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Editor's note: We're a little late in helping Suriel promote this, since the deadline is...yikes...today. Maybe he'll give everyone an extension? Also, Suriel previously had a misspelling in the email address where you can send your submissions. Should be correct now. -Shoe

While I still expect a certain number of you -- the Bitmob readers, writers, editors, etc. -- to submit articles to the Bitmob: Year One anthology, the current results are a bit underwhelming: four submissions as of this writing! You know I love you guys, but...come on!

The guidelines remain the same: Shoot an email to bitmobanthology[at]live[dot]com with five -- you know what, however many you want at this point -- articles you think are fit to print. Anyone can submit any articles (don't be afraid to submit your own, but don't go overboard), as long as they are not too timely. I love getting my news from Bitmob, but some of these posts aren't exactly going to stand the test of time.

I'll compile the top 50 -- based on number of submissions, personal interest, and a variety of other factors -- into a huge PDF file, and I'll find someone to re-vet the articles and someone to jazz up the pages. If you're interested in helping out at all, please send an email to the same address.

Bitmob is such a great collection of writers, and their works deserved to be honored! If you can read this, you can submit, so please do so! Time is of the essence! The due date is this Friday!

Update: I will be extending the submission period until Friday, April 30th. This means missing the One-year anniversary due date, but if it means more submissions, so be it. Please, if you haven't submitted, please do so! You now have extra time to sift through older articles and find the best ones! Editors welcome!

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Editor's note: Check out Chris' humorous look at the dating life of a hardcore gamer. It's tough going when your passion is something the other person couldn't give two hoots about. -James

"What the hell do I do?"

The movie was playing. Maybe I should have picked something more romantic. But how could I have not chosen The Boondock Saints? She said that she hadn't seen it yet! I guess I didn't think this one through all the way. Since I've already seen the movie 79 times, I got up and went to the kitchen to make some popcorn. I forgot that someone who hates me programmed the microwave's popcorn setting.

I walked back into the room with a bag of burnt popcorn and poured it into a bowl. Despite being lactose intolerant, I smothered it with butter, and added a lot of salt.

She just looked at me and smiled. Seeing as her taste buds still work, she wasn't going to eat it, but she at least thought it was funny that I tried. I ended up eating the entire bowl --  to show her how much of a man I am -- but I didn't  unlock an Achievement at the end (unless you consider a stomach ache from the butter to be one of Sony's bronze trophies).

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Look out John Romero and David Jaffe -- there's a new renegade game developer in town!

News Blips:

Crytek (Crysis 2) CEO Cervat Yerli thinks that console gamers "don't respect development." Speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine, Yerli described his peculiar method of defining the differences between console and PC gamers. "I said the single most important difference is a PC gamer forgives you for about a minute. A console gamer gives you two seconds. It sucks or it fails and you're either the top or a flop. They don't respect any value you put into your development, either it works or it doesn't work." In the wake of these comments, let it be known that as a journalist, I will maintain the objective integrity befit of my career.

A Connecticut man accused in a drug and gun case discovers the power of trolling after sending threatening messages to a witness' Xbox Live account. Anthony Hayward was apprehended for intimidation and harassment of a witness after writing such unsubtle messages like "Rats Die Slow" and "a dead man walking." Hayward was slapped with a hefty bail of $50,000 and is due back in court soon. When will the general public realize that the art of berating someone on the Internet is an exacting skill that demands a high level of finesse? [Courant]

"Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom" (N3RD), a new play by a performing arts school in New Jersey, touches upon the cantankerous subject of video game addiction. The story revolves around a fictitious video game named Neighborhood 3 and its addictive properties to the youth of a small community. The ever-blurring distinction between reality and video games along with the importance of parent-child communication are discussed during a round-table debate following the conclusion of each play. I fervently hope that the compounding issue of parents scoring higher than their children in video games is also addressed.  [Sentinel]

Jeff Brown, Director of Corporate Communications at EA, had a few snarky words to say about the Infinity Ward/Activision fiasco. When Activision announced a heightened fiscal outlook as a result of the successful Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack, Brown took a jab at the rival company by glibly stating, "This is kind of like announcing: 'The race horse I shot last month has won the Triple Crown!'" Nowhere else has a job title been so aptly bestowed on the correct individual. [IndustryGamers]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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We asked you to write about controllers. You delivered. We are so excited that you took our call out and ran with it. The articles were informative, entertaining, and numerous. They ranged from future speculation to our favorites (and not-so-favorite) controllers of yesteryear. We saw everything from personal histories to eulogies. Despite the controller-less future promised by video game developers, it's safe to say that the Bitmob community loves their gamepads.

Everyone who participated can be found below in our round-up. If you wrote more than one article, we went with our favorite, but all articles were great!

Why did we want to hear about controllers? Juan Letona put the spirit of the call out into perspective:

"If I am the controller, what do I get to throw when I lose?" (Read his full article here).

Let's see what the rest of the community had to say:

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Cliché-riddled it may be, the trailer for Nier is set to the tune of some pretty epic music.

Video Blips:

• Nier combines swords, sorcery, and garishly dressed characters. With all the hoopla about "forbidden pages" and floating books, this could very well be a re-imagining of Myst.

