I apologize in advance for the pop-ups and wasted productivity, but here’s my Halloween gift to you - XGenStudios, home of obnoxiously addictive web browser-based games, all made with Flash MX.

Currently, I am playing the sadistic yet oddly compelling Castle, based on a tip from Mark and Zack (thanks guys… I think).

Blizzard has finally released the official v1.10 patch for Diablo II, the greatest co-op game ever made (in my opinion). (You can get the patch for the expansion, Lord of Destruction, here.)

This patch changes a lot of gameplay mechanics and could breathe more life into this game if you’ve got it in your library (and since it was one of the best-selling games of all-time, it’s a safe bet that you do). Definitely worth a look.

David Cross, of HBO’s Mr. Show with Bob and David, has written an article for Wired that’s part social satire and part good old-fashioned mocking of video game hype. Funny stuff.

There’s a new Call of Duty demo featuring a new level. The full retail version of the game is slated for release this week.

Found at Gravity Lens - a mildly tongue-in-cheek article about how to love your geek and tolerate his/her hobbies.

Bruce Sterling’s take on 10 technologies that deserve to die.

Oddly, Bruce only wants three of the ten techs he lists - nuclear weapons, land mines, and lie detectors - to die utterly; the other seven he would merely like to see replaced with better alternatives.

I’m not sure that I agree with all of his notions - eliminating prisons in favor of just simply preventing people from doing anything interesting seems a bit absurd as a punishment for violent criminals - but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, would have been 88 years old today.

Animation World Magazine has a nice feature on the process behind making the Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman direct-to-video animated film that was released this past Tuesday.

Some gaming dowloads for your perusal:

Age of Mythology: The Titans expansion pack demo (full game NOT required)
Halo PC demo
Updated Silent Storm demo
UFO: Aftermath demo and v1.2 retail patch

You know the ads - infuriating pop-ups or pop-unders for radio-controlled devices like cameras that had vaguely sexual overtones, not-so-subtly implying that you could secretly record yourself or others during “intimate” moments.

Well, the perpetrators of these annoyances, X10, has filed for bankruptcy protection… since they claim to be the world’s largest online advertiser, maybe this will help make the Web a slightly nicer place to browse (but I doubt it).