Topping our list of anticipated Xbox Live Arcade games but still off too many radars elsewhere, Offworld returns from a day at Scotland-based Denki with a behind the scenes look at the making of their upcoming word-battler Quarrel (above), from its cardboard and tiddly-wink origins to the 'magic wool' now running underneath.

Elsewhere we saw the Tri-Islands of Monkey Island rendered in the hyper-poly pushing engine behind Crysis and early PC transforming robo-shooter Thexder coming to the PSP, and got a glimpse into the art and design behind the fantastical heavy-metal world of Brutal Legend.

We also saw the wickedly blood-drenched pixels of Cactus's low-bit Life/Death/Island and Valve's amazing/ly swift response to a fan-made Team Fortress 2 canine class, shoes fit for Okami and high concept Pac-Man and Tetris wearables, and purchased a two-disc collection of Blip Fest 2008 performances -- possibly the best catalog of the top chiptune players released to date.

And our 'one shot's: Bioshock 2's Mr. Bubbles meets Mary Blair, and 40 artists collaborate on a magic-mile-long mega-Mario Kart illustration.

With the launch of Retro Remakes on Offworld, we started a straw poll to ask: what's the one remake you'd most like to see appear on consoles or handhelds, with the results to be tabulated and published at the end of the week. We also read the latest official response on the disappearance of an Xbox Live Arcade version of N64 classic Goldeneye 007, and celebrated the 25th anniversary of UK space-exploration legend Elite (above) with developer Frontier.

Elsewhere we put together a high-res gallery documenting Indies Invading Austin -- the two days of the inaugural Indie Games Summit at GDC Austin -- and began rounding up the reasons why you should be attending LA's Oct. 1-4 Indiecade conference/exhibition, with appearances by Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, former MIT games head Henry Jenkins, and flOw/Flower creator Jenova Chen.

Finally, we saw the horrific visage of the Teletubbies invading Left 4 Dead, watched an epic fan-made video of game characters invading Earth, Cloverfield-style, and our 'one shot's: Spacesick's awesomely designed Game Buddy, and the cranio-facial reconstruction of what your head looks like after too much Tetris.

Recently on Offworld we took an in-depth look at the games coming to both Wii and DS throughout the beginning of 2010 that you should be paying attention to (above), including new versions of Maxis's Spore -- which has just received a new, surprisingly full featured Flash version of its Creature Creator utility for your web perusal, in anticipation of the upcoming games.

We also saw indie fave Infinite Ammo show off an affecting debut video of their upcoming puppet-girl opus Marian, as Team Meat also debut the first trailer for their brutal WiiWare platformer Super Meat Boy: a must see for its all-replays-at-once feature demo near the end.

Elsewhere the animators at Aardman take on the DS's new sketchbook cartoon app, Rez and Lumines creators Q unveil a love-connection-puzzle game for iPhone, a man brilliantly mods Half Life 2 to use only mouth-sounds, James Kochalka's Game Boy Advance album hits iTunes, and Taito unveils an arcade game that simulates the impotent rage of the angry dad.

And our 'one shot's: Nathan Barley/Dead Set's Charlie Brooker gets into games, Konjak captures the end of Mario's quest, our well-spent childhoods, and open season on invaders.

With Austin's Game Developers Conference fully underway, Offworld's got updates on a few of the Indie Games Summit sessions nearest and dearest to its heart, with my own 'New Indie Hotness' show and tell (above), where I ran live demos of seven of the best up and coming indies you need to play (with the help of a special guest star), and a look behind the smash success of Colin Northway's Flash construction kit Fantastic Contraption.

Elsewhere we saw Namco tease a screenshot of its upcoming iPhone version of Keita Takahashi's PS3 game Noby Noby Boy, LucasArts revealed the gorgeously illustrated dream world in its new Lemmings-esque downloadable Lucidity, From Software showed off its upcoming PS3 exclusive 3D Dot Game Heroes -- an 8-bit Zelda inspired adventure pixel-popped into glorious 3D, and Metanet (behind Flash hit ninja sim N) announced Office Yeti, their Skool Daze meets Rampage workplace game.

Finally, former Spore tech lead Chris Hecker announced he'd be going indie with Spy Party, his "asymmetric multiplayer espionage game about subtle behavior and deception", we watched the winner of the Super Mario artificial intelligence contest, art/game/culture shop Attract Mode opened its doors, and for our LA readers: indie musician Chris Schlarb will be performing live versions of his tracks for the upcoming Night Game tonight at the Slow Sound Festival.

And our 'one shot's: Iggy Pop rocks Lego, the Alien origins of Machinarium, Super Mario's Twin Towers, and 3D Tetris of the Magic Eye kind.

Is the games industry missing an opportunity to let concept artists rule the roost? In his latest Ragdoll Metaphysics column, Jim Rossignol points to both success stories and missed opportunities where letting artists spearhead the game either did bring or should have brought the game closer to art, and calls for a new industry arms race to create the best "watercolour FPS games, painterly RTS games, and oil-painting strategies."

Elsewhere, 09/09/09 was a double-header day in games: less celebrated for the 10th anniversary of the cut-down-in-its-prime Dreamcast, which Sega celebrated by announcing a return to Sonic the Hedgehog's roots with a new hi-def 2D game due in 2010, while a group of indies announced Rush Rush Rally Racing, the first new Western-made game for the console in many years.

But 09/09's more prevalent significance to The Beatles didn't go unnoticed by groups other than Harmonix (with the unleashing of The Beatles: Rock Band), as chiptune collective 8-Bit Operators unveiled "WANNA HLD YR HANDHELD", a 20-track 8-bit Beatles cover compilation, nearly half of which they're streaming ahead of its release.

Finally, we listed the 4 things gamers need to know about Apple's Rock'n'Roll keynote, saw two years of glorious technical failures in the making of Polytron's Fez (above), heard Montreal art/game collective Kokoromi would be bringing their indie showcase to GDC, and our 'one shot's: Silent Hill artist Takayoshi Sato does Salome, and a look at the anatomical/biological innards of the Wii-mote.

Recently on Offworld, German developer Exozet revealed not only the first screenshot for the upcoming official iPhone version of Catan, but also opened a limited number of beta applications to the public, meaning you might be getting your hands on the game much earlier than expected.

Elsewhere, Adam Saltsman proved out just how successful rapid prototyping is and announced an iPhone port of his already widely viral one-button game Canabalt, ngmoco finally revealed its online arena iPhone FPS Eliminate with an interesting take on microtransactions, and Capcom showed more of its fantastically illustrated diminutive DS sequel Okamiden (above).

