#7 - MOO cards are little calling cards that Flickr users can get printed up based on the contents of their Flickr photo sets. I'm not sure why the photographer handed one to the police officer, though...

Man...seeing this thing really brings back some warm and fuzzies (feelings...though the photos were fuzzy, too). I used one of these for a whole summer while visiting relatives on the East Coast when I was about 10. The pictures I took with it probably were pretty crappy, but they included shots of my very first plane trip and my very first visit to a real actual beach. Mostly, I felt like I was using a piece of the future - easy loading, easy shooting, slimline form factor. Looking at it now, I realize I should have tried to load those negatives into a ViewMaster...

I was frankly pretty surprised that Costikyan would be so apparently ignorant of the huge body of high quality game criticism that's been established and growing for almost a decade. Also a little surprised that Cory would seemingly support his ignorance in that matter.

It's been around for years, but it's been centered in academic circles. There is a thriving culture, but it's based in peer-reviewed journals (both print and online) and in conferences. I guess these things fly under the radar of the larger culture of gaming "journalism", and that's a shame.

Check our Gamestudies.org, go to (gasp!) the Library and dig out some essays by Henry Jenkins, Espen Aarseth, or Katie Salen.

This "argument" is old and irrelevant - the work is there, and continues to grow. Pay more attention.