We posted an article one month ago that invited readers to do a little thought exercise. Here's what we said: "On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness ... the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten."

So here's our list of some video gaming and technology moments worth remembering. Hope this gets you thinking (and feeling nostalgic too!). And we look forward to your comments (and arguments). What do you remember and wish that the world will never forget?

Today is October 5. That means that November 5, Guy Fawkes Night, is one month away.

While we don't celebrate this day in the US (it's not even a public holiday in the United Kingdom - it's only a yearly celebration), many of us know of this day thanks to the DC Comics / Vertigo graphic novel (comic book) series V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and its movie adaptation (with inimitable performances by Natalie Portman as Evey and Hugo Weaving as V).

Still, any "holiday" that gives people an excuse to light fireworks and go door-to-door begging for spare change sounds like something worth celebrating. So we at QJ.NET invite you to get into the spirit of things to remember, remember the 5th of November.

On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness - what moves us and affects us and touches us, and all the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten. Pretty much like the QuickJump QuickList articles in our Opinions & Analysis section at the front page and the other articles in the Opinions & Analysis sections of our many video game, science, and gadget blogs.

We invite you to plan ahead and consider what you want to remember on that day - because our articles obviously can't be the final word - that's what comments and the QJ.NET Forums are for. (Besides, now that we've turned off anonymous comments - and now that comments are smarter, funnier, and more meaningful - you have a good venue to share your reactions.)

We look forward to your thoughts. See you on the 5th of November.

Time magazine interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game designer who created the Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Nintendogs, and Pikmin series of video games.

And he said some interesting stuff that got us thinking...

Violence in video games. Miyamoto is one smart cookie:

The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences. Violence is one means of doing that, [though] I look to make people laugh or smile. But the more we have parents playing video games themselves, the more they will understand the interactive world and how to deal with games that have a tremendous amount of violence.

Did you hear that, oh ye lawmakers and anti-gaming lawyers? Video games - like all kinds of art - seek to create an experience. Violence is one way - not necessarily the best way - but it's still one relevant way because adults play video games too.

Miyamoto prefers to entertain us through storytelling, artistic craftsmanship, and humor instead of through gore and gratuitous violence. But even this gentle person is intelligent enough to understand that violence is always part of art.

[If only our lawmakers read Macbeth or A Tale of Two Cities. Heck. If only they learned how to read instead of just relying on the "summaries" that anti-gaming lobbyists send to them!]

Will Legend of Zelda ever be a movie? Miyamoto's answer is a bit disappointing:

I struggle with the Hollywood process.

But it's not all bad news! Miyamoto did say that making a Nintendo game into a movie is an idea that holds a lot of potential. And in the past, Miyamoto has often said that he admires the work of Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Howl's Moving Castle).

Who knows, maybe the creative drive will eventually force him to make a movie. We take it as a self-evident fact: Legend of Zelda has *great* Hollywood potential.

Other questions. Time magazine is a mainstream publication, so you can expect the rest of the questions to go over old stuff that you all know by now - how the Wii and DS are trying to change gaming culture, the old "casual gamer" versus "hardcore gamer" debate, and Nintendo's use (and re-use) of old franchises like Mario.

But, as always, if you want to check out the source of our news, just look for the Via or Read link below.

Also, those you may also want to check out Miyamoto's thoughts on retirement and his ideas about the next Legend of Zelda game.

Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2 from jt0.org is basically the Spider Solitaire game on Microsoft Windows made available on the Nintendo DS.

Jess Telford (aka Jess T, JessTicular, Teddy) has added a DS twist to the homebrew game: you use the stylus to select menu items and to move cards around. For example, you use the touch screen to select "1 Suit," "2 Suits," or "4 Suits." You also use the stylus to drag cards (a ghosted version of your selection will automatically snap to the nearest card pile).

Spider Solitaire DS also has cheat and undo features (for those who find the game too difficult at higher settings).

