What about you? Participating in some SOCOM Confrontation beta action? X-COM on the cheap? It might not be a bad time to start clearing the backlog, you know. Holiday release insanity is but a mere month away. So what are you playing this weekend?

Just realized I don't have a grill, so I'm off to buy one of those from Target so I can enjoy some flame-broiled flesh like a proper Labor Day observant today and tomorrow. In KFC football action, Otis5757 leads the league with a 6-1 record — he has the Patriots; SlyBriEighty7 is second at 4-1 with the Saints. Yours truly is 0-0 after lecturing everybody to complete games. I'm sorry. I intend to play at least two to four before the end of the long weekend.

Also, wondering what you guys think of this. At the dayjorb, there's a 20GB PS3 sitting around, still in its box. I think it was supposed to be a grand prize in a sweepstakes drawing we never had. I've asked if I can buy it off the company's hands, as it's not doing them any good on a shelf. I'd like it because it has hardware backward compatibility with PS2 titles. Of course I'm gonna say that this is a discontinued SKU and I'm doing them a big favor by being so willing to take it off their hands. The question is, what offer do I make?

Here's some of what you missed this weekend led by Brian and A.J.'s PAX 2008 coverage. Also, I'm off next weekend. My college roommate is coming in from DC for an Earthquakes-United match that was looking like a waste of a plane ticket two months ago, and now is suprisingly compelling.

More Cosplay of PAX 2008
Fable 2 Hours From Gold, Molyneux Awaits Gamer Reactions
Problems at PAX – Hundreds Turned Away From Fallout
Papercraft Half Life D0g is Amazle
The Protagonist, the Player, and the Game Designer
Challenges Versus 'Learn By Death' Frustrations
Man Faces 21 Years for Killing Baby Who Interrupted Game

Thanks to my weekend rock, Owen Good, for remembering to do What Are You Playing This Weekend? when I could not be bothered to remember. Please, let us know what you're gaming the bejeezus out of this long holiday weekend (if you are in the U.S. of A) and forgive me for leaving you high and dry last Friday while at Games Convention.

I did all my posting today listening to the musical score for Bionic Commando: Rearmed. I ain't too proud to say, yes, I bought that — off iTunes — because it's a hell of a good soundtrack. If you took everything that was awesome about 1988, brought it 20 years forward to the future to 2008 and kept only the best parts of both, the CD would be Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

So, no off-topic ramblings this week. Capcom, via Grin's excellence on this title exempts it, plus the Capcom Trader Joe's and the Ranty Rite Aid, plus anything in that shopping center — including the Circuit City where I bought my replacement Madden for the copy I borked.

My attention is more focused on Redwood City, because thanks to some unclear instructions (I am totally dodging responsibility here) we had a hell of a clusterf**k with our Madden League, the KFC. But once that gets resolved, you can expect in future weekend notes I'll be posting about the doings of the league in this note.

Here are some highlights from the weekend.

New Dead Space Hands-On Impressions
Left 4 Dead Box Art To Change? "Stay Tuned"
Possible Explanations for This Dumbass Sears Ad
Creating an Elitist Gaming Review Culture
Cosplay Runs Rampant At Games Convention
Sony: LittleBigPlanet *Not* Region-Locked
Games Convention's Most Ignored Games

10:35 PM
Owen G.: i want to do a post, with audio. what is noisier, owen's 360 or his fridge

[walks over to machine and attempts to “fix” noise. uh oh.]

Owen G.: tell me why i turned the fucking thing horizontal with the disc spinning, like a stupe

10:40 PM
Brian A.: lol
Brian A.: i think your xbox is noiser
Owen G.: holy shit i think i just ruined the madden disc

10:45 PM
Brian C.: yeah thats a huge no no
Brian C.: results in disc scratching
Owen G.: god damn
Owen G.: there is a huge circular scar around the edge
Owen G.: i;m serious this disc is torched
Owen G.: shit now i actually have to *buy* madden to run this league
Owen G.: that's the stupidest sober thing i have done this year
Owen G.: i cant believe i did that. a four-year-old knows not to do that.

[Picture]

So I went into the Rite Aid yesterday to buy two damn things: Soap, specifically Old Spice High Endurance Body Wash, and Early Times. This is the Rite Aid next to Capcom so fuck you, it's relevant. Now, in a drugstore, which would you expect to be more difficult to find? Oh, this ain't North Carolina where the government sells you your booze. Because alcohol is a drug, my friend, we get to sell it at pharmacies in California, along with other health-relevant products like Dora the Explorer backpacks. So the corn squeezins are front and damn well center at any establishment with the liquor license, because it sure as hell cost a lot for the privilege.

