I've never spent more than three consecutive seconds atop a skateboard (more a matter of my terrible balance than a lack of interest), but I spent a considerable amount of time in my later teen years playing the many Tony Hawk skateboarding games and numerous also-rans of the era. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater set the template for modern skateboarding games: reliable button-based controls, diverse locales, great soundtracks, and a pretty clear disregard for realism. But after some recent hit-or-miss iterations and no significant alterations in the core design, it was time for someone else to take a stab at video game skateboarding. Enter Skate.

Dana opts for some cute time with MySims Kingdom and gets to a few of last fall's biggest releases. Amanda can't resist the urge to return to one of her former loves -- Civilization Revolution. She also puts in some more relaxed play time with Wii Sports and Flow.

Kicking a Chicken is Alright As Long as I Eat a Vegetable Too
PETA presented Fable II with their award for "most animal friendly videogame." While it is true that eating an apple made my girl Lionheart a purer person, Fable II also gave me achievement points for kicking chickens and shooting bunnies. In fact, the game even gave me the option of buying and eating live baby chicks. And though technically the game awards a fruit and veggie diet with a reputation for being good and pure, as well as a smokin' hot bod, the game makes no claim that being an evil devourer of meat pies and baby chicks is any worse than being a celery chomping goodie goodie. Fable II seems an odd choice since the animal politics in this game were a lot more mixed than many more animal focused games from this last year. National Geographic Panda sure didn't give me the option of purchasing panda burgers in the store!

This week is dominated by animals and cute with the release of an Elebits title for the DS, two Pampered Pets games, and a fishing game. The DS also gets a monster truck game and PC players finally have the chance to play Saints Row 2.

Well, the winter holidays are now officially over (unless you consider Presidents Day a "winter holiday," which I don't) and that new-year smell is already starting to fade. But the hits have only just started coming for the music-game heavyweights.

I’ve successfully survived week one of my fitness game regime, and I feel pretty good. I haven’t seen any change on the scale yet, but I do seem to have a bit more energy and generally feel more content. We’ll see if this keeps up throughout the rest of the program. This week is my take on the trio of DS titles that are part of my regimen.

"Hey baby. Why you running around with a level 34? Why don't you come with me?" Christmas Day. I logged into World of Warcraft on Christmas Day because apparently my greedy, materialistic little self wasn't entirely satisfied with Santa's offerings, so I went to snatch up my virtual goodies from the game's Greatfather Winter too. This particular encounter took place in the subway system that runs from Stormwind City to Ironforge. These lovely moments of unsolicited attention are bound to happen every once in a while since I can't do anything about the fact that Acalista's generous breasts pop out of her vest.

I love sci-fi movies -- everything from the old black and white B-movies from the ‘50s to the horror style sci-fi of today and everything in between. And the cheesier they are the better. Yes, I will freely admit that I was one of the 50 people on the planet who saw Supernova and loved all 87 ever-lovin’ minutes of this celluloid disaster -- that’s how much I love sci-fi. So when I came across You’re in the Movies, a game that lets you and up to three friends have starring roles in any of 30 different B-movie, with tons of cheesy sci-fi scenarios included, I was psyched.

"Palela Alderson" is a 26-year-old Italian who works in communications. She likes sports, skiing, shopping...and selling herself as an online escort in the virtual world of Second Life.

Disney films and properties are so ingrained in our culture that they’re immediately recognizable by just about everyone. I have fond memories of the older films and typically enjoy the newer ones as well. But I wouldn’t be likely to play a game based on these properties, simply because most of those games are aimed squarely at kids. But the Kingdom Hearts series of games is very different. It takes a variety of Disney characters and works them into a mature plot and gameplay mechanic.