Here's what's new in Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2:

• Fixed M3 compatibility bug (pressing Hint when no possible moves would freeze the game)
• Fixed bug where if there was only one card on a pile and Hint was pressed it would freeze the game

As always, be sure to read the readme before you install the game. The full instructions and the full changelogs are there.

Download: Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2
Download: Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2 source code

Alekmaul's MarcaDS is an emulator for arcade games for the Nintendo DS. The list of supported games is quite long (you can check the gamelist.txt file that's included in the download file below).

Here's what's new in MarcaDS v4.0 (as taken from Alekmaul's readme):

• New design (thanks again Lobo) and new logo (thanks to you too DayDream)
• Add SN76496 and AY-8910 sound emulation, lots of games have now sound.
• Solomon's key do not have any more background pb.
• Add Video Hustler, The Billiards, DigDug (2 sets), Hexa, Bank Panic.
• Galaga (and clones) is playables.
• Pinball Action is now playable.
• The background pb in Phoenix (and clones) is fixed.
• Also for 1942 background pb !
• Add compressed ZIP support.
• Add CRC checking to avoid compatibility problems.
• Add Hish score management.
• SELECT to add coins (A becomes the main shoot button).
• No more "Player 2" mode.
• No more clones (less games but only the originals ;)).
• Mario becomes Masao to have the sound.
• Ms Pacman becomes Ms Pacman (bootleg) and the zip file mspacmab.zip.
• Piranha becomes Piranha (hack) and the zip file piranhah.zip.
• Jr Pacman becomes playable.
• Fire pb in Arkanoid fixed.
• Using now EFSLIB, thanks Noda ;).

So that's a lot of changes from when MarcaDS v3.0 came out last year!

As always, please read the readme text before you install the application.

And yes, since this is an arcade emulator, you're going to need uncompressed (unzipped) ROMs. But, as Alekmaul says (and we echo the sentiment): "Do not ask me about ROMS, I don't have them."

Download: MarcaDS v4.0 arcade emulator homebrew

Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game (the Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award winner), is a recovering game addict - or at least that's one interpretation you can give his interview over at Gaming Today. Ender's Game is being turned into a movie by Warner Brothers, and at the same time Orson Scott Card is open to the possibility of his book becoming a video game.

For those not familiar with Ender's Game, just understand that it's one of the best sci-fi books ever written (in our honest opinions). A fast-paced story about violence, evil, war, and leadership. It's required reading, or so Wikipedia claims, at the Marine Corps University at Quantico.

And if it's good enough for the US Marines, it should be good enough for you gamers out there, right? Anyway, back to the interview. Orson Scott Card talked about being addicted to gaming:

The weird thing was that even when I wasn't playing, I felt a tremendous anxiety. I had responsibilities - there were cities waiting for me to tell them what to build! Now, I'm not insane. My conscious mind knew that it was just a game, and when I wasn't running the program, nothing was happening at all. But I invested so much tension in the playing of the game that it didn't go away when I left the computer. The call of duty was still there.

The interview also tackled what goes into writing a story for video games. Card said:

Games CAN'T have the kind of storylines that movies and books have, or they wouldn't be playable. ... What makes a game work is the opposite of what makes a story work. In a story, you are seeking to find out what really happened - why people do what they do, what the results of their choices are. ... In a game, the opposite illusion must be created. Even though most games absolutely force you to follow preset paths, the gamewrights try to give you the illusion that you are making free choices (even though you are actually, in almost all games, still being channeled through certain puzzles with fixed solutions).

As for Ender's Game, it won't just be one game in Card's vision:

• The Battle Room. This pivotal set in the book can be several game modules in real life.
• Space war games. The three wars (back in Mazer's time all the way to Ender's time).
• Story-based games. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.
• MMORPG. This one is based on the Battle School in Ender's Game.
• The Fantasy Game. The "mind game" from the novel.
• The Hive Queen. It's like Civilization (a game franchise that Card was addicted to).
• Post-war war. Card describes this as being like Risk.

Well, Mr. Card, there are quite a few fans here at QJ.NET who would be first in line to get a game that follows the Hegemon.

Paul William Scott Anderson is a film director, famous for science fiction movies and for movie adaptations of video games. His body of work includes "Mortal Kombat," "Event Horizon," "Resident Evil" (he also wrote, but didn't direct, the sequels - "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Resident Evil: Extinction"), and "Alien vs. Predator." Anderson was also one of the producers on "DOA: Dead or Alive."

Paul W.S. Anderson was expected to write and direct the upcoming "Castlevania" movie. But not anymore. At least that's what "a very reliable source" told Dread Central, the horror movie and videos news site:

The film, based on the long-running video game franchise from Konami, has been in development hell since it was first announced, but Anderson's always been on as director and writer. Apparently either he didn't like where the project was going or didn’t feel like waiting anymore, because now he's off all together.

Most of Anderson's movies have been love-it-or-hate-it pieces of work. "Soldier" got heavy criticism, and even his financially profitable movies like "Resident Evil" and "Alien vs. Predator" got pooh-poohed by fans of their respective franchises.

Some of us here at QJ.NET believe that not all the criticism against Anderson is fair (some of us think the criticisms against his movies are a bit exaggerated), but we can't help but wonder if there's truth in what Dread Central had to say:

You know a project is in trouble when Paul W.S. Anderson, a man who's spent almost his entire career turning potentially cool movies into steaming piles of pooh, leaves a film.

To the fans of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow or Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (both for the DS), the classic Castlevania with Simon Belmont (on Wii Virtual Console), or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Xbox Live Arcade), or the countless other versions of Castlevania (over two dozen games in the series!)... you fans may agree with us when we say this: yes, sometimes movie adaptations suck, but we're fans, and we'll be lining up for premiere tickets. See you there!

Oxygen Games (also known as Oxygen Interactive) has announced a new video game for the Nintendo DS, a game that a recent press release calls "a modern, stylish, and comprehensive take on pool." The game is 8Ball Allstars, and it will be ready for Nintendo DS systems by the third quarter of 2007.

Apparently, the game will feature a multiplayer mode (although the Oxygen Games press release never came out and said it): "This year's most exciting and comprehensive pool experience, 8Ball Allstars calls upon pool fans and Nintendo DS owners to chalk up their cues and challenge their friends anywhere to head-to-head games."

There are also customizable features (which is apparently the way that we DS fans "like it"): "8Ball Allstars gives Nintendo DS fans pool the way they like it! With a fully customisable feature set, the game allows players to style their game and play however they like, wherever they like."

A recent article pegged 8 Ball All Stars for November 1, 2007, but the game release may or may not only be limited to the United Kingdom (the dateline of the 8Ball Allstars press release we received was "Northamptonshire, UK"), but Oxygen Games (or Oxygen Interactive) may clarify this the closer we get to the release date. And yes, in case you noticed the small difference in spelling in that last mention of the game's title, it's because Oxygen's press releases have different versions of the game's name: "8Ball" and "8 Ball" - "Allstars" and "All Stars", so take your pick.

Reggie Fils-Aime was interviewed at the recent Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 by Mike Antonucci and Troy Wolverton of the San Jose Mercury News. The main message from the interview: Nintendo's current success may just be the beginning.

Wolverton and Antonucci described Nintendo's recent success as a "resurgence." Nintendo wasn't doing so well with Sony's PlayStation 2 beating the Nintendo Game Cube. Sony's powerful multimedia PSP looked like it could seriously damage the market position of the "dim-screened, underpowered" Nintendo DS.

Despite that gloomy past, Nintendo now outshines the competition. DS and DS Lite sales far outstrip PSP sales, and the Wii outsells Sony's PlayStation 3 (Mercury News also said that the Wii outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 in January of 2007).

