Pretty sedate weekend on the heels of E3. Hope you and the others have caught your collective breath following E3. I'd like to wish everyone a happy Moon Landing day, which in my family is more familiar as Dad's birthday. He turned 20 when Neil Armstrong toed lunar soil. That must have been a hell of a day.

Promise this won't become tradition, but everyone had such a blast with Pikachu last week, so I've got another video that, because it's OT, is after the jump. If laughter was an endurance contest, this would be your clock. I swear that thing looks like Fahey.

Some highlights:

Insider Describes the World of Sony's MAG
This Is No Music Game, Dammit
New Sonic Wii Game Revealed, Brings Much Needed Swordplay To Series
This Guy Needs a Heaping Helping of "Get a Grip"
Blizzard Versus Glider: A Pyrrhic Victory?
Top Travel Spots for Gamers
Ubisoft Used Pirate Hack to Fix Rainbow Six Vegas 2

And now, The Kaiser Chiefs' "I Predict a Riot" [Chin Singin, Youtube]

Reader Irving M. sent me that. It's like a big bag of Lay's. I can't watch it just once. Bet you can't either.

It's off to E3. By the time you read this I'll probably be in LA. Anyone coming to the party tonight, I will be there in the infamous I Heart Hot Moms shirt from Grand Theft Auto: DUI. Oh yeah, I cosplay myself. Wow, just blew my own mind there for a second.

Here's some highlights from the weekend of tomfoolery that was:

Microsoft Announce 60GB 360, Confirm 20GB Price-Cut
Super Chuck Norris Bros. — Wait, This is *Real*?
Rock Band 2 Gameplay Trailer
Predictions on the Future of Gaming
Game Marathons: Fad, or Going the Distance?
Why Korea Matters: Learning from Difference

We had a patriotic if abbreviated weekend here in the Tower. Some publishing glitches and such but that's getting to be par for the course now. I did my July 4 resolutions last night (in which I revisit the New Year's Resolutions I never kept) and have decided I'm gonna start and end each day with 30 pushups. Plus, no more eating directly from the fridge. Everything I eat has to go on a plate. I'll let you know how all this goes. I'm a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner.

Oh, for gamers in the Bay Area, there will be a comedy showcase this coming Saturday custom fit to gamers' perspective. It's being emceed by Jeff Reitman, a pal of mine from the San Francisco Comedy College, and will feature a lineup of comedians who have worked in the games industry. You can get tickets online, and if you use the Konami code (UUDDLRLRBA) in the coupon code field, they cost $10 instead of $12. The show is on the 5th floor of 414 Mason St in San Francisco, and I'm going to be there (but not performing).

Finally, I should point out that when things got a little wacky in the comments of yesterday's Bourne Conspiracy impressions, I challenged InsidiousTuna to find a clip of the Chuck E. Cheese Rock-afire Explosion band jamming to "Smell Yo Dick" by Riskay. Tuna couldn't produce that, but he did find a wonderful Sims 2 mashup of the song, featuring the titular girlfriend olfactory inspection of the genital area (and, from what I can tell, some retaliatory dutch-ovening). I put it after the jump, just to be safe.

Some highlights this weekend:

Yes, This Is The Chrono Trigger DS Trailer
Games Today: We Do Melodrama?
Rumor: Dueling Rock Band 2 Tracklists
'Performative Play': Games and the 'Real World'
Fifteen Minutes on Wikipedia is Like a Semester at Yale, if Yale was a WoW Server
From the Margins to the Mainland: the Future of Virtual Worlds?

As a YouTube commenter in a Lion King Smell Yo Dick mash-up put it (yes, and they also have an Ed, Edd & Eddy Smell Yo Dick version): "Oh no. You found out I was fucking another girl by smelling my penis after begging frantically. How dignified of you." Quoted for truth.

Alright. I'm out of here. It's almost July and I have a cold. Tell me how that happens. I have to rest up because tonight I am "on the radio." It's a comedy gig. The person who conscripted me said, "You can say anything you want, you can get drunk, we don't care." That means it's Internet radio, so, not even the truckers will be listening. But for anyone who wants to tune in and listen to me swear and embarrass myself, it'll be from 11 pm to 1 am Crecente time tonight. The sites are www.piratecatradio.com or www.fccfree.com, where, I shit you not, Postal 2 is a sponsor (on fccfree, anyway). The episodes are archived in podcast form too.

However, if you are in San Francisco or Los Angeles, it's 87.9 FM on your dial — which leads me to believe this is something broadcast using a college dorm radiator. Oh, also, if you are in Berlin, 104.8 FM, but this'll be about 5 am local time, I think. And everyone there is still in mourning over Euro 2008.

Some highlights today:

Mario Marathon Raises More than $10,000
Microsoft Poll: One of Five Canadian Men Game in the Nude
Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: “There Is No Penguin Level.”
Is That a 360 Devkit on Kojima's Desk?
Preserving Our History: Good Games Never Go Out of Style

Plus a ton of Diablo III coverage.