We also went behind the pixel/Rubiks with a video interview with guerrilla artist Invader, saw the Max Max-ian shooter Borderlands go all Christian-Bale-flip-out, found a collection of stunning custom Team Fortress 2 figures, ordered Famicom and Pac-Man business card holders, and our 'one shot's for the day: the BeatlesBox 360, and the most invulnerable he-Link the Legend of Zelda will ever see.

Even with yesterday's holiday, we still caught up on some of the weekend's biggest news from PAX or otherwise, as Twisted Pixel -- the indie dev behind the recent fantastic one-button Xbox Live Arcade platformer Splosion Man -- unveils Comic Jumper, a superhero run and gun that will change its style as you, well, jump between comics from PowerPuff to Sin City.

Elsewhere we saw oversized, super-punching blob-mech-fighters invading WayForward's remake of the NES original A Boy and his Blob, a new WiiWare Gauntlet-esque action game take on Pokemon, and the first video of the gorgeously Miyazaki-ish world in WiiWare LostWinds sequel Winter of the Melodias.

Finally, we took the latest work in progress look at Power Pill (above), the upcoming ultrastylish iPhone collaboration between Fez creators Polytron and Marian creators Infinite Ammo, and our 'one shot's for the day: variations on a Slime, and Metroid in Lego.

Recently on Offworld, this weekend's Penny Arcade Expo opening has brought with it a tidal wave of new game details and announcements: Ubisoft crosses Splinter Cell with Keyboard Cat, Grasshopper's No More Heroes 2 goes 8-bit (on purpose), 2K reveals BioShock 2's multiplayer in motion, Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert's DeathSpank gets its debut trailer, and Valve show off Left 4 Dead 2's undead clown-inhabited Dark Carnival.

Elsewhere, we saw Vectorpark's brilliantly serene Flash toys Levers and Acrobots come to the iPhone, Crappy Cat creator VanBeater lend his talents for the iPhone's Bear on a Wire, Farbs (aka. the guy who quit his job via Super Mario Bros.) teases his fantastic space shooter Captain Forever, and Capcom/Clover's gorgeously ukiyo-e inspired Wii/PS2 game Okami get a new sequel for the DS.

Finally, we got an accidental look into the sex lives of NES programmers via hidden messages in ROMs, covered our eyes for Kurt Cobain's shockingly awful/disrespectful appearance in Guitar Hero 5, and got a post-mortem on Guitar Hero typography, and our 'one shots': India gets Invaded, and Dance Dance American Revolution meets Dance Dance Industrial Revolution.

Quick -- how many games in the industry's long history can you name with a female lead? In her latest One More Go column, Margaret Robertson says the fact that we "run out of entries for the Great Gaming Leading Lady Pantheon before we run out of fingers is just plain odd" and asks, "Are we really saying that we can't find a viable way to make games that turn 51% of the world's population into heroes a goer?"

Elsewhere on Offworld: huge indie news, as Derek Yu's procedurally-generated rogue-like platformer masterpiece Spelunky is announced for Xbox Live Arcade, and LostWinds -- the gorgeously gentle WiiWare debut game from Elite creators Frontier -- prepares for the Winter of the Melodias, its season-shifting sequel.

Two classic Hudson franchises are also due for revivals, with hex-strategy game Military Madness/Nectaris announced for the iPhone and prehistoric underdog mascot Bonk comes to PS3/Xbox 360/Wii, and Gaijin Games announces the latest in its retro-futurist rhythm series with the pixel-collecting nothing-expanding beauty of Bit.Trip: Void (above).

And our 'one shot's of the day: Rolando artist Mikko Walamies teases his intergalactic next, and the new face of Grand Theft Auto creators Rockstar: tigers with lasers, fire-breathing grizzlies, and stunt-jumpin' polars.

Officially now back at my Offworld post (following a long break away to the Bay Area, that, most excitingly, saw me complete the first leg of the journey through the infinitely fascinating reality game The Jejune Institute), we return with some catching-up coverage that includes breakneck stunt-man simulator Canabalt -- a five-day stripped-down Experimental Gameplay entry from Adam Saltsman -- a game whose one-button simplicity completely belies its action/sci-fi flick inspired roof-top leaping thrills.

We also found the first details on DeathSpank (above) -- the upcoming Diablo/LucasArts adventure mashup from former Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert, and discovered that a remake of classic multiplayer strategy game M.U.L.E. was in development, including an upcoming port to the iPhone.

Elsewhere we saw new footage of Offworld-favorite 2D/3D platformer Fez, Nathan Fouts' gloriously garish Grapple Buggy, and dug through a flurry of new announcements from Nintendo with new color DSis/Wii Remotes and an updated Wii Opera browser now available for free.

Finally, we saw a tiny custom (Shadow of the) Colossus Munny, and an NES Ghostbusters instruction manual T-shirt, and our 'one shot's: Olly Moss's gorgeous new prints for This American Life-inspired games podcast A Life Well Wasted, and Vera Bee's carny/sideshow illustrations make their LittleBigDebut.

With Nintendo's Metroid Prime Trilogy -- all three Metroid Prime games collected on a single disc and updated with Wii controls -- just released this week, we spent the day with Austin-native developer Retro Studios to learn how the classic franchise fell into their laps, the process of re-interpreting it in first person, and how to read Nintendo's haiku-like approach to game development.

Elsewhere on Offworld, we took an extended look at two of the best games released in recent weeks: the similarly classically Metroid-esque Xbox Live Arcade game Shadow Complex, and the fantastic downsizing of the Rock Band experience with Harmonix and Backbone's PSP game Rock Band: Unplugged.

Finally, we took a straw poll to determine whether the average gamer really is 35, overweight and depressed, and then investigated whether Bejeweled could fight that depression, saw the bloodbath that is Diablo III's new monk class, and took a trip into The Dark Spire -- a ten-dollar DS dungeon-crawler that you might have missed.

Could the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life universes ever converge into one uber-Valve-geography? In Jim Rossignol's latest Ragdoll Metaphysics column, Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek has said the idea's at least been internally bandied about, as part of a wide, wide ranging interview that also covers the mixed messages and missed opportunities that spawned the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott, and why AI constructs make him depressed.

Elsewhere on Offworld we saw even more newly announced games coming out of the ongoing GamesCom conference: Lionhead returning with Fable III, top-down zombie shooter Dead Nation, which will apparently have individual countries competing to fully eliminate the undead virus, more of Sony's PSP cult cute platformer Loco Roco, and Hudson's The Tower of Shadow, in which you play as the shadow.

We also saw a fantastically unlikely official new contest to create the best Elvis techno cover/remix on your DS, listened to Metroid metal cover album Varia Suite, played the latest NES demoscene ROM, and saw both Alice's Adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Spider creators Tiger Style showing us tomorrow's game development studio, today.

