It's only a matter of time before these homebrew hackers just make and market their own console.

Sure, it started off simple. A trailer here, a trailer there - we weren't missing much. After all, if I wanted to see trailers for the latest Hollywood drivel I'd probably be in the theater often enough to see them where they were meant to be seen.

Then came the gamerpics. Again, not a huge deal, but I paid my $8 to see Nacho Libre - so why in the hell couldn't I have Jack Black as my gamerpic? My friends south of the border sure could (and by that, I don't mean Mexico.) The dry spell continued. Family Guy pics? I could spend $100 on the DVD's to help get the show back on the air, but apparently that's not enough to afford me a measly Stewie gamerpic to float in front of my tag.

For the most part, the lack of content has been tied to film and TV. As such it's hard to blame Microsoft for what's transpired. Until today the only complaint I've had about direct negligence from our Seattle-based overlords was connected to the only piece of Canadian-exclusive content we've had so far. Back in the first half of this year they held a vote on xbox.ca to determine which of two gamerpics would be released for Canada Day on July 1st. The problem? The selected gamerpic didn't show up on the marketplace until the end of the summer. Better late than never, I guess.

So how are we in the Great White North celebrating the first anniversary of our beloved XBox 360's? Not with downloadable content, that's for sure. I've been waiting on pins and needles for the chance to rabidly devour the 360's new VOD-style service - but as I woke up this morning and fired up my big white beast, I was greeted by the same Live interface I've always been.

Well, at least there's Small Arms.

Editors/Writers:

Writers:

Friends of ours:

Presenting Paul, John, Ringo and George... The Fab 4!

I'm a happy man these days. After years of trying and trying I found a videogame system that my girlfriend enjoys playing. It's not that she doesn't like videogames, they're just intimidating if you don't play that often. Enter the Wii. She loves Wii bowling.

But her true talents lie in the Mii creation. To put it shortly, she's damn good at it.

You heard me right ladies and gentlemen, we're giving away a copy of each of the brand new XBOX 360 games available at Burger King. Sneak King, Big Bumpin' and Pocket Bike Racer. They may have cost me $3.99 a piece but they can be yours for the low low low price of on-the-house!

Some sites out there makes you jump through all kinds of hoops to enter a contest, not here. I'm going to use our rules from our last contest, entering is easy as all get-out. Here are the rules:

• This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Put "BK Contest" in the subject line

• Type something into the email. A story, haiku, joke (dirtier the better), one-liner, pick-up line, put-down, cool website link, recipe, your SAT scores, WHATEVER. I don't pick a winner by what you type in but there's definitely points for creativity (and I post the best ones here on the site). Last time someone wrote the directions off a shampoo bottle (brilliant).

• Don't include your mailing address or anything, I'll ask you for it if you win.

• Tell your friends about the site!

• Remember, type something into the body of the email. Blank emails are discarded.

• I'll pay shipping to anywhere in the world. No cost to you whatsoever.

• Contest ends on December 1st at midnight, so get those entries in before then.

3 games enter. 1 man leaves. will it be you?

(if I get a good amount of entries I'll buy another set of the games and have 2 winners)

So we're 1 year in on the 360's lifespan, what have your favorite games for the system been over the past year?

Name: Small Arms

Price: 800 Points

Available in: All Xbox Live regions

Dash Details: Single Player, Xbox Live Multiplayer 1-4, HD (High Definition). Can’t get enough brawling and shooting action? Buy Small Arms to unlock all the levels, characters, and mini games. Get linked into the Small Arms community and earn a Six Degrees of Small Arms achievement! Can you beat the single-player mission? Conquer your friends on your couch or over Xbox Live? Are you ready to check the leaderboards and claim your bragging rights? Then don’t delay - buy Small Arms now!

Do you guys and gals out there prefer original games or the retro ones? Anyone out there picking this one up?

[via Major Nelson]

I love that Nintendo decided to pack-in a game, but why not put it in a proper case?? I gotta admit I was a little bummed opening my Wii system up to find that the Wii Sports disc was housed in the same kind of package usually reserved for AOL demo discs.

Well The Cover Project, a site we profiled a few weeks back for their quest to provide case art for all your old games, are back with a vengence. They've got available for download case art for the game-in-a-slipcase "Wii Sports". What this means is that we can now let the game take it's proper place among or other games on the shelf, and not be relegated to lying on it's side or "blending in so no-one can see it" status.

4 Color Rebellion has a great solution for the white Wii case problem as well. Either buy them from Nintendo direct or just head down to target and but a few of those 1 cent preview DVD's they're selling.

[4cr via Destructoid]

Well, today in my inbox I get another letter from the ESA, apologizing for sending the letter and acknowledging my 1st Amendment right to post the news as I see fit. The letter says in part:

The ESRB Rating Icons are valuable trademarks of ESA, and we must be vigilant in protecting them against unauthorized commercial uses, lest our trademark rights become diluted. At the same time, we also understand and respect the First Amendment rights of those who, like bitsbytespixelssprites disseminate news and information.

That said, we have taken a second look at this issue and concluded that bitsbytespixelssprites was reporting on a product in the marketplace, and is not involved in distributing or marketing this product, and thus did not engage in any conduct sufficient to trigger the issuance of the cease and desist letter we sent. Please accept our apologies. I am happy to discuss this with you further if you so desire.

I'm really glad to see they wised up and backed away. It's better to be friends with the people that report the news than to try and make enemies. They never should've bothered me in the first place about it but I'm truly and honestly appreciative of the ESA for the letter. No bull.

Below is a picture of Rayman from the new Wii game, "Rayman's Raving Rabbids". The shot on the left is Rayman in his normal outfit. The shot on the right is him in his gangsta apparel.

Yes they change his skin tone when you put on the gangsta costume.

Yes it's a little Fraked up.

Another shot after the jump