I don't quite know what to say about Gravity Bone, but mostly feel that it's best to not say anything. I'd rather let you discover it for yourself. It's a small download, available for free here, and it will run on pretty much any computer. It'll take you maybe fifteen minutes before you're ready to come back and read my interview with its creator, Brendon Chung. Because you're not quite going to get what's going on until you've experienced Gravity Bone yourself.

Read the interview after the jump. But not until you've played it yourself.

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A pack of four workers, all captured from the conquered Bannor capital, make their way to the mithril blocked off by mountains, but still within the Bannor territory I've just seized. It's a torturous route, extending the road as they go, wending around the mountains and plunging through Svartalfar territory and then out the far end to farther extend the road. I've got an open border agreement with these dark evles, so I expect an uneventful trip, followed by safe passage of the mithril supply to my cities once the road is complete. But to guard against wandering barbarians once the workers reach the far side of the mountains and Svartalfar territory, they're accompanied by a pair of mimics (Balseraph units who can steal promotions from enemy units, and thus end up with an interesting variety of abilities once they've seen a few battles), a taskmaster (a Balseraph unit who can capture slaves when he defeats a unit), and a harlequin (the Balseraph magical scout).

After the jump, the expedition takes an unexpected turn.

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If you've ever tried to get all the orbs in Crackdown, or all the Crusader flags in Assassin's Creed, or all the pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV, you know what it's like to stare at a 198/200 stat with a huge open city spread before you and no idea which two you're missing. A choice expletive probably followed. Don't let that happen to you in Saints Row 2.

Thanks to bahimiron for pointing out an excellent resource for those of us who liked Saints Row 2 enough to want to wring every last drop from it. This Google maps recreation of Stillwater points out every collectible location. For the CDs and tags, there are even screenshots to help you zero in on their exact location. You can even check off stunt jumps, spray tags, and CDs as you get them. It's not very graceful, and I hate that the map resets every time I check off an item, but I couldn't imagine being a true Saints Row 2 completionist without something like this.

Congratulations on your new Wii! This is the third straight holiday season that the Wii has been a hot commodity. You're a lucky guy/gal/family.

Three years ago, Nintendo's future looked shaky. Their Gamecube was an also-ran next to sexier gaming platforms like the Playstation and Xbox. Nintendo was banking on being unchallenged in the handheld market, but Sony was gunning for them with the sleek new PSP. With so much of the game development for Nintendo's hardware being internal first-party stuff, it looked like the company was going the way of the Sega. Which was not a good thing.

Then the Wii came along and became a household word. Believe it or not, before the name had been rammed into our head by hearing it several hundred times, usually on mainstream media broadcasts, many of us thought the name was silly . "Wii?" we laughed, "Are they kidding? No one's going to take that seriously? Ha ha ha. So stupid. Wii?"

Those were the days. Who's laughing now? Hopefully you, jumping around your living room and looking silly playing Wii Sports. But before you go any further, there are some things you should know.

After the jump, read the Official Fidgit Buyer's Guide for New Wii Owners.

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The above video, in which a kid gets a Wii for Christmas morning, was unearthed by The Tech Herald. 'This is going to be adorable', I thought, having just assembled my own gallery of adorable moments of Wii-induced excitement.

But this is on video. Video isn't necessarily as cute because a) it's going to have sound -- shrieking, ear-splitting, brain-assaulting sound -- and b) it's not a neatly sliced frozen image that you can admire as you would a painting. There are a couple of moments in there where I'm pretty sure I can see evidence of a demonic possession. Also, I think I know this kid. I'm pretty sure I get seated next to him every time I go to a restaurant.

The Tech Herald entry also showed another video of a couple of kids having an N64-induced Christmas morning freak out.

Which just goes to show that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

An Associated Press article gives props to those of us who buys lots of game, and read and write about them, and consume them as a form of entertainment on par with television and movies.
The article hints that core gamers (pictured) should be credited with getting the videogaming industry through tough times.

...some analysts believe it will turn out to be core gamers -- who might be more reliable consumers of their favorite form of entertainment than movie buffs or sports fans, for example -- who keep the industry afloat as the rest of us cut back.

Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, estimates that core gamers buy roughly half of all video games.

"They may be wealthy, they may be poor, but they have no clue we are in a recession," Pachter said.

The article even suggests the retailers know it.

"If the core gamers and the avid gamers are with us through these very unpredictable times, that's a very, very good sign for us," said R. Richard Fontaine, GameStop's chairman, during [a conference call with analysists].

Meanwhile, the writer points out that the NPD Group further predicts that videogaming may turn out to be even more recession proof than other forms of entertainment.

In 2007, people bought $18 billion worth of games, consoles and accessories. Even with discretionary budgets shrinking, the NPD Group expects this number to grow to at least $22 billion this year. In contrast, U.S. consumer spending on home video is going down. Spending declined 2.4 percent for the first three quarters of the year, to $14.2 billion, according to industry tracker Video Business.

