Given the subject matter of this week's Zero Punctuation, we thought we'd throw Yahtzee into the webcomic poll to see how he fares. Also, we're looking for the best gaming webcomic (strip, not series), so let us know your all-time favorite in the comments below.

Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomic. Polling after the break; be sure to vote for your favorite!

Dark or Not ... (MNC)
Third Time is a Charm (Extra Life)
010 (Super Effective)
Welcome Back (PVP Online)
How to Make a Gaming Webcomic (Zero Punctuation)
Weather or Not (8-bit Theater)
Restoring Past Glory (Castle Vidcons)
Baddest Company (2P Start)

Rock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as one possible cause for the prevalence of youth-oriented knife violence throughout England.

"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it," said Gallagher, whose wide-ranging, cross-cultural sociological studies on the relationship between media exposure and real-world violence have changed the way we all look at this complex problem. "If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised [sic] to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary," he added while adjusting the Amalfi Prize hanging around his neck.

Gallagher is the best-selling author of Burning the Razor's Edge: How Super-Skunk Smoking and Our Knife-Obsessed Media Landscape are Turning Our Kids to Crime.

[Thanks, GunForHire]

You might not recognize him, but that's Captain America saving the world from what looks like cast of WALL-E. With Commodore 64 graphics, you have to use your imagination to fill in quite a few missing pieces.

A happy 4th of July to all our readers (even if you're not American, just have a happy day, k?). Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

• Alexander Sliwinski: Metal. Gear. Solid 4. And Ticket to Ride, which is strangely addictive.
• Andrew Yoon: Ludwig's coming over! YAY!
• Chris Grant: Having finished Metal Gear Solid 4 (finally!), I've taken up arms with Battlefield: Bad Company. I find the destructive elements vaguely cathartic and, though I'm not very far yet, the storytelling well done. How's multiplayer? I totally skipped the beta.
• Griffin McElroy: (See: Justin's answer)
  
• Kevin Kelly: I'm out of town, and it's all board game action for me: Ticket to Ride, Zombies!!!, and the new Risk: Revised Edition.
• Kyle Orland: Finally going to dive into Metal Gear Solid 4 in the serious way it deserves.
• James Ransom-Wiley: In lieu of playing I'll be watching another friend take his walk down the aisle. And then I'll try out that game McElroy suggested a few weeks back: drinking.
• Jason Dobson: I've recently had an itch to play games of the tabletop variety, and with family all gathering to set off small explosives in celebration of our nation's birthday, we'll all be dabbling with the dark arts (and stabing each other in the back) playing Betrayal at House on the Hill.
• Justin McElroy: (See: Griffin's answer)
  
• Ludwig Kietzmann: I'll be on a plane for most of my Friday, so I'm stuck with playing portable games. Which is just as well, since I have gems like The World Ends with You, Contra 4, Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles and Mega Man: Powered Up to keep me busy.
• Randy Nelson: Since my PS3 still works, I figured I'd take the opportunity to unlock all of the Trophies in Super Stardust HD. Then I think I'll go back and find all the secrets (and get all gold stars) for the first three episodes of American McGee's Grimm. I just can't resist a game that implores me to "make it nasty!"
• Ross Miller: Drums – real drums, that is. And some guitar, piano and mandolin at a 4th of July concert tonight in downtown Athens (woo-hoo!). Otherwise, I'm planning to go crazy on Diablo 2 and FIFA 08.
  

The notorious Fruit Fucker in cake form from Clever Cake Studios. (Thanks, John) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq interview: Treyarch's Jeremy Luyties on James Bond
Ticket to Ride vs. Ticket to Ride vs. Ticket to Ride
X3F Week in Review: June 27, 2008 - July 3, 2008

