I like both games but then I’m cheap and usually patch together several different thrift store purchases to make up one working game. However if I was ever to really want to go all out and get all fancy I’d definitely consider these really dressed up versions of Scrabble and Monopoly from Zontik.

Scrabble – $3,955.00

Here’s some of the reasons for that jaw-dropping price:

• Silver or gold embossing under a nickel plated grid
• leather bound letter racks
• felt drawstring letter bag
• letter squares made of butterfly bridle-hide
• mounted on a concealed Lazy Susan base.

Monopoly – $4,290.00 to $7,570.00

Damn that’s hurtful on the pocketbook but then I guess if you are ordering this you shouldn’t be asking the price. Some of what you are getting for your money:

• each of the 70 inlays are embossed in silver or gold
• felt lined game piece storage under the playing surface
• Game pieces available in: pewter, sterling silver or silver-gilt
• leather dice cups
• leather bound bank boxes

I sure hope that this doesn’t happen to you as you play with your new Dell laptop that you got for Christmas. Unfortunately though for one woman her Dell Mini 9 started making popping sounds, then began to hiss and sizzle – not good – and the room filled with smoke.

Just to ease your mind Dell has replaced the laptop.

hat tip to Mike Elgan

The team behind NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has gotten into the Christmas spirit with a new video showing a mash of Saturn’s Moons to some light music from The Nutcracker Suite.

I’m a sucker for space imagery, and this pushes all the right buttons. Enjoy:

(video via Wired)

As fans may already know, the Yule log broadcast that has been much improved with the advent of HDTVs and flatscreens runs generally for a four hour period on local stations like New York’s WPIX.

But now that we’ve all got fancy-schmancy iPhones, iPods and dazzling widescreen laptops, you can port the Yule Log experience to the dinner table or in the evening over Christmas tequila. WPIX in New York, originators of the Yule Log tradition, are offering downloads of the iconic clip for iPods and iPhones. (You can also shout out the log on Twitter, @PIXYULELOG.)

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!!!… Wait, that’s just me!
1:12 PM Dec 21st from web

I’m on FIRE! #Yule #wpix
about 2 hours ago from Tweetie

The clip below is good for looping if you want the Yule Log at your dinner, and you can read about the history of the tradition here:

May all your prawns be fresh, your beer cold, and the weather not too hot until Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas from the team at The Inquisitr.

22-year-old Jeremiah Gilliam of the Bronx is heavy on criminal tendencies, but a little light on gray matter. Police recently raided Gilliam’s flat and nabbed him for carrying out almost 200 car larcenies and a good few burglaries.

Amongst the mountain of stolen property found on the premises, the police found a crucial clue that had enabled them to obtain a search warrant and secure Gilliam’s arrest: an Xbox 360 that the thief stole, and then hooked up to Xbox Live to play games online – d’oh! Gilliam took the console online on November 11th, so police got in touch with Microsoft and Gilliam’s Internet provider to catch their man.

A truly heart-warming reminder of human stupidity to finish on just before Christmas Day. Have a good one, everybody!

[LoHud.com, via HotBloodedGaming]

Some gifts are cool.

Some are downright fantastic.

Some are stupid.

And then you have the Razor Phone and I don’t mean the newest offering from Motorola either. No this one is an actual functioning razor and cellphone combination out of Japan.

What really had me do a double take was the main ad image for this ‘thing’. Damn if the mash-up doesn’t resemble a certain famous lady’s man blogger from over the big pond.

That aside I’m warning you Santa – this thing shows up under our tree in the morning – you and I are done for good.

hat tip to DVICE

I don’t know if they do, or if they ever will as they take over the world, but in the meantime here are some great images of robots gathered from around the web by the crew at Creative Fan (who has a lot more of the great images).

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Another Nortel Networks asset was successfully sold on Wednesday following the signing of an agreement between Nortel and Texas-based Genband to purchase the bankrupt Canadian telecom firm’s carrier Voice over Internet Protocol and application solutions business.

The deal is worth $282 million, but subject to valance sheet and other adjustments estimated at $100 million. Like other Nortel assets that were auctioned, the VoIP sale is a stalking horse asset agreement. It would cover all of Nortel’s assets in North America, Caribbean, Latin America and Asian Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions business.

Nortel President for CVAS business Samih Elhage said in a statement, “The proposed transaction represents a clear and positive step forward for Nortel’s CVAS customers, employees, and business. Today’s announcement is a strong endorsement of our continued leadership in the Carrier VoIP market where we have held the Number 1 position since 2002.”

Nortel, like its previous auction to Ericsson, Avaya and other buyers of its different businesses, will submit the Genband deal to U.S. and Canadian courts for approval.

More boringly, there’s also a ton of shirts and hoodies – head here to see what’s on offer. Items start at 160 Microsoft Points.

[Xbox Live Marketplace, via Joystiq]

From store front windows to Christmas parades around the world everyone gets into the spirit in their own way. For social media sites whose logos are their window to the world their logos are getting spruce up with some holiday spirit. Here’s just some of the logos that have been Christmas-ized.

