the same blockbuster action movies on which the Uncharted games model their experience.

Arguably this is a sign that the Naughty Dog developers are right on target. It wouldn't have occurred to me as a goal, but it might be a sign of perfection to have emulated not only the globe-hopping spectacle and history-mashing treasure hunts of well-loved action films, but also their sloppiness in integrating action and fiction. Let's hope, however, that Uncharted 3 can reconsider this aspect of devotion to its inspirations.

Reprinted with permission from expressiveintelligentstudio.

Noah Wardrip-Fruin is an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz, where he teaches in the University of California's first undergraduate computer game degree program, co-directs the Expressive Intelligence Studio in the Computer Science department, and founded the Playable Media project group in the Digital Arts and New Media MFA program. His most recent book is Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies.

I haven't really had a chance to properly sift through my recollections and memories of ten years worth of gaming to come to any final conclusion, but I did jump into review-tracking sites Game Rankings and Meta Critic to see what the aggregators said.

While some of the highest reviewed games seem about right for the years, some are just, well, bizarre. Here look for yourself. I created both of these lists searching for highest review scores for the year using the default settings on both sites.

Game Rankings
2000: Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color
2001: Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox
2002: Metroid Prime for the GameCube
2003: Grand Theft Auto Double Pack for the Playstation 2
2004: Half-Life 2 for the PC
2005: Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube
2006: Out of the Park Baseball 2007 for the PC
2007: Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii
2008: Grand Theft Auto IV for the Playstation 3
2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the Playstation 3

Metacritic
2000: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 for the Playstation
2001: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for the Playstation 2
2002: Metroid Prime for the GameCube
2003: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube
2004: Half-Life 2 for the PC
2005: Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube
2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the GameCube
2007: Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii
2008: Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360
2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the Playstation 3

Obviously not the best way to choose a winner, and it certainly doesn't take into account, or at least properly way, impact and innovation.

Which games do you think should make the list of top ten of the decade? If you're on Twitter hop on over there and post your own picks using #gamesofthedecade to help trend the topic.

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The 22-year-old woman told Joliet police that she was away from her house for about 30 minutes. When she returned and opened the door to her apartment a man ran out.

"The victim's Nintendo DS was on, and it appears the suspect had been playing it," Deputy Chief Mike Trafton told the News.

The woman's bedroom was ransacked and a "pink iPod Touch" was missing. The DS, however, was left behind.

What sort of game could have been so interesting that a burglar stopped in mid loot to play it, but then decided that not only was the game not worth stealing, but neither was the DS?

Intruder plays video games [The Herald News]

Call-in and listening details will be live on the site just before show time.

As with their aforementioned Call of Duty clone, Gameloft's latest shooter borrows from the best; while it's unlikely we'll see Master Chief's shiny green armor splash across the iPhone's slick display anytime soon, N.O.V.A. offers the next best thing.

Loved
Hand-held Halo: Give any of N.O.V.A.'s screenshots even a passing glance, and it's immediately obvious where the developers gleaned their inspiration. From its Brute-like baddies to a sidearm that'd look right at home in Master Chief's holster, this one's busting with Halo call-outs. Dig a bit deeper and you'll discover Warthog-wannabe vehicles and an intel-reporting cyber-hottie that shares more than a passing resemblance with a certain blue-beamed babe from Bungie's franchise. Whether you see these similarities as respectful tributes or blatant ripoffs, you'll be hard pressed to deny their appeal; coupled with amazing audio, visuals, animations and effects-weapon reloads are a highlight-they complement one of the platform's most polished and engrossing experiences.

Lock, Load, Touch: Supporting N.O.V.A.'s excellent presentation are rock solid controls that keep things simple, satisfying, and super intuitive. A responsive virtual pad moves your character, while finger-swiping the screen controls the camera and your cross hairs. Additionally, a well balanced aim-assist ensures you'll plug plenty of alien menaces between the eyes without ever feeling like the game's doing it for you. Tossing grenades, using stasis power (Maybe the devs played some Dead Space, too?), and jumping also feel natural and never frustrating. While the Wii still struggles to find the FPS sweet spot with its unconventional controls, it seems the iPhone has already mastered this challenge.