The biggest news recently on Offworld will have been Sony's announcement of a new $299 Slim-model PS3 (though with the caveat that it no longer supports Linux), and the additional follow up news of its 'minis' line of smaller, affordable PSP games (many taken directly from the App Store itself, no matter how hard the company denies it's not competing with Apple) will probably provide us with an entire new virtual platform to cover in the coming months.

But elsewhere, with the European GamesCom conference in full swing, we saw a wide range of new trailers and video footage: Beatles: Rock Band, Lego Rock Band, Brütal Legend, LittleBigPlanet's new water filled world, indie WiiWare port And Yet It Moves, and legendary freeware shooter Tumiki Fighters on its way to the iPhone.

Finally, we saw the first official Plants Vs. Zombies T-shirts, found the most sublimely bizarre patent illustration for Sony's emotion-detecting engine and its perfect distillation of What Modern Comedy Looks Like (above), saw Interplay and Gameloft reviving Earthworm Jim for a number of consoles, previewed Kind of Bloop -- the 8-bit Miles Davis tribute album due for wider release tomorrow, saw Space Invaders crop-pixels, and mourned the earthy death of 8-bit.

If you've been long-suffering under the assumption that games are created in a mashup of impalpable art and science, our latest high-res gallery on Offworld will prove you wrong, as we go inside the factory workshops where your favorite games were built (above), from the smelting of Sonic's rings, the chiseling of the 1-Up mushroom, and the rubber-pressed rebounding blocks of Arkanoid.

And in more art-overload news, we also took a look at the fantastically fragile and delicately rendered games-inspired work of Melbourne illustrator Ghostpatrol, saw some select images from French guerrilla artist Invader's new Rubikubism exhibition in London, and played with the bloom-lit pixels of Stimergy, a 36-hour game of retro-futurist picnic ant invasions.

Elsewhere, One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson told us how Galleon, the criminally overlooked Xbox game from Tomb Raider designer Toby Gard, can lead us on a six-degrees journey through the games industry, found another example of a gainfully employed developer using a game to announce he was quitting his job, and watched the first official trailer for our new top iPhone pick, Spider.

We also saw Timbaland and Rockstar's music creator app Beaterator officially announced for PSP and the steampunk-ian environmental strategy game Greed Corp announced for PS3, learned that Tokidoki and Upper Playground were coming to Wii racer Need for Speed, and our one shot's: Call of Duty and BioShock, the Criterion editions, and Pong on the streets, and Pong in the streets.

Recently on Offworld we've had a good slate of indie devs giving us a deeper look into some of the games already high on our most-wanted lists: chief among them is Castle Crashers devs The Behemoth officially beginning to reveal the mechanics of their cutely chaotic party/arena game still known as Game 3, and art game champ Jason Rohrer showing off a paper prototype of his Angolan conflict diamond-based DS multiplayer game.

Elsewhere, we got the first shot of Die Gute Fabrik's gorgeously illustrated swamp-opera adventure Mutatione, Edmund McMillen & co. showed off the first video of their pathos puzzler Time Ufck, and Taito revealed the first video of dual control methods in their upcoming Puzzle Bobble iPhone port.

We also saw Nintendo plunging their toes further into the social media space with the U.S. release of their free web-sharable DS flipbook animation app FlipNote Studio, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner revealed the first draft script for a prequel to his PC adventure The Last Express, the EA Black Box team behind Skate gave us their top 10 user-made skate videos, and Team Fortress devs began dropping awesomely gentlemanly turn-of-the-century ephemera surrounding their latest game update.

Finally, our 'one shot's: the nostalgic simplicity of Six Flags' early-80s Pac-Man theme park, Metroid's Samus on a ZX Spectrum, 9 0 0 0 gives us a motivational ninja poster, and, as above, Brock Davis shows us the sobering tragedy of a Mushroom Kingdom hit and run.

It seems as though as the App Store game entries grows exponentially, our true, heartfelt suggestions have dropped off inversely, but recently on Offworld we made one of our strongest, most unreserved recommendations yet with Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, the debut game from the former Thief/Splinter Cell devs at Tiger Style.

It's a game that works brilliantly on two levels: first, as an intuitive action game that sees you finger-flicking/spinning webs to catch the insect inhabitants of the long-abandoned titular manor, but second, and just as wonderfully, unraveling the secret narrative that's running underneath, just under your nose if you're careful enough to look -- it's instantly become one of our top 3 iPhone games of all time.

Elsewhere, we took a look at two of the best meta-games to come to the web in recent months, with the one level exploration of, er, This is the Only Level and the self-purchased enhancements of Upgrade Complete, and listened to both a wonderfully diverse Songs to Frag By videogame mixtape, and the live house/trance styling of PixelJunk Eden director Baiyon.

Finally, we saw the first dazzling entry in the AI-controlled Mario contest, made our own Noby Boy catnip toy, saw LucasArts/Double Fine dev Tim Schafer reveal his hidden Rubik's talent, and our 'one shot's for the day: the geographical secrets of Left 4 Dead and the amazingly ugly excesses of the women of Leisure Suit Larry.

Recently on Offworld, American Elf artist James Kochalka dropped in to let us preview Robot Shark, one of the songs off his latest album Digital Elf, created entirely with Nanoloop on his Game Boy Advance, and we discovered that Jason Rohrer, creator of reigning memento mori art-game-champ Passage, was creating a two player DS strategy game based on the illicit blood diamond trade in Angola (!).

We also watched Love Sport, a set of fantastically expressive pixel animations from Studio AKA's Grant Orchard, and heard Austin Wintory's soundtrack for thatgamecompany's PS3 art-game flOw being played live by LA's Golden State Pops Orchestra, and (literally) looked inside Sony's upcoming augmented reality virtual EyePet.

Finally, we saw why 2D still matters in 2009 with the jaw-dropping visuals in XNA game Dust, and found infinitely adorable crocheted Marios, a re-imagined 80s arcade pinup, and, best of all, back-alley knock-off Pokemon.

Recently on Offworld, our Ragdoll Metaphysics columnist Jim Rossignol takes us through an illustrated history of one of videogames' best mechanical conceits: the jetpack. From The Stamper Brothers' original JetPac, to Exile, to Tribes, Jetpack Brontosaurus (above) and beyond, he looks at how the 'pack has let us "explore strange new worlds where the sky is not the limit, and where the vertical axis is as just as essential as the horizons that lay all around us."

Elsewhere we marveled at the intricate rusted ironworks designs in the latest video of Amanita's upcoming adventure game Machinarium, saw Minotaur China Shop (and Jetpack Brontosaurus, coincidentally) creators Flashbang poke gentle fun at Braid creator Jon Blow, and found a wonderful series of T-shirts based on the glitched-out boot-up sequences of arcade games.

