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Editor's note: Inspired by used books, Chase has an interesting idea on his hands. But I fear that it's implementation wouldn't unfold exactly as he imagines. The hint system of Demon's Souls generally works because all available messages consist of preset text. Left to their own devices, I think too many players would succumb to the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. Despite Demon's Souls safeguard, the misuse of "sticky white stuff" is evidence enough for me. -Rob

I like to read books. I don’t do it often enough -- as evidenced by Atlas Shrugged, a collection of Edgar Allan Poe short stories, The Basic Kafka, and plenty more titles all gathering dust on my shelf -- but I try.

My favorite things about books -- that are, sadly, fading away due to devices like the Apple iPhone and Amazon Kindle -- are the abilities to write in the margins and look through the footnotes.

I love to pick up an old, dusty book and see into someone else’s mind by reading his comments. It’s like a mini time capsule. Unfortunately, this is a feature games haven’t really incorporated.

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One thing stood out to me while I was attending the Nintendo Media Summit this past week: Metroid: Other M sure has a lot of talky talky. That isn't so much a problem for a video game -- it's just a little unusual for a classic Nintendo franchise, especially one that used to star a silent protagonist.

But yes, you'll hear a lot of talking in Other M, which is due out June 27 for the Wii. Samus Aran talking to other characters. Other characters talking to each other. Samus talking in her head. Talking everywhere. It's all a part of the developer's goal to humanize this robotic personality.

We sat down with Nintendo of America's localization producer Nate Bihldorff to learn more about this more realistic Samus, why they wouldn't give the same treatment to Link or Mario, and whether we'll see our star in a wii bikini. (You do know who's developing this game, don't you?)

Bitmob:  Why Samus? Relatively few Nintendo characters are made to be "real." You don't hear Link talking about Ganondorf or Mario wondering what Bowser is up to...yet you hear Samus talking about the Mother Brain, Ridley....

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is particularly challenging. But without the use of one's eyes, the Water Temple and the Deku Tree are next to impossible.

This was the challenge Jordon Verner, a young Ontarian gamer, faced. Regardless of his blindness, the teenager was determined to best the caverns and dungeons of Hyrule. So where did he turn? The Internet, of course! Posting videos on Youtube, Jordon asked for help in completing the entire game -- help he never expected would come.

But assistance finally arrived in the form of a fellow Zelda fan from South Carolina, named Roy Williams. This is the story of one gamer helping another overcome a serious disability, and the move-by-move walkthrough they wrote together. Break out the tissues, because there's no shame in crying [via Geekologie].

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Isn't spring supposed to be happening soon? I'm tired of feeling chilled to the bone as I endeavor to bring the Community Spotlight to all of you on time with naught but a giant bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper as company....

Chris Cosmo Ross starts us off as he strips the Halo series of wasteful filler and boils the spectacle and strife of the games into one imagery-laden poem. Tobias Dodgen is next and wonders if a video game will ever achieve the seemingly endless success that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has.

Brian Shirk takes a look at Final Fantasy 2, and how this much-maligned game had a great deal of influence over the rest of the series. Finally, Andrew Hiscock conducts an interesting interview with that surly video game squirrel, Conker.

Game Poetry: Halo
By Chris Cosmo Ross
Poetry doesn't necessarily lend itself to video games, despite the often convoluted poetics of Solid Snake as he discusses love. Cosmo combines this sometimes challenging literary style with the Halo series.

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I say the following with the utmost sincerity and with no hint of irony whatsoever: I love the chicken wings at Hooters. And apparently, so does at least one jokester....

On this week's Mobcast, comedian and former 3DO/Sega/Sony PR dude Dave Karraker expressed his similar love for those hot wings, so we decided that we'd make Hooters the destination for Saturday night's Bitmob Meet-Up, right after the geek comedy show -- Cross Platform Comedy 3.0 -- down the street.

This is your last reminder to come join us for some nerd-humor laughs, a few drinks, and a few thousand pieces of meat that happen to be the same color as the waitresses' short shorts. Also: free stuff.

Update: Yes, we'll be giving away free stuff at the after-party. My apartment is overflowing with goodies (games, t-shirts, posters, etc.) that we've been saving for our fans, and I need to unload. East coasters, don't worry -- our own Brett Bates has you covered as well at our meet-up at PAX East. Uh, sorry middle-of-the-country people...but here's a bone for you:

If you help us promote the last two Mobcasts (which featured the comics from Cross Platform), you could win a download code for Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx or a free, random game from our pile, which we'll send to you.

Details on the contest and this Saturday night's events (including a promo code for a discount off the show) below.