Hated
Head-shot to Originality: From it's generic name, which stands for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, to its forgettable sci-fi story, N.O.V.A. feels a bit uninspired. Objectives, such as activating computer terminals and clearing rooms of bad guys before proceeding, are things we've been doing for years. And, despite their stunning visuals, the levels continuously sting with deja vu as you trek across catwalks and ride elevators in familiar-feeling space stations. Although its production values are top notch and its gameplay engaging, N.O.V.A. sometimes feels like it fell off the "sc-fi shooter" assembly line.

While N.O.V.A. benefits by cribbing from some of the best console shooters, it also sticks too closely to many of the genre's growing-stale conventions. Still, its excellent gameplay and polished presentation easily make it the premier FPS on the platform, and even a worthy competitor to the PSP's and DS's best shooters. A 13-chapter solo campaign-complete with three difficulty settings-and 4-player Wi-Fi and local multi-player also make it a steal at around seven space bucks.

N.O.V.A. was developed and published by Gameloft for iPhone on December 17th. Retails for $6.99. A code to download the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game's campaign on medium, difficulty and participated in several multi-player matches over Wi-Fi.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

I've been playing both quite a bit and can see the draw for either game. Here's the full list.

Which do you think should be the top game?

Check out all of our iPhone game reviews.

Position	Title	Price	Weeks	Last Week
1	Call of Duty: World at War Zombies (Activision)	$9.99	6	3
2	N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (Gameloft)	$6.99	2	1
3	Need for Speed: SHIFT (EA)	$6.99	1	-
4	The Sims 3 (EA)	$6.99	16	8
5	Tetris (EA)	$2.99	16	10
6	Rock Band (Electronic Arts)	$4.99	1	-
7	Bejeweled 2 (PopCap Games)	$2.99	17	6
8	Madden NFL 10 (Electronic Arts)	$5.99	1	-
9	James Cameron's Avatar (Gameloft)	$9.99	2	4
10	Touchgrind (Illusion Labs)	$4.99	1	-

In reality, they play more like isolated firefights than all-out war, according to CJ Heine, lead designer at Zipper Interactive.

"The scale has always been missing," he says.

For example, when you see tracer fire and hear gunshots in other games, it's usually simulated by the computer "to make the player feel like they're in a larger battle than they really are," says Heine.

So he and his team have built what they believe to be a better mousetrap; one that places a human command behind every bullet, air strike, and commotion taking place on screen.

"It's actual combat between real players," Heine explains, speaking of MAG, the upcoming multiplayer-only shooter for PlayStation 3. But not only are the game's actions authentic, the number of simultaneous players it accommodates is staggering: 256 to be exact, a figure that dwarfs the size of previous console shooters.

But my Modern Warfare 2 plays just fine. Why, then, would I want more numbers? What's in it for me, I ask the designer. Added purpose and broader scope comes the reply. "I think MAG is an evolution of the shooter," Heine responds. "Running with 256 players actually allows us to recreate the scale and intensity of widespread combat without relying on artificially placed sounds or effects."

Okay, but what about lag? Some games stutter with only 16 or 32 players online. Sounds like Sony will need a Google-size server farm to manage that many players for a single session. Either that or compromise the gameplay.

While the answer to enable more players would seem to be more hardware, Zipper Interactive says their "new server architecture" allows them to meet the demands of 256 players without the need of costly additional servers.

It's unclear exactly what they've done to ensure stability. And geographical latency is inevitable. But many early previewers have reported surprisingly smooth connections. "Whatever Zipper did with their servers, it's
working," said one beta tester.

There is no "I" in team
If you're one of those independent types or bratty tennis stars that hates team sports, MAG probably isn't for you. With so many players on screen at the same time, games would quickly spiral out of control without organization, making Unreal Tournament played in a tight corridor look like child's play.

To provide the much-needed structure, players are divided into 8-person squads, with 4 squads forming a platoon of 32 players, and 4 platoons forming a company of 128 players. Accordingly, group leaders are critical to the success of the team, says Heine-especially a company's Officer in Charge.

"In many ways, the OIC is similar to a platoon eader in that they cannot personally assign any objectives (like a squad leader)," he says. "But they do control powerful game-changing abilities that can turn the tide of a battle when used properly, such as altering the respawn rates of friendly or enemy forces, communicating the tactical abilities used by squad and platoon leaders, or preventing opposing tactics from being used."

