Wow, it really _has_ been a while since I got to trawl through the ol' Bloglines, and so I will now do so and present the random game link-based results to you. Let's go party!

- The Zombies, They Are Slinky!: OK, I was attracted to this 3PointD post because it's titled 'The Erotic Zombies of Second Life', but it has an interesting report on the virtual world, discussing "...a new phenomenon in “camping chairs.” These are usually located at nightclubs, and allow users to earn a trickle of Linden dollars (usually something less than L$50 an hour, that last time I looked) simply for parking one’s avatar’s butt in a chair and remaining there for a period of time.... But as Tateru writes, some club owners have recently started installing camping objects that put users’ avatars through the paces of erotic dance." Very odd.

- Grumble, Grumble, Linden: But on the subject of SL, Scott 'Broken Toys' Jennings does a little Second Life backlash of his own, questioning a World of Warcraft-baiting comment by a Linden VP, and grinning: "That’s not to say that SL doesn’t do cool things. It does. And it’s a good start at where social MMOs should go. But given the amount of media love and concurrent scrutiny, slapping the market leader with your SL marketplace-purchased “attachment” should only be done if, you know, you can back your attachment up. With, you know. Facts." Oh, and Tony Walsh points out Clay Shirky doing the same - it's pile on time!

- Orbital Thunks Back To Earth: Myself and Jeremy Parish have been some of the more rabid cheerleaders for Orbital Media, the Canadian indie GBA/DS developer which has had some pretty tragic delays for its original IP, often gorgeous-looking pixel-strewn titles. Unfortunately, according to eToychest, Juka and The Monophonic Menace just ain't that good - though the overall average is quite a bit better. Stuff like Scurge: Hive didn't fare spectacularly, and I think Orbital has sputtered to a stop in the handheld arena already.

- Designing The Death Star: Greg Costikyan points out "...a new little Flash game called Death Star Designer, as a promotion for Ubi's Star Wars: Lethal Alliance. I like the basic concept (who doesn't want to build the galaxy's most powerful battle station?); the basic implementation, though is "spreadsheet + leaderboard." You've got a trillion credits to spend." It's almost Kevin Smith-esque in its simplicity!

- Boo, Sony, Boo: A couple of people, particularly Admiral Zorg, have linked me this, given my previous ire over Sony's viral PR tactics, so I should probably link to PressTheButtons' explanation of it: "Sony is "down" with all us "gamerz", usin' our street "vernacularz" to show off their mad marketing "skillz". This time around the company hired viral marketing firm Zipatoni to put together a website/blog to praise the PlayStation Portable for the holidays." And then gamers found out, and then OUCH.

- Luigi Strikes Back: Via Fort90, I really have no idea what is going on with the intense scariness that is 'Super Mario Galaxy: Luigi Strikes Back', illustrated in remarkable fashion. Lots more insane fan-art if you click through.

- Console Classix, Xplained: Vintage Computing has an extremely in-depth review of Console Classix, which "could best be described as “the world’s first online video game rental service.”" It "takes advantage of a loophole in copyright law that all movie and video game rental stores use: it’s legal to lend a legally obtained (i.e. bought) copy of a movie or game to someone else". Sounds a little... borderline, to me, but there's an interview with creator Aaron Ethridge which explains more.

- You Remember The Genesis?: Over at Namako Team, Jiji has been checking out a bunch of Sega Genesis games - and why, indeed, shouldn't he? Here's the second part of the same, including Turrican: "It's easy to see this game's influences, and not surprising to find them in a European game, but what is somewhat surprising is how well they're blended. There's a lot of Metroid in its level structure and secrets, but the powerups and stage-to-stage flow are mostly Contra."