And for our 'one shot's of the day, two more fantastic pieces from artists appearing in the upcoming Autumn Society games/art gallery show: Zelda's Link aims for the eye, and the Swarovski crystal-studded queen Tetrisina.

Recently on Offworld, Valve announced another infected incidence with Crash Course (above), a new downloadable campaign for the original Left 4 Dead due in September that will bridge the No Mercy and Death Toll episodes with an entirely new location, and PopCap continued to perfect their chesty/lusty zombie parody with a new set of Evony-busting banner ads.

We also saw Braid creator Jon Blow tease his next game, The Witness -- described as "an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island" -- by dropping a Tao Te Ching quote, as Braid itself is confirmed to come to the PlayStation 3, and we found new details of the Wii/Xbox 360/PS3 remake of cult hex-strategy game Military Madness/Nectaris.

Elsewhere, AI specialists announced a competition that will use science to build a better Mario, Taito teased Puzzle Bobble for the iPhone, Sega fanatics released the long-fabled 32-bit Virtua Hamster (!), and we looked at an 8-bit iPhone NES synthesizer. Our 'one shot's for the day: Keita 'Katamari' Takahashi, shoeless and amused, and Super Mario Lilliput.

Recently on Offworld we played with words in two ways: first, by downloading our latest iPhone obsession, NewToy's Friends With Words, as svelte and streamlined as an online-multiplayer Scrabble-alike we've played, and as perfect (read: dangerously addictive) as the original Scrabulous proved when it first dominated Facebook.

We then saw Flashbang co-founder Matthew Wegner solve PopCap's fellow iPhone word-smither Bookworm with science, with a fully automated OCR word-finder that just might be expanded to a web service soon.

Elsewhere, we saw Spore, Fathom and more indie all-star devs joining August's rapid-proto Experimental Gameplay competition, electro star Deadmau5 taking on Zelda, learned what Disneyland can teach devs about game design, and saw "worlds first computer programmer" Ada Lovelace coming to LittleBigPlanet with other historical friends.

Finally, we found a wicked Mario 64 optical illusion papercraft, looked inside Italy's Art of Games gallery exhibit, read the latest, fantastically well researched update on the Tim Langdell v. Mobigame trademark battle, and our 'one shot's: Parappa and Umjammer Lammy play in "My First Rockband", and gorgeously abstract picture-postcards from Wipeout HD (above).

Recently on Offworld we saw heartening tales of Indie Spirit leading to two cross-promotional cross-overs: Crackerblocks' Enviro-bear -- ursine motorist star of the indie PC favorite and recently-launched iPhone port of the same name -- coming as an unlockable character to Mountain Sheep's just-launched iPhone shooter Minigore (above), and bunny battleships coming to Positech's Gratuitous Space Battles to help promote Wolfire's leporine/lupine battler Overgrowth.

We also saw the first footage of an entirely new game from Knytt and Night Game creator Nifflas -- the fantastically ambient and atmospheric platformer project title Q -- and it's every bit as gorgeous as his earlier games above.

Elsewhere, we got the latest update on homegrown voxel-deforming puzzler Flipper as it makes its way to DSiWare, purchased one ticket to mouth-foaming seizures and glitched-out landscapes in a video for chiptune artists Chromelodeon, saw papercraft artist Harlancore do an 8-bit console Speakerdog, and read an interview with the founder of abandonware repository Home of the Underdogs, who, as it turns out, is Harvard alum and investment bank exec Sarinee Achavanuntakul.

Finally, our one shot's for the day: making love, not Wor, and the tale of the bravest invader.

In the history of the company, there's only been one Nintendo-published game that has been overtly about "fighting and fucking": GameCube game Animal Leader (Cubivore in the states), and it's the subject of Margaret Robertson's latest One More Go column, where she peers into Nintendo's heart of darkness and prods at some of the company's more whitewashed ugly truths (see: the true relationship between Mario Bros' Bowser and Peach).

Elsewhere, we see artist Jude Buffum reflect on the financial crisis also through Mario's lens (and made an open plea for more financial system gaming), saw how Shigeru Miyamoto lifted ancient Japanese legend when creating Super Mario, and wolf-whistled at PopCap's Plants Vs. Zombies doing an absolutely phenomenal job of parodying the ubiquitous bosomy banner ads for free-to-play game Evony (above).

We also took a guided tour through the Nintendo DS's new Facebook Connect features, saw more mind-melting footage of "type anything" DS puzzle game Scribblenauts and Left 4 Dead invading The Sims, found new official Monkey Island fashion, and watched the latest fantastically expressive 50x50 pixel video from Garth + Ginny.

And, for the final few that haven't seen it, we also saw the first concept art of the Magic Kingdom's steampunk dystopia in Disney's upcoming Wii project Epic Mickey, and our 'one shots': an ode to Fallout's Nuka-Cola Quantum, the domestic bliss of Mr. and Mrs. Pac.

Recently on Offworld we went deep into the virtual arthouse, as McSweeney's DVD offshoot Wolphin screens a faux-16-bit short, Ledo & Ix, we discovered a quarter-square-mile Second Life art/vinyl toy gallery that never was (above), and we watched the first video of Fig. 8, a game where a bicycle wends its way through "the surreal world of an 'architectural' diagram."

We also listened to the delightful electro-pop space opera soundtrack of Sidhe's recent PS3 Breakout/shooter Shatter, poked our head into a recent and awesomely Wareheim-ian chiptunes dance party, and saw Ubisoft officially announce Scott Pilgrim, the game (but offer frustratingly few additional details).

Finally, we saw footage of Cryptic Sea's terrifyingly sparse Lunar Lander tribute, a plan to bring Sonic CD to the iPhone, another Japanese indie freeware hit coming to WiiWare, a project to MS Paint a Pikachu, and our 'one shot's for the day: Fallout 3 Wasteland clutter in real life, and an 8-bit dark castle from the depths of the Cube Kingdom.

Recently on Offworld, it was a day of tributes: fans of cult hit RPG series Earthbound celebrated its 20th anniversary, home-crafters celebrated Hand Circus's iPhone platformer Rolando 2, and renowned papercrafter master Matt Hawkins celebrated the pursuits of Pac-Man for an upcoming gallery show.

We also saw the first concept art of Minotaur China Shop creators Flashbang's next web-game, Time Donkey, in which players will cooperate with earlier iterations of themselves playing the game to reach their goal, and the first multiplayer video of Infinity Ward's upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, specifically the ability for players to take control of gunships to wreak distant havoc on the battlefield.

Finally we saw Media Molecule and Marvel partner to bring comic book heroes to LittleBigPlanet (with cutely taped-on accessories, as above), a new game from Gish co-creator Edmund McMillen that cryptically promises to be "a 1+1=2 formula that will ask more from you after you leave it alone", and, best of all, new pixel art concepts of an imagined Salvador Dali Game Boy Advance game.