Translation: In MAG, you're forced to work as a team. Since there's no computer-aided actions to guide you to victory, you'll live or die on the decisions made by your fellow gamers. And if your commanding officer is a douche, your team is screwed. It sounds bad, but it makes for some crazy good unity.

"Just watching the reactions in the beta over the last few months, each company has a vocal set of players, all declaring that their faction is the best or easiest to play with," says Heine. "It's great to see the players latching on and creating their own rivalries."

To advance the ranks into leadership roles and create your own company, you'll need to earn the trust of your peers by completing objectives, making valuable contributions, and earning experience points over time. This isn't to say you can't go on solo missions, such as sneaking behind enemy lines and sabotaging their supplies. You just can't be bohemian about it.

"Well-organized squads with good leadership and communication are going to make the difference between a win and a loss more often than the efforts of any one individual player," asserts Heine.

In the year 2025
Set 15 years in the future, MAG takes place in a fully globalized and diplomatic planet Earth.

But greed and utopia can never co-exist, so the demilitarized world quickly sees a rise in demand for enterprising mercenaries known as Private Military Companies to do its killing.

At first, these companies bade for contracts in a civil manner, much like a commercial firm would, explains Heine. At some point, however, "competitive tensions and minor conflicts escalated into full scale war," he adds. How convenient for you, Mr. or Ms. gamer.

With the world in turmoil, and weaponry in the hands of opposing private contractors, players will need to choose which company-otherwise known as factions-they wish to fight for before. For veterans, there's Valor Company, which outfits its troopers with standard-styled military gear. For James Bond lovers, there's Raven Industries, which relies on high-tech gadgetry to win its battles. And lastly, the S.V.E.R. company-a group of misfit militia-
men with a chip on their shoulder.

But not only do factions give the game a sense of individuality, according to Heine, they dictate how aggressive or defensive teams are in their attack. "Each faction has a unique visual style and reason for fighting, but the differences in weapons, equipment, and missions have the biggest impact on gameplay," he says. " Ultimately, factions create a sense of allegiance within MAG, which is rare for a shooter."

What exactly should you expect from the gameplay then? Look no further than SOCOM, Zipper's previous breakthrough series for PlayStation 2. "At the core, MAG and SOCOM are similar in that they're both squad-based military shooters," Heine admits. "Players already familiar with SOCOM will understand the importance of teamwork and have a set of skills, such as fire discipline, which translate over to MAG pretty well."

But as previously mentioned, it's a much bigger party this time-not to mention being a first-person shooter as opposed to SOCOM's third-person perspective. "MAG takes team based gameplay and elevates it," says Heine. "As seen in beta, most objectives are fiercely contested by full squads, and some level of teamwork is usually required to have any success with the objectives."

More specifically, you'll be destroying enemy bases, ordering commands on the fly with the d-pad, or engaging the front lines using standard first-person shooter controls. For a bird's-eye view of all 256 players on screen, you can hit the map button to survey individuals battles and assign new objectives or counterattacks.

Slower is better?
First-person shooters are traditionally known for their quickness. Turn a corner. Bust a cap in some guy's melon. Move on. If it wasn't already obvious, MAG is not that kind of game.

Your deftness with a firearm is still required, and headshots are still present. Only here you'll need to plan your attack, since you'll be commanding or working with upwards of 127 teammates as your opponents do the same.

Aware of how daunting that task may initial seem to some, Zipper has prepared concentrated modes to acclimatize new comers. "If players aren't quite ready to deal with this many players or levels of leadership, we have other gametypes for 64 or 128 players," Heine reassures.

The irony here is that MAG's huge numbers will either make or break the game for some. Since users dictate pace, as opposed to the game itself, MAG plays slower than most. To put it nicely, methodical. As a result, enthusiast gamers seemingly aren't jamming the pre-order lines to play once the game debuts next month.

"For a shooter-based console game just six weeks prior to launch, MAG's popularity numbers are a little lower than desired," says Scott Mucci of GamerMetrics, which tracks interest levels and behavior of some 46 million online gamers. In fairness, this could be because of a recently released juggernaut, Mucci adds.

"Fans of the shooter genre are most likely still focused on Modern Warfare 2," he offers, also noting that the highly anticipated Mass Effect 2 releases the same day.

