Look back for a sec and try to remember which brand has been the most talked about, most advertised, and most hyped last year. Well, social media services provider Vitrue did more than just that, measuring the amount of mentions of around 2000 brands, naming the 100 most social brands of 2008. The top, the runners-up, and the gaming brands are all in the full article.

Monday morning in Virgina, a 6-year-old kid misses his bus to school. What's a kid to do? He's about to be late! Well, obviously, take your family's car and get your tardy butt to the campus, of course! And that's just what the kid (name undisclosed, so we'll just call him "Lil Nicky" - you'll know why in a bit) did. Aren't kids just amazing these days? If they're not fighting battles in court to legalize hedgehogs, they're driving themselves to school.

*Update* CNN video included!

How far would you go for your favorite video game character? This kid went all the way to court. 11-year-old Judson King was such a Sonic the Hedgehog fan that he decided he wanted the real thing - only to find out that hedgehogs were illegal in his city. What's a boy to do but take the case to court?

Most of us can agree that the PlayStation 3 desperately needs a price cut. But when CNN says it, whoa nelly: "Tell yourself the PS3 has superior graphics if it makes you feel better, but a $400 console with a mediocre game library simply cannot compete against an Xbox 360 priced at $200 in this economy."

Ouchies.

Good news, Rock Band fans! We've got some juicy new details related to the upcoming Rock Band 2. Find out the platforms the game will be headed on, the number of tracks, and the general release date of the game after the jump!

Players may have been able to get their hands on Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto 4 already, but that doesn't mean that the game has escaped the notice of certain concerned parties. In fact, Jack Thompson and Gavien Mckiernan of the Parents Television Council are still speaking out on this controversial game. It's all in the video after the jump.

Remember little Matty Lovo Jr. who saved himself and his dad last month when he took control of a runaway truck? You know, the little boy hero who asked for a PlayStation 3 live on CNN after the incident. Well, eventually Sony got wind of the 9-year-old's story and decided to give him one.

Matty's dad, Matthew Lovo Sr., was given a lot of offers from folks who wanted to pitch in and give the boy his PS3 but declined while thanking the community. Eventually though, Sony offered to give a console as a gift, and Lovo Sr. agreed. Matty Jr. was given the console on KGW in Oregon last Wednesday.

Kids may say the darndest things, but sometimes it just pays off. Big time.

 

In Portland, Oregon, a nine year old finds himself in the most unusual role of playing the hero - and this time, it's no game. Little tyke Matty Lovo Jr. was able to take control of a runaway truck when his father, Matt Lovo, conked out cold on the wheel. We're talking a 100,000 pound truck carrying lumber down the road here - definitely not your everyday thing that a nine year old would find himself driving, if at all.

The story goes that Matt had just gone unconscious, and at first, Matty thought his father was faking it. So, he went behind the wheel and tried to wake him up. Upon realizing the danger they were in - at that time, they had already drifted over to the wrong side of the road! - he decided to take matters in his own hands. Heroism is an instinct, even with little kids now. Matty seems to think so.

Kyra Phillips of CNN was able to have a chat with the young hero and his father, recounting how the whole ordeal went about. Matty was able to get the truck back onto the right side of the road and managed to use the C.B. radio to call for help. Luckily, another truck driver was able to give Matty some instructions to turn the key and switch off the engine. Soon enough, the truck coasted over to a stop, where someone was finally able to get the father and son out of the truck.

Here's the interesting bit, though. Part of CNN's segment of the report has Kyra Phillips interviewing the father and son:

Phillips: So, Matty, do you consider yourself a hero?
Matt Lovo, Jr.: Yeah.
Phillips: Yeah? And so now that you're a hero, what's next? What are you going to do?
Matt Lovo, Jr.: I don't know.
Matt Lovo, Sr: He keeps telling me he thinks he needs his PlayStation 3 now for a reward.

And why not? Kids these days grow up so fast. One day they're saving lives, then next they want PS3s.

It's probably a gamer's ultimate dream to be working in a game company and get a high salary for it. If you're gonna dream, dream high and aim to work for a company like Electronic Arts which got to CNN Money's Top 20 Great Employers.

Coming at second, EA currently has a US$ 3 billion revenue and 7, 200 full-time employees. Aside from the starting US$ 60,000 salary, new average-entry workers also get five to ten free games yearly, an option to purchase heavily discounted copies from a company store, and US$ 100 coupons for any game consoles. There are also restricted stock grants, an on-site gym, free DVD library and a plan that allows employees to buy company stock at a 15% discount.

To be fair, it's quite difficult to get a position in this gaming giant's company. Out of 5,000 graduate applicants last year, only 200 passed. A gamer getting paid for working in the video game industry is still a luxury, so good luck to anyone who attempts getting into EA.

First and foremost, we would like to give our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of those 32 people (33 including the gunman) involved in today's shootout at the Virginia Tech campus. While everyone is still reeling in shock from the events at Norris Hall this morning, we share everyone's sentiment that it is indeed a horrible tragedy. Already, CNN is even calling it the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

But why post something that's not gaming related? Well, we would have wanted to avoid this whole issue altogether, however, someone had apparently brought videogames (something oh so close to all of our hearts) into the picture. Hence, the relevancy to these blogs.

As Kotaku reports, Jack Thompson spoke on FOXNews about the Virgina Tech shooting, saying that the massacre is linked to videogames. Now, we do not know to what extent Jack Thompson said this and we do not know the exact context in which the attorney said this. While it's pretty hard to form any substantial and unbiased judgment from such a lack of details, CobaltBlue, as a comment to Kotaku's post, sheds some light on what happened in FOXNews for us:

@possiblymalignant: Fox News Live was calling him a "School Shooting Specialist", or that's what he's calling himself now. All he talked about though was linking video games and "murder simulators" to school shootings. I guess we can look forward to a new Jack Thompson crusade now.

Maybe there is more to Thompson's statement than just "the Virgina Tech shooting was due to videogames" after all? And we have yet to find an actual video, transcript, or news clipping from FOXNews or any other news source. For now, this is what we have.

Pic courtesy of FOXNews.

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Update: We've managed to grab the Fox News interview with Jack Thompson over at YouTube which was uploaded by rgbyhkr. Here's the clip.