The most exciting development to come out of Comic-Con this year? Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley dropping news that Ubisoft Montreal is currently developing a PS3/Xbox 360 downloadable game based on his comic series Scott Pilgrim (above), to be released alongside Edgar Wright's film adaptation -- news of a magnitude that almost nearly canceled out the disappointment of EA's contest calling for systematic and institutionalized harassment of SDCC booth babes for prizes.

Elsewhere on Offworld, we rounded up more of the best films Netflix's Xbox 360 streaming service has to offer, with Zach Galifanakis' dystopian cult comedy Visioneers and more multilayered time-warping and epic human-drama documentary films than you could ever want, and a bonus comedic British invasion.

We also figured out how to get a taste of the PS3 Katamari Damacy remake on display at Comic-Con from the comfort of our living rooms, saw new footage of the giant crab battles and near-avoidance baby violence of 'conjure anything' DS game Scribblenauts and of Gearbox's Mad-Max-ian post-apocalyptic co-op open world shooter Borderlands (which promises '87 bazillion' procedurally generated weapons).

Finally, we saw chiptune punk stars Anamanaguchi plan their U.S. domination summer tour, got the first look at UK indie Mode7's abstract tactical strategy game Frozen Synapse, and our 'one shot's for the day: No More Heroes in 3D 2D pixels, and Noby Noby Boy's essence in just nine words.

Recently on Offworld we saw a bit more news trickle out of the ongoing Comic-Con, most notably new media and information on Left 4 Dead 2, with a gallery of new screenshots, on-the-floor video of its bayou-terror in action, and a new boss monster, whose get-up serves as a strict warning to everyone: when you dress yourself in the morning, please take note that this outfit could possibly be the one in which you spend eternity as a reanimated corpse. (Note: new star Rochelle understands this, as she shows up in style donning the electroclash Depeche Mode T-shirt above.)

We also saw newly revealed features coming to Q-Games' decidedly old-school inspired PixelJunk Shooter, and a demonstration of its fluid- and thermo-dynamics, and discovered that -- finally! -- an official version of gold star board game Settlers of Catan is being developed for the iPhone.

Finally, we saw Plants Vs. Zombies confirmed for the Xbox 360, Katamari Damacy's King of All Cosmos bringing his aloof and royally pluralized inanity to Twitter (and with it, a fantastic repurpose-able desktop background), and watched what happens when you try to play all four instruments at once as a One Man Rock Band.

And our 'one shot's for the day: gorgeously illustrated Mario deaths, and retro-future Pac-Man/Space Invaders in automotive form.

Recently on Offworld the first bits of games news have started to trickle in from Comic-Con, as Alien Hominid creators The Behemoth announce that their Xbox Live Arcade hit Castle Crashers is coming to the PlayStation 3, as they also show off more videos of the chaotic-cuteness of their upcoming multiplayer party Game 3 (with a retro-lounge soundtrack by Combustible Edison).

We also saw the developers at Maxis open their game even wider and include the ability to export your Spore creature to Maya or any Collada-supporting 3D package (above), fully mapped and posable, to do with it what you will, saw Evil Dead director Sam Raimi tapped to make a World of Warcraft movie, and saw Cartoon Network series Metalocalypse coming to PSN and XBLA courtesy developer Frozen Codebase.

Then we wrapped up a very musical Wednesday with yet another chiptune tribute album on the horizon, this time 8-bit covers of The Prodigy, listened to cancer charity CD Songs for the Cure including tracks by World of Goo creator Kyle Gabler, and, best of all, discovered a new, free EP by local favorite low-tech shoegaze band Tree Wave.

And finally: a NES made of paper and James Kay's papercraft Game Boy bird, and our 'one shot's for the day: Commander Video's glitch ritual, and a gorgeous tribute to Chrono Trigger.

Recently on Offworld, Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho showed us a fantastic time lapse video of what it looks like to rapid prototype a game in seven days (including Team Fortress breaks), watched the latest footage of the multi-part harmonizing in Rock Band: Beatles with newly confirmed tracks, and saw Sega announce a new Wii Fit Balance Board enabled Super Monkey Ball.

We also watched Namco's bizarre puppet show video for PS3 collection Katamari Forever, and saw Katamari's Prince -- as well as the PS3's PixelJunk series -- coming to Sony's Home virtual space (above), and found an unofficially fashionable Tetris T-shirt.

Finally, we saw the World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth devs behind Experimental Gameplay Project collaborating on a new WiiWare game, and our 'one shot's for the day: soft-shaded 3D pixelcrafter Dotter Dotter does more Super Mario, and Die Gute Fabrik tease a game where a couple, by "synchronising their headbanging, reach new planes of heavy metal love."

Recently on Offworld, One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson reflects on why Final Fantasy XII is a game she can't help but return to, for its ability to let you "get closer to the ultimate goal of being a perpetual killing machine, a super-efficient, zero-emission, friction-free engine of domination" -- a loop of "preparing, witnessing and fixing" that's "one of the most compelling I've encountered in games."

Elsewhere we listened to (on repeat, all day) Pterodactyl Squad's 8-bit Weezer cover compilation, which is already being heralded as one of the best chiptune introduction and gateway collections ever assembled, and watched the first video of the iPhone's retro-future shooter Space Invaders Infinity Gene.

We also saw 10 more minutes of Cymon's ASCII Portal, every bit as mind-warping as the last, found new images of Björn Hurri's pixel-catburglar that we even moreso hope ends up a game, saw IGF winning backward-shooting rhythm game Retro/Grade coming to the PS3 with Rock Band guitar support, and dug further into one of the artists behind Uniqlo and Namco's awesomely designed Pac-Man 30th anniversary T-shirts.

Finally, our 'one shot's: the original Legend of Zelda goes first person, falling in love with the majesty of colors from the cthulu-an perspective, pen-marker-magic sketches of BioShock, and gorgeously quick-sketched views from the world of Shadow of the Colossus.

A surprise announcement and massive game-changing news for musicians: developers Harmonix have just announced The Rock Band Network, a new initiative to let home users and indie bands create and sell their own Rock Band tracks through the game itself, in partnership with Microsoft's XNA Creators Club.

We've got all the first details on the program, which is due to launch in closed beta by the end of the month, over at Offworld.

I'm with the Band: Harmonix opens Rock Band track creation, sales to Xbox 360 home users

Recently on Offworld we watched what surely must be the game trailer of the month: an extended look at animator Michel Gagne's upcoming Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (above), with some of the most striking art direction and animation we've seen in games for some time, cut to black metal band Dimmu Borgir's "Blood Hunger Doctrine", which shouldn't work but absolutely fantastically does -- it's a must watch.

