I think that by now it is obvious, even to me, that this blog has rolled down the slope of my audience's attention span, and that it is time for me to push it back up, the way Sisyphus is forever pushing his boulder up a hill in the realm of the dead. Even my blogging service has decided to start dropping some not-so-subtle hints.

Although I must say the empty blog has a kind of charm, plus it is evoking more comments than in the days of yore when it was festooned with more thoughtful entries.

But anyway. It's not as if nothing interesting has been happening in the games biz. Although I have been procrastinating like a madman where the writing of entries is concerned, I did still collect various fun little items.

For instance, there is this BBC story on the virtual girlfriend running on a mobile phone, developed by a company in Hong Kong. This story offers a treasure chest of tropes: love, sex, the virtualisation of life, the Far East. References to Tamagotchi and William Gibson jump to mind, along with droll comparisons with real girlfriends. But I trust you, dear reader, to be smart enough to see the rich and multi-faceted nature of this story yourself, without me stating the obvious or pretending I have any kind of strong opinion on stories like these.

While I'm on the subject of virtual women: the October issue of Playboy magazine features many female video game characters in states of undress. Allegedly. If you didn't know about this yet, you can read the details on CNN.

Boy, I do seem to have a lot of quasi-disreputable links lying around. This brings back memories of the good old Everquest porn days. It took me years to get Google to stop sending people my way who were into that stuff.

Anyway. How about these NES controller hot pants? Is this officially licensed Nintendo merchandise? Better order some before their lawyer SWAT team comes crashing through the window.

And here is what you get when you mix Barbie, live xxx chat, and Eliza, with a hint of subservient chicken thrown in. It's good for a smile or two, especially if you turn on the audio. That is some seriously cheesy music. Oh, some of the ads are not entirely work-safe.

Well, I think that should be enough to disperse any fond memories you might have had of a weblog with entries that managed to be relevant, edifying and witty at the same time. Those days are past, my friend.