I got this letter from a reader named Michael this morning, and I just wanted to share it with you guys. I'm sure you get a lot of worthless thank-you e-mails constantly, but I felt like I needed to let you know how great of a thing you are doing for all those sick kids.

Our friends over at Garrison Titan will be at the Toys 'r' Us in Bellevue collecting toys for Child's Play, from 10am to 4pm here's the address:

Imagine if both outcomes of a coin toss represented unmitigated tragedy. Then, imagine that we had created a comic about just such a scenario.

Good news! Amazon has fixed the Wish List problem we were having and you are now free to purchase items from third party vendors. That means that you can finally purchase video games and systems for the kids. The main idea behind Child's Play has always been to get games to kids who need them and now we can do it.

First of all everything Tycho said about MGS 3 is right on the money. If you want to know what the game is like but you don’t want to buy it, here’s what you do. Go out into your backyard and lay down in the grass for fifteen hours. Every twenty minutes have a friend come out and step on your balls. That will give you a pretty good idea of what MGS 3 is like.

Now that Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 have joined Halo 2 and the sequel to Metroid Prime, the dark conjunction can finally begin.

The World of Warcraft Strategy guide should be in stores tomorrow. I mentioned a few days ago that the book is full of original comic strips by Tycho and I. So we're going to go to our local EB around lunch and sign all the copies they have. If you want to, you can come by and say hi. We'll be at the EB in the Northgate mall around 12:30. Or you should be able to drop in there later and at least pick up an autographed copy.

Every big charity always has a fancy dinner and auction. We figure that just because we're gamers doesn't mean we can't get dressed up for one night and act like we're a bunch of fancy high society types. So with that in mind I'd like to invite you to the Child's Play 2004 charity dinner and auction - December 9th in Bellevue Washington.

Misbehaving with a game's physics system is one of life's great pleasures. Don't think about the domination of your species by hostile aliens and their earthly commissars for a little while. Take a moment to hit someone you don't know with a box of delicious chow mein! Smash your downtrodden fellow man with a glass jug. You'll thank me later.

***** SUPER UPDATE!!!*****

I was going to ask him to draw a picture of Samus actually, because as I said before it really has latched on to me, much as the creatures themselves might.

I was supposed to be working on a bunch of crap today but instead I drew this picture of Samus. Click on the thumbnail for a high res version.

If you attend NYU and you are a fan of the webcomics, you might want to stop by the Kimmel Center at 7:00pm on November 17. There will be a webcomics panel with the lord of all hipsters, Mr. R. Stevens as well as Jeph Jacques and Squidi. Man I really wish I could see this shit. If anyone goes and can take a little video or something I’d be forever in your debt.

I'm thinking there must be some kind of Noon embargo on them, because Gamespot's got a timer going. It looks like their server is getting the shit beat out of it, but the review should be here when the huns let up a bit. If it's an emargo thing, and not an exclusivity thing, there should be more scattered about as well.

Here is a little Half-Life 2 comic for you. I'm writing this post at 11:30pm on Sunday, wondering idly to myself whether the game I have purchased on Steam (as well as the one some readers purchased in stores) will become available at midnight tonight, on the 15th, which is technically the "ship" date. Since it has already been "shipped" in a sense, and since most stores have the fucking thing and are just being told not to sell it, the term is absolutely incoherent anyhow. Basically, I'm wondering if I'll be up doing the same thing tomorrow night.

Gamespot's "Final Hours Of" articles have always really entertained me, and they've got one up for HL2 today. Gonna head over there now.