Elsewhere we saw one fan's attempt to recreate Portal on the iPhone and the latest look at tiny-planet shooter Max Blastronaut, found the latest two gorgeously designed official Team Fortress 2 T-shirts, and listened to a wicked live remix of the theme song to The Silver Case -- the first PlayStation adventure game from No More Heroes and Killer7 creators Grasshopper Manufacture.

Finally, we found a new on-demand publisher for budding board game designers that lets you piece together your pieces, upload your own artwork, and sell the game directly through the site, spent our first day on the Wii Sports Resort, which ended in broken glass and a trickle of blood, and our 'one shot's for the day: the gorgeous girls of Nintendo punk, a Metal Gear packing slip that's just a box, a fantastic new Darkstalkers montage, and, best of all, beautiful and very French pixels for what we genuinely hope is a new catburglar game.

Recently on Offworld we saw things living in places we didn't expect, like Taito's fantastic looking formerly Japanese-only vector-sharp retro-futurist mobile phone game Space Invaders Infinity Gene making a surprise visit to the iPhone, demoscene group Braadworsten Brigade bringing a mini-rave to your copy of Microsoft Excel 2003, and Subatomic's iPhone tower defense hit Fieldrunners coming as a PSP downloadable.

We also saw our first inside-the-gallery shots of French guerrilla artist Space Invader's NYC art exhibit, including his Rubik's Cube recreations of Daft Punk and Velvet Underground album covers, found no less than 100 brilliant 5-second art/glitch videos based on 'old video games' (above), and followed the latest in the copyfight between iPhone dev Mobigame, IGDA board member Tim Langdell, and anyone who has ever thought about stringing together the letters E-D-G- and E.

Finally, our 'one shot's for the day: Florian Hufsky's pixel pirates, and, best of all, the world of Shaun of the Dead meeting the world of Left 4 Dead.

Recently on Offworld we had a mini-#musicmonday as French chiptuner Je Deviens DJ en 3 Jours assembled friends to create Da Chip! -- a free compilation album of Daft Punk covers done on "vintage game systems", while another scenester, Dr. Zilog, put together an 8-bit cover of Animal Collective's certifiable hipster hit My Girls, with a low-res filtered version of the video to match (and a bonus MGMT cover, to boot).

Elsewhere we saw Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho debut his first entry into the relaunched Experimental Gameplay Project with Post I.T. Shooter (above) -- an IT Crowd-referencing low-res shooter rendered entirely in faux-hand-animated Post-It Notes, completing the game -> Post-It animation -> game circle.

Finally we watched an indescribable video telling the orgasmic, ultra violent history of videogames, saw James Barnett -- the artist behind the previously featured 'fauxvist' paintings that made Matisse-ian landscapes of Fallout 3, Half-Life and Team Fortress -- offer prints and originals for sale, took a last look at the Ghostbusters content coming to LittleBigPlanet, and our 'one shot's for the day: Capcom's Darkstalkers in glorious Paul Robertson pixels, and Bit.Trip mascot Commander Video, Meat Boy style.

Recently on Offworld we got a number of indie surprises, as our early Gimme Indie Game featured favorite Enviro-Bear 2000: Operation: Hibernation made a sudden appearance on iPhone as Enviro-Bear 2010 (above). Inarguably the best game about bears driving cars (prove us wrong!), it's an even better game on the iPhone than the PC original, and quickly became both a weekend favorite, and an immediate viral hit.

We also saw Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy's artXgame Octopounce -- the best of the games originally released for Giant Robot's Game Over/Continue show -- released for free, and were able to watch the entire hour-long meeting between Passage creator Jason Rohrer and design vet Chris Crawford for German TV program Into the Night With.

Elsewhere, Nintendo announced plans to make its early LCD Game & Watch games available as handheld DSiWare downloadables, Valve released a new look at the rainy days of Left 4 Dead 2, Capcom brought Street Fighter II CE to your web browser, and Bungie turned your best Halo 3 screenshots into canvas-printed fine art.

Finally, we got a sneak peek at all the Ghostbusters appearing in LittleBigPlanet, found our new favorite fake-twitter-follow poking gentle fun at Natal and Milo at @petermolyneux2, and our themed 'one shots' for the day: the ESRB's impossible task at rating Scribblenauts (with imagined steak/baby/lion violence), and Scribblenauts-themed Street Fighters.

It was a return-to-classics kind of day on Offworld, with Bethesda releasing their early first-person/open-world RPG Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall as a free download, and with the revivification of both Team17's classic Amiga shooter Alien Breed as a fully 3D affair, and the former FASA designers at Smith & Tinker giving MechWarrior a fantastic looking full reboot for PC and Xbox 360.

Elsewhere we started to take our first look at the weird worlds of Galactic Arms Race, a self-described 'space Diablo' with a twist: all of the weapons in the game are designed by AI and are evolving over time based on the aggregate behavior of all the game's players, with some spectacular and unexpected results; and got a guide to the rest of this summer's Xbox Live Arcade releases.

Finally, we bought our own custom Left 4 Dead Sackboys from the crocheter himself (above), saw Fangamer go all Anderson and release a browsable version of their fan-made Mother 3 guide for free, and our 'one shots' for the day: a plush member of Rhythm Heaven's Glee Club, and Cooking Mama, and Cooking Samus, and Cooking Zelda, and Cooking Lara...

A game developer that's been tirelessly evolving what they hope to be the most all-encompassing soldier sim doesn't exactly sound like typical indie fare, argues columnist Jim Rossignol, but their indie-style ambition is there and is typified by their latest, Arma II. See as proof: the collection of videos Rossignol includes in his column, which may be some of the most spectacularly hyper-real Offworld has ever seen, with gratuitous 200 v. 200 plane low-flying dogfights, suicidal jet pilots, and tanks v. chicken battles.

That indie spirit continues elsewhere as the creators of World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth return to their roots and re-launch the Experimental Gameplay Project with disco-dancing Robotron games (above) and surprisingly compelling generative evolutionary worm sims, with more new games to come every month.

Elsewhere we saw, of course, the mind-blowing Portal in ASCII video, the upcoming European debut of chiptune showcase Blip Festival, watched German TV pair up a games design vet and a new champion of art gaming for a lengthy discussion, fan-made Chrono Trigger T-shirts, and upcoming shirts for indie favorite Cave Story.

Finally we saw World of Warcraft-themed Peggle now downloadable as a free standalone game, and our usual 'one shots': Left 4 Dead via LittleBigPlanet, Hello Mario & Luigi, an awesome tribute to Monkey Island's Guybrush Threepwood, and Castle Crashers in Lego.

Over at Offworld, we've just dug up what'll probably be the most mind-bending video of the week: the first look at Joe Larson's 'demake' of Valve's PC/Xbox 360 hit Portal, rendered entirely in ASCII.

