Excuse me while I geek out for a moment. On Thursday, Microsoft announced that it will be bringing three board games--"The Settlers of Catan," "Carcassone," and "Alhambra"--to Xbox Live Arcade, allowing players to download them for a fee and play them online against other enthusiasts.

No matter what storytelling medium you're in, it will always be risky to break the fourth wall in an attempt to sell something....

Characters in Rockstar games--which include the much-frowned-over "Grand Theft Auto" series--have shot, stabbed, run over, bludgeoned, strangled, beaten, exploded, incinerated, chopped and eviscerated millions of innocent and less-than-innocent people throughout countless play sessions all over the world. The company's latest product, "Bully," is also attracting its share of controversy.

"I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of game journalists suddenly cried out in terror, and were silenced," quoth the writers of Penny Arcade--probably one of the most central sites in video gaming culture--about the demise of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, announced this week.