• Gigabyte EX58-UD4P Intel X58 Mobo Tested - The Gigabyte EX58-UD4P is meant to offer value for Core i7 users, retaining some of the X58 chipset's most interesting features like 3-way SLI and CrossfireX support, which should come extra handy for gamers willing to burn cash for the ultimate performance
• GT212 has 384 SPs, more specs revealed - To start matters off, GT212 is the successor to 55nm GT200b which is currently rolling into production. In comparison, the upcoming architecture is essentially following two similar footsteps of 65nm G92 last March - a die shrink to a smaller fabrication process and a decrease in memory interface width.
• Seagate ships two-platter 1TB Barracuda 7200.12 - So, will these include the awesome lock-up inducing firmware? if so, I'll take two! Just kidding...of course, I'll wait for WDC's 2TB offering.
• Viewsonic VX2260WM 22-inch Full HD Monitor Tested - So, Viewsonic's first foray into the 1080p 22-inch segment is pretty solid. It's certainly one of the better TN panels we have seen, it just pips Iiyama's slightly cheaper model for image quality and physical desirability and adds a few useful features, including HDMI, to boot. More importantly, that 1080p native resolution looks fantastic on a 22-inch panel, delivering eye-popping detail along with generous desktop real estate.
• Nano-powered 'FreeStyle' netbook Impressions - The upcoming FreeStyle 1300n will feature an 11.6" 1366x768 display, a 1.3GHz Via Nano CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, support for 2.5" storage devices, 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and optional cell phone or WiMAX connectivity
• What Software Bundles Should Come With a Laptop? - This is an excellent question that notebook manufacturers are apparently not asking consumers.
• Budget Gaming Part 1: The Basics - XSReviews posted a new article series about budget gaming.
• NEC breakthrough paves way for powerless standy-by modes - In processors, the circuit is used as the basis of a 1-bit memory cell, storing a bit in its two possible states, within the register storage space. Existing flip-flops require power to maintain their state and a clock circuit to control them. NEC's MFF uses magnetism to eliminate the need for juice.(thanks Ron Mertens)
• Steve Jobs: I'm not dying, relax - Apple's prolific CEO has written a public letter to say he isn't on his death bed after all-and we should all "relax and enjoy the show tomorrow."
• Monsters Vs Aliens 3-d TV Spot - Looks like they are turning up the advertising machine on Monsters Vs Aliens, starting with a 3-d commercial. Got your 3-d glasses?
• One year in 40 seconds (video) - Images from the same spot through one year.
• Wingsuit Base Jumping Video - Man Can FLY! - This speaks for itself...Turn up your speakers! ;-)
• Miranda Kerr Japan Vogue February 2009 Pictures - Miranda Kerr goes topless in February 2009 issue of Japanese Vogue Magazine. The 25-year-old Aussie displays a perfect body in Vogue, so do enjoy the pics!

Blizzard quietly added a few new StarCraft II (PC) screenshots to its massive gallery, and in turn we have absorbed them into our own for your consumption.

The shots show off the various environmental effects featured in the upcoming RTS sequel. Yes, it still looks great. No, we still don't have a release date.

Frans made another useful change here over the holidays that I should point out; he separated the search function a little better from the data archive, and you should now see a helpful "Advanced Search" link below the search box that outlines all the boo-yah Boolean functions at your disposal, should you be hunting for something that's been posted here.

Link Hunting:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Play:	Pyro. Thanks Jay is Games. Ice Breaker. Thanks Jay is Games. Neon Disks 2.
Links:	On the proof of the supposed evilness of girls. Which Summer Movies Did The Writers' Strike Hit Hardest?
Stories:	Man Spots His Stolen Car In Rear View Mirror. Thanks Roger. Creature Comforts - Assistance Animals Now Come in All Shapes and Sizes. Thanks j.c.f. Burglar scared off by man dressed as Thor after New Year party. Thanks Boing Boing.
Science:	Getting into space by broomstick. Playing golf can 'damage hearing'. Have Americans Gone Nuts Over Nut Allergies?
Images:	… oh, win, skip, skip, skip. Icy days and nights. Thanks nin and Digg.
Media:	Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard. The Metal Gear Solid 4 cast holds a group therapy session. The Best Way To Hide a Fart.
Follow-up:	CSI Hunley: Fate of Historic Sub a Cold Case File.

Holidays are truly over; time to get back to work, school, etc. I'm pretty sure this sucks :-( But what we can do? :\ In addition, Marek plans to move the site to a new server later this week (maybe next?). So Gameguru may go down for about an hour...Thanks for your patience.