Its best trick that puts it a leg up on the 2D Flash version: a 'through the portal' view that recaptures everything that made the original game so awe inspiring to experience for the first time (also: its simple 1-character companion cube, and the Donkey Kong tribute toward the end of the video).

Watch the video on Offworld.

In her latest One More Go column, Margaret Robertson argues that Sega's long-underappreciated and entirely absurd Typing of the Dead (above) -- the game which sees players destroying zombies by typing words rather than firing bullets -- is especially brilliant because it lets us do something increasingly rare and magical in the games industry today: press buttons with our fingers.

Elsewhere on Offworld there was a lot of good news for old games, as classic LucasArts adventure games are returning to Steam with full XP/Vista compatibility, Atari Museum releases the source code for more than a dozen classic Atari 7800 games, and Nintendo is re-releasing Toshio Iwai's brilliant art/music DS crossover Electroplankton in downloadable form.

We also saw Ghostbusters coming to LittleBigPlanet, preorders open for Machinarium, the game soon to be likely the best non-LucasArts adventure of the year, and the first look at Positech's Gratuitous Space Battles, his self-described "tower defense with space fleets", which is every bit as gloriously gratuitous and perfectly scaled (with scores of tiny gnat-like fighters protecting motherships) as the title promises.

Finally, our 'one shot's for the day: a hexquisite pixel-art exquisite corpse, the many faces of space invaders, Scott C's Devo meets Space Invaders print goes on sale, and Eliss, Steph Thirion's brilliantly abstract iPhone game, goes on sale for $0.99 for a few more days.

Recently on Offworld we found a rapid-fire set of developments to kick off a long weekend, including the launch of TweetCraft which is, as you might imagine, World of Warcraft's first in-game Twitter client (above), and which ensures that you'll never have to leave the comfort and still irresistible allure of Azeroth.

We also watched the first 17 minutes of Double Fine's hard metal adventure Brutal Legend, as narrated by LucasArts legend Tim Schafer, and saw indie devs Polytron finally officially announce that their debut game Fez is headed to Xbox Live Arcade in early 2010.

We also found two pair of custom Legend of Zelda low-top sneakers, Donkey Kong played on the side of a building in Post-Its, a website completely devoted to the mis-uses of trains in games (!), an upcoming unmissable chiptune showcase in Montreal, and finally understood the gnawing wolf-at-the-door drama of spending $17,500 on a single NES game.

And finally, our themed 'one shots' for the day: Wii Fit as an Atari 2600 game, and, even more wonderfully, an Atari 2600 version of A Clockwork Orange (and Dostoevsky and Kant and Proust [!]).

Today on Offworld we took an extensive look at Treasure World (above), the just-released DS game that turns the ubiquitous cloud of Wi-Fi signals around you into collectible treasures -- it's easily one of the most magical game experiences we've had in a while, and expands into an equally amazing array of synced up social-site achievements, and, of all things, a mini-music tracker that lets you compose by arranging your scalped booty.

Elsewhere we looked at the first live demo of cloud-gaming service Gaikai, which shows Spore, World of Warcraft and Mario Kart being played, in-browser, from a server 400 miles away, and Microsoft's just-launched Kodu, the 21st century LOGO-like Xbox 360 game that teaches principles of programming logic with simple sentence-structure syntax and lets you build and share up to 4-player minigames.

We also stumbled across Crazy Planets, a new Worms-like Facebook game that makes a fighting unit out of you and your friends, and watched the first tech demo video of Robotology from N+ developers Metanet, which, eventually, will be a parkour/grappling hook mashup of Mario Galaxy, Shadow of the Colossus, and Umihara Kawase (!), and, finally saw Bob Dylan's hard-livin' invade The Sims.

As seems to be the case time and time again, indie devs have given us some of the best in surrealist/dreamscape gaming, and the latest -- featured today on Offworld -- is Justin 'CosMind' Leingang's Glum Buster, an intricately constructed PC pixel platformer that is as traditional as it is relentlessly alien -- think Eric Chahi's Another World/Out of this World -- and is being sold via an altruistic charity-ware setup. It'll certainly go down as one of the finest indie developments this year.

Elsewhere we took a fantastic look inside Moscow's Soviet Arcade Games Museum via their new Art Lebedev (he of the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard) designed website that not only gives us near-pornographically beautiful shots of previously unseen 70s era Soviet arcade design, but also recreates a number of the games in Flash to play directly on the site.

We also played Noonat's Queens -- a game built for a competition dealing with the theme of 'domestic violence' that manages to cleverly skate the thin ice there, and fell in love with Puit Wars, a micro/massive pixel wargame that proves hiphop emcee Aesop Rock should be making music for games, followed Nintendo DS cult puzzler star Professor Layton on Twitter, and took a new look at the mysteries of SUPERBROTHERS' rustic pixels in his Kurosawa-inspired Alpinist.

Recently on Offworld neo-retro nostalgia has ruled the roost, with things like a box-art tribute to the 8-bit Lost game that never was, the zen-like recursiveness of 'Playered' (above) from the creator of the 8-bit Keyboard Cat, the latest look at the building blocks of Fez, and the low-bit d-pad block-tracer insanity of the WiiWare's latest Bit.Trip game.

Even better, we got a patch that will replace the lead character in your standard Super Mario Bros game with American Elf comic artist James Kochalka, listened to the latest NES rom flyer for NYC's ongoing chiptune showcase Pulsewave, and, finally, stepped away into more polygonal territory to take a deeper look at how Hand Circus's upcoming iPhone platformer Rolando 2 is leading some of the smartest social gaming campaigns in the App Store.

There was no discernible reason why Japanese developer AQI should have to parody Steve Jobs to announce a new version of their portable Korg DS-10 synthesizer, which makes the fact that they did (above) -- and pulled it off with pitch-perfect style -- all the more fantastic, and sets a high bar as one of the cutest game announcements in recent memory.

Elsewhere on Offworld, we saw more game/music crossovers, listening to the latest and most accessible chiptune/downtempo/glitch sampler for San Francisco's DUTYSTYLE III show, happening tonight at 8pm (check the post for full details), and finding Open Emu, a new modular Mac emulation system that's a boon for budding 8-bit VJs, as it lets you control both the visuals and the play of emulated games with audio and MIDI.

We also saw that early-oughts cult classic shooter Serious Sam (which shipped with our favorite cheat-mode of all time, turning gibs and blood splatter into hamburgers, fruit, and bursts of blooming flowers) was being remade for Xbox Live Arcade, and that EA/DICE's similarly tongue in cheek free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes had quietly gone live, and will likely be taking up the majority of our weekend (as it should yours).

And our 'one shot's of the day: the mathematical beauty of building pixel Invaders, the aching shoulder-slump of BioShock 2's original Big Daddy concept, the certifiably longest beard in gaming's history, and, of course, Michael Jackson, in memoriam.