Continue after the break for the demon-slaying, teen-angst filled trailer of Persona 3 Portable, a peek into the making of Split/Second, and the brutal murdering of a stuffed animal in Naughty Bear.

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Editor's note: Brian explores why people feel the need to justify their own tastes by comparing them to the preferences of others. I do it, and I think it's because we all like to think our own predilections are important. I can't imagine anything more devastating than having someone I respect tell me my interests are pointless or stupid. -James

"My Lego set is better than yours because it has pirates instead of knights," yells a six-year-old boy. Judgmental statements like this are likely familiar to childhood survivors and game-website regulars. It's not uncommon for professional game journalists and amateur writers to claim that their favorite game is the best.

Are you one of the few individuals who didn't find Nathan Drake relatable? Then you're an idiot who has horrible taste. Do you like Final Fantasy 13's storyline and cast? Obviously, you're a stupid anime fan who likes one-dimensional characters, goofy Japanese stuff, and clichés. Do you enjoy Halo? Then you're not a real gamer since it has crappy dual-analog controls.

Hopefully, you've realized that these statements are not my sentiments: They're comments I've observed on game websites. Need proof? People crucified Aaron Thomas a few months ago because he didn't appreciate Uncharted 2 as much as everyone else. I've also been told that Final Fantasy 13 has a horrible storyline and goofy characters more than once -- even though I enjoyed both -- and I've listened to hordes of PC gamers claim that Halo players are idiots who've never stroked a mouse.

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I've had some really cool submissions so far, but you guys have less than a week left to enter the Draw The Warcraft Hero Contest. The deadline is April 21st. That's next Wednesday! So if you've been slacking, get drawing!

If you need to see the info regarding the official rules and prizes, just look at the original story. Remember: Art won't be based on skilled, so not being able to draw is no excuse!

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I enjoy manipulating words and finding strange patterns in them. I've read books full of these sorts of brain-bending questions such as, "What word in the English language has three consecutive sets of double letters?" (The answer is "bookkeeper.")

I've created some video-game related word puzzles of my own to test your mental acuity. Good luck!

If you get stuck, click here for the answers.

1) This Ubisoft franchise has three sets of (non-consecutive) double letters.

2) The title of this popular EA franchise contained vowels in the first two years it was released, but has become vowel-free since then.

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I'm taking a break from puzzle and physics games to unleash this horror onto the world [via Geekologie]:

What can I say? The boy likes mudkips.... If you're interested in making a Pokémon trainer of your own, head over to  Hapuriainen's DeviantART page for the full flash experience. You can make more sensible-looking trainers, but whenever I see a character creator I just have to do something horrible with it.

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Today’s Community Spotlight is sponsored by allergy medication. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to see the words I’m typing -- or be able to breathe. 

Chaos and Conviction: My Collection Obsession with One of Gaming’s Finest Titles
By Sage Knox
Sage has an obsessive history of collecting multiple editions of Splinter Cell games, much like my own with special editions of Resident Evil games. As a long-time fan of Splinter Cell, he is looking forward to Splinter Cell: Conviction, but will he be inspired to purchase the game multiple times?

10 Reasons Why You Should Be Playing Section 8
By S. Robert Delk
With the flood of big multiplayer games coming to the market in the past year, smaller and less impactful games have fallen by the wayside. Robert wants to draw your attention back to Section 8 by appealing to your love of Tribes, Halo, and dedicated servers.

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Editor's note: Final Fantasy and Pokémon: At first they seem like an unlikely pairing. But if you consider the proximity of their release dates and the fact that the Japanese role-playing game's American standing is in shambles, it actually makes a sense to compare the similarities and differences between these two flagship JRPG releases. -James

They are two widlly different games: One takes a different approach to the conventions of its franchise, and one stays in lockstep with its established formula. Final Fantasy 13 created an astounding firestorm of debate in its wake and started an important discussion about Western and Japanese game design. Meanwhile, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver have begrudgingly united people.

I find it interesting that both games come from well-established franchises, and both have enormous expectations to measure up to. Yet the initial response to each was essentially two sides of the same coin: guarded excitement.  I wanted to run through the differences and similarities between these two Japanese role-playing games and see if there's anything that can be divined from them.

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Editor's note: Video games have a long history of pitting players against a god-like end boss or putting them at odds with a religious sect. Ben highlights several recent releases and suggests that this trend is back and more vibrant than ever. Is killing god in games problematic? -Rob

As the Easter/Passover holiday weekend came to a close, I was reminded of a take on religion that's begun to permeate our popular culture -- film to be sure, but video games, too.

Every so often, video game trends give us new enemies to face without feeling too guilty about destroying their throngs of followers -- Nazis, zombies, Nazi-zombies, etc. -- but it seems as if the new final boss of choice is god.

I first noticed this playing through Demon's Souls. To save the kingdom of Boletaria from The Old One and his demons unleashed upon a power-greedy people, I chose a Temple Knight. After all, what could be a better choice for saving the world from demons than a soldier of god?

But as the game progressed, I slowly realized through the exploratory narrative that the god from whom my character received his holy strength was, in fact, The Old One! In the end, the game gives you the choice of either joining The Old One as one of his demons or killing him.

Kill god?!

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