News
Electrifying new inFAMOUS screens surface
Former Atari CEO received $4.76 million parachute
Warcraft 3 patched to 1.22a
HMV (finally) embraces used game sales
See Resistance 2's Leviathan boss
Mega Man 9 dated for September in Japan
Reuters: PlayStation 3 catching up to Wii in Japan; Us: not really
Sony to launch slimmer, sleeker PS2 in India, Europe this year
Midnight Club: Los Angeles bumped a month to October 7th
GameTap Thursday: Descent Freespace and Off-road Redneck Racing
Little Big Planet beta growing, Trophies teased
Animal Crossing teased in UK's Official Nintendo Magazine
Guitar Hero: On Tour a hit, 300k sold in first week
BioShock being 'optimized' for PS3 by Digital Extremes
Capcom sets up le shoppe in France
We'll Halo there: 'Cold Storage' map free on July 7
VP says Gametap's troubles are 'greatly exaggerated'
More N+ on the way to XBLA
PS3 Trophies not guaranteed for 'every game'
PSN boss disses Xbox Live's interface, game delisting
Mega-new Mega Man 9 details, screens, hands-on
Rock Band Weekly: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rush
Viva Piñata sequel busts open in early September
McFarlane Toys takes on Call of Duty: World at War
Prizefighter dev counted out, Take-Two 'assessing' staff
XNA's Satchell: Microsoft experimented with 3D gaming display
PSN Thursday: Qore delivers episode two
No player-created tracks for Rock Band 2
Video: GoldenEye 007 running on Wii 'Homebrew Channel'
Latest Darksiders trailer is artsy, open, adventurous

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Ninja Gaiden II receiving Mission Mode July 25
Rumor: More Rock Band 2 tracks listed

Culture & Community
Zero Punctuation draws out the webcomic template

"Well of course they did," you're probably saying to yourself after reading the above headline. "Practically every game on the Xbox 360 has 3D graphics. When is this news from, 1987? HA! HA! *snort*." Don't be such a smartass, hypothetical reader! We're talking about stereoscopic 3D displays, such as those being used by Ubisoft's upcoming Avatar game or Texas Instruments' upcoming DualView TV.

In an excerpt from an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, XNA General Manager Chris Satchell revealed that Microsoft actually looked into using this stereoscopic technology for gaming, but determined the need for special glasses made the idea impractical. "I think it is hard to be mainstream with asking people to wear headgear to play games," he said, thus explaining the failure of Hat Hat Revolution. That said, Satchell hinted at "some very interesting technology being developed that can overcome this obstacle, and it will be interesting to see where this leads." Oh, we all know where this leads, all right.

After teasing the images and announcement across the web earlier this morning, McFarlane Toys is finally sharing details of its latest licensed toy lineup: Call of Duty: World at War. Scheduled to be released this fall – alongside Treyarch's latest take on the venerable franchise and McFarlane's other Activision-enabled lineup, the Guitar Hero figurines – the World at War figures can be described with superlatives like "highly detailed," "game-accurate," and "for sale."

Speaking of for sale, four figures will be available for $10 to $15 including the Marine Infantry soldier (includes M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, pictured above); the Marine Corps soldier (packing the flamethrower, just like in the game); another Marine Corps soldier (with machine gun, pistol & holster); and lastly, the British Special Ops soldier (includes adorable accent).

HMV, the music, movie, and games retailer with locations throughout the UK, Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong, is finally catching up with the wants needs of modern gamers. Starting later this year, the chain will begin selling second-hand games at some of its locations, ramping up across the globe in 2009.

We're not sure why it took so long for HMV to begin selling used software. Perhaps it thought it was actually in Japan, which lifted its ban on used game sales in 2002?

In any event, the move will put HMV on a level playing field with other UK games retailers, including Game and CEX, who have offered used titles for some time (the latter dealing in them exclusively). Now all HMV has to do to recreate the US game-buying experience is to get bought out by GameStop. You know, like New Zealand's Gamesman.

This week's Zero Punctuation takes a long, hard and ironic look at the glut of gaming webcomics. Yes, Yahtzee fully realizes the hypocrisy of his words, but that's not going to stop him from flinging poo and keeping those traffic numbers high. We imagine it getting weird when Yahtzee's piece about webcomics spawns more comics about the subject and proves everything he's saying in the first place.

The NSFW ZP review of webcomics can be found after the break.

After it was announced that Uncharted and, well, "every game" for the PS3 will receive Trophies, many expected Insomniac's two titles would be on the shortlist of receiving updates in the "foreseeable future." Sadly, Insomniac's Bryan Intihar expresses on the PlayStation Blog that Ratchet and Clank Future and Resistance: Fall of Man aren't getting Trophy updates soon.

Intihar writes that there are currently no plans to add Trophies because the company's "No. 1 focus" is finishing up Resistance 2. We're disappointed, but we'll take this to mean Insomniac isn't dismissive of Trophies and giving it over to the summer intern as busy work.

