Neat-o - I love travel (and I am a little obsessive about it) and I love games, of course, so this is a cool idea - a list of top gaming destinations. Of course, as the article mentions, you aren't guaranteed to get in to something like E3...

I'd personally make some edits. First, I'd move PAX waaaaaay up near the top. If you're a gaming enthusiast, I'd say it's WAY more fun than E3. And E4All? Hm, I didn't go so I can't say, but it does seem a bit early to put it in the top ten. I would drop it from the list until it had a chance to prove itself.

And I'd add the GDC to the list. GDC is expensive, sure, but if you can swing a student pass, submit a talk, or get in as press, you're guaranteed to encounter talks that make you think, game developers who are exploring exciting new things, and some important reveals, too.

It's not electronic-gaming focused, but GenCon definitely needs to be on there, too. GenCon is giant, a true geek gamer's paradise, and increasingly, boasts some interesting electronic gaming content.

And while yes, Mountain View *is* home to a lot of high tech companies, it's very office-parky and not that much fun to tour. They'll probably throw you off the Googleplex anyway. It's probably a better idea to come to San Francisco around GDC time to partake of all the parties and all the open houses hosted by local game studios.

And finally, I should point out that any vacation can be a terrific gamer vacation if you take your DS along!

Wow - I'm really excited - while I'm in Iceland I get to go to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa! That sounds amazing. Check out the photos. Friend says it's pretty brutal, though - you have to walk across unsheltered cold cold cold before you hit the hot water. And given that it's in the low 30's in Rekjavik right now that is going to be a death march for my spoiled california skin.

There's an interesting article by Christine Rosen in The New Atlantic pointed out to me by my old high school buddy Ben Bloch who is now an artist and teacher. Oh, the stories I could tell of 17-year-old Ben! This one time, he hosted a post-prom party at his house, and... ah, sorry, that falls under the rubric that everything done before 18 is permanently sealed in childhood.

Back to the matter at hand: Rosen cites studies and anecdotal evidence that seems to suggest that this explosion of socializing media is actually making us less social in physical incarnations:

The few studies that have emerged do not inspire confidence. Researcher Rob Nyland at Brigham Young University recently surveyed 184 users of social networking sites and found that heavy users “feel less socially involved with the community around them.” He also found that “as individuals use social networking more for entertainment, their level of social involvement decreases.” Another recent study conducted by communications professor Qingwen Dong and colleagues at the University of the Pacific found that “those who engaged in romantic communication over MySpace tend to have low levels of both emotional intelligence and self-esteem.”

Um... being a self-described addict of Facebook and of World of Warcraft I have to wonder about this and really look inside myself. And also to wonder what Danah Boyd, who studies social networks and environments, would make of this. She's been an advocate of these spaces in the past, as places for self-expression and connection.

Over IM with a friend we were talking about how much we love love love BioWare games - we both fell hard for KOTOR, for example. And she said, "If BioWare were a man.... I'd be so stalking him right now."

So true! I kind of do stalk BioWare - in the sense that I read every little article that comes out about the company. Lately lots of nice things about Mass Effect... and I admit I'm not sure it could supplant my devotion to KOTOR but I'm willing to let it sweep me off my feet....

Woot, I'm going to the EVE-Online Fan Fest next week! I love fan festivals - it's exciting to feel the energy of the crowd and to be around people who are so passionately into something - and, of course, I'm really thrilled to be able to check out Reykjavik, the most expensive city in Europe. Ha!

I'm only there for a few days but is there anything I should absolutely do while I'm there?

(Thanks, Matt!)

Kim Pallister and Vlad Cole (former Joystiq EIC) have launched their site, VGVC.net, which keeps tabs on all the money moving around in the game space. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.

I would, however, like to see some more analysis from the two. They are really smart guys - instead of just telling me what happened tell me why you think it's interesting or important! I want to hear those thoughts. Maybe that's tough, since they're both employees of Microsoft?

It's a bit heavy-handed, sure, but as far as a first-hand look at the utter exploitation that's going on in the Sudan, this series is pretty instructive. And very sad. and will make you angry.

Vice TV. Click on "Travel" and the Sudan piece. Or try this direct link.

I wrote up a post today for Om's site on the deal that is coming close to closing for international ads on Facebook - it's down to, obviously, Google and Microsoft.

I had a conversation with Om about it today and he urged me to consider Facebook as a specialized environment, like a game environment. It's a closed system - not exclusive, but with some gating; it's opt-in - people are there because they want to be there and they do invest some time and, sometimes, money there. And therefore it may not be the best place for traditional impressions-based advertising, which is also coming under fire recently as being too untrackable.

