•Eight Reasons Why Fanboys Deserve Some Respect [GamesRadar] Despite doing nothing to earn it? Well, GamesRadar is merciful, even to the lowest of the low, saying the type of person that no one and yet everyone is at the same time provides unintentional comedy gold and keeps relevant issues debated in the mainstream. I like fanboys because they’re easy targets, anonymous scapegoats, and convenient straw men.

•10 Kick arse Video Game Clowns [Unreality magazine] I thought the clowns from Left 4 Dead 2’s Dark Carnival would have either inspired or made this list, but apparently they did neither. Adam the Clown from Dead Rising and Sweet Tooth are the most deserving of “Kick arse,” unless you take the Kickman clown literally. The Joker was someone else’s creation, first, and Insane Clown Posse is just a joke.

•15 Things That Have Happened Since Mario’s Last 2D Console Game [TrueGameHeadz] “Mega Man has released at least 68 games,” although “Mario has appeared in 149 games, 117 of which had his name in the title,” so top that, buster. The video games industry has shifted from cartridges to discs, and its revenues have more than quadrupled. Also, we’ve seen three different presidents, a bunch of wars, the Red Sox winning the World Series, the invention of Internet porn and the birth and demise of Crystal Pepsi. Plus, like, everything.

•40 Various Styles Artworks of Lara Croft [The Design Inspiration] Guns. Bewbs. Nuff said.

•The 9 Most Suggestive Mega Man Boss Names [Topless Robot] Wood Man, Junk Man, Uranus (snicker) and Beef Man (OK, OK, I made that one up) all grace this list. No. 1 is, indisputably, Split Mushroom. Which makes me chortle like a seventh-grader and grimace at the same time.

•Controversial Games Dealing With Fan Backlash [Industry Gamers] Modern Warfare 2 released under a cloud of stink raised by PO’d PC gamers over the end of dedicated servers. Industry Gamers notes that it’s not the first time fans of a series have gotten their panties in a bunch. The reaction to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a particularly intense example.

•Top 7 Tasteful Game Heroines [GamesRadar] Faith (Mirror’s Edge) and Zoey (Left 4 Dead) are the newcomers; Alyx Vance (Half Life 2) and Cate Archer (No One Lives Forever) are the classics. Samus Aran is the legend, and she’s No. 1.

•Top 5 Most Incredible War Scenes in Gaming [MSNBC] Do they mean “incredible” as in “not believable”? Or do they mean “impressive,” or “amazing”? If so, they should say that. Death From Above in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare takes top honors, over Halo and Gears of War 2.

•Six Major Wars Overlooked by the Shooter Genre [GamePro] This of course is a very U.S.-centric list, covering everything except the Spanish-American War and the Mexican-American War. I guess they have something against the Rough Riders and Santa Anna. Oh, and the French and the Indians, as that one isn’t here either. What is? Well, every armed conflict except for World War II.

•7 Achievements That Will Make You Cry [ScrewAttack] This list digs up the seven most inhumane achievements – including Mega Man 9’s Gamer’s Day (beat the game five times in a single day) – that even the most masochistic gamer would regret pursuing. Capcom also gave us the Seven Day Survivor cheev in Dead Rising, which would require 14 hours (plus, like, surviving.) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter’s world champion – getting the top of the universal leaderboard – is No. 1.

• 13 New Xbox Achievements Aimed to Make You Feel Bad About Yourself [Hardcasual] This satire piece cuts a little close to home. If these existed, I’d have unlocked about six of them, including, sadly “Friends Are For the Weak: Play a single-player game on a Friday night.” I’m surprised there aren’t any regarding junk food or booze, however.

•Ten Classic Games That Did Not Age Well [Destructoid] This list doesn’t look at the evolution of an IP, just how the original game holds up over time. And Destructoid finds plenty to complain about, even in Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear and Half-Life. I’d throw in one of the early console Maddens, too. At the time, they were profoundly groundbreaking, but if I have a choice of something on an emulator today, I’m playing Tecmo Super Bowl.

•7 Horrible Videogames with Awesome Soundtracks [Topless Robot] If I’ve played any of these, I can’t recall it, although Silver Surfer does seem familiar. The list seems to bend toward Japanese RPGs. I have little to add to this, although Activision’s Master of the Lamps on Commodore 64 had a killer soundtrack and mind numbing boring-ass gameplay.