Short note, as I'm visiting the nation's capital and my hosts are beginning to find me antisocial, distracted and withdrawn (as I usually am.) I'm told the neighborhood where I am staying was at the forefront of the Crack Dealing Movement of the 1980s. That's Washington for you, just so much history, right around every corner. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Leigh done got herself quoted in the New York Times, talking about Metal Gear on the Week in Review page, which is where the serious thinking goes on. Other choice cuts from the weekend:

MGS4 (and Leigh!) in the New York Times

Behind the Scenes with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Spoilers: Limbo of the Lost's Terrifying Ending
Weird Artistic Timewaster of the Day: Immortality
More on the Playstation-edu Initiative
Settlement Makes GTA Movie Impossible
Bungie Screenshots Verify "Chill Out" Remake

I'm not sure what has me in a fouler mood; the fact the cat pissed right next to the goddamn $125 looks-like-a-potted-plant cat crap hut; N.C. State lost 17-8 and trailed 9-0 in the first inning, playing for its first College World Series appearance since its only visit in 1968; or the fact I duped two posts this weekend. Also the cat is feigning a limp. Yes, feigning. Because she wants me to go to the vet and spend $140 so she can come home and eat placebos and, I dunno, get a kickback from the doctor or something.

While I wasn't busy sulking, we got these stories out that may be of interest to you. Now I am off to drink Early Times.

Rumor: LucasArts to Halt All Internal Development
MGS4 Unboxing and Start Menu Video
EVE Online Convenes Real-World Elected Council
The Challenge of Naming Games
USB HDD on Nintendo Horizon?
I'm Sorry I Have to Do This to You
MMO Business Models: Subscriptions vs. Free To Play
A Politician Who Actually Games

Gawker spam filters are inscrutable. A lot gets through, and then something truly useful gets flagged as junk. Reader Stephen B emailed on Wednesday to say that Grand Theft Auto: DUI was the No. 1 viral video on Attack of the Show's "Around the Net" of May 28, and I just now got it. Of course, Adam Barenblat was all meh, whatevs, I-do-this-shit-before-breakfast, but me, you might have to check my hat size after hearing Olivia Munn say my name in such an obviously infatuated tone of voice. She must have seen the Hasselhoff pic.

Also, I have a standup gig tonight down in Capitola, 15 to 20 minutes for the Divorced Father's Network. I'll Youtube that and send along when I get a chance. I haven't had any new video go up since a rather disastrous September performance. As long as I don't go in there with my I (Heart) Hot Moms shirt I should be OK.

Here's some of what you missed:

The Video Game Defense That Wasn't
Report: In-Game XMB for PS3 is OTW
Valve on the 'Perception Problem' of PCs
Ubi Forum Moderator: Wii Games "are not amazing new AAA games"
NVIDIA <3 PC Gamers with Free COD4 Map Pack

So the cat poops in a potted plant now. Not really, but it is one of those fake plant catboxes you see in the Skymall catalogs. I never ordered anything off a blue-screen 1-800 ad, but this comes close. I didn't really order it from Skymall either, where they mark everything up at least $50. Got it straight from the manufacturer for less.

On that note, why does Skymall devote four pages to the high-speed money counter? You know, that is a problem I just do not fuckin' have. But if I did have a ton of small bills laying around and oh noes!!!111!1 I didn't know how much money I have, man, I am not going to spend half of it on R2D2 telling me the answer. I am going to savor that shit. I'll be peeling off those dollar bills, slappin' em down ... one hundred! Teeeeew hundred!

Oh, you might want to get a look at this. Reader Kevin H. tipped it. KSTP in St. Paul, Minn. is putting up some supa-special report at 9 pm Crecente time about how child predators are gonna be using Xbox Live to satisfy their pervert cravings. Mmmkay. You know, all the bad kids who dig Chris Hansen haircuts and hot tubs are down with GTA IV right now. But I can't imagine saying, "Nice shot, Niko, want to come over and rub I Can't Believe It's Not Butter on my ding-a-ling?" would have much success. Of course, it takes a poll of the entire group to ban someone from a match, so who knows. "No wait! Hear him out!"

You might have missed these nuggets:

Indiana Jones and the Giant Lego Boulder
20-year-old Memories of a Life Not Lived
90% of Virtual Worlds Will Fail Within 18 Months
Saturday Timewaster: Putty Puzzle
Castle Crashers for XBLA "Completely Completed"
Difficulty: The Designer Perspective
Ghostbusters Gameplay: Don't Cross the Streams

So the realboss at the realjob is in Hawaii all week which means, woohoo, work-from-home with impunity! Oh shit, do they have the Internets in Hawaii? Did they stretch ethernet across the Pacific? Oh dammit!. Hi Steve. I hope you are having fun, sir. I will be productive all week, I promise, sir. Seriously, work's a 15-minute bike ride away. And plus I'll be going that way to grab some Okami sushi for lunch.

