Player's Guide

• To roughly coincide with its release of City of Villains, local online gaming powerhouse NCsoft is holding a City of Archvillains Halloween Costume Contest. Simply submit a 250-word description, a screen capture of your character, and some digital photos of you in your costume to cohsubmissions
@plaync.com. They are looking for maximum humiliation, so they want photos in public places, pillaging in typical villain style if possible. Go to www.cityofheroes.com/community/
contests.html for more info.

• If a blindfolded Martin Leung hammering the theme to Super Mario Bros. on his piano wasn't enough local live video game music for you, you're in luck. Video Games Live invades Bass Concert Hall on Dec. 1, playing the songs of Final Fantasy, Halo, Zelda, and others (www.videogameslive.com). With the full orchestra will be three huge "interactive" screens, not to mention lasers. That's right, lasers. Need something to tide you over till then? A cappella is, again, the answer: www.devilducky.com/media/28721.

• Finally, game designers are reaching into the cinematic archives for game fodder. If you aren't playing The Warriors by the time you read this, it's probably passé. Luckily, you have plenty of time to prep for the early 2006 release of The Godfather. Robert Duvall and James Caan reprise their roles ... their voices do, anyway. Expect a Grand Theft Auto set in NYC and replace the gangbangers with three-piece-suited wise-guys. The official site, www.eagames.com/official/godfather/
godfather/us/home.jsp, has screen shots, including portraits of Corleone bigwigs.

• Parents beware, Nintendogs is a trap. Say your kid wants a puppy and you, the nimble-minded parent, decide to substitute Nintendo DS' Nintendogs. Bad idea. Not only do you have a child who thinks your love is second-rate, but when your vengeful offspring has the most well-trained and adjusted Nintendog (which, by the way, is indestructible and eternally a puppy) on the block, you'll find yourself unable to pull your "not responsible enough" card. Before you can say "obedience school," you're putting up missing-dog signs with a teary-eyed preteen. Don't say I didn't warn you.