Om and I talked about how one would use the power of social connections to leverage advertising in a way that reinforces those bonds. I think Valleywag got it right when they said the deal is about more than money. It's about the future evolution of the internet and advertising. And as one smart commenter pointed out, "On Facebook people might be looking to buy iPod exactly because their friends have one."

What can games - particularly online games with friends lists, etc - learn from this?

Ok, that's it. I wasn't psyched about the direction GH3 was going in, but the new web portal they're working on has achievements in the form of collectible groupies. That is so lame.

Activision, this is 2007, we don't have groupies anymore, we just have fans - but you're rapidly losing yours, so I can see why you'd misunderstand. Get your ass out of 1978 and come join us in modernity when you're ready.

It's hot here, and everyone says "unseasonably" but we all know that California gets summertime in October - right? But it is scary weather, because it's so hot and, after a long summer, so very dry - and then you have these vicious winds that rattle the dry grass and leaves and then you add to that crazy arsonists or random cigarettes and you have firestorms.

This time of year, I know I said I love it, but it's also a time that's fraught with lots of feelings for me. My mother died in August, my father in October, and my house also burned down in October. So I find myself getting very anxious and apprehensive, as if I'm waiting for the next disaster to sweep away what I knew of my life again...

In the meantime I take comfort in little things that reawaken my sense of wonder and joy.

A whie ago I clamed that kniting > WoW. But recently I discovered that's not the case. At this rate I'll have my new cashmere cowl AND hit level sixty in no time!

I was browsing for expensive things to buy last night (it all started with wanting an iMac, go figure) when I landed on Prada.com and found myself in Flash/Javascript hell. Why do people do this to web code? Do they think it's neat, or clever? Also, click the icon on the far right - the character means "film" in Japanese - and you get what appears to be a trailer for the anime movie Appleseed: Ex Machina, which opened in Japan a few days ago. Also, a random link to a Myspace page for a band called The Hours pops up.

It's confusing. I just want to see clothes. Without all this crap.

Isn't it funny how when you get together with a fellow gamer, especially an MMO player, you immediately start sharing experiences of how you play the game? I was out for a walk with my neighbor Jack and we got to talking about World of Warcraft, and I had a sudden realization about the success of the game.

Yes, it's a solidly designed game, friendly for newbs, and all that, but - it's also a game that supports what I think of as layerability. In other words, you can sometimes layer the experience of WoWing over and under other experiences.

In WoW, about ten percent of my time in the game requires ninety percent of my attention. The other ninety percent of the time requires anywhere from five percent (say, flying to another area) to fifty percent (grinding a familiar area, or helping to power level a low-ranking friend). So I find that more often than not I am checking email, on AIM, making tea, etc. during my WoW sessions.

That goes against the notion that games have to be immersive, or that the strength of games as a medium is that they are so immersive.

And yet WoW *is* immersive, in the sense that I played last night until 3:30 am without even noticing it. "Just finish up this one last quest" we told each other in our group, "just one more quest item, just one more mission." I'm wondering if the layerability of the game contributes to the play sessions - because you can continue to do some other things as you play, you are more likely to keep playing longer.

Hm! I don't think most console games can get away with this - can they?

Bonne Rueberg has a fascinating take on the game Portal:

3) We’re dealing with a reshaping of a highly masculine genre, the FPS. If that itself weren’t “queering” enough, there’s the whole holes issue. We’ve talked before about how the guns in first-person shooters act as phallic avatars–that is, as penises. But in a world of women, this gun doesn’t shoot bullets. It shoots orifices. Openings. Fine, vaginas. Vaginas you, a female character, have to enter/exit to solve puzzles. I don’t say this often, and almost never with so much support and enthusiasm, but that is so gay.

I love the idea of FPS-subversion, but personally I think one shouldn't get too Freudian in symbolism... that's a tangled mess right there!

Brandon found this gem. And now I will have nightmares. Go check it out if you want nightmares too.

Seriously. Girls just love boys like this.

(Found over at The Coveted.)

So I'm reading about this new show and I can't for the life of me not think that it is actually called "Keeping up with the Cardasians."

I mean which would you rather watch a show about? Bloodthirsty Nazi aliens or C-list celebrities desperately clinging to a modicum of fame?

It's so close! Pals at game art collective Kokoromi have released a terrific trailer for their game, Fez. Looks so cool, and cute to boot. Congratulations!

One of the creators explains the technology behind the game, which they call trixels. OMG. Even the tech names are cute.

P.S. Perhaps it is also oddly fitting, then, that Kokoromi.com resolves to a website focused on showcasing the cuteness of two adorable French bulldogs.

First, there's this, the Cavegirls Halo 3 Tournament to raise money for breast cancer research. All proceeds will be donated. It's only ten bucks to enter, and it's happening this Saturday, so get ready.

Then to celebrate the release of Beautiful Katamari there are these lovely Katamari rings. So cute!

