Games can make you well.

The Daily Star ‘GTA Rothbury’ apology is full and complete. Rockstar lawyers are terrifying.

Dragon Dictation on iPhone. Transcribes speech/ interviews for you on the fly. Also: free.

‘He is not flashy. He is not Chuck Norris. Rather, he is like a sledge-hammer hitting an egg… He simply kills them.’ The unseen art of film scripts.

Attacked by bees, massive electric shock and a fall from a barn roof. ‘The exact sequence of events was unclear.’

Pro-tip: do not play Limbo following a recent vasectomy.

“We are a Fortune 500 company, not a lemonade stand.”

Tim Stone interviews the flight simulation genre. British games writing is the total best.

If you enjoy Cave shooters try Vampire Rage on the Xbox Indie Channel. 80 MSP and worth every, er, P.

Scientists create nanoscale robot spiders. Oh, Arthur C. If only you could see us now.

You know humanity spends too much time in virtual worlds when crisp manufacturers list ‘real’ as a selling point.

Awesome sprite bead collection. I want to wear the Ryu one OVER MY FACE.

LEGO Nxt Wall-E:

Smories. Kids read original stories for the benefit of other kids.

Alien autopsy.

Turns out Nintendo’s suggestion we ‘take a break‘ from playing Wii isn’t just so we stay healthy.

“He is, in a word, a genius” I wonder what he is in two words? Bad, bad writing.

Breakdancing elephant. Gonna get one of these for my front room. Nobody will be allowed to mention it.

Link of the Week

This week’s Private Eye on the suspicious death of Egyptian double agent Ashraf Marwen: essentially the first scene of a Tintin book.

‘Holding your hand I feel like I’m super powerful!!’ Which one of them is saying this. Discuss.

‘Childcare Simulation Game’ This is a genre that didn’t take off in the way it should have.

This is the best balloon animal you will see in the world today.

“These movies tell girls…who you bang defines you. You are worth your vagina and no more. You are who your man is.” Strong views on the Twilight saga.

Chocolate mousse in the shape of Charlie Brown’s head.

Kristian Matsson (a.k.a. The Tallest Man on Earth): Better at fingerpicking than you. Also, songwriting.

Super Mario Kart on a turntable.

Sharks becoming resistant to the effects of penicillin. If attacked by a Great White, sneeze into its face and wait.

Clay Heath Ledger Joker. I really don’t like this.

How to liveblog the longest tennis match in history (read from 7:10 pm).

Nintendo begat Bieber.

Little Big Planet clone in Unity. Woah.

Animated Reid Miles Blue Note Jazz album covers: Mmmm. *clicks fingers*

Yoshi’s Cookie is hands down Box Art’s most reblogged game. Publisher pro tip: add biscuits to your IP for maximum win.

A letter from Comic Sans. ‘Sorry I’m standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest.’

Lady Gaga in Super Street Fighter IV. Properly awesome.

The Internet is essentially the perfect tool for any aspiring totalitarian government (and other thoughts).

iPhone 4′s ‘Retina Display‘: retinal fidelity identical to the LCD screen on my Casio watch. Also, a banana.

2010′s electronic devices promoted in the style of 1977′s advertising. I’m gonna be needing the phone and handheld.

Dust: An Elysian Tail, a side-scrolling action-RPG created single-handedly by Dean Dodrill in XNA. Flabbergasting.

Post-apocalyptic Lego diorama.

Stand Obama’s signature on its end and what do you get?

This is the kind of thing that’ll be studied in the Videogames PR 101 classes of tomorrow.

How to design a minimalist Super Hero origin story T-shirt.

Link of the Week

“No medium has ever survived the indifference of 25-year-olds” The Guardian interviews Clay Shirky.

Want to make a Flash game but don’t know where to begin? Head to the Flash game dojo. They make it sound super simple.

Stuff no-one told me. Cute/ witty/ insightful single-panel illustrations from a Barcelona artist.

Twitter whale in Gradius.

“A work of art is precisely that which remains when you have run out of words to describe it” Stephen Fry, being awesome.