It’s the end of a year and a decade, so if you read a lot of gaming sites, it’s likely you’ll be bumping into “best of lists” every way you turn. These are usually based on writer opinions, and typically consist of a very samey “safe” canon of games. But what does science say? Or more specifically, what does score aggregator site Metacritic?

While the best reviewed games of the decade do contain games from the aforementioned canon, a few are titles that no games writer would ever dare to rank so highly – I can’t see Out of the Park Baseball 2007 featuring heavily in such countdowns, for example. And that number one? Totally out of left-field.

1. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – 98
2. Grand Theft Auto IV – 98
3. Perfect Dark – 97
4. NFL 2K1 – 97
5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 – 97
6. Halo – 97
7. Metroid Prime – 97
8. Grand Theft Auto III – 97
9. Super Mario Galaxy – 97
10. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – 96
11. Half-Life 2 – 96
12. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 96
13. Resident Evil 4 – 96
14. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 96
15. BioShock – 96
16. The Orange Box – 96
17. Out of the Park Baseball 2007 – 96
18. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 96
19. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn – 95
20. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 95

Is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 really the best game of the decade? Probably not (and there’s no danger of the latest Tony Hawk game making top spot in anything), but this list does tell us something interesting about the hype that surrounds games at their time of release – and also about the benefits of cold, sober reflection years later.

[Via MCV]

After an initial announcement that the Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader was unlikely to arrive in time to fulfill gift orders for Christmas, it appears that B&N got their act together and Santa’s coming with Nooks after all.

After announcing earlier in the week that empty-handed gift-givers would be placated with $100 Barnes and Noble gift cards, something changed and the company announced that only a “small number” of those waiting for Christmas shipments would be receiving the gift cards in lieu of their Nook:

Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble, said the New York-based chain last week expected to issue “a very small number” of online certificates. However, the retailer has now concluded that it will fulfill its obligations for Christmas.

“We’re pleased to tell our customers today that we’re shipping out all our orders in time,” she said.

Barnes and Noble refused to say how many Nooks were shipped for Christmas. New orders are suspended for now, and more Nooks aren’t expected to ship until February 1st, 2010. As James pointed out, Amazon has a whole bunch of Kindles you can just order, and they send them out to you.

Police officers in San Jose, CA will soon be recording all of their “civilian” interaction with the help of a head mounted AXON camera that will be used to record all civilian interactions officers take part in.

When not in use officers will be able to place the camera in a “buffer” mode that will only record a limited amount of video, or if they choose turn the video camera off.  After an officers shift is completed they simply plug their headset camera into a computer and download the video they’ve captured to a centralized server.

The video is being used to keep an eye on officers in the field, while also providing valuable information about individuals who may resist arrest or otherwise act illegally in front of officers.

There’s still no word on how long the video will be stored, however with 24 hours in a day and hundreds of police officers on duty in San Jose, we have to assume it won’t sit around hogging valuable hard drive space for too long unless needed. [Gizmodo]

Going by Google searches, a whole heck of a lot of you need to pick up some last minute gifts.

It’s cool, we’re not judging. If you need something physical, most Target stores across the country are staying open until 7pm for all your last minute gifting needs. Wal-Mart and Toys ‘r’ Us are going the extra distance, trapping employees in retail hell in most locations until at least 8pm. (Liquor stores generally stay open part of the day as well, and a bottle of wine is usually a well-received hostess gift.)

A modern option that is often overlooked is e-gift cards. Pharmacies and convenience stores often carry a selection of cards to put a credit inside, but even e-mailing word to a previously neglected recipient will totally cover your ass for Christmas. The options are likely to far outstrip the things left on the shelf at places like Target, and you can tailor the shopping destination to the recipient.

Macy*s, Victoria’s Secret, Sephora, Zappos and Kohl’s are among the retailers who offer the service. Amazon is a shining example of the practice in all its glory, allowing several gifting options such as emailing, mailing or printing gift credits for last minute gift recipients. So take heart, you don’t have to present someone special you overlooked with a half gallon of milk and a fistful of sweaty lottery tickets. You’re welcome.

Brittany Murphy– who died on Sunday (Dec 20) after suffering a cardiac arrest, aged just 32 – will be buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles this evening, but her estranged father, Angelo Bertolotti, won’t be present because he doesn’t want to see her dead body.

He said: “I was very shocked by her death. I can’t believe it really. It happened so fast, I’m just trying to figure it all out right now. I’m very upset by it.

“If I wanted to go to the funeral I would go, but I don’t want to see her that way. She was flawless to me. She was a little bright child. I have only good memories about her. She’s a memory to me now. To me she’s off making a movie somewhere.”

Angelo hadn’t spoken to his daughter for over a year and never met her British screenwriter husband Simon Monjack – who she wed in 2007 following a whirlwind romance.

Since she died, there has been much speculation about Brittany’s use of prescription drugs and weight issues.

Ten different types of medication were confiscated from her bedroom after she was found collapsed in the shower of her Los Angeles home at the weekend.

However, Angelo, 83, is certain the actress was well and not suffering from any serious medical conditions.