• Quake Live Impressions - BigDownload has posted their impressions of id's Quake Live, the free browser version of Quake 3 Arena: "Those who simply wish to run the game in a browser window may do so, but bordering Quake Live's frenetic fragging with Start buttons, taskbars, and Firefox bookmarks doesn't exactly provide stellar ambiance. My gaming PC is connected to a 50-inch plasma HDTV, so 1920x1280 was my resolution of choice, and it did not disappoint."
• DETOUR Announced - DETOUR is a road-oriented Real-Time Strategy game that takes a satirical twist on highway construction, environmental activist groups, and cartoon humor. Players compete against each other and/or AI opponents to outsmart and out-build them. The goal is to build a road to the opposite side of the board and successfully deploy a delivery truck, without being stopped, and at the same time, stop your opponents from doing the same. The means of which we will discuss in good time.
• The Sims 3 Specs - EA has released the minimum system requirements for The Sims 3: a128 MB GeForce FX 5900 or Radeon 9500 graphics card running on a Pentium IV 2.0 GHz or Athlon XP 2000+ CPU with 1 GB of RAM under Windows XP (SP2) or a Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ CPU with 1.5 GB of RAM under Windows Vista (SP1). If you plan to play on laptop, you will need at least 128 MB GeForce Go 6200 or Radeon mobile 9600 graphics running on a Pentium IV 2.0 GHz or Athlon XP 2000+ CPU with 1.5 GB of RAM under XP or a Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or Athlon XP 2400+ CPU and 2.0 GB of RAM under Vista.
• Crysis Monthly Update #8 - The latest Crysis Monthly Update reveals Crytek's plans for releasing a patch for Crysis Warhead. An update for the single player game has been anticipated for quite some time. Crytek also reminded that the world editor and the Software Development Kit (SDK) for Warhead are being worked on. No release date yet, though. Crytek has been patching Crysis Wars in frequent intervals and the latest version is 1.3 which was accompanied with a Holiday Map Pack that brought 2 new multiplayer maps into the rotation.
• 2K Games cheaper until Jan 31 - 2K Games is offering a $10 dollars off coupon on a wide range of its titles. Known participating retailers include but are not limited to: Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, GameStop, Game Crazy, Virgin, Hastings, Meijer, f.y.e. and Fred Meyer. 2K Sports games included. Offer good until January 31, 2009.
• EVE Online Records 45,000 Simultaneous Players - Developer CCP today announced that its spaceship MMO EVE Online recently reached a peak of 45,000 concurrent players. The MMO has faced a tough economic climate in it's native Finland but it seems like it is far from struggling.
• Microsoft Reveals Top Xbox, 360 Games of 2008  - As noted by Xbox Live programming director Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the original Xbox and 360 lists were calculated by the amount of online Xbox Live users playing each game, while the Xbox Live Arcade list was based off sales of the 360 downloads
• Kojima Starting From Scratch - Kojima said that Kojima Productions was starting "from zero" in 2009, making it a very important year for the company. According to Kojima, everything from team structure to tools and staff are being reviewed. Kojima said he's been watching western studios, and hinted that he's picked up a few techniques that he would like to implement, but he didn't say which ones. He also pointed to the costs inherent to AAA development, saying that games couldn't be made just for the Japanese market
• Lenovo PC Packs Wii-like Remote for Gaming - PC manufacturer Lenovo today unveiled the IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One Desktop and a Wii-like motion-sensitive remote for gaming. Lenovo claims that the remote "is the first to bring PC users the ability to play games using the remote control's 'motion drive' feature."

Ken and Ryu's master, Gouken, has been the most anticipated character of the series since Street Fighter 2. He finally makes an appearance in Street Fighter 4 and lives up to his legacy as Shoto master, and brother of the demon Akuma. Street Fighter 4 will be available in arcades, on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Following in the unfortunate footsteps of World of Goo, developer Beautiful Game Studios' claims that its Championship Manager series of PC soccer simulators is the victim of a 90% piracy rate.

"That's not just a number in the air, we can measure it and we know that there are a huge amount of pirated copies," said Beautiful GM Roy Meredith.

World of Goo co-creator Ron Carmel recently stated that his game was suffering from a 90% piracy rate--though Carmel later lowered the estimated figure to a still-staggering 82%.

Despite Meredith's obvious concern regarding piracy, he recognizes that adding DRM copy protection to the upcoming Championship Manager 2009 could create even more problems.

"There's a real issue around DRM... I'd love to defeat pirates, but actually, with all this mess on Spore and Football Manager, which I haven't been able to play this year... I spent about three hours trying to go through this registration process and I really want to play it, but I've got other things to do with my life."

Added Meredith: "There are actually other ways of dealing with piracy too. One is to compete price-wise. We haven't got to pay royalties to Sony or Microsoft, so we can go into territories and price compete."

Developed by Finnish game designer Petri Purho, Crayon Physics features a player trying to get a 2D ball on screen to move from one point to another, assisted by the player drawing crayon-like shapes via a mouse or (if you have a Tablet PC) via a stylus. On the game's official blog site Purho announced that Crayon Physics Deluxe will be released officially on Wednesday, January 7 and that folks who pre-ordered the game before January 3 will be able to get the full version today. In addition, a iPhone version of the game is already available (although Purho did not develop the iPhone port).

I had a request from a reader for the recipe for the Hoppin' John I mentioned the other day; it's a pretty simple dish and there are plenty of recipes online, but for the record, MrsBlue used this recipe on Epicurious.com. Ours had the ham hock like it says there, though according to what I've read, bacon is more traditional. MrsBlue also says she used a bit more onion and red pepper than they recommend, but part of the joy of doing one's own cooking is customizing the seasoning.

R.I.P.: Actors' son Jett Travolta dies at 16.

More Hoppin' Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Play:	Battle Gear.
Stories:	City hit by 'legal to pee' prank. Thanks Neatorama. English Language to Have One Million Words by April. Thanks brother19. Rare 1937 Bugatti supercar found in English garage.
Science:	Caffeine Test Strips. Second set of black and white twins. Thanks Neatorama. Black and white and blue!!
Media:	Doom Interpretive Dance. Eleven of the most annoying sounds in video games. The English Language is Dum. Ed is a neighbor of ours!
Follow-up:	NASA's rovers mark five years on Red Planet.
The Funnies:	UserFriendly.

• Big video game fans prove crucial to the industry…
• R18+ Video Game Rating Survey for Australian gamers…
• L4D modders bring sexy back, boomer gets a thong…