Leroy Stick, pseudonymous author of the Twitter account @BPGlobalPR, writes an open letter to brand ‘holders’ everywhere. Essential reading.

‘The US has discovered $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan’ Ahhhh. That makes a bit more sense then.

“That is, the John Marston we play is the man as imagined by his son, Jack.” I really like this interpretation of RDR.

Today’s soundtrack. Sam Amidon’s cover of R Kelly’s Relief. Pretty minus the twee.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

How to design a mobile phone manual:

My Neighbour Totoro cosplay. KAWAII!

C-3PO, being a badass.

Chewing Pixels’ prettier sister, Box Art, presented in collage form.

Renault Sandglass ad campaign in Germany. Lovely.

Claw game filled with Famicom carts, in Akihabara, of course.

Amstrads, cancer, Madonna, mental illness and an unsolved puzzle from childhood. Awesome.

Super well-executed short film about WoW avatars:

If TV’s LOST was a 1987 point-and-click computer game.

This time baby I’ll be bulletproof.

Fontstaches.

How to review Sex & the City 2. “Essentially a home video of gay men playing with giant Barbie dolls”

I totally just found the potty they trained Link on.

Placing a nun in the path of an oncoming train in Red Dead Redemption reminded me of some of my other virtual sins.

Panera Bread Co opens a ‘pay what you can’ cafe. I wonder if they take videogame reviews?

Sesame Street Fighter. Um, ew.

Short, documentary on the dying art of painted advertising. Beautiful and sad.

How to design packaging for a loaf of bread.

Moving short animation of a 12-year-old Asperger’s Syndrome sufferer interviewing his mother.

4Chan founder raises $625k for a new start-up. So wanna be there when he presents investors with a Rick Astley video

Link of the Week

The Internet comes together to save two girls from being trafficked into prostitution. Best thing you’ll read today.

OMG. Robyn’s been plagiarizing.

Creepy Robots. ‘It’s only a matter of time before one of these kills somebody.’

E. Honda is amazing.

Impressive, Snake.

How to design a magazine cover.

“A script will not sell because:… it is intelligent or otherwise hindered by nuance.” Grim times for scriptwriters.

“The Observer understand that the solidity of the matter dictates procedure.” Oh wow…

Super sweet Spectrum-style music video for Richy Pitch’s forthcoming single ‘Blackstar’

The best of the Nintendo DS cases.

Mobigame’s wonderful iPhone game, Edge, is finally available again on iTunes.

Forget Shenmue 3, I want a sequel to Dragon Wang.

Never thought I’d be eager to read a book about clams.

8-bit-esque videogame played by screaming. Stick with it till the boss battle…

Oh gosh. The bees won’t stop dying. Now the prospect of explaining the birds and the bees to my offspring seems all the more harrowing.

I joined formspring so, if you want hysterical baseless answers to bee questions, you’re home.

Link of the Week

Trailer for Pixel Kombat, a ‘hadokumentary’: Lovely music and motion graphics work. Neat.

I wish they wrote House a little bit more like this.

“Get the sand out of your vagina” How the US military deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Never underestimate the value of a sub-marine. Er, sub-editor, I mean.

The wonderful Ironic Sans unveils a spin-off site reprinting 100-year-old NYT Sunday Supplement articles.

Edge Time Extend on the unlikeliest of shoot ‘em up successes, Einhander.

New Super Street Fighter ads designed by popular ‘urban’ artists. Good work Capcom.

Mmmmm pixel art.

‘East Side Stories. German Photographs 1950s – 1980s’ at Kicken Berlin.

Real time analogue digital clock, by Dutch artist Maarten Bras Coming to iPhone soon.

Ponyo bread. KawaiiOMNOMNOMNOM.

Ellie Gibson’s FarmVille Diaries piece on EG is great.

‘Vote for policies, not personalities‘. Useful.

John Walker skewers the BNP’s espousal of ‘traditional’ Christian values to win votes.

Simon Ferrari’s critique of Final Fantasy XIII, Hills and Lines, is perceptive.

‘People of note pay homage to the Batman‘.

Raj Patel is not the messiah (which is exactly what the messiah would say, right?)