Anyway, here some highlights from the weekend report.

Kids Won't Listen? Sic BOB on 'Em
Academics vs. 'Gaming' Academics: Let the Snark Begin
If Nintendo Made Halo 3
The Tactile Side of Games
Gametrailers Blows It with PS3/360 Footage
Two More Gears 2 Videos Out

Well, the weekend was mostly Crecente and McWhertor's show after the 10 am embargo ("OGrabMe" spelled backwards) broke. I think our servers held up under the GTA IV traffic better than Xbox Live did for the Halo 3 release. Needless to say a lot of stuff gets plowed under when a mega-game hits the set.

But I'd like to throw a word for my brother, Fletch, whom a lot of the readers have gotten to know in the past week. First he illustrated the Pac-Man crapping post, which is a story that just won't quit. And drafting last in our inaugural Video Game draft, he shrewdly took Asshole Dog from Duck Hunt and walked away with best draft honors in the subsequent poll. Fletch is full of win.

Except for Monday. He got laid off from work, down in Austin, and of course the fams is worried bad. Fletch is keeping busy as best he can, however. Seeing some of the readers turn "THEY GHOSTS" into a catchphrase, he's whomped up a T-shirt for it. Obviously, he's selling the t-shirt. And if, on the outside chance anyone knows of any graphic design work in Austin, Texas, he can stop making them.

Here's what we did this weekend:

Grand Theft Auto IV Review: Life, Liberty City And The Pursuit Of Happiness
Mario Kart Wii Friend Code Dump
One Kotaku Editor's Introduction to Gaming
Ken Levine on "Narrative Drive"
The Inaugural All-Time Video Game Character Draft
GTA IV: Best Game Since ... Well, When?

You need to know something about my brother, Fletch: He doesn't usually get standing ovations. He's a mild-mannered, happily married man who's content to live his life as a graphic artist, vegetarian, University of North Carolina Tar Heels fan, outside the public eye, down in Texas. But when he does something that deserves a curtain call, I mean, it is epic. As it was on Saturday, with the Pac-Man crapping post.

For example, I am thinking of 1984. A neighborhood bully had beaten up the youngest brother of one of our friends (now a state representative in North Carolina.) Fletch, the oldest of us all, wiped the chain grease from his hands and set out to do what had to be done. He roared off in his go-kart, the only one on the block, and tore doughnuts in the offending bully's lush front yard grass while we cheered like a NASCAR crowd. I mean airs-above-ground jumps and skids — I realize that's a dressage term, but my brother, in a go-kart, this day was dressage. He shredded the poster yard for Scott's Turf Builder. My mother's reaction? So what. "Little shits grow up to be big shits," she said of the deserving SOB across the street. Fletch and I quote that to this day.

Somehow that seems a fitting memory.

Highlights of the report:
Two Brothers Meditating Upon Questions of Pac-Man
Interview With Kian Bashiri (You Have To Burn The Rope)
IGN Watermark in Okami Cover Art
Putting Together the 'History of RPGs' Class
Games With the Best Stories Ever
Top 10 Games For $10 or Under

A pretty rocky follow-up to a first week filled with commenter love and kudos. Thought we put out a lot of good stuff, but my execution was off. You know how a couple screwups create a rolling-thunder effect? Well, we had the problem with the modded Xbox controller publishing too early. Then I duped your Atari Catalog post and it stayed up. Then I boned it on the PS Store power outrage, gaffed the wording of a GTA IV poll and called it a day. Brian mentioned he gave me this job because he hates firing people. I hope he still feels that way.

Right now, I am going to go for a run and try to get my head on straight. All is not melancholy however. When I get back I'll be playing Bully and Ikaruga. And doing my taxes.

Here's some highlights from the weekend report:

NCSoft Shuts Down Illegal Servers
Live Gameplay Footage: Rufus, Street Fighter IV
How Are You Preparing for GTA IV's Arrival?
Understanding Free to Play
Super Smashing Proposal

Good first weekend I think. Didn't miss with too many of the jokes (well, maybe, "white approved" in describing SF's gentrified districts. Honestly, that's what I meant to poke fun at.) Writing for this site is a huge ego trip, but of course, you knew that (wait, that came out wrong.) Seriously, it's a lot better than our days on the night shift, when the only feedback we got was from a managing editor who saw some car wreck in her neighborhood, or Dan-the-AK-47-Man phoning in his latest conspiracy theory. I never knew why you indulged his yammering.

No, here, the commenters treated me very well, and I gotta give them a hat tip for making the debut so enjoyable. It chased away the dread I felt when I read the New York Times and saw that, by blogging, I'll likely die. Or at least gain 30 pounds. Not of solid muscle, either. Despite not knowing what the hell I was getting into, and still feeling a little over my head, I like what's going on here, and I'm looking forward to next week. You guys can catch me on the comment boards occassionally until then.

Here's some of what we had. I'm gonna log it like we did stories in the old news budget system.

