Xbox 360 owners who have recently invested in holiday season hits like Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed II, Brutal Legend or Left 4 Dead 2 may have noticed a change in their game cases. Meet the Eco-box, gamer.

Measuring the 500 largest corporations in America, Newsweek found no video game maker in the top 100 and even rated Activision behind environmental bogeyman ExxonMobil.

Three console manufactures. Microsoft. Nintendo. Sony. Three ways of packaging the cards sold in GameStop that contain redemption codes for points used on the consoles' online stores. Which one do you think the planet likes best? Get a closer look.

Greenpeace today released three videos to highlight what they say is the presence of "highly toxic substances" in video game consoles.

Every year that Greenpeace releases its "Guide to Greener Electronics", one company is always at the bottom. That company is Nintendo.

Sometimes, if you're quick enough, you can trade in an old console for something useful. Like money. But other times, you let them gather dust so long they're nigh on worthless.

Stanford Professor Byron Reeves thinks World of Warcraft can be harnessed as an energy-saving tool by attaching Smart Meter readings to gameplay goals.

When we spotted that there was a game all about PVC we assumed it would end up as a Maximum Risky but sadly, no. Vinyl Game is an edumacational Flash game about PVC manufacturing. No, really - here is the official description:

As you know, Bob, Energy Star is a joint initiative of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy tasked with setting guidelines for energy efficiency. There is probably an Energy Star Logo on your computer somewhere, unless you live in the 1980s.

Ian Bogost has a short little note on a 'serious game' called Packaging Man, which was apparently intended 'to raise awareness about the destructive impact fast food paper packaging has on Southern forests.' Unfortunately for Dogwood Alliance, the creator, the game is a slightly retooled version of Pac-man, and the 'environmental message' seems confined to the (skippable) intro. Ian wasn't terribly impressed:

Nintendo used to be bad for the environment. Now? Just sorta bad! Last year, Greenpeace singled the Kyoto-based game maker by giving it the lowest score in its "Guide to Greener Electronics" had ever awarded to a company — a 0/10. Part of the reason for this dubious honour was that Nintendo failed to provide any data about its environmental standards. Nintendo issued a response, and Greenpeace still wasn't satisfied. (In comparison, Microsoft got a 2.7/10 and Sony got a 7.3/10). Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace's International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator points out:

Care about the environment? Course you do. Post-apocalyptic words are fun to roleplay in, not so fun to actually live in. So how can you, as a gamer, cut down on your impact on this precious little planet of ours? 1UP's Lara Crigger has some suggestions, and while some are a little fiddly (like upgrading to "green" components), others you should be able to manage, including setting your PC to sleep mode more often and actually turning your console and TV off, instead of leaving them on standby. Gaming Green

Ever wanted to play the role of a Japanese science vessel performing "very important research" on Antarctic whales?

You know, that super special type of research that supposedly involves killing and eating them? Yeah, that kind.

If this sounds like you (oh dear), then you should probably check out Harpooned: Japanese Cetacean Research Simulator - unless you're particularly sensitive to the issue, in which case just ignore the rest of this post, grab an inflatable boat and head south.

According to its Australian creator, Conor O'Kane, Harpooned was built using the Torque Game Builder and is Windows-only. Gameplay wise, it's your run of the mill scrolling shooter. The objective is to shoot whales and collect their remains (for massive combo points) while avoiding protester boats and icebergs.

It's free to download and play, and the perfect way to relieve the anger and outrage.

Harpooned: Japanese Cetacean Research Simulator

Greenpeace have just released their sixth "Guide to Greener Electronics", which looks at electronics manufacturers and grades them according to how environmentally sound their manufacturing and product recycling processes (ie how they dispose of outdated technology) are. Where's this start getting relevant to you? For the first time the report covers thew manufacturers of games consoles, so Microsoft and Nintendo have for the first time come up for inspection alongside trusty old warhorse Sony. So how'd they all do?

Here's a fun new addition to the upcoming SimCity Societies game. EA and BP have teamed up to include climate education in the game... effectively adding the looming threat of global warming to the title. Hooray!

While the game doesn't force you to power your city in any specific way, using cheaper, carbon dioxide producing sources of energy will raise the town's carbon ratings, causing disasters like droughts, heat waves, and the like. Alternatively, choosing from a variety of BP Alternative Energy low-carbon power options like hydrogen, natural gas, wind farms and solar power, players keep their cities safe from harm and feel all warm and fuzzy about themselves while learning about some of the causes and consequences of global warming, which may or may not exist depending on your viewpoint.

BP was one of the first major energy companies to publicly acknowledge the need to reduce carbon emissions and begin taking precautionary measures, as well as being the world's number one source for food cooked on rollers.

I bet you thought Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol was just a fun adaptation of a carefree Gamecube franchise: WRONG! In fact the DS game that hit Wal-Mart stores today is the "one of the first games based on the growing environmental movement".

In the game players use the mini, fruit-fucker-esque robot to plant flowers, build park equipment and defeat toxic enemies... sadly he doesn't deflower any fruit. To celebrate the green game's release Nintendo is going to give away 500 tree seedlings to a random selection of people who register on the FruitFuckerChibi-Robo site by Nov. 9

Nintendo also points out that as a company they currently recycle paper company-wide, limit the use of coloured paper and purchase recycled paper towels, report covers, message pads and writing pads. They also recycle more than 70 percent of the "waste" generated at its headquarters... hmm, I wonder if that includes all of those copies of Pokemon Dash.