Link of the Week

Amazing water billboard in Paris. Best thing you’ll ever see today for sure.

Bespin Wasn’t Built In A Day. Dubai building projects meet Star Wars icongraphy.

The sites and Google search terms China censors. “Brain wash”

$2k to have a videogame special edition delivered to you BY ITS DIRECTOR? Awesome silliness, and an excellent story to boot.

““I’ve found that your chances for happiness are increased if you…” Weighty wisdom from Walter Murch.

I sorta hate Japan-lol links but srsly, Japan L.O.L.

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How has nobody tried this idea in a platform game before? Brilliant.

The only time it is acceptable to dress your dog in human clothing.

Um, is Sony advertising Little Big Planet or The Ring in this Metro wrap-around?

Less Talk, More Rock.

By far my favourite of the unreleased pieces of Rez art that have been leaked this month. Beautiful.

Cooking Gaga. Even better than Mama!

The ultimate free range chicken.

The only known footage of Cardini performing his magic act: Amazing.

Brandon Boyer wakes up in a public restroom, naked, with Jason Rohrer.

Liz Lemon makes Esquire. I really have no idea how I feel about this photograph.

Danish artist dresses her baby up like Hitler. Fast forward 30 years to the shrink’s couch…

Oh jeez. Was she arriving or departing, that’s what I wanna know…

Link of the Week

Slate purchases ad time on national US TV. 54 airings, 1.4 million viewers for $1,300. WHO WANTS TO MAKE AN AD?

Dean Roger’s unnerving photos, taken at the same time of day, on the exact same spot as a famous car crash.

This GDC coverage from Matthew Burns is fun. I so wish I’d been there.

Turning MS Office into a game. The gamification of our lives continues apace.

GAME becomes the first retailer to launch a PlayStation Home space. It’s a Moonbase. I don’t think they’re treating the Digital Distribution model with the gravity it deserves…

Chatroulette: The Map. Time to hang up the crotchless panda suit. Fun while it lasted.

Mawya Denki’s new instrument, the Otamatone Who wants to get one and join my orchestra?

8-bit New York City. I’m totally gonna go grind in Central Park. AND KILL MONSTERS THERE FOR EXP ETC.

1. Mago (Japan’s top Sagat player in Street Fighter IV) lost to that 13-year-old Ryu player I mentioned last month. 2. God’s Garden lumps Beginners & Women together…

8-bit birth. It’s the .gif that keeps on giving. Birth.

BBC spending presented in an info-graphic: It costs £123 Million just to collect the license fee. I’ll do it for less.

Someone needs to dramatize the West/Zampella punch-up outlined in the Activision suit. Try this: “Cry it up coder-boy. But you can’t deny the infinite respawns in CoD4 were total shit. West! Get your hand off his shoulder, PRINCESS.”

Oh Activision… Carry on like this and someone’s gonna have to do a Supersize Me-style takedown. There’s quantifiable value in not being corporate dicks, you know.

The end of ploygons?

Children’s drawings rendered as fantasy art. The Superman one reminds me of Steven Seagle’s excellent ‘It’s a Bird.’

“…the desire that games be taken seriously as an art form, a battle long won, but which still seems fun to fight.” True that.

‘Which question do you want to consider first?’ A wallpaper for your laptop. And bedroom.

Link of the Week

Archangels dressed up as children perform Phoenix’s Lizstomania: *BLUB*

H. G. Wells reviews Metropolis. I’d describe his general tone as ‘pissy’

Professor Layton no doubt relieved to have ‘only’ been accused of giving children rickets in the papers this week.

David Simon interviewed on the Journal. Well worth the time.

If I ever have to own a gun, I’m going to get me one that fires owls like this one.

The World’s Most Important 6 Second Drum Beat:

“If I’m lucky…Mr. Talent…will rub his…tentacles on my art.” Cartoons are funny!

Main quest or mini-game. The eternal dilemma…

If you were in any doubt about Unity being the most exciting middleware tool in gaming right now, read this.

Wutang vs. The Beatles. Properly amazing. (Very subtle use of the latter, in case they annoy you.)

