Today in Joystiq: January 10, 2008

You show one wood carving and all of a sudden an influx of tree-related game paraphernalia come into the tip line. Okay, so we really only got one tip -- from Patrick, who made a maple veneer faceplate for his Guitar Hero III controller. And to be honest, we're impressed - now do it for our Rock Band drum kit. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Off the Grid reviews Horse Fair Card Game
X3F Week in Review: January 4, 2007 - January 10, 2007

News
GameTap Thursday: A new Sam & Max, what Moai could you ask for?
Crysis patch clamps water tessellation (finally!)
Portal 'First Slice' extended demo free for NVIDIA customers only
Burnout 3 coming to Xbox Originals Jan. 14
Smash Bros. Brawl's Multi-Man gets online co-op
CES 2008: NATAS honors Stormfront for original Neverwinter Nights
US Army hosts first ever Halo 3 Xbox Live tournament
Sony Japan discontinues 20GB & 60GB PS3
Valve acquires Left4Dead dev Turtle Rock Studios
Microsoft: Xbox 360 back compat 'winding down'
Crazy curved Alienware monitor perfect for Crysis
CES 2008: Hands-on with first public showing of Space Siege
GameStop sales increased 35% over last holiday
CES 2008: Conflict Denied Ops aims at non-existent 'casual FPS' market
They are amused, UK breaks game sales records
Gates: Xbox will be "most reliable" game system
TGS 2008 dated Oct. 9-12
Curt Schilling leaving baseball for game development

Rumors & Speculaiton
WiiWare launching in March, according to developer
Analysts sound off: What does Blu-ray winning mean to the PS3 and gamers?
Rumor: Microsoft looking to buy Logitech
Rumor: Vib Ribbon coming to Euro PSN

Culture & Community
NPR takes a condescending look at stories in games
FBI pays visit to nuclear reactor-building gamer
Do you want a Portal 2?