343 Industries

British publisher Titan Books has decided to celebrate the gorgeous artwork that provides the basis for our favorite digital adventures in two new books: The Art of Assassin's Creed III and Awakening: The Art of Halo 4. If you've got a finicky game-lover on your holiday shopping list, both of these books could make fantastic presents.

I was listening to a podcast recently (and I've heard this same thing multiple times from other people over the last week or so) and I was shaking my head at the way the speakers were discussing recent Events Which Shall Not Be Named. Over and over, they were so insistent that reviewers are "getting paid off" for good scores.

I'm not much into the college marching bands, I don't watch college football and no matter how amazing some say Drumline was, it has never occurred to me that I need to watch a marching band actually do anything.

This is a different matter entirely.

The Ohio State University pays tribute to beloved classic video games (and Halo) during the half-time show at the Ohio State University vs Nebraska game. Games honored at the show were Tetris, Pokémon, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Halo, The Legend of Zelda and Pac-Man. Try not to jump out of your seat and cheer when Epona makes an appearance.

In another example of "any publicity is good publicity," Microsoft invites Conan O'Brien into the offices of 343 Industries so that he can expose millions of his viewers to its upcoming Halo 4 game.

As one would expect from the Conan O'Brien Show, it degrades into an opportunity for silliness on O'Brien's part with very little of the game actually shown. To be fair, O'Brien is funny and the representatives for 343 Industries take their beating pretty well.

Books written about videogames are odd prospects. Fiction expanding on published properties has existed for years, but it's been mostly limited to feverish fantasies written by fans in dark corners of the Internet, usually involving bizarre and improbable sexual situations.