He told ‘E!’: “She had a couple of issues but nothing was that serious. Her mother Sharon never told me anything like that. She never said she had anything like was listed in the papers.”

The list of drugs taken by investigators included anxiety pills, painkillers and depression tablets.

Brittany’s ceremony at the Hollywood cemetery – which is where the late ‘Thriller’ singer Michael Jackson was laid to rest earlier this year – is set to be a “strictly private” event.

Ben Heck isn’t the only person who can take an Xbox 360, hack it into pieces and then put it back together with a new look that makes us wonder why Microsoft hasn’t hired him to do their design work, now a member of Bens forums has released their own Mod and it looks SWEEET!

The new Xbox 360 laptop features a red and black color scheme with a huge giant X on the top of the lid, a throwback gesture to the original Xbox release.  The laptop is then powered by five fans which give a “wind tunnel” sound to the unit, another aspect “enjoyed’ by Xbox 360 users.

Engadget says the creator even followed thier how to guide for modding the Xbox 360, whatever guide they followed one thing is for certain, it actually looks like a really professional portable version of the system.

Here’s a few more images of the Xbox 360 Mod:

If you ever needed a sure sign of how delusional the battle against new media from News Corp has become, news today suggests that Rupert Murdoch believes himself to be Julius Caesar.

Kara Swisher at AllThingsD details how the battle against new media at News Corp is known internally as “Project Alesia,” after the battle led by Julius Caesar against the Gauls in what is now France in September 52 BC. Read Kara’s post for the historical context of the battle, which the Romans won and ultimately led to Gaul becoming a Roman territory.

If News Corp though believes that its battle is one with parallels to Caesar, you need to look past the Battle into the shorter term following the battle. Although over a period of eight years, the comparison of the Roman time scale vs the News Corp one shouldn’t be equal: in an age where news and information travels at the speed of light, eight Roman years is generously eight months today, but in pure mathematics a lot less; it would take weeks for news from Rome to travel across the Empire, where as Rupert Murdoch has access to the internet and telephones.

So what happened after the Battle of Alesia? Well, as it turned out, the Roman senate refused to allow Caesar the honor of a triumph for his victory in the Gallic Wars, which eventually led, in part, to the Roman Civil War of 50–45 BC.

For those with a scant understanding of Roman history, the Civil War of 50-45 BC saw Caesar take full control over the Roman land, and saw the abolition of Republican Rome in favor of what is known today as the Roman Empire.

At this point, Caesar is winning, and perhaps in the short term Murdoch may as well. But it doesn’t take a Roman scholar to know what happened later, but it does help if you read Shakespeare at school, because you’d know the saying “Beware The Ides of March.”

In the end, Caesar dies, not of natural causes but at the hands of his own supporters who didn’t like the direction Rome was taking.

The Roman Empire though didn’t die with Caesar, but it did eventually die. As a side point, Caesar failed to invade Britain twice, I wonder if the parallel there is with Murdoch’s failed attempts at establishing News Corp online with failures such as MySpace and others?

If Murdoch is Caesar, and News Corp the Roman Empire, News Corp will eventually die as well; it might not be immediately, and it won’t be in 400 years, but it will happen because the same history they’re basing their new media battle on says that it will. History tells us that no empire lasts forever, and News Corp is the biggest empire in the media world today. The only question is how soon will they fall?

A DDoS attack on DNS provider UltraDNS took down Amazon and other major sites Wednesday afternoon US Time (December 23.)

Amazon users on Twitter reported problems starting on the site at around 5pm PST (noon AEDT Thursday.) Reports note that the issue also affected Amazon web services including S3 and EC2. Walmart and Salesforce are also believed to have experienced issues.

UltraDNS owner Neustar confirmed the outage to CNet, saying that the DDoS attack commenced at 4:45pm and customer sites were either offline, or sluggish for approximately one hour.

Amazon’s Web Services Health Dashboard said that services had completely returned to normal as of 6:40pm PST.

The indefinite leave of the World’s No.1 golfer sent an alarming signal to the Tour, which had already lost millions of dollars due to sponsor pullouts and low TV ratings.

Woods recently announced his leave from the sport to reportedly concentrate on fixing his marriage tattered by his confessed infidelity.

In the absence of a proven force such as Woods, tapping the Asian market might be the only possible way to continue the generation of income in an adverse economic time. The European Tour has been tied up with the Asian market for years since 1989, when it first staged the Dubai Desert Classic.

Japan Golf Tour Organization senior director Hiroshi Yamanaka said that US PGA tour should begin taking aggressive steps to move closer to the Asian market, where sports marketing is very viable.

Japanese teen star Ryo Ishikawa, who won his first major tournament at the age 15 and become Japan’s leading money maker at 18, is seen as the next player that can rise up to superstar status.

Ishikawa has also a number of major sponsors, including Panasonic, All Nippon Airways, Toyota Motor, and Coca-Cola, which allowed him to generate three billion yen ($ 33 million).

The U.S and Japanese Tour are considering staging a joint tournament in 2011, to feature the best golfers in both regions.