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• More winter? Who cares? Just means more time to play

  　　Pennsylvania rodent sees its shadow but even if the weather is cold, gaming is hot right now

  　　So Punxsutawney Phil saw its shadow – which is supposed to mean six more weeks of winter. Blah, does it matter? The glorified rodent is now 99-15; it has seen its shadow 99 times and has not seen it 15. Seeing its shadow means more winter and, of course, not seeing its shadow means spring is around the corner. But that is rather vague. Could that mean spring is around the corner in, say, six weeks?

  　　According to a CNN report, citing a stormfax.com report, Phil is only right 39 percent of the time.

  　　Does that mean anything? Is that low? Well, if Phil played for the Philadelphia Phillies, a .390 batting average is hall of fame stuff. A ballplayer batting in that range would be worth millions. Phil, on the other hand, gets some kibble, is stuffed back into a box and life goes on.

  　　Gamers don’t care. Doesn’t matter if it is sunny or cold outside – there is the warmth of the television screen or computer monitor, reveling in the glow of White Knight Chronicles, or Mass Effect 2. So what if winter is a bit longer. Six more weeks of winter is all the excuse needed. "You still gaming?" Don't scramble for a response - blame it on the groundhog.

  　　January turned out to be a top-flight month for games, with Darksiders and Bayonetta kicking it off, Army of Two and Dark Void picking it up and MAG and Mass Effect 2 carrying it home at the end. And February looks pretty darn entertaining as well. Star Trek Online released today with White Knight Chronicles, and Dante’s Inferno is just up ahead with Bioshock 2 and Star Ocean at the end of the month.

  　　So as far as the rodent is concerned, maybe Phil Connors had it best when …