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Every Thursday, we present the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the gaming universe. This week:

Winners: Sex in Games, Xbox, and a Desperate House Wife
Losers: Gameindustry.biz, cell phones, and 1up

Like you, we browse scores of gaming-related stories every day. Some of them get our head nodding. Others get our blood boiling. Consequently, we decided to share those experiences with you, given that the Games.net mission of bringing you the very best and worst the gaming universe has to offer. Every Thursday, our hackneyed crew of web monkeys will mete out the sordid stories that made us laugh, cry, and blow snot bubbles in agony.

Our criteria for a winner: lasting effects of intellectual engagement, profound thoughtfulness, and funky humor. Everyone else: a loser. And then there's the pwned, which is another story entirely.

And now on with the W&L!

THE WINNERS

Savoring the Sex Game

Brenda Brathwaite talks to Wired about the significance of sex in games. Why should you listen to her? Not only was she the lead designer for Playboy: The Mansion, but Brathwaite is also an outspoken supporter of artistic freedom. She gives sound advice to worried parents and offers tips on how to...er, penetrate the gaming industry. See, foreplay is always a winning proposition in your sex life.

The X in the Box

Chalk one up for IGN and its look at the Xbox. Usually, this site loves to indulge in ego-inspired writing rants with unnecessary multi-page editorials, but this story is actually worth the read. The premise: The Xbox truly affected the course of gaming. The system brought online play to the masses, introduced a necessity for a hard drive, and set a new standard with "Western-made" role-playing games. After reading this, you'll think the Xbox is more than just a slick-looking door stop.

Desperate House Wife Takes Action

Two years ago, someone known only as EA Spouse blogged about her pains of being married to an EA worker. She claimed that her then fiancé was not getting paid overtime for his 85-hour work week. Uproar ensued at EA, and then several developers filed lawsuits against the publisher for unpaid overtime. Just this week, the developers won their lawsuits and were awarded a hefty lump of money. If it wasn't for EA Spouse, the overworked and underpaid game development community wouldn't have a voice. This is EA Spouse's story. A side note: it's not just EA developers that are unhappy.

THE LOSERS

Game Industry Dot Biz

Rob Fahey of GameIndustry.biz is not a journalist. At least when he interprets the role of a journalist during E3. He holds that journalists are at E3 to only cover key announcements and hands on time with major games, and that there's no time to cover everyone else, especially the "smaller firms" located in the ostracized Kentia Hall area. Excuse me, but part of being a journalist is to uncover hidden gems so that your readers know what is truly out there. You've got a lot to learn about making time for what is actually important to your audience. By the way, Guitar Hero II publisher RedOctane will be in Kentia Hall...guess we won't be seeing you there.

Calling All Games

They say it's a growing multi-million dollar industry, but a recent report says otherwise. The interest in cell phone games is stagnant and uninteresting says the Washington Post, quoting a report by MMetrics that states "less than 3 percent of cell phone users are buying and playing games on their phones--and that number hasn't grown much in recent months." The cause--besides a library of games that suck--according to the report: the phone interface (or lack of). Hmmm, so if the phone interface sparkles more, does that mean the games will play better, too?

Wii're So Over It

We heard them all. Well, at least we thought we did until 1up posted a truly uninspiring, sophomoric Top 10 gag list about Nintendo's new name for its upcoming gaming system. Titled "A Wii Bit of History: What if we replaced the word Revolution entirely?" isn't funny at all. Take a read of the actual list and you'll wonder, as we did, why author Scott Sharkey had even the green light to publish such a dismal piece. Wii're not impressed.

THE PWNED

Public Relations Maxims

Okay, this piece can only be found here. It was sent to us by a PR representative in the gaming industry who requested to stay anonymous. If you're part of the media and one of these points happen to you, then you'll know you've been PWNED. The exception: fan boys and fan site reps--all ten happen to them every day.

Public Relations people must remember to do these things when dealing with the media (if you want to blow any chance for coverage of your game and kill your career).

1. Make sure to ask broadcast journalists if they would like an asset disk with screen shots

2. Fawn over key media, lavish them with cool drinks, food and swag, but when a smaller website, new freelance writer or minor newspaper editor shows up just point to where the demo stations are and tell them you are busy right now. Then fake like you have another meeting.

3. Repeatedly ask journalists questions about their chief rival as if you don't know where they work. Example: ask an editor from GamePro if the September EGM cover is still available; Request a hands-on preview on GameSpot from an IGN editor.

4. Make a point to chew out an editor that gave you a poor review for your last game, even though you know the game sucked.

5. Offer the same 'exclusive' to every journalist and give them each the same 'exclusive' screen shots/trailer/preview disk

6. Never be on time for meetings and act as if you are doing the journalist a favor by being there in the first place

7. Refer to every game you show as an "AAA" title

8. Insist on showing PC games to console media, preferably platform specific media like PSM or IGN Xbox

9. Only bring press kits in folders with hundreds of documents printed out. Electronic press kits are for losers.

10. Make up fake product release dates and change them for each meeting

Have any stories elicit strong reactions from you this week? Tell us about it. If you make Thursday's Winners & Losers, you'll win a prize from the Games.net grab bag. We'll let you decide if that's a good thing or not.

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