•Top 10 Terrible Videogame Novelizations [GameSpy] Another list that catches me out of my depth because, come on, who buys books about video games? (*Shamefacedly eyes his Uncharted 2 strat guide*). I thought that Pac-Man novelization kind of sucked. “Pac chowed down a line of 17 dots, wondering if he’d have enough room in his guts – and time – to consume Pinky, who was just a few steps ahead and frantically flashing blue and white.”

•Top 10 Guilty Pleasures [GameTrailers] GameTrailers’ countdown admittedly could have gone straight for the bizarre, but they kept this list to the mainstream, perhaps to enhance the “Yeah … you got me, I played that,” factor. It’s not on the list, but I’ll admit I got Playboy: The Mansion from Gamefly, but God was it boring. And this was after I got the U.S. senator to pose nude for the July issue. Not that I still remember or care about this game at all.

From classic scooters and teddy bears to Furbies and Cabbage Patch Kids, this Good Housekeeping list documents the hottest of hot toys that were hot in their day. And unlike People Magazine’s 80s special, they’ve gone and given Nintendo and Sega their rightful props as hot toys.

While I can’t name anybody who’d be glad to get a jar of Play-Doh this year, I can think of a lot of people who would be thrilled to see a Sega Dreamcast or an original Nintendo Entertainment System under their X-mas tree this year. Sadly, none of them are kids.

What classic entertainment system would you want under your tree this year?

The Best Toys of All Time [Good Housekeeping by Yahoo! Shopping]

•Top 10 Biggest WTF Games of All Time [Brave New Gamer] Back in the 1980s I remember reading an ad for early arcade ports that pooh-poohed the byzantine nature of some PC games. Which would you rather play, Moon Patrol, or “Manholes of Venus”? It asked. Actually, I think Manholes of Venus sounds more intriguing. And less than half as bizarre as Space Giraffe (pictured).

•Top 10 Most Ridiculous Video Game Mascots of All Time [The Kartel] “Mascots” might be overstating these characters’ rank – many just look like weird characters, although Elbo, the Electronics Boutique skateboarding hipster, definitely is a mascot. Number one is Pac-Man, who is both.

•10 of the Most Creative Video Game Deaths Ever [Wired] Game deaths used to not be deaths. Popeye spun into the air and fell into the water. Pepper Pete in Burger Time rolled around on the ground throwing a kicking tantrum. These sanitized depictions represented our collective discomfort with death at the time – at least death administered by an anthropomorphic fried egg. But as we’ve matured, we can handle more intense depictions. Such as being turned into a snowman in Mortal Kombat.

•10 Sequels That are Better Than the Original [Den of Geek] People complain about sequels as the day is long, but lets remember some unoriginal IP that was, in fact, pretty damn good. Street Fighter II, Grand Theft Auto III, God of War II. Hitman: Silent Assassin is not on this list but should be; much better execution than the original.

•50 Games That Sound Vaguely (or Not So Vaguely) Like Adult Films [Crispy Gamer] Wait, where’s “Manholes of Venus?”

Borderlands Review
(In which McWhertor pauses from praising the game to warn how not to play it.)

Critter Crunch Micro-Review
(In which Crecente explains how one mashes Space Invaders with Donkey Kong Jr.)

Bakugan Battle Brawler Review
(In which Crecente continues his efforts to convince us Bakugan is cool)

A Boy and His Blob Review
(In which Fahey admits a blind spot and demands more hugging.)

Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games Review
(In which our reviewer contemplates violence against a Boo and his TV.)

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time Review
(In which I said nice things about almost everything, except Captain Qwark.)

Marvel Super Squad Review
(In which Fahey admitted his age, praised Stan Lee, and told us what he’d do if he had Magneto’s powers.)

What games will we review next week? Check back each day to find out. Not that you’ll be surprised.

There’s some real gold here, including the pictured option, Shadax from Solstice, whose “luminous footwear can brighten the foggiest, darkest nights” according to VC&G. All that’s required are neon green pimp boots, a purple loincloth, an extra six months on the Ab-roller and to follow Edwards’ suggested in-game behavior: “Stand and scream, ‘THIS…IS…SOLSTICE!’ If someone snickers, knock them down a well.”

Plenty of Halloween inspired gaming brilliance awaits you, with handy linkage to previous year’s suggestions, all of them made of win.

VC&G’s Halloween Video Game Costume Ideas (2009) [Vintage Computing & Gaming]

Kotaku isn’t a real Japanese word, it’s a word somebody (not me!) made up many years ago. “Ko” in Japanese (小) means “small”. “Otaku” has a couple meanings, but here it refers to someone who is obsessively interested in something. But shouldn’t the site’s name then be “Kootaku”? Shuddup.

