Dear all -

In case you haven't noticed, updates have slowed to a glacial trickle in recent weeks. The truth is, daddy's had his head in too many places at once, and blogging may have to take a back seat for the next hundred miles of the road trip or so. Thanks for popping in to check up on us, as ever, and don't worry, you're in good hands with the bazillion other excellent gaming blogs out there.

I'll leave you with this heart-pounding, toe-tapping, jaw-dropping music video remix for the incredible Mega Man II soundtrack.

All the best.

Then I'd prolly watch football:

FFX vs. DOA? Bring the awesome.

Some bits from the legal side of gaming, and of course most of it focuses on Jack "gayrotica-is-important-evidence" Thompson.

You see, in an effort to keep his ability to practice law, he submitted a whole file of hardcore gay porn to the judge presiding over his case... it's complicated. Read all about it here.

Also (no shocker here), he's convinced that the dubious hit-target lawyer in GTA IV is modeled after him (as if he gets to claim he's special and say that every sleazy lawyer portrayal is a JT reference - what an ego!), and wants to block the release of the game. Like he wasn't going to try anyhow.

Also, the gaming industry got a big first amendment pat-on-the-back from an Oklahoma judge this week, when the state moved that games were a form of creative expression, and could not be regulated by the state any more than any other type of media (again, movies are a thousand times more gory - any theaters block Hostel from showing?). So win one for the (less un)equal measures team.

This interesting bit via Boing Boing:

"Jesse Brown from CBC Radio's SearchEngine sez, 'This week's Search Engine is a special episode that may be of particular interest to BoingBoing readers. It's entirely devoted to the political and cultural impact of video games in China. We cover the gamut: anti-gaming laws, 'internet addiction' paranoia, propaganda games by the state, and the most thoughtful documentary about gold-farming I've yet heard.'"

[link to story, podcast, etc. here]

It's been a crazy month when it came to console sales. Microsoft is doing all sorts of crazy dance moves (obviously dancing with the stars match-up with Master Chief helped things along), the Wii is doing its slow-and-steady-means-I'll-still-be-unavailable-for-Xmas bit, and Sony... well, other than the PSP Sony isn't doing much of anything.

It went down like this. Pre-game, the Xbox 360 was first thought surpass, but only temporarily, the Wii for sales. Indeed, in August, the Wii was still champ (with it's little bro the DS right on its heels). However, with the nice boost it got from Master Chief's latest installment, the 360 did pull ahead right on schedule, selling well through the end of September.

Here's where it gets strange: Japan. The Xbox sales have been anemic at best, but despite Halo 3 selling out as previously noted, Nintendo was dethroned by the PSP in the same bump that saw the Xbox jump up a few spots as well. Even more crazy, the introduction of the 360 Elite in Japan saw sellouts in multiple stores, which one could almost take as a sign of the impending apocalypse.

In a similar story, there's more at work regarding the bump in 360 sales than just Halo 3. I'll use myself as a data point here - the achievement system is worse than crack. It was actually the subject of a real live scientific study recently, and it was demonstrated that these meaningless, useless GP points we get for doing tricky stunts in 360 games actually drive sales. I'll totally admit it - I'm more likely to play a cross-platform release on my 360 just to bump up my Gamerscore. It's crazy, but it taps into something deep inside and makes you go crazy trying to nail that one last 5G achievement....

Anyhow, finally, in big-number-news, the gaming industry is on-track to be a $47 billion USD industry by 2009, and since Sony can't get a foot in the door with the PS3, they're gently reminding they have other (better) wares to offer: the PS2. It's pathetic, but one of the biggest current selling points for the PS3 is the awesome PS2 library for it, and since they just eliminated backwards compatibility for some stupid, stupid reason, they're now reminding us that there are four, not three, consoles to buy this holiday season. Yeah, well, it should be three. And since the PS3 don't count, it kinda is...

I'm ashamed to admit how many times I've watched this in awe, and how badly I want one.

This little critter is called the Tenori-On, designed by Toshio Iwai (who did Electroplankton for the DS).

I want.

Live action Japanese office RPG (upcoming PSP title promo):

and the prison inmates known for their work on Thriller take on a classic:

I want this to be my life: