OK, only Halloweenies stay home and play video games on a night like October 31st, but as long as you've got a bag of candy corn and a mug of cider, the Halloween vibe can last for quite a while.  So in honor of the most sugar-laden holiday around, let's take a look at the best video games to play on Halloween.

[Author's note: Survival horror games have been excluded from this article since they're too obvious of choices.]

So I'm still hung up on Fallout 3.  Apparently, investing 100+ hours (and counting!) and reviewing the Game of the Year edition has not dampened my enthusiasm one iota.  And amidst my prolonged hours of setting Ghouls on fire and taking down the Enclave, it occurred to me that I hadn't been playing the game as it would have played out in life.

Many of you are already familiar the varied interactions and missions in Fallout 3 that are contingent upon your player's "karma", i.e. the summation of the moral decisions they've made throughout the course of the game.  While early on I'd made the decision to act "good" so as to reap the benefits and rewards contained therein, in many cases I was acting in direct opposition to my own instinct.  Not only did this strike me as hypocritical (a character only acting good for their own benefit can hardly be considered sincere) but it also didn't align with who I am personally.  In fact, as far as choosing my personal alignment (a staple of any good D&D based game) I realized that I'm really more on the "chaotic neutral" side of things.  It got me to wondering and I want to hear from you--

What's your "alignment" in real life?  And when it comes to gaming, do you deny or indulge it?

Gran Turismo for the PSP was announced right around the time the original PSP was, so to say this game was a long time coming would be a severe understatement. Polyphony Digital has always taken it's sweet ass time putting out Gran Turismo games though.... so are any of us really surprised? Well, it's finally out now just in time to celebrate the 4th version of the PSP, the GO. So that means it's available on UMD and as a digital download. But is it worth the entrance fee, or is this a race you'd be better off not lining up for?

When Forza 2 hit store shelves back in early 2007, it was a surprise success.  No one had ever taken on Gran Tursimo before and held their own, but the developers at Turn 10 had clearly pulled it off.  Combining great simulation gameplay with a selection of more than 300 cars and some insanely detailed custom design options, Forza 2 was the talk of the season.  It was even enough to push Microsoft's other racing franchise, PGR, out of the limelight later that year.

But I was a PGR fan through and through.  The endless hours of tweaks and customization and unforgiving controls of games like Forza had never really appealed to me.  That's why I was so surprised -- and delighted -- to discover Forza Motorsport 3 has taken a decidedly casual turn.

The MIDI protocol was designed to allow for two-way communication between devices.  Thanks to this forward thinking (the protocol was designed in '82), musicians can now daisy chain an ass-ton of devices and have them all communicate with each other.  But what does this have to do with chiptunes?  The Game Boy only has a standard audio output (or a patch cable output if you get a Pro Sound mod), so it can't communicate with MIDI instruments, right?  Actually, with the use of a converter box, it can.  Hit the link for some videos demonstrating a Game Boy loaded with LSDJ being controlled via MIDI.

Hi, I'm Holly, and I'm a Fallout 3 addict. (Hi, Holly!) I've been playing Fallout 3 for a couple of weeks now. I'm 90 hours in to my first game and refer to FO3 as "my digital boyfriend". I heard news of the Game of the Year edition about a week or so after I started playing (with a borrowed disc, shame on me) so, the timing could not have been more perfect. $100 worth of content for half the price (or thereabouts, in the case of XBOX 360 and PS3).  Who was I to say no?

What follows is less a review of Fallout 3 and more a review of the 5 expansions that take this take this Game of the Year edition from ho-hum re-release to must-buy compilation.

Since I'm sure this will be wiped off Etsy soon, it should be recorded here for posterity. This Pac-Man themed tobacco (cough) smoking receptacle will set you back $64.99.Which in stoner currency, is like, 6 grams, at least.

[Etsy]

If you had told me 6 months ago that come fall I'd be singing the praises of a Need for Speed game. I'd have said you were out of your damned mind.  The series had always held a lukewarm interest for me at best, and completely lost me when they made the switch to street racing more than half a decade ago.  But then something happened.  Their attitude ...shifted.  Their direction ... shifted.  Last month EA released the appropriately titled Need for Speed: Shift, and the title couldn't have been more apt.

Unlike the last 6 or so iterations of the Need for Speed franchise that focused on urban locales and shady situations, Shift brings the NFS name onto real world tracks with real world drivers.  In essence, this is EA's attempt to play with the big boys.  Working their own niche as they have for the past few years is one thing, but Shift boldly calls out the big names in real world racing with it's new direction.  There's no doubt that this is EA's attempt to create a third-party answer to major racing franchises like Forza and Gran Turismo, but does the game deliver on it's promise to hold it's own in the face of such storied competition?  Short answer, "ish."  Long answer, "not really, but..."

I've always loved Arcade Art and her amazing ability to turn pixel sprites into hang-able art.  While I'm typically not too impressed with 8-bit paintings as a whole, these have a flair to them that makes them stand out and earn my oh so prestigious title of "fucking awesome."  One of these days I'm gonna have to get around to commissioning a piece from her. 'Til then, I spell out my love by blogging her every move across the web. Nice work, Donna!

[Etsy]