The Conceptual Hall of Shame (Absorbascon)
This is where Scip is at his best, when he deconstructs elements of comicdom. In this entry, he exposes one of the weakest villain tropes around, the "Vengeful Childhood Friend."

Toshiba quits HD DVD business (Yahoo News)
When I got the PS3, I didn't really care much about the blu-ray. In fact, it annoyed me because it drove up the cost. Now that blu-ray won and I have a high-def set, my perceived value of the PS3 just shot up. My first blu-ray purchase will be DC's Justice League: The New Frontier.

Sorry Cindy McCain, It's Time to Take the Gloves Off (Daily Kos)
Ooh ooh ooh, let's get the hate started! John McCain's wife - aside from being nearly 20 years younger and suspiciously married McCain only a month after he divorced his first wife - funded McCain's political career with her own inherited wealth and was caught stealing percocet from her own charity to support her painkiller addiction. More down home, grass roots, good honest GOP family values in action!

Gen Con Files for Chapter 11
Crazy. The nation's biggest gaming con just went bankrupt. Although this year's convention is still going as planned, it sort of seems like future conventions are in danger. Can a bankrupt company continue to put on gaming cons? The real kicker is the reason why: They're being sued by Lucasfilm! Lucasfilm claims that Gen Con majorly screwed up a charity auction, including not giving the proceeds to Make-A-Wish.

Objection: Is the Cultural Trajectory of Videogames Doomed to Parallel That of Comic Books? (Level Up)
There's a meme going around this week that video games will end up being about as well-respected as comics... meaning, naturally, that they will never "grow up." The original weblog article manages to insult and underestimate both comics and gaming, and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal steps to their defense.

Pauly Shore countersues Wes Craven (Yahoo News)
Who in balls would have thought that Pauly Shore and Wes Craven are neighbors.

PlayStation Eye Tank War Demo (Kotaku)
Holy crap, Kotaku has a great video of a PSEye tech demo where the camera scans your drawing and turns it into a tank. It's like Drawn to Life without all the suck. This would be a killer tech feature for LittleBigPlanet.