The weekend report:
C7LO_KING: Stephen King Weighs in on Video Game Violence: Horror writer speaks out on violence. Tell his story. Get a pic. lc
C7LO_GAMER: 'The Church of Gamers': Why the Term 'Gamer' Needs to Go: Gamers feel belittled that they're called gamers. Tell the gamers' stories. Get pictures. lc
C7LO_PORTAL: Portal's Power: A Narrative Critique: Interactive fiction writer Emily Short examines Portal. See if she'll leak us her thoughts off the record. And get a pic. And tell her story. lc
C7LO_NUTS: Are You a Neurotic Gamer? Thousands of gamers out there deal with insecurities, strange behavior and facial tics. Tell their story. Get a pic of their suffering. lc
C7LO_MERGER: Because Everything on Craigslist is for Real: Got a tip that secret docs point to Apple-Nintendo merger. Get Apple or Nintendo to leak us the docs. Get a picture of the docs. Tell their story. lc

So yesterday afternoon, I broke out the Cuisinart, the KitchenAid, and supplies for making gratin dauphinois and kolach. We had a potluck lunch for our research seminar today and I'd promised to bring two food items. The gratin went swimmingly, and I was all prepped to commence with making bread when I noticed that my sink was backed up. Really, really backed up. And the garbage disposal sounded distinctly unhappy. When my landlord's handyman showed up this morning, I was lectured for five minutes on why I shouldn't put anything down the garbage disposal. 'But it's a garbage disposal! I just put potato peelings down it, not wood chips!' I said. I was then lectured for a few more minutes on how the garbage disposals don't work and I shouldn't be using it for its intended purpose. Wouldn't it be smart to tell people this when they move in instead of chastising them months down the line? It's just one of a multitude of problems I've had in this apartment. Here's hoping the next place we rent is a little better on the maintenance side of things.

Things you might have missed this weekend:

Blizzard vs. Glider is really heating up;
The Video Game Name Generator Competition entries are silly and kinda fun;
In unsubstantiated reports, the GTA IV achievements may have been leaked;
Puma has created some really hideous Tetris sneakers.

Since my sink's back in commission, I'm off to make some bread, smush in some Crisis Core, and get some work done. It's back to school tomorrow (boo). Hope y'all have a good week.

So part of the "fun" part of being a grad student is that we wear two hats. We're still students (with all the paper writing fun that implies), but we also have to muddle our way to teaching competence. I found out yesterday that I'll be making my kinda-sorta teaching debut this spring, being left in charge of a class twice during the quarter. Up until this point, I've just wielded the red grading pen of doom, no lecturing or question answering required. I always imagine undergrads to be much like the Kotaku comments section: they can smell fear and will pounce at the first sign of weakness. I've managed to stick around Kotaku for a year (more or less), so surely showing films and leading the discussion of 60 enthusiastic undergrads won't make me tuck tail and run.

We had a lot of chefs in the Kotaku kitchen this weekend, so here's what you might have missed:

It being Easter and all, we offer up some of the best video game Easter eggs;
An impostor Crecente reviews SSBB;
Ian Bogost thinks Bash and Crecente = Hall & Oates;
What classic literary works would you like to see in game form?

I'm finally on spring break, but my mom is here visiting, so I'll be busy all week seeing a bunch of San Diego I haven't seen yet. Hope y'all have a good week & thanks for helping out this weekend!

One of my favorite descriptions of the discipline of history comes by way of E.H. Norman, who spoke of "that peculiar pleasure of reading in the calm of one's study of turbulent events, of great triumphs and failures or simply of the everyday life of people in bygone ages." He goes on to say that writing history is "to feel an intimation of man's immortal spirit." I think someday I'll feel like that ... in five decades or so, if I'm lucky and survive grad school and ensuing career. Currently, however, my life is a whirlwind of academic chaos and while I'd like to be able to enjoy the particular charm of history in 'the calm of [my] study,' duty calls and I'm up to my neck in papers, PDFs, books, and other tools of the trade.

It was a slow weekend around here, but here's what you may have missed:

Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack details due out Tuesday;
If you've ever wanted a Swarovski-encrusted Wii, you can get one for a mere $4,000;
Amanita's made a game for 11 year olds, but even us grownups are digging it;
One of the guys behind the Bourne game talks about designing filmic games.

I'm now off to whip up a final paper for my Japanese historiography seminar and then hit the library to get some microfilm viewing in. Outside of that, I have parts of 140 exams to grade on Tuesday and then I'm done for two weeks (minus all the other work still hanging over my head). Hope y'all have a good week.