Whatever the reasoning for the so-so anticipation, it's hard not to notice MAG's draw: filling spacious maps with 256 simultaneous players. MMO without the RPG. Or "massive action game"-take your pick.

Just don't blame me if you get stuck with a broken team.

MAG arrives Jan. 26 exclusively for PS3.

Blake Snow is a freelance writer from Crecente's neighboring state of Utah. His curious work has appeared on MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and GamePro among others. He is currently reading Game Over by David Sheff and thinks you should too.

Major Nelson will talk about anything Live-related that you can dream of. Such as: Why is there no Xbox Live Platinum membership? (I'm sure you can do better!)

He follows the Kotaku Talk Radio guest-appearance trail-blazing of Amy Hennig, Ken Levine, Tim Schafer, Cliff Bleszinski, Jeremiah Slaczka, and Randy Pitchford. And that was just 2009.

On Wednesday at 11am Kotaku Time (that's 1pm ET, 10am PT), you will be able to call in and ask Major Nelson anything you want.

Look for a reminder post about the podcast at 10:55 AM mountain time (12:55 ET) on Wednesday. The post will include call-in info so you can ask your questions. The show will be live at 11am MT, 1pm ET. I'll expect to hear you calling our switchboard then.

After years of cop chases, arcadey controls, and Maggie Q, the NFS franchise took a more Forza-like path for its latest console iteration. The much needed overhaul was a hit with critics, and now SHIFT effectively duplicates that same success on Apple's gaming gadget.

Loved
Role-playing Racer:Like its console counterparts, SHIFT's iPhone debut forgoes the free-wheeling approach that established the franchise, in favor of a racer that plays much more like an RPG. Through a robust career mode, heavy-foot gamers unlock points and stars for performing a variety of tasks. These fall into "precision" and "aggression" categories, and level you up without necessarily requiring you to win races. As you gain levels, you'll unlock new events, earn cash to upgrade and buy vehicles, and pad out your profile with Achievement-like badges. The super addictive format sets you on a path that quickly becomes as engaging as any just-one-more-level RPG experience.

Power Steering: As a gamer yet to embrace accelerometer controls as a superior alternative to traditional navigation, I was nervous about SHIFT stubbornly forcing them on players. Thankfully, my concerns were washed away like roadkill in a rain storm, as SHIFT controls like a dream. Simply tilt the device left and right to steer, give it an aggressive twitch to drift, and touch anywhere on the screen to brake. Additionally, a variety of assists can be turned on to ensure even sim-haters and rookie racers reach the finish line.

Visual HorsepowerSHIFT steals the cup from Asphalt 5 as the prettiest racer on the platform. From the detail-drenched real-world rides to the beautifully rendered globe-spanning locales, SHIFT sports a late PS2 era-like presentation. Even cooler are immersion-amping effects that'll spike your adrenaline and have you checking if your seat belt's buckled; nitro-fueled flames, smoke-spitting tires, and scenery that whips by at 150+ MPHs all do an amazing job of selling a real sense of speed and control. I've played plenty of console racers that don't do this good a job of immersing you in the pedal-to-the-metal moment.

Given that SHIFT's multi-player options look pretty limited next to the brimming career mode, I was tempted to add a "Hated" bullet highlighting this shortcoming. However, the lengthy solo experience is so solid and so polished, it's easy to overlook-and even appreciate-the developers obvious dedication to the single-player experience.

Need For Speed: SHIFT was developed by IronMonkey Studios and published by EA for iPhone on December 18th. Retails for $9.99. A code to download the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game's career mode and participated in multi-player modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

"A Japanese friend of mine told me very casually, in a totally matter-of-fact kind of way, that the difference between Japanese and American cosplay is as clear as moeru and naeru," says Patrick Galbraith, author of The Otaku Encyclopedia, University of Tokyo PhD candidate and cosplaying Akihabara tour guide. "Moeru" means "to bud", while "naeru"is an antonym and means "to wilt"."

"My friend said that when he sees a Japanese cosplayer, the response is moeru, and when he sees a non-Japanese cosplayer," continues Galbraith, "the response is naeru. He didn't mean any harm, but this is a pretty damn racist statement." It is a sentiment shared by Westerners, too, believing that Japanese cosplay is superior, placing it on a pedestal.