The good news is that sexy underwear is now available for one of the characters in Left 4 Dead, via the mod here. The bad news is that it's not the character you're thinking of. It's not even Bill. It's the character you'd least like to see in sexy underwear, the bilious vomiting boomer.

(I'm sorry you had to see that, but since I stumbled across it -- Thanks Blues News, you jerk! -- I felt the need to commiserate.)

Once again, I have a confession to make. Earlier, when I wrote about choosing my religion, I neglected to tell you the main reason I chose the Council of Esus, a religion based on deception, betrayal, and the criminal underworld.

I'm about to finally tell you that reason after the jump.

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DreamGear's WarBeast guitar controller is available either directly from the company for $130, or from various retailers for forty dollars cheaper. It's main advantage?

The WarBeast Wireless Guitar from dreamGEAR is the first and only full size guitar on the market. The size of the guitar adds a realism to Rock Band and Guitar Hero games that no other guitar has been able to deliver.

I guess for some people, it is indeed the size of the instrument.

Tech blog Venture Beat has a story on the success of World of Goo, which is almost as indie as indie gaming gets.

It's the product of two guys, no money, and lots of hard work. The ex-Electronic Arts designer-developer duo, Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, don't even have a garage. Their game studio, called 2DBoy, is based out of any Wi-Fi enabled coffee shop in San Francisco they can squat in for the day. According to Carmel, World of Goo has been built with a budget of just $10,000 dollars, all of which comes from personal savings.

But before you quit your day job and repair to the garage to make your own indie game, keep in mind a couple of important points. 1) Gabler and Carmel had already worked in game development at the largest publisher in the industry. They knew what they were getting into and they had invaluable experience to draw from. And 2) they got a big break at a festival.

After the game won awards at the Independent Games Festival at the Game Developers Conference last year, a snowball effect helped the game land publishers and other distribution deals. Suddenly, publishers who didn't respond to earlier requests now wanted to publish the game. The duo also capitalized on every public relations opportunity that presented itself.

So while World of Goo is indeed a heartwarming David vs. Goliath story, this David had more than just a makeshift sling.

Also, I can't help but think it's a bit of a victory for World of Goo that I'm sitting here writing about it and I haven't even played the darn thing.

While I was looking for pictures of people getting Nintendo Wiis for Christmas (if you're one such person, be sure to check Fidgit tomorrow!), I discovered an embarrassment of riches. I suppose when you combine a holiday season, a short supply, a high demand, and a product that kids (of all ages!) love, you're going to get some great Christmas morning photos.

So I've collected and commented on the best Wii Christmas pictures I found. Until someone gives Christmas morning Wii pictures the same treatment as pictures of cats in boxes, this Fidgit entry will have to do. So get in there and have a look. Yes, you too, Mr. Core Gamer with your Xbox 360 and your copy of Gears of War 2. Even you remember what it was like to be a delighted kid.

After the jump, Wii wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

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Most of the stories you hear about customer support in online games are about things going wrong. You hear about unresolved problems, inaccurate information, and poorly stated company policies. You hear about the brouhaha when a GM tries to shut down a gay-themed guild in World of Warcraft. Or maybe a GM tries to, uh, "cyber" with the customer. But when customer support works, you generally don't hear about it. A problem happens, a GM fixes it, the game goes on.

But Blizzard is getting some much deserved recognition for a customer support story gone right. In Fairfield Township, Ohio, a 17-year-old boy was in the middle of some sort of support issue with a GM. In an effort to convince the GM to help him, he seems to have threatened suicide. The GM called 911 and the city sent an ambulance and police cars. Remember, kids, Blizzard has your parents' billing address! The boy was arrested, charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, and will be tried tomorrow.

There aren't many details in this story in the Middletown Journal, which seems to be one of those routine police blotter stories assigned to some guy at the city desk. But good for Blizzard for taking seriously what seems to have been a frivolous threat.

Over the holiday break, I was showing Little Big Planet to a friend of mine. He's a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who's so conservative that he wouldn't have voted for McCain if Sarah Palin hadn't been on the ticket. So when I explained to him that the point of Little Big Planet was to keep going to the right, he immediately observed that it sounded like his kind of game.

I only bring this up because there are no games coming out this week and if I hadn't mentioned my Little Big Planet anecdote, I would have had nothing to write here.

A few months ago, Fall from Heaven developer Derek Paxton added a card game called Somnium into one of the betas. That's right, a card game. Like canasta or Go Fish. I'm not entirely sure what it's doing in there. Who puts a card game into a Civilization IV mod?

Have a seat and I'll deal you a hand after the jump.

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History in the real world (i.e. vanilla Civilization) is the progression from copper to iron to gunpowder to nuclear weapons. But in Fall from Heaven gunpowder is a quaint aside. Magic sort of reduces it to a parlor trick. So you have cannons? Whatever. I have fireballs, maelstroms, and shadowwalking.

However, there is an endgame resource not unlike nuclear weapons. It's mithril. And I've just discovered it. At least I would have if I could find any.

Read about the Great Mithril Rush that should have happened on turn 353.

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