So I've got one of those tightly-wound, high-stress personalites, the kind that's constantly worried and/or in a state of panic about something. One of the upsides of this is that I find repetitive, low-stress tasks (writing footnotes, cross-stitching, Harvest Moon) really soothing, which means I also think organizing things is great fun (a bonus in a field where you acquire astonishing amounts of paper, books, and notes on a near-daily basis). This year, I've been trying to organize my academic life: I've finally started taking class notes on my laptop, use a nifty program called DEVONthink that organizes everything without me having to do much, and my boyfriend just got me a little Wacom tablet so I can take notes on books while reading without having to transfer them to digital versions later. It's currently sitting on my coffee table, practically begging me to take notes on it. I just want to pet it — it's so cute and wee and slim! Now I have to get started making a padded case for it, since it'll be traveling to archives and libraries with me.

It was a slow weekend around here, but here's some stuff you might have missed:

Blueberry Garden looks like a bizarre, yet intriguing, upcoming indie release;
SSBB isn't playing nicely with some Wiis;
The crocheted version of our own Witzbold is available on eBay;
In more shocking news, 'X-Box Live' lies to parents about nude pictures.

I'm off to pon-pon-pata-pon my way through some more of Patapon (See? There I go with the low-stress repetitive tasks again) and get some reading done. Hope y'all have a good week.

Here's what you missed if you were out enjoying the beautiful Spring-is-around-the-corner weather we had here in Atlanta, or just doing something other than sitting at a PC.

HD DVD, redux

LEGO Batman: The Videogame

Weird Artistic Timewaster of the Day: Gravitation

Video Games & Violence

Hot girls and plenty of brew

On the Future of Racing Games

Piracy and Casual Games

pwnage (TM)?

Preserving Our History: Preservation for Gamers

Rule the World with your Mind!

Ahoy gents! I hope you've had a great week. Mine was rather grueling what with GDC and all. I wish I could say my GDC hangover was from going to parties but it was really more from exhaustion coming right on the heels of last week's flu. Still, GDC was a blast and I got to see some pretty cool stuff including Lucas Arts Studio which was somewhere I've always wanted to visit.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

Microsoft announced that they will no longer be making Xbox 360 HD-DVD players.

EA wants to buy Take-2. Take-2 doesn't want to be bought.

If you steal someones virtual gold, is it a real theft?

And now I am off to play some more Patapon. Those little singing guys sure are addictive. I'm also going to finally see what all the hub-bub is about this Portal thing that all the kids are always talking about. Hope you have a great week and we'll see you next time. Goodnight!

Ahoy gents. It's been an interesting week on my end culminating in my catching some sort of hideous flu virus. I'm mostly over it but still feeling pretty under the weather. Which sucks since GDC starts tomorrow and I have to be up early. Ah well, no rest for the wicked or ill.

Some things you may have missed this weekend:

Ole' Jacky Boy is at it again. Big surprise.

WOW causes yet another relationship breakdown

How did this one slip by the big bosses?

And now I am off to down some Thera-flu and get some rest so I can try and be on top of it for tomorrow. Have a good one guys. Goodnight!

Ahoy gents! I hope this letter finds you well. As for me, I took a Red Eye out of SF last night and ended up getting two hours of sleep. The plane was late and I arrived just in time to put heads down and start writing. Needless to say I am absolutely brain fried and exhausted. So in the interest of getting some sleep I'm going to get right to the goods. Some things you might have missed this weekend...

A former Marine goes missing, Call of Duty may have been a factor.

Apple puts out a trademark for handheld games.

A kid burns down a church/school and then brags about it on GameFaqs.

And now I must beg off. My pillow is calling and Professor Layton is compelling me to help him solve some puzzles. Hopefully I can help before I pass out. Goodnight!

Ahoy gents. I trust the weekend treated you well? As I was walking around near my house today I passed by an old, dusty repair shop. It was closed but I could see some old arcade machines inside including a defunct Paperboy machine and an original Ninja Gaiden machine. I'm told that they repair arcade machines exclusively at this place although no one seemed to be sure if they actually sell them or just do the repairs. I'll check in with them on Tuesday when they open, not that I could ever afford a stand up machine, but curiosity compels me. I'm actually rather surprised at all the gaming related things I've been finding around my new place: the ugly Dreamcast, the 8-bit rainbow unicorn mural, the creepy Tails statue and now these old arcade machines. Who knew the Mission was so steeped in video game stuff?

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

This guy has an incredible personal arcade machine collection

I'm looking forward to checking out Eternity's Child on WiiWare

Love your Xbox? Win another one!

I'm heading out now for some dinner and maybe a movie. Who knows, I'm feeling a little aimless tonight. Hope you guys have a great week. Goodnight.

Ahoy gents! It has been a rainy weekend here in San Francisco. Every time I've gone out I've come home with my pants soaked to the knee and I think I've gone through about six pairs of socks. Something about wearing wet socks and shoes just sucks my soul. Most of the rest of my weekend has consisted of watching episodes of Trailer Park Boys and more tedious unpacking of boxes. There were however some interesting things going on this weekend. For instance:

I got a triple vibrating hands-on with Rez HD
Cooper Lawrence took back what she said about Mass Effect on Fox News
A Metal Gear Solid Collection for PS2 has appeared for pre-order.