It's time to take a look back at Nintendo's first foray into handheld gaming, nine years before Game Boy (and three years before Famicon/NES). Researchers at DS Fanboy have compiled an exhaustive rertrospective on the Game & Watch, in addition to interviewing two dedicated collectors. As is commonly written, know your roots.

You know what's cooler than a Team Fortress 2 Spy Munny? All 9 TF2 classes lined up together in Munny form. Make it happen, Internet. (Thanks, John) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
The best of WoW Insider: June 24-July 1, 2008
Big Versus tweaks format while Alone in the Dark
Joystiq hands-on: Spore (the whole thing)
A lustful look at Limited Edition DS models
Massively Week in Review: June 24-July 1, 2008
Readers pick best webcomic: The Inevitable Conclusion

News
Having Bad Company connection issues on 360? Try resetting
GoldenEye 007's KLOBB returns in Too Human
The Best of The Who Rock Band set list revealed
Ding! Majesco serves up more Cooking Mama for Wii
Steam hacker caught in 'high tech' raid
Behold: New Too Human previews hit
Atlus, NIS America partner over Disgaea 3, Rhapsody remake
MGS Europe: Simultaneous 360/PC releases like shooting ourselves in the foot
Guitar Hero III getting free 'Top Gun Anthem' DLC
IGN to Silicon Knights: Here's how to fix Too Human
New Resistance 2 footage hits YouTube
Castlevania Judgment to feature Wii-DS connectivity
Burnout Paradise to receive retroactive PlayStation Trophies
Activision CEO sticks to console price drop message
Crysis Warhead preps for battle with debut trailer, screenshots
Fallout 3 producer finds Diablo 3 design 'conservative'
BioWare eyeing iPhone development
Cast your vote for Spider-Man box ... in the trash
Revisit Diablo 2, demo available at Big Download

Rumors & Speculation
Sony denies PS2 downloads on PSN, image 'mocked up'
Third-party 360s 'unlikely,' analyst says
Rumor: Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 Achievements leaked
Rumor: Rock Band 2 partial setlist revealed on G4

Culture & Community
Pulitzer Prize winning author says GTA IV ain't art
No pants: one in five Canadian men have gamed in the nude
Wishful tinkering: Redesigning the 360 Dashboard
Ohio library now loaning video games

For the Rush reference and a Seussical interpretation of Guitar Hero V's drum set, we handily hand Hijinks Ensue this week's webcomic wrapup award.

Second and third place go to Penny Arcade and 2P Start, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

Eager bookworms visiting the Washington-Centerville Public Library in Centerville, Ohio, will face exposure to the new-fangled "video game" entertainment medium, as the library will now be loaning PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 games. According to the Dayton Daily News, the library will carry two categories of games: Titles aimed at families, and ones aimed at players aged 10 and up (sans adult-only games). Each game will be available for one-week loan with the option of one renewal.

You can check for yourself which games are available in the library's online catalog, though the Dayton Daily News has gone and confirmed the presence of Guitar Hero, Kung-Fu Panda, Madden NFL 08 and, err, Iron Man. That one's probably meant to frighten the kids into reading books again.

[Via Shacknews]

While the ballyhoo around Blizzard's announcement of Diablo 3 kept us all sleep deprived and glued to our screens this last weekend, some were left not as impressed as others. And by some, we mean Fallout 3 production director Ashley Cheng, who feels the series' third trip to the well is too 'conservative.'

"I must say," wrote Cheng on his blog, "I am disappointed that Blizzard has stayed on the conservative side in terms of design with their updates to Diablo and Starcraft." However, he tempered his displeasure with a measure of excitement, writing that he "loved" the game's destructible environments and that the vaunted action RPG looks "pretty amazing." Even so, take heed, dear Blizzard. Try not to be so restrained when you finally get around to revisiting Starcraft: Ghost; we think casting Nova in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is a guaranteed way to win our hearts.

With a gallon of milk costing less than a gallon of gas in many places, it's not surprising to hear Activision CEO Bobby Kotick keep on message about console price cuts in this economy. Speaking with the Times Online, he believes there is real demographic expansion within the industry's customer base, but feels the cost of purchasing hardware is "prohibitive."

He points out that during economic slowdowns the game industry does well because people are looking for entertainment in their homes. Kotick may get his wish if the rumors of an incoming Xbox 360 price drop are true; at the same time, NPD figures show consumers warming up to the PS3's price. Meanwhile, we ponder making a car that runs on milk.

[Via GameDaily]