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Relaxing Games

Yesterday I came across an article on Slate regaling thatgamecompany's Flower, calling it "the only video game I've ever played that made me feel relaxed, peaceful, and happy."

Several years ago my college buddies and I would unwind after classes with a few F-Zero GX races. There was something about the game's blinding speed that encouraged this state of zen, during which the day's stresses would melt off of our bodies.

Gift Idea: A Judas Priest/Ikaruga T-Shirt

Yeah, you read that headline right. And when 100% cotton gets that high concept, that can only mean one thing: the 2009 Meat Bun T-Shirt collection is here.

You know Meat Bun, because Meat Bun made those excellent 1942 and Street Fighter t-shirts that have been haunting your wish lists for all of 2008. You can still get those, with some in new, wonderful colors. But the real action is in the new stuff. The headliner is obviously Shooting for Vengeance, because if you sit and think about it black and white bullets hells really are f’n metal. Yet I’ll also take Street Fighter Club any day, as glow-in-the-dark retro horror somehow is a perfect fit with Blanka-based electrocution.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.