Thanks for bearing with me this week. Random notes to take you to the weekend:

Darwin award presented by Sony to the dumb shit that electrocuted himself by pissing on his PS2. My PS2 is still a major performer at home - totally un-piss-worthy. The PS3, on the other hand...

In the HOLY CRAP department (and speaking of reasons not to whizz on your PS2), there's a hair metal expansion pack coming to PS2 for Guitar Hero II!!!! Check out the 8 tracks mentioned so far:

* "I Wanna Rock" (by Twisted Sister)
* "I Ran" (by Flock of Seagulls)
* "Round and Round" (as made famous by Ratt)
* "I Want Candy" (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
* "Metal Health" (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
* "Holy Diver" (as made famous by Dio)
* "Heat of the Moment" (as made famous by Asia)

Mmmm....

On the blueballs front, don't expect to see Spore anytime soon. Damn.

The PSP is having a nice run of it, in addition to robust sales, it's seen favorable review for its own version of God of War, and is lucky enough to get its own Final Fantasy franchise.

On the political front, the mayor Boston, trying to have his cake and eat it too, is attempting to lure game house HQ's to his city, but is also backing Jack Thompson. Thompson has also had a nice run of it lately, after suckering Democrat Roy Burrell into sponsoring a crappy bill that he abandoned, aimed at the video game industry. Nevermind that the whole thing flopped, and cost his state's taxpayers $100,000. Moron.

On a cheerful note, my personal hobby of nostalgic game hoarding has been the subject of feature on GameSetWatch, talking about the almost accidental utility of services like Steam and GameTap as archivists. One of the brightest gems from years past, X-Com, was just released on Steam to boot!.

Finally, while the PS3 may have it's own class at MIT now, Capcom is releasing textbooks in manga format, which is reason #16573 I'm re-packing my bags and hopping on the next plane to Japan after all.