“Last month the worldwide effort to thwart the illegal copying and sales of video games took a turn to the draconian, with a number of publishers introducing new measures that often seemed to impact legitimate gamers as much as pirates.

France-based Ubisoft rolled out a new form of digital rights management that require players of their PC games to stay online at all times to play. Japan-based Sony tested out a new system that would require people purchasing one of their Playstation Portable games used to pay an extra $20 to play online. And Nintendo, taking a page from the music industry, levied a $1.5 million dollar suit against an Australian for copying their games.”

Read more at Kotaku

Now that’s what I call a deal.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks can be bought from Wal-Mart’s online store, walmart.com. Who would’ve thought we’d get such a great price this early in the product’s life? If you haven’t purchased your copy yet, this is the time to do it. $25 shouldn’t be passed up. The site didn’t say when the sale would expire.

Update

It looks like Amazon.com has the better deal. For $25, you get the game plus free shipping.

This video makes me want to play a Lego version of The Legend of Zelda. Will it ever happen? I doubt it, but you can never really tell with Nintendo. Before they do a Lego Zelda, they’d probably go with an 8-bit Zelda.

The College of New Jersey took chalking to the next level with video game art and 8-bit of nostalgia, titled “Thank You for Playing”.

When I was in college, student organizations would chalk sidewalks for upcoming events and to make announcements. I’ve heard, though, that some universities did not allow for chalking. At the time, this included the University of Texas at Austin. I’m not sure if that is still the case. But, I can say that I love UT Austin. I love Austin, in general. This is without even discussing their powerhouse football and basketball teams.

Wow… tangent. My point is that I am very happy that the school allowed students to express their love for video games in this way.

The chalk art done by students at the College of New Jersey is simply amazing. It may not be fit for any metropolitan museum, but to a fan of video games, it brings back memories.

Let’s face it, if any gamer found the Black Mage while looking for Waldo, I don’t think they’d be upset. The set also includes characters from the games Bubble Bobble, Excitebike, Donkey Kong, and… Mega Man.

If you’re asking, “Who?” Please direct yourself to Wikipedia.

Here is the flickr set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7660214@N03/sets/72157600063385069/