The recent news that Capcom's critically acclaimed hit, Okami, would be ineligible for awards this year from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, because of Capcom's refusal to pay membership fees to the organization, has been met with harsh criticism from the developer calling into question the credibility or value of awards that require developers to pay a fee to be considered.

As the US readies to go to the polls for the mid-term elections on Tuesday, the phones have been ringing off-the-hook from campaigners trying to earn votes for their candidates. I usually try to avoid politics since my single vote seems so minuscule in this world dominated by corruption and greed. As they say, "you can't fight city hall," right?

<rant>Dreamhost, why can't you give me even one complete week of uninterrupted service? And why, once you verify that one of your servers is down, does it take an hour to bring it back online again?</rant>

During the past couple of years I have witnessed a disturbing number of Flash game sites pop-up all over the Web that offer just about any game they can get their hands on. The fact of the matter is that hard-working Flash game developers all over the world are being ripped-off by sites eager to cash-in on someone else's effort. But there IS something you can do...