Matthew Wegner (left) and Ben Ruiz (right)

Ben Ruiz's makeshift office is located in a quiet corner of a Tempe coffee shop where he currently is working on his love letter to the beat-'em-up genre,Aztez.

Aztez is a stylized brawler with an art style ripped from the wall of an Aztec pyramid. Gameplay in Aztez is split between a turn-based strategy overworld map and responsive small-scale brawls with a variety of enemies. Aztez will be available for both PC and Mac later this year.

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- In Honor of the Renaissance Festival: The Greatest Medieval Games of All Time
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lego.com

This year should be forever known as one of the most reasonable years video gaming has ever had. Series were completed, sequels were released, and there was generally something new and great to play.

The video game industry has had its ups and downs, but 2012 was an indicator that the video game bell curve is finally situating itself (now that the major publishers have had 20+ years to figure out how they'd like to sell games). Downloadable content and paid access to pre-packed features on video games is depressing, but innovative titles shined brighter than the yearly sequels we're used to. Madden may have outsold everything, but I'll be damned if my favorites didn't try.

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- Video Game NBA Baller Beats Teaches Us to Ball Without Courtshame
- Tempe Duo Crafts Awesome Mass Effect 3 Cosplay Armor

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MoMA

Myst

The curators of New York's Museum of Modern Art recently released announced their plans to feature a new exhibit focused on video gaming.

The exhibit, a feature of the museum's design collection, will explore interactive design within virtual worlds like [i]EVE Online[/i], [i]Dwarf Fortress[/i], and classic titles like [i]Pac-Man[/i].

We spoke with Kate Carmody, a curatorial assistant for MoMA's design collection about what criteria they used for their exhibition and whether gaming is or isn't art.

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- Top 5 Video Games as Art

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Matěj "Dědek" Baťha

Settlers of Catan

Board games are the best way to have a conversation with people who you're forced to spend time with, and that is why Christmas and the other holidays that you buy stuff for are good. The only problem is that Monopoly sucks.

Good thing the board game renaissance has arrived and taken away the opportunity to slowly watch your dad remember that he bankrupted your family through bad land deals and self-loathing. Games available now might bring the sullen teen and cool teen together and teen alliances are important to having a happy holiday. Turns out board games are fun again and we've provided you with a short list of five games to consider picking up for when someone gets out Apples to Apples for the 80th time.

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- Jackalope Ranch's Gift Guide for the End of the World Prepper
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Still holiday shopping? So are we -- and we've been taking notes. Introducing our series of gift guides for your "easy to figure out, but hard to shop for" friends. Today, Jackalope Ranch's Gift Guide for the Culture Geek.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brain-hat-knitting-pattern-not-actual-hat

Gift giving for the nerd in your life is a near impossibility. Due to our obsessiveness over any given topic, we've likely headed you off at the pass for any retail item that remotely smacks of sci-fi, fantasy, history or any subject area that requires a background in higher math.

A mint-on-card variant Catwoman action figure? Check. The latest piece of consumer electronics? Yawn. We probably worked on one of the components. The special edition, 4 disc, 30th Anniversary Blade Runner Box Set on BluRay? No, thanks. Everybody knows this one isn't Sir Ridley's complete vision. We're holding out for the multi-version neural implant with director's commentary in 2017. See what I mean?

See also:
- Jackalope Ranch's "Fanboy" archives
- Bob Beard's Merry ChristNES
- Jackalope Ranch's Gift Guide for the End of the World Prepper

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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1938 via imprint

Superstorms. Financial collapse. Plague. As if we needed one more thing to perserverate on, here comes the annual Thanksgiving Day spectacular.

Oh, sure, everybody loves a parade, what with the marching bands, the Radio City Rockettes and Al Roker's deleriously happy mugging with newly-minted sitcom stars. But there's also a dark shadow over all that joyful autumn revelry - a dark shadow cast by gigantic character balloons.

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Courtesy of Nintendo

Nintendo's latest console is an effort to bring the company away from the nostalgia trap and into the mainstream. The Wii, while a fun way to shake up the typical console release, was a gimmicky letdown and took up residence in closets everywhere a few months after release.

The Wii U represents a new era for the company as it attempts to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers. Pre-orders are running out quick, and your options are fairly slim if you want to pick up the console around its 11/18 release date. We got our hands on the console and here is some cool stuff that it does:

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Tycho Central Peak, Courtesy of LROC

Majestic landscapes in deep focus. Canyons and peaks represented in perfect shadow and contrast. We could be describing a collection of Ansel Adam's best known photography -- if Adams were a robotic spacecraft orbiting the lunar poles.

While the general public sat hunched over their laptops, agog at the first grainy thumbnail images beamed back from the Martian surface this summer, ASU's Dr. Mark Robinson was surrounded by stunning, high-definition panoramas of our closer, extra-terrestrial neighbor that will be on view this Friday at monOrchid gallery in downtown Phoenix.

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- NASA's Curiosity Rover: Here's the New Hi-Res Video of the Mars Landing
- Five Reasons You Should Pay Attention to NASA's Mission to Mars
- Center for Science and the Imagination to Launch at ASU's Newest Interdisciplinary Building, ISTB4

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We're now two weeks away from the greatest night of the year, and, not to get uppity, but we implore you not to half-ass your Halloween celebration.

We know, the date snuck up on you yet again, but we've also suffered enough bad Halloween shindigs to know that if you're just now starting to plan your party, it's already too late.

However, if you insist on powering through, then please give Samhain his due and consult our list of fall faux pas before you embarrass yourself and ruin All Hallows Eve for everyone.

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- How to Make a Jan Brewer Halloween Mask in Less Than Five Minutes (VIDEO)
- Nightmares Fear Factory's Spook Album
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Heroic Maria courtesy of Spirit Halloween

It happens every year.

Like a dark carnival that blows in with the wind overnight, this time of the year brings new life to boarded-up shopping centers Valley-wide. Long vacant Mervyn's locations become temporary havens for stores specializing in the best goofy, gory and grosteque fashions for Halloween.

And although the holiday is still predominately for pint-size candy panhandlers and Level 85 cosplayers, Halloween superstores also serve a new, burgeoning demographic: last-minute shoppers looking for a mildly-outrageous yet instantly-recognizable get-up for their holiday festivities.

For these Hallo-weinies who never bother to plan ahead, a cottage industry of poorly conceived, unlicensed (read: rip-off) costumes has sprung up...

See also:
- Four Haunted Houses Opening in the Valley in September
- Nine Hottest Halloween Costume Trends of 2012

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