I am, in fact, not dead. Although I do have a cold. Some random stuff to prove I am at least physically present:

• Thad exposes the truth behind the PS3 concept graphic that can be found on many respectable sites.
• How to use a hacked Xbox as a media center.
• Have you ever come across something about 'gaming' only to find out it was about 'gambling'? Wired has an article about people who design gambling videogames for casinos.
• You may already have heard of this: Underage prostitution for real money in The Sims Online, and subsequent censorship by EA. Here's an interview with one of the evildoers. More commentary and meta-commentary can be found on Terra Nova. Update: Another interview.
• Tweaking NPC AI - in Lord Of The Rings.
• I still love weird peripherals. And I think there may be a future for these things. Interoperability + Personalisation + Branding.
• Augmented reality Quake. Augmented reality rules - it just seems like the way to go. I was brainstorming about things like this back at Kalisto, when we had a patent on the use of live data from sports events.
• EA Canada is hiring - away from Radical Entertainment, as it happens. After Ubisoft Montreal, now this.
• Several companies are now doing things with the combination of Gamecube and Gameboy.