Ragdoll Metaphysics columnist Jim Rossignol wonders if Microsoft has already basically won the battle for our living rooms, with the E3-announced convergence of upcoming Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and current Netflix integration in the Xbox 360, and whether, in the future, "rather than having to release a new console, the 360 just gets cheaper, and makes more sense to more people, because it does something that it didn't do before."

Elsewhere we released a new hi-res Offworld Gallery featuring the paintings of James Barnett, who's coined the term 'fauxvism' for his Matisse-ian takes on in-game panoramic landscapes from Half Life, Team Fortress and Fallout 3's Megaton (above), and got even more neo-classical with indie devs Tale of Tales intend to take on Oscar Wilde's Salome in interactive form.

We also got a double dose of Tetris developments with a wicked video on how Tetris blocks are made, and saw the game get its first pair of designer toys courtesy BE@RBRICK makers Medicom, saw new pets for your custom-printed World of Warcraft figurine, and, finally, were as surprised as anyone to find one indie iPhone developer release a clone of one of the original indie hits: thatgamecompany's flOw.

Finally, our 'one shot's for the day: LittleSoundDJ, the keyboard, and the worst Wario image you'll never be able to unsee.

You didn't think they just popped up on screen themselves, did you? Commercial animation by South Korea's WooDUS, who are also behind this vaguely Bubble Bobble-esque title animation.

Discuss this on Offworld

As any new or vet iPhone owner will know, trying to wade through the App Store's overwhelming selection of games and apps is a daunting process, so we've whipped together this guide to the first 15 games you should seek out, with another 30 to consider (from a wider variety of genres [shooting, word games]) thrown in for good measure, which should hopefully better ease you into what the device has to offer.

Elsewhere we looked at more iPhone games about to make their way to the store -- Hand Circus's trip into the savage/Indy Jones-ish wild in their Rolando sequel, and a revival of EA's classic board/strategy game Archon (which is indeed now live).

We also saw Rockstar's formerly DS-exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars making the leap to the new PSP Go, new stickers from Offworld-favorite illustrator Jon Burgerman coming to LittleBigPlanet, hand-crafted drink coasters to commemorate the worst day of your gaming life, and beautiful new King of Games T-shirts celebrating Q-games' PS3 PixelJunk franchise.

Finally, we listened to the chiptune remixes coming to the PS3 revival of Katamari Damacy, and our 'one shot's for the day: Fez, paused, and accidentally gorgeous long-exposure phone-cam photos of Galaga.

Kicking off a series of official posts for Sony's PlayStation blog on Namco's upcoming PS3 'tribute' release Katamari Forever, producer Kazuhito Udetsu relays a message from longtime series (and Noby Noby Boy) sound designer Yuu Miyake, who explains the process of collaborating with various Japanese acts to remix classic Katamari tracks.

Saying he wanted a split between 'organic' and 'electric' sounds, Miyake highlights oft-blogged NES-samplers YMCK and the chiptune swing of their "A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic" remix. Unfortunately, we don't get the whole track, but we do get enough to hear that it's going to be another must-buy collection.

Discuss this on Boing Boing Offworld

Recently on Offworld, One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson claims Sega owe her £400 for all the money she's sunk in to Sega's maraca-based rhythm game Samba De Amigo over the years, only to get something always broken in return. But still, she says, the original 1998 Dreamcast version, for its motion control and party-based underpinning's, it's "the most prescient project in videogame history", and she keeps returning because it's one of the games that continually showers her in praise.

Elsewhere we rounded up some of the most recent iPhone developments (and wondered if we were over- or under-covering the platform): Steph Thirion's boldly original and relentlessly lovely Eliss gets a free Lite version for all to try, Mobigames' trademark-disputed futurist Edge makes a sudden and unexplained return to the App Store, and we watched with wonder the first two minutes of Rolando 2.

We also saw art/film schlock reimagined as 8-bit games, including Lars Von Trier's Dancer In The Dark, and then discovered that there really will be a Von Trier game, as his latest and most controversial film Antichrist gets adapted for the PC, and listened to Bit Shifter's March of the Nucleotides.

Finally, our 'one shot's for the day: the littlest big billboards in Union Square, and French guerrilla artist Space Invader does neoclassical artist Ingres in pixels (above).

Recently on Offworld we saw indie devs Flashbang return with Crane Wars -- hands down their best game since Minotaur China Shop and likely to be the best indie game of the month -- which sees your staunchly union construction lot pitted against the loathsome scabs next door. It's very polished, very funny, and very well balanced between careful construction and wanton destruction as you fling flaming rubble into the scab lot to stymie their progress.

Elsewhere we also took a belated look at Fret Nice (above) -- a former Indie Games Fest finalist platformer played entirely with a Guitar Hero guitar -- which Tecmo has picked up for Xbox 360 and PS3 release, and saw how the 3.0 firmware has officially unlocked the iPhone's future of connected, social gaming.

We also read about the etymology of a seemingly endless list of video game characters, saw the fanciest new LED-lit Metroid figurine, and saw LittleBigPlanet go Druidistic, and had a lazyweb bullseye as we asked (and received!) a translation for this ultra-dryly funny and massively adorable Japanese 8-bit meme crossover.

And our 'one shot's for the day: Portal's Aperture Science vehicles spotted on the roads of Sweden (!), and Skinny Ships' fantastic work-in-progress retro-Zelda illustration.

Recently on Offworld we inadvertently had a very Mario day: in addition to Jude Buffum and Doctor Octoroc's wonderful 8-bit Keyboard Cat playing off a very unlucky Mario, we saw Greig Stewart's hacked up theremin that can play Super Mario Bros, and Justin White imagining -- in T-shirt form -- the inevitable Mushroom Kingdom retirement village, with all aged Mario stars wishing for a new 1-up lease on life.

White also brought us Busted Up Pokemon (above), which brings illustrated truth to the ultraviolent cockfighting course we have forced our beloved pets to walk over the past ten years, and we got two more updates from last weekend's J.otto Seibold art opening at Giant Robot: a look at the paintings Seibold created based on his indie game crossover with Kyle Pulver, and video of that self-same game, Jottobots, being projected and played on the outside wall of the gallery itself.

Finally, we saw a nice guide for indie devs looking to market themselves and their games on zero budget, and saw 5th Cell's handheld indie darling Scribblenauts give back to the fans, with a wallpaper-sized illustrated tribute to 'Post 217' -- the forum post that kicked off a wave of viral acclaim when a player wrote about how he had just (his emphasis) "TRAVELED THROUGH TIME AND JUMPED ON A DINOSAUR AND USED IT TO KILL MOTHERFUCKING ROBOT ZOMBIES."