And catching up on my blog reading, finally, I came across this amazing game design idea that came to Daniel in a dream. It just reminded me of how powerful dreaming can be, how liberating. I used to dream music - something my father once told me that he did, too - he dreamed entire symphonies that would melt away when he woke up. I used to keep notation paper by my bed so I could try to scribble down what I heard while sleeping. I should get a digital recorder instead, it's probably easier to hum than to remember how to write musical notation.

Last night I dreamt I was riding through Central Park on a horse. We took a break, I got off the horse, and he told me he was sleepy and needed to take a nap. I took off the saddle, he lay down, and we napped in the grass in Central Park. Not the most creatively inspiring dream I've ever had, but it helped me wake up pleasantly refreshed.

I can't tell, honestly, if this is going to be cool or really, really UNcool.

...And yes, I know that it's already uncool. You know what I mean.

I've been thinking about this lot lately, the breakdown of the traditional music publishing model and what that means for games. I'm not the only one, of course. In fact it was Kim who asked me what the equivalent of concert sales would be for games, which is, as usual from him, a really interesting question. After all Prince can give away him albums online because he sells out every concert date he books. Can game downloads realistically be a loss leader?

I really don't know. Where else would money come from? Subscriptions (MMOs, GameTap), advertising, micro-transactions, corporate Second-Life-style customized virtual worlds... lots of people are trying lots of different things. If I suddenly think of something brilliant then I'll let you know.

In the meantime I wrote up my latest thinking about this on GigaOM, where I'm a regular contributor these days: What Can Games Learn from Music's Mistakes?.

Okay, I know it's not *really* funny, but this headline is a *little* funny. Pirate Attacks Up Worldwide. Ninjas, you slackers!

Even in the mild Bay Area, the air is getting crisper and the leaves are turning shades of gold and pale orange. We had some rain yesterday - okay, a mere drizzle, but it caught me unawares and unprepared and it covered my face and hair and my light cotton trench coat and it was marvelous, truly.

I love this season because I love fall clothes, for one thing. As much fun as summer is, there's something slightly, I don't know, slutty about it, which is all well and good, but the cooler weather signifies a return to classiness, to elegance, to tall leather boots and long wool-and-cashmere coats and scarves and pretty knee-length skirts.

I also still experience a Pavlovian back-to-school delight and excitement at the onset of cooler winds: the feeling that there's a fresh start possible, if only you will reach out to it.

The one down side is that it gets dark so early, and stays dark in the morning. But even that has a brighter spot - it's easier to justify staying home after work to play games and watch movies. So I don't really mind that, either.

Fall in California may not be as spectacular as it is in other climes, but it's still my favorite season.

So, I got an iPod a while ago, and I now have the ability to choose a soundtrack for various daily activities, thus making each errand exponentially more fun and making me feel as if I'm in some sort of romantic biopic about my own life.

Here are some picks I recommend:

Best music for walking down the street in high heels: Daft Punk, Daftendirekt. Guaranteed to make you feel like a total high heeled warrior badass. Also the pace is just right for clicking those Louboutins smartly down the pavement.

Best music for walking in the early morning: Sigur Ros's entire album Takk..., from beginning to end.

Best music for feeling gloriously sentimental when it's raining: Roy Orbison and KD Lang's duet version of Crying.

Best music for cleaning out and organizing your closet: I'm sorry, but ABBA's Gold. It makes me want to try on all my dresses to make sure they still fit. And perhaps I may also twirl around in them, so what? No one's watching.

Best music for getting pumped about cleaning your bathroom: Andrew WK; I Get Wet. Seriously. You will scrub that tub like you've never scrubbed before. And you will do it with a huge smile on your face.

Best music for reading a trashy novel while eating a delicious chocolate madeleine and drinking coffee: Yo Yo Ma's Bach Cello Suites. Makes even the trashiest novel seem like Edith Wharton wrote it. Okay, maybe that is a slight exagerration.

Best music for working out to: M.I.A.'s Arular. It just makes you feel like you want to get sexy. And do good at the same time.

Best music for falling asleep to: anything by Kimmie Rhodes. Her voice is magic.

I have a stack of games to play and an instance all lined up in WoW, ready to go. It's raining - perfect for gaming!

EA acquires Bioware/Pandemic - should we feel a frisson of anxiety? I do, and I'm not sure why, exactly. When Bioware and Pandemic came together it was hailed (by their PR, as well as by industry watchers) as an innovative structuring of capital and resources to allow a studio to remain independent. Well, they are independent no longer! irst Riccitiello went back to EA, and now this. What does it mean? Was it just not working out? Can they remain creatively independent under EA? Was it an offer they couldn't refuse (I mean holy shit, $629 million is a shitload of money)?

I just don't get what this has to do with the game. That's a very sloppy marketing job.