Over the weekend I'm headed to the VGA's in a similar frame of mind. The actual awards come across to me as sort of secondary to the TV show spectacle and debut of exclusive trailers. Yet I look forward to being there out of curiosity to see the event.

For all the work that goes into games they certainly merit more recognition than these curiosities afford. To be sure, there are more considered awards such as those given by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at D.I.C.E. each year. But more academic events such as this come off a little reserved. It would be interesting to me if we could establish a middle ground and in so doing a real standard bearer for the industry. Of course that's just what we need -- another freaking set of awards. And it's not like any site is going to give up doing their own awards; there's way too much traffic to be had!

Wonder if we could win any awards for today's news:

• Team Fortress 2 'War' Update: Soldier vs. Demoman
• Modern Warfare 2 Patch Fixes Javelin Exploit
• New Diablo 2 Patch Enters Testing, Brings Respecs
• Final Fantasy 13 Screenshots: Are You Serious?
• Metacritic Publishes First Annual Game Platform Power Rankings

If you've got a suit handy but haven't figured out where to don it maybe you want to get in on the Santa flashmobbery.

There's nothing wrong with you know pointing out when someone has something in their hair or whatever but Sarah Jessica Parker broke down and did Hugh Grant's nails on set -- ick.

Looks like it's all good in early reviews for Avatar

Dan Ackerman did a nice selection of 20 games fit to run on a new netbook

And tis the season so I send you into the weekend with the Muppets: Ringing of the Bells