British publisher Titan Books has decided to celebrate the gorgeous artwork that provides the basis for our favorite digital adventures in two new books: The Art of Assassin's Creed III and Awakening: The Art of Halo 4. If you've got a finicky game-lover on your holiday shopping list, both of these books could make fantastic presents.

Before reviewing the new puzzle-platformer Pid, I had an opportunity to talk with Jakob Tuchten, Might & Delight's art director. If you're curious about hearing more on the next game from the studio that released the excellent Bionic Commando: Rearmed, this is the place to be.

Middle-earth Online Battle Arena

HIGH Mastering Legolas' abilities to finally get that first player kill.

LOW Getting ambushed and destroyed before I knew what hit me.

WTF Gollum killed me? Gollum?!

Don't Judge a Book by its Franchise

HIGH Finding my first flamethrower. Burn, motha*#@&$!

LOW The first two hours of play before GameFAQs.

WTF Why is so much vital info unexplained?

We're still playing catch-up on the latest videos from our friends at Extra Credits, but thanks to their fondness for two-parters we'll be caught up in no time. This two-part presentation is about the often maligned and often underappreciated Spec Ops: The Line. It's an interesting listen given how much the Extra Credits crew seems to have really bought in to what Yager was selling.

[Contains spoilers for the game]

Everything is True. Nothing is Permitted.

HIGH Swimming around a pier, climbing a ship, and using a rope dart to hang a target from a yardarm.

LOW As I walk past two men on a bench, I get notified that I have my first pursuer. The whisper noise starts just as one of them gets up and stabs me for 700 points.

WTF Approaching a fort, I found I could no longer hide in shrubs even though I wasn't observed. When I reached the captain, I found only an indicator hanging in the air, without a body to stab beneath it.

I don't think I gave the Nintendo 64 enough credit as a video game platform. I got the Nintendo 64 on launch day back in 1996. I was visiting a Lechmere store in Springfield, MA and saw that there was one unit left. I bought it—along with Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64—and brought it home. I'd played the import version of Super Mario 64 at Fantasy Realms, a local independent video game store, and wasn't particularly impressed… but it was a Nintendo system and I knew that I wanted to own it.

Don't Lose the Beat

HIGH When everything comes together, it's transcendent.

LOW Struggling to find the beat in Stage 10's godawful boss track.

WTF An experimental game like this should cost less...

If you follow me on Twitter, then you're probably aware that my wife became very ill Sunday and had to be taken to the ER. I know that it's difficult to follow any given story from beginning to end in tweet format, so I just wanted to give a quick update on the whole thing for anyone who was wondering.

Duckwalk Supreme

HIGH A handful of missions have the genuine "Hitman" feel.

LOW The ill-conceived "Shaving Lenny" level.

WTF What numerically-impaired person numbered these chapters?