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Thanks to Insert Credit for its feature discussing making real-life 'pixelbead' sculptures out of classic 2D videogame sprites, strictly for fun. The author explains the "process of recreating a sprite or any other form of pixel-art with beads" by using a pegboard, noting: "Do keep in mind that recreating pixel-art this way gets the best results on low-color art. 4 to 8 color characters (NES quality) generally look a lot better than the mess 16-bit (Snes, GBA, MD/Genesis etc.) characters often are", also explaining you'll need to "make your beads melt and fuse" with an iron and ironing paper to get to the finished result. The piece shows '3D' Metroids and a large variety of Mega Man characters as examples of this arts-and-crafts incursion into videogaming - elsewhere, the more expensive but more malleable PixelBlocks have also been used to "make your own 2D and 3D pixel art objects."

Thanks to Water Cooler Games for its discussion on whether the U.S. mobile carriers' business practices are slowing down the growth of phone gaming. The author discusses a myriad of problems with upgrading his phone through his current carrier within an existing service contract, agreeing: "I understand that the carriers subsidize handset purchases as loss-leaders for service revenue", but going on to argue: "So, why is this a problem for mobile gaming? Because mobile gaming is still undergoing significant growth at the technology base. I can't run Symbian apps on my 6610. I can't run Series 60 apps. I simply need a new phone if I want to get serious about mobile gaming." Are these types of problems the ones stopping mobile phone gaming from taking off in the States?

Thanks to Water Cooler Games for its in-depth report on Day 1 and on Day 2 of the Education Arcade, an E3-related conference which discusses "the development, the use, and the marketing potential of games in education." Among the highlights: the contention by the Leapfrog CEO that "Video games are a trojan horse -- a way to get better educational content into the home", and Maxis' Will Wright discussing how his titles educate, pointing out: "As game designers, we're trying to build a model in people's head. And that probably has a lot to do with education."

Thanks to Water Cooler Games for its in-depth report on Day 1 and on Day 2 of the Education Arcade, an E3-related conference which discusses "the development, the use, and the marketing potential of games in education." Among the highlights: the contention by the Leapfrog CEO that "Video games are a trojan horse -- a way to get better educational content into the home", and Maxis' Will Wright discussing how his titles educate, pointing out: "As game designers, we're trying to build a model in people's head. And that probably has a lot to do with education."