The history of cosplay is intertwined with the West — it was not developed in a vacuum! The word cosplay was coined by journalist Nobuyuki Takahashi and first appeared in print in an article he wrote in a June 1983 article in the magazine "My Anime."" Takahashi shortened the word to "cosplay" after hearing that "costume play" was not actually an English word. A direct Japanese translation of masquerade, with its aristocratic nuances, would not suffice. "Costume" and "play,"" both borrowed words in Japanese, became "cosplay," In the early 1980s, attendees at doujin manga show Comic Market, or Comiket, began drawing pictures of their favorite manga and anime characters on their shirts. This evolved into a handful of individuals dressing up as actual characters.

While Japanese fandom was trying to find its footing in expressing itself, its American counterparts had been dressed up at science fiction conventions for decades. Takahashi was surprised to see Trekkies in full Star Trek gear at the 1984 Worldcon (The World Science Fiction Convention) in Los Angeles. Takahashi hoped that the trend would catch on in his native Japan, and now had the newly minted term he needed to sell it. Geek culture is largely universal. The idea of dressing as one's favorite characters — whether that be from Star Trek or Mobile Suit Gundam — has undeniable appeal.

"Cosplay" is Japanese for "costume play" — individuals dressing up in costume. In Japan, it is not restricted to video game, manga or anime characters, but can encompass dressing in all sorts of outfits: maid, nurse, schoolgirl, etc. The term is a shortened form of borrowed English, yet cosplay is viewed as something uniquely for and by the Japanese.

In the West, dressing up in costumes has a myriad of meanings — all different. There is a rich and long history of masquerade in European aristocracy, which was centuries later appropriated by the sci-fi expos as "costume contests" with participants dressing up as characters from domestic movies or TV shows. The West gave birth to Halloween, a holiday in which children don typically monster costumes. Finally, there is cosplay.

For Japanese, the appeal of dressing up like anime, manga or game characters is understandable. "We see these characters all the time on TV," says multimedia artist Julie Watai, who also does modeling under the name Ai Amano. "And because of that, we view them in the same category as pop stars or actors." But, unlike the popular thespian or rock star, it is not possible to actually meet these characters. They exist in video games, on television screens and in the pages of manga. Dressing up as those characters gives them a chance to, not meet that character, but to become one with that character in a sense. "Not everyone likes these characters in Japan," Watai notes. "But they can dress up as maids or other cute costumes that are sold in Japan." For the Japanese, dressing up and having fun is cosplay.

"It seems that costumes inspired by anime, manga, video games, light novel, figures and so on have come to be called cosplay in the United States," says Galbraith. In Japan, however, Galbraith notes that it would be considered cosplay to dress up as Jack Sparrow or a Stormtrooper. Cosplay could even be considered dressing up as a policeman or a nurse. Americans have separated cosplay with earlier costume costume-wearing traditions (masquerade and Halloween) by East and West — "cosplay" is a Japanese word, so it, for Westerners, encapsulates Japanese popular culture. When the word was re-imported into the West from Japan, it was assumed that the origin was completely Japanese and associated with video games, anime and manga by default.

"In all fairness, I don't think this is really a misappropriation of the word," notes Galbraith. Almost no one in the United States used the word cosplay, or probably even knew it, before the arrival of Japanese culture." Thus, the connection in the minds of Westerners between cosplay and Japanese popular culture is natural and makes sense. What does not make sense is the notion that cosplay is exclusively Japanese or that Japanese cosplayers are intrinsically better at cosplaying than their Western counterparts. It's not that one is better than the other, they're just different.

"A lot of times, American cosplayers are just having fun with it, which is fine," says Patrick Macias, editor of mag Otaku USA. "But in Japan, where the otaku spirit runs deep, I get the sense that you can't be as casual about your fandom, so there's a sort of perfectionist streak that runs through the cosplay community there." That means, far less goofing off, Macias continues, or you don't really see silliness like dressing up as a giant Death Note book. The Japanese seriousness has even given birth to a chain store dealing in cosplay costumes called Cospa."

"In America, there's no dedicated chain of cosplay stores like Cospa where you can walk in and buy professionally made costumes or accessories," adds Macias. Those who didn't get a gold star in arts-and-crafts can find the goods they need online. Those that can't must make their costumes. "So Western fans tend be more DIY and crafty, which I think is good." These homemade crafts can lead to spectacularly amazing cosplays or amazingly horrid — that's part of the charm.

