Hello!

I am still getting emails and IMs from folks asking me why I haven't updated my blog since October 9th. The answer is this: WE MOVED, I TOLD YOU, AND YOU DIDN'T UPDATE YOUR LINKS!

Go to http://blog.wired.com/games or http://feeds.wired.com/gamelife/ and get yourself fixed up! We're doing lots and lots of bloggin' and we want you to be a part of it.

My own personal weekend thrift store runs were put on indefinite hiatus over the past few weeks, owing to Tokyo, Vegas, &c. Today I decided, just for the heck of it, to go out and see what I could find. Almost immediately, I turned up a Miracle Piano Teaching System (above), yet again adding fuel to the theory that I possess some kind of superhuman ability to find rare garbage at thrift stores.

More, including Code Name: Viper, after the jump.

Part of me wants the makers of SmackTalk for the Xbox 360 to die in a fire. Wait, did I say part of me? I meant every fiber of my being.

As if it wasn't already necessary to put an endless array of thirteen-year-olds on Mute when playing Xbox 360 games online, the people at GameDR have introduced SmackTalk, a device that lets annoying jerks program five sounds and play them back over and over through the 360's in-game voice chat until the rest of the players quit in disgust.

"Make wacked [sic] out clips to drive your opponents nuts!" says the website. Thanks, guys. Thanks so much.

Retro game collecting continues across the Interweb, but while I work down in the trenches, the gang at Racketboy wades into the mostly theoretical with a list of the top twenty Holy Grails of Game Collecting.

I was really impressed with this piece's balance -- it gives equal time to both the "golden age" (Atari, Intellivision) and "neo-classic" (Nintendo, Saturn) eras. Furthermore, games are mostly categorized according to their rarity, not their infamy (thus Chase the Chuckwagon is relegated to the runners-up list). And there's little to no misinformation or bullshit.

A public service announcement: Game|Life, your favorite source for video game news if you are my mom, is now hosted on Typepad. The blog.wired.com/games URL should put you there, so the only reason you should be seeing this message is if you're still pulling entries from the old wiredblogs.tripod.com/games URL.

That is to say that if you are seeing this message, you had betta' redirec' yo'self or update your RSS feed or Lord knows what you kids do with your computers.

Gitaroo-Man fans will be interested to know that one of the songs in the US release of the PSP game has been swapped out for a rare alternate version.

"Flyin' To Your Heart", the up-tempo J-pop melody in the second stage, has been replaced in the US version of Gitaroo-Man Lives! with an alternate version using entirely English language vocals.

The US version of the PlayStation 2 original used the Japanese-language track.

Don't worry -- this alternate version is pretty awesome. And performed by the same vocalist. I doubt anyone will fly into an uproar over this; indeed, Gitaroo-fans will likely be happy to get their hands on what used to be a very rare find.

Here: I have a little sample. 

The English version was recorded back in the day, but used only in the Korean release of the PS2 game.

Anyway, this news comes courtesy of the fact that right on the heels of the release date announcement, Koei sent out reviewable builds of Gitaroo-Man Lives! for PSP.

Apart from the English translation and voiceovers (the same as the PS2 version, meaning slightly off-kilter but in an appropriate way), this version plays identically to the Japanese one thus far.

Full review whenever I'm done.

Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2, which includes twenty more classic arcade games, will ship for PS2 and Xbox on November 14.

One of the games, an arcade quiz game called Quiz and Dragons, will feature the original vintage set of multiple-choice questions as well as a brand new set of Capcom-specific trivia.

Capcom sent us five sample questions. How much of a Capcom fanatic are you? Answers after the jump.

Wired magazine's definitive article this month on the Gizmondo disaster is fantastic not just for its in-depth reportage of the whole mess, but for the array of accompanying original artwork, featuring stylish depictions of the Ferrari crash, the launch concert, and the major players.

Grab the October issue of Wired on newsstands now, or check out the (six-page!) piece online. 

I say "gamer girls," not that I think any of the models in the 2006 Nerdcore Calendar actually play games. I'm surprised that one's holding the Game Boy with the right end facing up. Fully uncensored dekobunned pics at the order page, where you can buy this calendar for $25, guaranteed delivery before the holidays.

I'll stick with my Mutts calendar for now, because I sometimes like having people over to visit my apartment. 

Reader "Chris" -- not me, although I did have a badass temporary tattoo of Toad this one time -- who writes in to say that he got this design and documented it on video to win a ticket to the PlayStation Premiere event in LA on November 8.  He writes:

Playstation Underground is holding a contest and sending 10 lucky winners to the 
PS3 Premiere Party in Los Angeles. Winners get a PS3…so having neither the 
finances of resources necessary to secure my own at launch I decided to enter 
the contest.

If you want to enter, you don't necessarily have to have PlayStation branding permanently etched into your flesh. An essay or sonnet about your feelings and PlayStation will suffice. My entry, a haiku about Lair, is below:

Arms twitch wildly
The dragon does not notice
Turn around, asshole