Now I am off to have some dinner and play No More Heroes which has been sitting unopened on the plastic box that is serving as my desk for the last four days. Hope you guys have a great week. Goodnight!

Ahoy, gents! The first few weeks of 2008 seem to have been pretty tame. Not a whole lot going on in my world except unpacking lots of boxes. So, in attempt to keep from boring you to tears I'll just move on to the news from this weekend.

Apparently Xbox is crack... for kids!!

We get to see some of the first gameplay vids of the Penny Arcade Game

This Nerf Lancer is really well done

The Chinese are cracking down on online gaming

Well, that about wraps it up for this weekend. Hope you guys have a great week and I'll see you next time. Goodnight!

Ahoy, gents! I hope this first weekend of the new year finds you well. The weather her in SF has been really bad over the past few days so I haven't been going out much. However, I did go to this bar last night where they had some game stations set up so that was a good time. Other than that there's not too much to report from my end. Still plugging away looking for an apartment and settling into the city. So, on to far more interesting things.

Sony officially announced that Skype is coming to the PSP

I hate the Family Circus. Apparently, so do a lot of people.

New Line Cinema went Blu-ray and the HD DVD Group canceled their CES press conference

No More Heroes gets its launch date moved up! Imagine that.

A kid asked his dad to shoot him and he did. An Xbox was involved. Kind of.

It was definitely an interesting mix of information and oddities. A bizarre weekend of news to be sure. Fortunately for you, the news from CES should be pouring in any time now and you'll have loads to write about. Well, I'm off to dinner. Hope you guys have a great week. Goodnight!

Ahoy, gents! I trust that your holidays have gone well? I have been searching for an apartment in what is probably the worst time of the year to be doing such a thing. The housing market in SF right now is bordering on insane. Each apartment has a half hour open house and is converged on by 20-30 people all desperate for a place to reside. The landlords have become extremely anal and the pile of stuff you have to bring with you (proof of income, proof of employment, credit report, references and in some cases info on your bank account) is staggering. What's next? A blood test? My first born? (well, THAT one's not going to happen for obvious reasons) But, I have faith that something will break and I will find myself ensconced in a place in the next few weeks.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

Ole' Jacky Boy is up to his old tricks

These new FF: Dissidia and KH: Birth by Sleep screens have everyone atwitter

I round up a year and half of Arcade Flyer Art Saturday in one handy dandy post

And now, I bid you adieu. I am off to look at some more ridiculously overpriced crackerbox apartments. Hope you have a great New Years and I'll see you in 2008! Sayanora, schweethearts!

Happy Holiday my fine gentlemen! Holiday weekends are always an odd time to be writing, but this one seems particularly barren. I feel like one of those animals you see on the nature shows, foraging through the frozen tundra for any sort of insect or sprout that has seen fit to bust through the crust of the snow. Seeing as everything from the weekend is sitting right on the front page, it seems a bit odd to point things out, but what the heck, why fly in the face of tradition, eh?

We finally get to hear Ken Levine's VGA acceptance speech

Rockstar and the BBFC go for another round

Rock Band 360 gets holiday DLC, PS3 waits a week

I hope you guys have a great holiday, whatever and however you celebrate it. Personally I will be spending a quiet week playing games and searching for an apartment. See you next week!

Ahoy! How have you been my fine sir? I am finally relocated to San Francisco and have all my belongings in a storage unit. I might not be completely settled yet, but being back in the city where I lived out the better portion of my adult life is a great feeling.

The road trip was astounding. Saw some amazing things: Graceland, Vegas, roadside attractions and even the Liberace Museum. The Spike VGAs were interesting and seeing some of the people I know from various conferences and such was a nice familiarity in the middle of six days on the road.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

I met a waitress on my journey whos story greatly affected me and everyone else as well

This t-shirt on Threadless is awesome. Please vote for it so I can buy it!

This insane auction on eBay got removed a second time

The first link I posted regarding the waitress and my attempts to find her and her son a Wii for Christmas got an amazing response. I end my first weekend back here amazed at the generosity and kindness of our readers and it's a great feeling.

And now I take my leave of you to attend a holiday party happening here at my friend's place. Have a great week. Goodnight!

Ok, ok, I love finals week, too, because it means we're almost done with classes for at least a few weeks (and I can stuff a lot of books like The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan on my bookshelves to be forgotten about for a few months). But I really hate it because there's so much to do and not enough time. This weekend, I'm knee deep in PRC history while putting together a final paper, and here's what my coffee table looks like:

... I realized with a bit of horror that those don't even make up half of the books we read this quarter. My brain has reached saturation point, and I'm ready for a stiff drink and a day (or three) dedicated to sleeping in, gaming, and not reading. Except for those undergraduate term papers I have to grade. Crap.

Here's what you might have missed this weekend:

Flynn went to the Spike TV Video Game Awards!
Crecente reminded us that the Funde Razor charity event will be kicking off on Wednesday in Brooklyn and Denver
Tom Brokaw declared video games and blogs "cancerous." I guess we're doubly screwed here at Kotaku!