But soap, I searched like hell for that. It wasn't near the shampoo, the conditioner, the goddamn bubble bath (yes, they even have an aisle and a sign for that) nor the dish soap, dishwasher detergent, bleach, meth ingredients, fuckin' NOWHERE. So I gave up. And then, after waiting in line behind someone using food stamps and a co-signed Yahoo! Bill Pay check to buy taquitos — again, from a drugstore — the guy asks me "Did you find everything you were looking for?" Like I want to step out of line, go get it, come back and wait some more. What are you asking me for now? If I'm in line, that ship has SAILED.

Memo to Rite Aid's Vice President of Stock Room Engineering: Why is it so hard to just PUT SHIT ... that is like OTHER SHIT ... NEXT to THAT SHIT. Huh? Put the soap next to the shampoo next to the other crap that gets me clean, because they're all interchangeable parts. I've washed my hair with Palmolive, I ain't proud. Put the toilet paper next to the paper napkins next to the paper towels, because when I run out of asswipe, I'm using the napkins, and when I run out of those, it's on to Brawny. And it works in reverse too. Yeah, I've served sandwiches on Angel Soft, fuck you. Put the mayonnaise next to the mustard next to the ketchup. Don't put it next to salad dressing because, although technically it is, when was the last time you were at the Olive Garden and you asked the server for the salad dressing options and then said, "I'll have a big ole wad of Hellman's." Which, I should clarify, is the East Coast version of Best Foods. You see, there's an east coast-west coast division of condiments in America, apparently. Biggie: Hellman's. Tupac: Best Foods. It's like a big rap war. With mayonnaise.

Can we splice this with Consumerist? Where was I? Oh yeah, the highlights:

Parents Let Kid Drop Out of High School to Focus on Guitar Hero
Button Mashing Has Its Virtues
Forgive Dad, He Knows Not What He Does
A Gallery of Madden Glitch Goodness
'What I Learned From Not Playing Civilization'
The 'Narrative' Straw Man: We're Not Doing That Badly
China's Gaming Market Going Up, Up, Up

In my downtime (ha!), I'll be relaxing with some Soulcalibur IV and pulling my hair out with some PixelJunk Eden. I'm surprised to find myself only halfway through my Spectra collection and completion. There's little doubt that Q Games gives you plenty of value for your dollar.

What about you? What are you playing this weekend?

To: Bash, Luke
From: Owen
Re: Disemvoweling

I have company visiting in a month and my apartment still looks like graduate student housing, so this will be a short note, as I have home improvement to do. Actually, I have half a mind to get some Sims IKEA going and plan out all 550 square feet of this place that way. It doesn't look that small because the ceilings are so tall. But that's space I don't get to use without creative shelving and such. I'll be mounting a bike rack in my "living room" later so, if you check in on me via IM, I might be in a real crappy mood.

Also, I totally buried the lede on that Old Snake thing with PSN. That photo, found by reader RageTowers, should have run on the front, not the jump, but the video code screwed that up, so that's why I put it above. I cannot look at that without laughing, and it's a great capper for all the fun we had this weekend. Luke, if you can nothankyou.jpg that thing I'll be in your debt.

Some highlights:

Flagship Seattle Alums Form Runic Games
Cop-Confiscated PS3 Replaced with 360
Conan GM Cybersexes Troll With Predictable Results
The Art of Braid: A Deconstruction
How to Buy God of War 2 in Saudi Arabia
A 'Narrative Manifesto': Collecting Current Musings
Full List of Rock Band 2 Trophies
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About RMT, and Then Some
Epic Boss: Lower Scores for PC GoW are "bullshit"

Outside of that, another of the McWhertor spawn is crashing at Kotaku Towers West this weekend, so we'll be doing various LA things that are vegan friendly. And you? What will you be playing this weekend? Leave proof in the comments!

Headed to a barbecue up in Berkeley today, where we're gonna play coed Beer Pong for the Wii. Actually, the game is that "Beirut" shit that whiny, paddlephobic Gen-Yers cooked up because waaah they couldn't hit a ping-pong ball in one of two cups. The last time I played Beirut up there I put my ass through my friends' window (don't ask how) and it has yet to be replaced. This picture is of me in an umpire's chair refereeing real Beer Pong in Berkeley, awarding victory to "Team W" (inside joke).

And yesterday, a real live girl came over to play video games. Like it was her idea, even. We played Red Dead Revolver's showdown mode (she loved that) and then Grand Theft Auto. "Wow, you're way less violent and sociopathic than I thought you would be," she said. When she played, she kept ramming the mark in the mission where you tail the car with Manny (Lord I am so far behind on this game). When that became too boring, we talked about relationships and ordered a mushroom and canadian bacon pizza.

Some highlights:
Rumor: Fallout 3 Unbanned In Oz?
Proof of the $199 Xbox 360 Rumor
New Environment Coming to Team Fortress 2?
GTA 100 Percenters Have 7 Days to Get Their Key
Obama vs. McCain in Soulcalibur IV
Just to Be Clear: FF Versus XIII "PS3 Only Worldwide"

This weekend, however, I'll be throwing down with some more PixelJunk Eden, more Soulcalibur IV and maybe even a little bit of Braid on my own time. It's time to take a break before we gear up for the Leipzig Games Convention. Anyway, whatchu playin' this weekend?

Pretty light weekend. I went to The Container Store in San Jose on Saturday. There's something screwed up when I go to a mall not to buy shit, but to buy shit that holds shit. But anyway, once I get done with this I'm going to try to affix a bike rack to the wall, and that should be calamitous. It's drywall, so I have to break out the stud-finder. Insert stud-finder joke here.

Some highlights from the weekend:

This Is the Need For Speed: Undercover Trailer [Updated]
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Hands-On
Gears Of War 2 Features "Backwards Compatible" Linked Achievements
Graduate School and Gaming: The Making of Winterbottom
An Interdisciplinary Approach to More Powerful Games

We may even get in a real-life game of badminton, time permitting. But what about you, dear commenter? What are you playing this weekend?

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]

On top of that, we'll be prepping for Comic Con. Anyone going?

I'll also be heading out to the Street Fighter Fight Club event in LA tonight, spending a bit more time with Street Fighter IV (and whatever else is on hand). Your gaming plans for this weekend are...?

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

Hopefully, some of you are planning on hitting up the Kotaku party on Sunday. Then we can talk about games. For now, let us know what your playing this weekend in the comments, and I'll live vicariously through you. Maybe name your character after me in a sign of solidarity? No? Hey, I tried.

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.

We might even play some games! Playing through Too Human has given me a loot gathering itch that only Diablo II and/or Phantasy Star Online can scratch. Say, that reminds me. This weekend is a free Day of Defeat: Source weekend, meaning you can game on Valve's dime should you have a Steam account. Have a good one, America!

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.

Other than that, it's time for serious Summer fun. We'll be bandying about shuttlecocks and grilling lots of meat in the greater Los Angeles area, working on our third sunburn. What have you got planned for this regular sized weekend? Any gaming gettin' done?

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'll also be cruising through Metal Gear Solid 4 one more time, taking my time to enjoy the sights instead of constantly thinking "Must finish by Tuesday. Must publish review. Run, Snake, run!!" Other than that, I'll just be trying to beat the heat.

What are you playing this weekend?

Beyond MGS4, I have a Kotaku giveaway contest to design this weekend, a birthday party to attend, plus some Meat Bun related things to wrap up, all very exciting stuff. All that and a Metal Gear Solid 4 review by Monday? Can I do it?! What about you? What are your IRL and virtual plans for the weekend?

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

Besides, last night we had a bad gamer bender at a friend's house. After a Haze demo, we decided to continue slumming it with the so-bad-it's-bad Crash Time and the even worse Yaris, two impressively dreadful Xbox 360 racers. At least the Battlefield: Bad Company was fun. But I think I need a break. How about you? Gaming plans?

Me? I was video gamed out after playing the wares on display at Captivate 08, plus I'm still suffering some sort of bizarre thumb strain from speed-reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV—no, that's not a joke—so I was game free. I'm currently running through Final Fantasy VI for the first time ever, though, and will be all up in it again this week. You?

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

We've got some BBQing and pool partying that needs to get done, plus some lazing about, maybe some straightening of the U.S. flag outside Kotaku Towers West. Other than that, just kickin' it. You? What are you playing this extended holiday weekend, should you have one?

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

Okay, I'm already late for Sony! Have a good weekend, y'all! Oh, what are you playing, anyway?

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

This weekend I'll be ditching the Cruis'n as I get back to R-Type Command and continue my Rock Band duties, now with added Boston. How about you? Weekend plans?

This is gonna be short and sweet because the new apartment is still a Superfund site. I'm gonna have to live at IKEA for the next month. At least. I once thought about writing a screenplay about that, but then they came out with The Terminal.

At least the 360's hooked up and providing a welcome diversion from the clutter and crap scattered about. Priorities, right? But I'm gaming in a lawn chair perched in front of the TV because the couch is too far away and my old bridge commander chair is too damn big for the apartment.

Have an enjoyable and productive week. Here's some of what you missed.

GTA Multiplayer: Wait, I'm a Zombie?
Chocolate Rain on Mario Paint
Sexy New LEGO Indiana Jones Gameplay
A Pixel Cookie How-To
Designing the Single Player Economy
Capcom's Sushi Muse?

Outside of some strategic Bydo empire dismantling, I'll be playing "Entertain The Folks" with my weekend. How about you? What are you playing this weekend?

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?

And that's it! No time for anything but GTA IV—even though my copy of the new Phantasy Star collection just shipped!—as reviews must be written, or we suffer the consequences. Make sure you stop by this weekend to give it an eyeballing. Other than some Kotaku review reading time, what do you have planned for the weekend? More importantly, what are you playing?

Yes, it really does hurt. Sad, really. Once the pain subsides, I can revisit GTA Vice City (which I never finished) and play some Lost Planet: Colonies. For now, let's have it. What did you play this weekend?

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