There are many types of otaku: train otaku, anime otaku, game otaku, Brian Ashcraft otaku, you name it! But if you are looking at ways to i.d. otaku, here are ten — as voted on by Japan’s Goo Ranking:

1. He has an anime T-shirt
2. He has an anime shopping bag
3. He has a waist pouch (”fanny pack” / “bum bag”)
4. He wears a bandanna (hachimaki)
5. His bag is covered in anime badges
6. His hair is excessively long
7. He wears his rucksack over both shoulders
8. He has big, thick glasses
9. He tucks his shirt/T-shirt into his trousers
10. He wears chemical wash jeans

There are other ways to spot and stereotype otaku, but hey, these are the most popular ways Japan does it!

The ranking [Goo via Sankaku Complex NSFW] [Pic]

• Five Regrettable Music/Video Game Moments [OC Weekly] Really only recently have the duet between games and current, popular music hit their stride. OC Weekly looks at some of the five worst combinations from the past, although last year’s 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand shows the genre’s not out of the woods yet.

• The 10 Worst FPS Games Of The Past Decade [Joystick Division] For a premise such as this, you’d expect to see fanboy hate piled on the usual overrated or overhyped targets. This is actually a well researched piece that truly does dredge up some awful, unfortunately conceived and disastrously executed FPSes. And some screenshots (like Elite Forces: Navy Seals) tell the story by themselves.

• The Ten Worst Console Games of the Generation (So Far) [Joystick Division] JD had a king-sized mad-on for crappy games this week. Here they go after the 10 most miserable failures on the current generation of consoles. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do if it was my job to review a game this bad, because my cognitive dissonance usually tells me I’m the problem – that no one could build something this sh—-y. Then again, I haven’t played a single minute of Ninjabread Man or Vampire Rain: Altered Species.

• Six Things About Games that Aren’t True [Games Radar] Less a mythbusting piece and more one battling misconceptions and stereotypes, Games Radar points out that all gamers are not slobs, all Wii games are not for babies, and that Pong wasn’t the first graphical video game, and that all Koreans are, in fact, good at Starcraft.

• Top 15 Most Badass Video Game Weapons [Heckler Spray] Let’s wrap up on a positive note, the 15 biggest, baddest, ass-kicking-and-blowing-uppest armaments we’ve been blessed to handle in video games. Half Life 2’s Gravity Gun and Doom’s BFG-9000 make their expected all-star entrances here. I was always partial to Dark Forces’ plasma cannon and, just to be an old-school douche, spread fire from Contra and the flaming oil slick from Spy Hunter’s hydroplane boat.

•10 Worst Ways to Spend Your Time in a Game [TechRadar] Grinding, grinding, and grinding. And sewer levels. Also farming or mining any resources. And being Mister Best Friend in Grand Theft Auto IV. To this I would also add any escort mission of a basically helpless NPC/ship that always runs toward gunfire, and spending an hour in any pro sports game analysing and proposing trades rather than playing.

•The Truth Behind 10 Great Videogame Myths [Crispy Gamer] All but two of these myths are busted; only one – the great Atari landfilling of Pac-Man and E.T. in 1983 – is confirmed. Mario leaping over the flagpole was rated “plausible.” All others are crap – including nude Lara Croft. Too bad.

•10 Game Ads That are Horribly Up Their Own Ass [GamesRadar] Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST make up half the field of what is more or less a rehashed Top 10 of overhyped games. I’m not sure if it was an advertisement on mass media or just a game trailer, but this Call of Duty: World at War ad struck me as excessively macho and undeservedly self-glorifying.

•10 Video Game Women Who Don’t Use Sex to Sell [The Game Reviews] Next time someone complains that video games do nothing but objectify and dehumanize women, point them to this list. Really. It’s a nice reminder that some games not only offer playable female protagonists, they’re compelling characters, proving a triumph of design over jiggle physics. But I am absolutely floored that Samus Aran is not on this list – her armour in later designs might accent feminine curves, but it’s battle armour, and not all that shapely. Is it because she ran around in a bikini after you beat the original Metroid? Also, my obscure contrarian pick: Annie Stoakes from Red Dead Revolver.

•Top Ten Best Game Over Screens [VG Chartz] I simply cannot accept a list such as this without the unforgettable “THE END” from Missile Command. Remember, nuclear annihilation was the emotional fulcrum of the Cold War, and for a game that made, in its own way, a hell of a statement about the times, nothing said it better than “THE END.”