"I notice a lot of people tend to focus on cosplayers who have just started out or tend to pick out unflattering photos of Western cosplayers," says American cosplayer HezaChan, who has been cosplaying for 9 years and has made 30 different costumes. "There are just as many "bad" Japanese cosplayers and unflattering photos of Japanese cosplayers." And while the number of "bad" cosplayers could very well be the same, the number of bad Western cosplayers is proportionate to the number of bad Japanese ones. The reason for the higher number of bad Western cosplayer pics isn't necessarily the cosplayers' fault, but rather, the subculture surrounding it. In Japan, the kamekozo ("camera kids") act as PR machines for popular cosplayers, creating a grassroots idol culture. Kamekozo typically specialize in the best cosplays and largely focus on female cosplayers. These images are uploaded onto popular cosplay and even otaku news sites.

This Japan-cosplays-better-than-the-West is hardly a sentiment shared by all. "Online I've seen literally tons of great cosplays from Westerners!" gushes Watai. "Westerners are much better at cosplaying characters designed with an American or European style than Asians are. They can actually look like the physical embodiment of those characters." But many game or anime characters exist in a cultural netherworld, being designed out of a hodgepodge of features and motifs, looking "Western" to the Japanese and looking "Japanese" to Westerners. "Japanese cosplayers routinely voice their jealously of Western cosplayers who have features like green eyes or blonde hair — all the things they have to work hard to make a part of their costume, these foreigners were born with!" says Macias. "Meanwhile, Western cosplayers will sometimes don black wigs and contacts to look more 'Asian.''"

For the nearly the past thirty years, cosplay has been a conversation between 3D and 2D, between East and West and reality and image. It started out in the West under a different name and was appropriated by the Japanese and then reintroduced back to the West. There is no group of people that is stereotypically "better" at cosplay. And the act itself is deeper than Photoshopped images or cleverly staged stage shows — it offers insight into the very fabric of our cultures, what makes us different and what makes us the same.

[Bottom photo Rhys Berresford] [Pic]

While games have long been my time-waster of choice for the frequent international flights I take, it's usually video games I stock up on. Not so for my Sydney to San Francisco flight. This time around I was hunting for pocket chess, little wooden brain teasers and magnetic backgammon.

With the attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound Christmas Day flight and the heightened security that surrounded it, rumor quickly spread that one of the new rules for international flights bound for the United States might ban the use of all electronics.

The very thought of not being able to access the library of books and video games stored on my iPhone, my DSi, my PSPgo put me in a near panic.

So on the eve of my flight, my wife, son and I headed to an oddity in the Blue Mountains' town of Hazlebrook west of Sydney. Selwood Science & Puzzles is housed in the Selwood House, an 1865 cottage wrapped in a garden of ferns and eucalyptus. The many rooms inside the old home are packed with the sorts of diversions and toys most familiar to children born before the rising popularity of video games and electronics.

One room is dedicated to puzzles of metal and wood, board games big and small and a cornucopia of games featuring bits of plastic, dice, and magnets. There were pocket versions of chess, checkers and backgammon; bent nails nested in devious designs; decks upon decks of cards for games I had grown up playing and some I had never heard of. And not one of the hundreds, thousands of these games required a battery or electrical outlet to play.

Other rooms were packed with science kits and experiments, books of brain teasers, IQ tests and short mysteries.

If electronics, long the opiate for the masses of nervous fliers, find themselves device non grata for the near future, could these non-digital diversions be their replacements? Will flights start to resemble coffee shops with passengers hunkered around chess boards, games of Hearts and Dominoes raging in the back rows?

Probably not, but it's a reminder of how dependent some of us have become on the products of the digital age.

Arriving at Sydney International Airport on Sunday I discovered little had changed in the wake of the latest attempted attack. I was assured, repeatedly, that electronics could be used during the upcoming flight.

Not quite believing the reassurances I ducked into a bookstore to load up on the printed word, in case the digital one wasn't available to me. The lines in the bookstore, the crowds milling through rows of paperbacks, made me think I wasn't the only one fearing a last-minute, in-air electronics ban.

For now I'll keep the paperback and pocket chess at hand, just in case.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.