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Editor's note: Think video games are a big waste of time? If so, check out Brian's humorous list of other things many people do that are far more boring and pointless. -James

As gamers, we share a sense of identity. We're all lazy man-children (or tomboys) who sit around in our underwear chugging six-packs of Mountain Dew, so that we can stay awake to beat the game. Besides being lazy, we're all unintelligent, repulsive bastards who burn books in bonfires. And who knows, we may even eat babies.

All jokes aside, any of us with an ounce of intelligence realizes that most stereotypes about video games and gamers aren't true. I mean, we all know that they don't really rot our brains, right? They may occasionally distract us from more valuable pursuits, but they don't dumb us down or turn us in to mass murderers.

Since we're now all aware that video games aren't a waste of time, I'm going to provide you with a list of handy alternatives that'll make your days go by faster than an Olympic skier on a training run. If you're looking for activities that'll truly insult your intelligence, I encourage you to keep reading.

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Sure, the PC version of Half-Life was a great game, but I'm more of an old-school guy. That's why I preferred the classic NES original. That game offered a lot of 8-bit, crowbar-swinging good times. I'm also not a fan of those fancy 3D graphics. Nothing beats pixels [via VGBoxArt]:

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A few weeks ago, I welcomed a well-loved Game Gear into my collection. This officially completes my set of the main Sega consoles, but the quest for games has only just begun. The only problem is that not much of the system's library really holds up in 2010.

Like this curious selection here [via The Retroist]:

Hmm, no.... These titles don't fill me with confidence. I'm really only after the Shining Force game, but tracking that down is even more difficult than finding a Game Gear with a working speaker -- which I wasn't able to do....

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In an attempt to "provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community," Microsoft will pull the plug on XBL support for original Xbox games on the 15th of April.

This discontinuation extends to all backward-compatible games playable on the 360. So bid farewell to Conker: Live and Reloaded, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and -- most of all -- Halo 2.

While the 15th of next month will undoubtedly be a sad, somber day, Bitmob plans to liven our spirits with a Halo 2 Game Night!

So keep your Battle Rifle close and hope that Dan Hsu, Demian Linn, Brett Bates, and Rich McGrath provide adequate cover fire this Friday. Here's the game plan:

1. Add Dan Hsu to your XBL friends list. His Gamertag is Bitmob Shoe.

2. Log on to Xbox Live at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) this Friday and wait for an invitation.

3. Guard that flag, hold that skull, and drive that Warthog like you life depended on it!

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It's always good to have a friend. Can you match these video-game characters to their loyal companions?

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Training videos aren't supposed to be entertaining. Their purpose is to drill your respective company's policies into your brain with constant and repetitious descriptions of every aspect of your employee requirements. FuncoLand, now GameStop, felt a romp through the land of video games was just the setting for their heavy-handed -- and I'll venture to say trippy -- video.

Now you can experience the same horror of a FuncoLand employee circa 1998. Remember, someone thought this was a good, hip idea. 

Part 2 is after the jump.

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Somebody take their big PlayStation 3 back in time to a little over 10 years ago and see it's Y2K compliant.

News Blips:

Due to an internal clock bug in non-slim PS3s, many users are unable to sign onto the PlayStation Network or play any games -- even single-player ones -- and some have even lost their trophies. Sony has a list of the various error messages that have popped up and estimates they’ll have things figured out “within the next 24 hours.” In the meantime, the company recommends that non-slim PS3 owners don’t turn on their consoles until the issue is resolved. Follow the PlayStation Blog for updates. I wonder what the error was -- did some developer program 2010 to be a leap year when it wasn’t?

Activision puts a halt to a fan-made sequel to King's Quest. The affected independent development team originally made a deal with Vivendi Universal back in 2005, allowing them to create The Silver Lining as part of a non-commercial fan license. Now Activision, who picked up the rights to the King's Quest license when it merged with Vivendi back in December of 2007, has decided to shut down the operation. Let us have a moment of silence for this (one-of-many) fan projects taken out by the man. [Joystiq]

Game Politics reports on two research groups' conflicting findings on the effect of violent video games on youth. Analyzing 130 existing research reports on the subject, Iowa State University's Craig Anderson and his team concluded that "violent video game effects are significant in both Eastern and Western cultures, in males and females, and in all age groups." Anderson feels that these findings are "definitive." Researchers Christopher Ferguson and John Kilburn of Texas A&M International University, however, released a paper that challenges Anderson's findings by identifying holes in the studies used and claiming a lack of real-world evidence (i.e., more violent video games today but low crime rates among youth). Video games don't make me violent -- researchers that say they do make me violent!

Ubisoft is giving away free copies of the Assassin's Creed 2: Multiplayer iPhone app for the first 48 hours of its release. Afterward (aka Wednesday), the price jumps up to $2.99. Be warned: If you don't like the game, you won't really be able to get your money back. [AppAdvice]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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