Nintendo will continue its "full-court press" to address Wii shortages. Reggie Fils-Aime reminded us of what Satoru Iwata (CEO of Nintendo Company Ltd.) said: Nintendo is doing all it can to churn out more Wii units. "More so than the core gamer, the casual gamer will get frustrated if they cannot get their hands on the product." Still, they're not doing so bad: 494,000 Wii units were sold in January (although a recent analysis by Deutsche Bank insists that Nintendo must address the shortage problem soon).

Game publishers and developers continue to shift resources to the Wii and DS. Reggie said that ever since E3 2006, publishers and developers have been shifting resources towards games for the Wii and DS (Mercury News mentioned Electronic Arts and Pandemic). Reggie explained that publishers and developers see a business opportunity: sales of Wii and DS units are very high, and development costs for Wii and DS games are low - and that means high profits. (This should be good news for those who fear the Wii and DS will simply become a dumping ground for ports.)

The Game Boy also had a resurgence. Reggie explained that the Game Boy so affordable (and in some places, it's more available than the in-demand DS) and has such a good library of games. Part of the reason was the stock shortage: most Nintendo DS stocks ran out during Christmas and were not restocked for three weeks. People bought either PSPs or Game Boys.

Europeans are buying the Wii as soon as units hit the shelves. "Well, there's no PS3 yet ... 360 is selling well only in one country: UK. Across the rest of Europe, it is not performing well. Wii, on the other hand, is selling exceptionally well all through Europe."

The Wii strap issue: Reggie can't say that Nintendo will replace broken TVs. Nintendo is investigating claims of smashed TVs because of flying Wiimotes. So far, a lot of it has boiled down to people not using the strap (like purposely letting go or throwing the Wii remote when playing Wii Sports).

We have a process where those consumers are contacted and the investigation process goes through. I think it's fair to say that unfortunately there are always consumers who want to make an issue out of something that doesn't necessarily happen to them. And as we go through an investigation process, we're finding a remarkably small number of consumers who actually had damage.

Game Informer Magazine has three images of the Video Games Live (VGL) concert that closed the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 at San Fransisco. VGL is a concert tour that features music from video games, and each concert is a treat: the music is combined with video presentations, light and laser effects, and other special effects.

Having a VGL concert at the GDC made perfect sense, and the GDC concert was a star-studded one (we earlier published a list of all the composers and artists at the GDC VGL).

VGL: a multimedia concert. Like any Video Games Live concert, the music was amazing. There was an orchestra and a 16-member choir conducted by game composer Jack Wall (Myst, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire). There was a screen that showed synchronized video footage. Audience members were brought up to play Space Invaders and Frogger on the big screen - the orchestra provided live music (complete with tempo changes!).

As usual, during the Metal Gear Solid portion of the program, an actor dressed as a guard walked onto the stage - and the infamous alert exclamation mark (!) appeared over his head - much to the amusement of the audience (the poor guard didn't notice a large box sneaking past him). (An earlier QJ.NET article on VGL concert dates has a video of a similar scene from another concert.)

Other musical highlights included "Baba Yetu" from Civilization IV, the explosive "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII, and the World of Warcraft suite - all three masterpieces got huge reactions from the audience.

A night of video game music artists. As reported earlier, there were also performances by LucasArts composers Peter McConnell, Michael Land, and Clint Bajakian. "VertexGuy" powered the stirring electric guitar anthems of Contra and the Halo 3 grand finale. The "Video Game Pianist" was also there to play Dig Dug and Pac-Man music on the piano.

Super Mario and Zelda composer Koji Kondo (who received a lifetime achievement award at the GDC earlier in the week) played a piano solo of music from Super Mario Bros. (the audience went wild, taking out their Nintendo DS units and mobile phones to wave them in the air as lights).

Let the world know: video games are a legitimate art form. Having the VGL grace the GDC with its presence is a statement to the industry and to industry-watchers and critics. "I think what tonight helps prove is how legitimate video games have become as an art form," said Tommy Tallarico, a game composer and the co-creator of VGL.