It was Martin Luther King day last week. Here’s a cute, poignant story about why that matters.

The first level proper in MW2 and parts of Episode 2 of Generation Kill are frame for frame identical. Someone should do a side by side comparison! Exhibit A.

Candyman: the David Klein Story. “Spilling the beans”. A good day in the office for whoever came up with that tagline:

First Person Tetris. Will make you sick in 20 seconds max.

1983 comic themed around computer games. This is genuine treasure. Go look.

Suki’s pretty upset with game journalists this week. If you wrote a dumb/ over-reaching review of Bayonetta, ready up.

“Self-potato?” Amazing incorrect answer on Wheel of Fortune.

Wooden recreations of extinct animals. I had a panda toy when I was a kid. They said it’d soon be extinct so I’d sniff it so I’d always remember the scent when they were gone. *ahem*

12,000 years of population growth in a single graph.There’s no room at the inn.

Link of the Week

The Eurogamer 2009 Score Analysis. Like games? Like statistics? You’ll like this! Turns out I am soft on games; soft on the causes of games.

“Uncharted 2′s success may take us away from the potential that videogaming has twitching in its womb.” Best of 2009. But in which medium? Contains a few of my thoughts.

Power Glove + Arduino + Unity3D. Yowzers.

Mario vs. Bowser, inspired by Alan Moore. The league of extraordinary plumbers.

30 beautiful/ terrifying Christmas short. Let’s just hope this idea doesn’t get into THE WRONG HANDS.

Thing I’m gonna read in 2010. That Chabon endorsement on the front cover is the best endorsement ever.

15,740 self-proclaimed social media gurus on Twitter. You become one too if they touch you! Like zombies, but shit.

“We’re looking for a songwriter to create lyrics for a theme song to our next game” A job for the Doyouinverts?

Tiny Cartridge’s ’09 handheld recommendations are good. Also, that screenshot at the top (from the brilliant Retro Game Challenge) makes me cry a little

Exhaustive breakdown of Pitchfork scoring in ’09.

DieHard Battery vs. Reggie Watts. This is an excellent advertisement:

Woah. This is the best chiptune I’ve heard. Simultaneously the soundtrack to the past AND the future.

Brandon Boyer’s list of games to look forward to in 2010 is useful and typically leftfield.

A Flash game. Superb execution.

When I finally go, can it be in the claws of a GIANT EAGLE?

Castle of Cagliostro scale model. Probably the best anime for non-anime dorks, right?

Playing card spheres. A Christmas project if ever I saw one.

Capitol Records sues Vimeo over lip-dub videos. Because they are colossal, near extinct twits.

Extended US Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks TV commercial. A brazillion times better than the European one:

I really like this poster for Disney’s Mulan.

Robotic Doppelgangers For Sale. $223,000. AND WORTH THREE TIMES THAT.

Now that’s a kill screen.

Cowboy vs. Batman? Short, sweet post from Tom Armitage on how our approaches to game puzzles are tied to the imagination

Guitar Hero with 21,268 Christmas lights:

“Prominent blog Kotaku said that the ‘boobs smorgasbord’ was a ‘pathetic attempt at enticing people to play‘”

Whereas, a ‘boobs smorgasbord’ is perfectly acceptable when trying to get people to “read”…

Martin Sheen’s in Mass Effect 2?! WOAH.

Politicizing game rewards: “Earn Farmville cash by writing to Congress to oppose US Health reform” This is how the world ends, FYI.

Dave Eggers on selling out. Awexome.

The Citizen Kane of regrets: “I’m ashamed of Rosebud… It’s kind of a dollar book Freudian gag”

Ghosts of Shopping Past. A collection of still images of America’s abandoned malls.

“The hit detection is extremely hit or miss” In other words: perfect, then.

The peerless Phoenix perform 1901 in front of the Eiffel Tower for French site fantastique, La Blogotheque.

“The spiders are harnessed … held down in a delicate way.” Tapestry woven from the silk of a million spiders.

Link of the Week

On finding the single unknown fighter who boxed Ali. When I grow up, I want to write about videogames like this.