Nintendo once delivered me a Wii in the trunk of a police car. Today, Microsoft is delivering some of Manhattan's first Xbox Ones in armored trucks, as seen in this image spotted via Reddit user Space_Honey. See more of those trucks here and here.

Today in Dumb Yet Hilarious Publicity Stunts, here's online gaming store Good Old Games honoring the U.S. government shutdown with a special sale.

Christmas Joust is still my favorite 2012 video game-related holiday card, but I'm giving this XCOM: Enemy Unknown one second place. Watch the video with the sound on and you'll hear why.

You'd think that with all of the not-so-subtle hints Ubisoft PR dropped, that I would've figured out that there was going to be a tiger at our Far Cry 3 preview event last week. "It'll be grrrrreat!" they wrote. "Be sure to come on Wednesday, as we'll have a… special guest!"

The other day, an EA spokesperson invited me to go to Germany to go to some Porsche driving school in order to, in a roundabout way, play more of the next Need for Speed. (I declined.) Today, Capcom sent me a really heavy box. A $300 chess set was in it. Yes, it's cool. No, it wasn't necessary.

Tina isn't doing the off-topic thread tonight, but that doesn't mean we can't have cats! In fact, let's just combine her thing (cats) with my thing (music) into one super thing.

Here, for some reason known only to Nintendo and some publicists, is a QR code that will generate the official Mii of actress Denise Richards.

I got an e-mail over the weekend from Microsoft public relations: "I have some sweet rides available to take you to the Halo Showcase, courtesy of 'Forza Horizon' if you're interested. We're going to have four cars around for E3: a Ferrari California, a Lamborghini Gallardo, an Audi R8 V10 and a BMW 6 Series."

Earlier this week, Nintendo FedExed me a copy of their next Zelda game. FedEx wasn't good enough for their next Mario game. No, to deliver Super Mario 3D Land they went the extra ridiculous mile.

We got a visit from the Kirby ice cream truck today, part of Nintendo's promotional push for September 19's Kirby Mass Attack, which just might be the last Nintendo-backed DS game. Maybe. (UPDATE: No. There's a new Prof. Layton coming out next month.)

This XCOM display, which features no real human beings, is a head-turner here at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

This doll head arrived in the mail today. Sender's name on the box that contained it is Rebecca Jorden.

When I think of the Kardashian sisters, I don't think of things that make sense. I think of a world of people who are famous for being famous, who get a reality show by accomplishing the feat of being a Kardashian.

L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant shows up to a game Tuesday in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Jeep. L.A. Galaxy star (not for long) David Beckham played EA Sports Active 2.0. Only in L.A. Only if game companies pay them?

We got Halo Reach in a silver briefcase today. I took it to the roof for an unbriefcasing video, guest-starring the distant Empire State Building and a blimp. This is really just the standard edition plus doodads plus briefcase.

Apple has taken shots at the DS and PSP. The iPhone has more games, they say. Sony fires back with this ad, basically saying, yeah, but our games are better.

There was a parade for a video game in New Orleans yesterday. For Madden NFL 11. That makes it a parade that's also a marketing stunt. Still, we are surely in the early days of video game parades. Baby steps.

The last time the powerful people at Electronic Arts sent our boss Brian Crecente something ridiculous in the mail, he burned it on his grill. Fitting, then, that they sent him some meat.

One of the ways celebrities are different from you and me is that they might spend their 21st birthday party with their model girlfriend on a 140-foot yacht. And DJ Hero would be the sponsor.