Hope you guys have a nice night. Flynn will be back next weekend and I will be done, done, DONE with fall quarter - both of which I am super-excited about.

So Flynn and I have been busy people the past couple of weeks - both my grandparents died a few weekends back, and Flynn graciously held down the fort for two weeks while I was taking care of family business. Now Flynn is off for two weeks so he can make a cross country drive out to San Francisco. I did the same kind of drive back in September, but Flynn's trip sounds a lot more fun than my frenzied dash to get to San Diego - I hope he's having a fun trip, because weekend work at Kotaku Towers is decidedly less fun without him to talk to.

Now I'm busy with the end of the quarter crush, and looking forward to the holidays and a nice, long break. I've got two big papers to crank out for both my major field and this year's minor field, modern Japanese history, plus some undergraduate term papers to grade. In about 7 months, I'll be more or less qualified to teach Japanese history from the late Tokugawa up through the immediate post-war period - which is a frightening thought.

Here's what you might have missed this weekend:

EA is apologizing for the long wait to get replacement Rock Band guitars with a free EA game.

Crecente reported on 1Up's show of support for Gamespot reviewers and asked reviewers to send us their own experiences regarding pressure for good reviews.

And Vivendi Games and Activision are merging to form Activision Blizzard, which we all agree is a pretty crappy name.

Flynn's off again next weekend, but I'll be here keeping an eye on the place while working feverishly on papers, papers, and more papers.

Hello, gentlemen! So, the time has finally come. After months of living out of suitcases and being essentially homeless, I am at last heading back to my beloved San Francisco. I have been gone for seven years and been through quite a lot including a five year stint in New Orleans, losing most of my life to Hurricane Katrina and a two year stop gap in Atlanta. It feels good to be going back into the waiting arms of my friends that I left so long ago. I am driving across the country with all my stuff and making some stops along they way. I'll be seeing Graceland and Vegas and hopefully some other roadside attractions that will make the long drive seem a little less excruciating. This being the case, I will be taking off for the next two weeks, returning to my weekend duties around the 15th. I will still be doing a few articles along the way, so I won't be completely absent and I'll be covering the Spike VGA's in Vegas on the 7th, so you'll definitely hear from me then.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

Subotron is offering a great opportunity for a gaming female artist in Vienna

I met this guy with a mini arcade in his basement.

This Zelda website is obviously a fake... or is it?!?!

Well, I hope you guys have a great next few weeks. Tomorrow I start the process of packing up my things and preparing for my move which shouldn't be too bad since I packed most of it up before I left Atlanta three months ago. So the next weekend note you get from we will be from the sunny shores of the west coast and I couldn't be happier. Cheers!

Hello, gents. I am reporting once again from NYC and by the time you read this I will be on a bus on my way to the home of my ancestors (read parents) in Baltimore, MD. Good times! Believe it or not, I've packed my PS3 solely for the purpose of finishing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune which I'm really addicted to at the moment. Fortunately, my parents have the Wii I gave them earlier this year so I packed up Super Mario Galaxy as well. Should provide plenty of gaming fun over the next week of Thanksgiving madness. And if that wasn't enough gaming (and it clearly isn't) I'm hooking up with a couple of the Destructoid guys for a full day of Rock Band. It's going to be a helluva holiday I tells ya.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

King of Kong is coming to DVD

Super Mario Galaxy kicks Ocarina of Time's ass

Toys R Us is having a killer sale on Wii games

Hope you guys have a great week and I will see you next weekend as I report from the exciting confines of Baltimore. After that I probably won't see you for a few weeks as I make my long awaited move to San Francisco. Goodnight!

So my long three and a half months of conference traveling is finally over and even though I'm not safely ensconced in my final home (SF) yet, I'm glad to be at least not traveling for a while. It really takes it out of you, especially a gentleman of my advanced years. But you gotta keep up with the kids!

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

• Will Wright says Spore is coming to the Wii

• GameStop stops it's 360 replacement plans

• IPTV may be coming to the next 360 Dashboard Update

• I was thrilled to have a really good excuse to post this picture

And now I bid you adieu as I head off to Guitar Hero III and the chance to finally play Barracuda. Have a great week!

Greetings and salutations! I have been reporting all weekend from Los Angeles where I attended E for All briefly and I do mean briefly. I arrived for the press hours on Thursday, did a few interviews, played what games that were there and by three I was done. Since it didn't seem like there was much reason to attend the conference for all four days we decided to take a jaunt to Disneyland which was a complete blast. It was nice to get away for a day and have some fun away from games. As much as I love them, sometimes you just need a break, you know?

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

Cheapy D is a Dad!

Can you please get me one of these? You can keep the game!

That MGS4 demo we played in Japan, well it's in English now.

Well, I'm off to spend a last few relaxing hours in a fancy-ish hotel room. I'm looking forward to heading back home and the end of conference season. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed again. Hope you have a great week, goodnight!

