Absolutely stunning. It definitely took artist Chris Hooton longer to make this toy than to play through Dead Space.

Here’s the real kicker, though: what’s under all those layers of paint and epoxy? Why, according to Hooton himself, one of these.

• The Other Castle – Custom Dead Space Action Figure

But seriously:

Love. Pure love. It’s my favorite cookie yet, and not just because Grim Fandango is a really neat computer game. Till now, I’d thought the cupcake renderings of 8- and 16- bit sprites were my favorites. After all, early game art—blocky pixel mosaics that represent more complicated imagery—is the nearest thing I can think of to painting in icing (cumbersome!).

But the stylized art of Grim Fandango, itself based on the stark iconography of the Day of the Dead, somehow suits these little pastries perfectly.

• Snack or Die – Grim Fandango M&M Cookies

The children are filmed from the neck up, straight-on and unwaveringly. The effect is startling: the children seem to stare right through you (there is a camera inside the television screen, the Telegraph explains), and you, in turn, are able to search the children’s faces in a distinctly creepy, voyeuristic way.

Some children are hauntingly dead-eyed, while others are more animated and emotive. And then there are the gigglers, those splendid sickos who can’t let themselves witness a head being blown off without tee-heeing to themselves.

It’s no understatement to say that what Cooper has committed to film is altogether disturbing. Cooper himself notes his fascination with people’s “absorption” of the “unreal,” and even at this early stage, his own footage is appropriately engaging and uncanny.

But I was quickly reminded of something I read in Everything Bad Is Good For You, about the horror of seeing your child sitting, slack-jawed and apparently unresponsive, in the television screen’s horrible glow. But what parents or critics are quick to misconstrue as the face of vegetative hypnosis, Steven Johnson countered, is actually the face of fierce concentration, of deliberate and active thought.

I worried, then, that the ultimate goal of Immersion could be one of fearmongering. So it seems valuable to note, for context’s sake, that Cooper identifies himself as a gamer. Maybe more surprisingly, though, the Telegraph article—which I myself read only after watching the video, twice—gets it right.

The Immersion Project is far from over. For the next 18 months, reports the Telegraph, kids’ facial responses to news footage, web videos, and movies will also be filmed and compared. It’s an interesting idea: how will children react, videotaped in the passive act of viewership, to simulated violence, or to news reports of real violence? In a culture of media supersaturation, in which we cope by emotionally disconnecting ‘reality’ from ‘the screen,’ what will our own faces tell?

• Telegraph – The Immersion project (via)

And I had never seen the box art for the two games side-by-side before. “Oh my God!” I shouted. I presented both boxes to my friend. “Just look at them—it’s the same cover!”

“How could a Christmas shopper tell these two games apart?” I continued. I named the similarities aloud: on each, there stands a hero, totally kitted out, wielding an enormous gun, set against a post-apocalyptic futurescape with a big, fiery sky, maybe with some alien architecture or a spaceship just along the horizon.

“If it’s so easy,” I concluded, “I think I have a real future in box art.”

I’m not being snide here. So, for your consideration, my attempts to punch up a couple game franchises for their eventual blockbuster releases:

I tried counting the ways I could get into trouble with this post, and I got nervous. So here are some due attributions: cosplayer, arm cannon (sorry), Dr Wily’s castle, stars tutorial, Arizona, robot, zeppelin, steamgun/forearm, sweet-faced man (sorry), Victorian man, Victorian boy, France.

Oh, who am I kidding!

It took cake designer Elisa Strauss and a team of people twelve days to make this 300 lb (~136 kg) cake. The LEGO Men (and Ladies) are handmade and edible.

• Confetti Cakes – LEGO Batman comes to NYC! (via)

The artist decided to customize vinyl Teddy Troops figures. With the Troops’ faces smoothed over with Sculpey, they bear (hur!) an uncanny resemblance to the heroes of Castle Crashers. Aside from the Knights’ admirably strong brows, I think the renderings of the little pets are the best part.

• Albotas – Custom Castle Crashers Teddy Troops
• Porl’s Flickr – Custom toys : Ozzels, Mini-munny’s, teddy troopers

You guys. This is maybe more amazing than the Tatooine bento.

Apparently, this work of Incredible Genius was made for Derek Lieu by his girlfriend. Sheez, nice lady. Lieu posted more detailed photographs, along with plenty of annotations, on his Flickr, here. (The Yoshi egg is an actual quail egg!)

• Tiny Cartridge – Super Smash Bros Brawl bento lunches

Poorhouse, meet my total lack of resolve. Because here they are, folks: ridiculously articulated figures from the Gyakuten Saiban series (including Ema Skye and Trucy, both from Apollo Justice).

Ema is my favorite. Forensic science is rad, and look how detailed her satchel is.

I can’t wait to get my hands on these, but no word yet on when, where, or how.

• Fruit Juicy – Tokyo Game Show 2008: Phoenix Wright Action Figures. (via)

8-Bit Art Found in Philly at the Northstar Bar

Cross Stitch Joystick, by John Freeborn

Garden of 8-Bit Delights, by Vox Anon

Every Time You Emulate, Doc Remixes a Meme, by Doctor Popular

And now I am completely in love with The Hacktory.

While I was questing through current.com in search of the Gaymers video, I came across “Geeks and Toys Go Wild,” a viewer-created video of a Hacktory-sponsored event. The tiny DIY fest is so rough-around-the-edges and charming, just magical LEDs and chip music and, probably, alcohol. The Hactory video at Current may never make it all the way to TV, so—for now at least—you’ll have to check it out online, either here or embedded here:

I feel like there is this incredible nerd culture in Philadelphia that the rest of humanity doesn’t know about. Specifically, the goings-on at The Hacktory—classes on how to design circuit boards, or events with chiptune musicians dimly lit by demoscene graphics—remind me, bittersweetly, of the art collective gatherings and events that so captured my imagination when I was some college kid having her first brush with adulthood in her first real city. These community events were sincere, earnest, and wholly unmarketable. They were, to quote the Philadelphia Weekly, “Authentic Geek.”

Incidentally, The Hacktory turns one year old this month, hence the illustration of a layer-cake with LEDs that I am ‘borrowing’ from their blog.

• Current.com – Geeks and Toys Go Wild

Edit: A friend just asked me what “the thing in the middle is supposed to be.” It is so obviously a metroid, hello? So I just thought I’d clarify here, too: it’s a metroid.

• Thirdproject.net – Shineys (via)

Via Laughing Squid: Feast your eyes on these high-contrast Spore Creature Silhouette designs, which are available on both T-shirts and promotional posters through zazzle.com.

Because the official Spore store is powered by Zazzle, you can also upload your own Spore creature, then make a custom T-shirt, coffee mug, or postage stamp.

• Zazzle – Official Spore Store

But I was completely unprepared for Mazemod.

More like AMAZE mod! Apart from the fact that I had no idea how completely rad Amiga chip music is, look at this website! Let’s face it: this is what William Gibson thought the internet would look like.

• Mazemod.org (via)

This strip is from last week. I like it a lot.

• Chainsawsuit – Braid (via)

Never mind the existential agony of the ‘wait’ icon: this is top-notch design. It’s US$89.00—a lot of dough, but worth it, I think.

• Wonderland – Icon watch