Hello, gentlemen. I am reporting from NYC this weekend and given that I've been sitting here writing for the bulk of it I haven't really seen much of the city. Not that I haven't been here a million times, but you know. Tonight I am heading to a friends place for dinner and games. Shockingly, not video games, but good old fashioned board games. That should be a nice treat, I just hope they have Candy Land. And the old 50's one with the cool artwork, not the lame updated one that looks like Strawberry Shortcake land. Not that I have anything against ol' Strawberry, but I likes my Candy Land old school thank you very much.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

There are some Lost easter eggs hiding in Half-Life 2.

Another customer service nightmare that takes the cake.

If you haven't seen Mont Oum's latest yet, do yourself the favor, it's amazing.

All right, I'm outta here, hope you have a great week. Next time you hear from me I'll be reporting from sunny LA live at E for All. Should be interesting...

Well, I've been back from Japan for a week now and my sleep schedule is just finally starting to get back to normal. I'm living out of three suitcases at a friend's place in New Haven, CT until December when I move back to SF after seven years. New Haven is nice and all but it feels a bit strange to be in such a small college town after living in big cities for so many years. Thankfully my tenure here will be short and I'll be able to get back to living a real life soon. I miss my dog and my friends and having all of my stuff close by so December can't come soon enough. At least I have games to occupy my time.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

Churches using Halo to gain young parishioners?

Manchester Cathedral is still whining about Resistance

Your own life-sized Big Daddy to cuddle

Alrighty, well I'm off to watch Death Proof which I picked up today at Best Buy. Sadly they are selling both halves of Grindhouse separately and my favorite of the two, Planet Terror doesn't come out for another couple weeks. But, the completionist in me must have both parts and this one comes with a $5 off coupon for Planet Terror when it comes out. I'm sure in a couple months there will be some sort of uber collector's edition with both parts, but I'm satisfied with letting them screw me for now. Something about Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg that just brings out the hetero in me. Have great week, Goodnight!

So I'm finally back from Tokyo, got in last night and the jet lag is just starting to get to me. I also got tattooed this afternoon so the mixture of endorphin rush and jet lag is quite a bizarre feeling. That being said I'm going to get to the weekend recap before I fall face first into the keyboard.

• Master Chief gets sex-ay!

• David Hayter's voicing Snake again for SSBB.

Is Grasshopper working on Fatal Frame or not? We demand confirmation!

Alright then, I am going to try and sleep off some of this oncoming jet lag and nurse the poor bleeding pin up girl on my arm. Have a great week and don't forget to trim that mustache (or moustache if you prefer)!

Konichiwa! It's been a strange weekend having left for Tokyo and just arrived a few hours ago. I'm still in culture shock mode although it's not nearly as difficult adjusting as I thought it was going to be. I arrived in my room to find a nice plate of fruit containing the tiniest bananas i have ever seen with a note telling me if I wanted it cut up I could call housekeeping. Noe that's what I call service!

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

• R.I.P. Colin McCrae

• FFVII Roleplayers are a strange lot.

• I question the over hyping of games; people freak out

Well that's about it. The rest of the guys should be arriving soon so I guess I will be seeing you shortly. In fact I will probably see you before you read this as I am heading up to your room right now. See you then!

So, I've been reporting all weekend from New York City which is now my temporary residence until I move to San Francisco in December. I packed up all my stuff and it's now in storage in Atlanta awaiting my return to pick it up and move it across the country. I can't really say I'm going to miss Atlanta much except for some friends and it feels good to be in a new environment even for a short amount of time. I leave for Tokyo a week from today and I'm sure I'll get really excited about it one I've gotten a chance to settle in here, but it will be an awesome trip and It will be cool to see you in person again.

Some things you may have missed this weekend:

The Master Chief figure made his debut at Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas

This list of the top 25 best selling games was surprising

Silent Hill 5 looks awesome

I'm off to relax and check out some Heavenly Sword and try to adjust living out of suitcases for the next three months. Have a great week!

To: Ash
From: Flynn
Subject: All spliced up

So, I attended Dragon-Con this weekend here in Atlanta, clocking in my fourth conference in two months. With two more to go yet this year, I am feeling a little Con weary but I'm sure I'll be able to get it together for the excitement of TGS. Everyone told me how amazing Comic Con was going to be for cosplay and I have to say that after having gone to both, Dragon-Con has it all over Comic Con in the costume department. I even managed to cobble together a Splicer costume for myself (Purely so I didn't seem out of place, of course!) and got my picture taken in front of an appropriately watery backdrop.

Some things you might have missed this weekend:

• You can pre-order Halo 3 and get a Slurpee at the same time.

• EA is offering the original Command & Conquer for free.

• This guy makes me proud to be a gamer

I hope you have a great week as we over here in the US celebrate a holiday weekend and I actually get a rare full day off. I plan on gaming until my fingers curl into claws. Goodnight!