Happy Memorial Day, US readers! (For the UK, happy bank holiday. For everyone else, fill in your own holiday!) So what games did you play to bide the time? (Image via Rakka on Flickr) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Counting Rupees: Digital Rights Madness
DS Fanboy's week of homebrew
Japanese hardware sales, May 12 - May 18: Déjà vu edition
The Joystiq Free Game Club: The Several Journeys of Reemus
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is on the rain-free precipice of sunshine and rainbows

News
Nintendo ranks 4th on 'BusinessWeek InfoTech 100'
Halcyon Company planning games based on Philip K Dick novels
Rockers show off Guitar Hero's velocity-sensitive drum kits
Abertay University researchers create training game for Scotland cops
Final Fantasy IV trailer gets English subtitles
Mötley Crüe single downloaded on Rock Band five times more than on iTunes
Gears of War 2 details emerge from X360 magazine
Gamestop sponsors driver in NASCAR Nationwide Series
Bushnell: New encryption chip to effectively end PC gaming piracy
Gamestop taking preorders for Gears of War re-release, launches June 24
Dr. Mario prescribes Family Table Tennis for WiiWare
New games this week: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Rock Band Weekly: The Cars' self-titled debut album
Download now, or forever hold your points: Potential delisted Xbox Live Arcade titles
Metal Slug makes City Connection on Virtual Console
Age of Conan celebrates 400,000 players
'Defense is important' in Ninja Gaiden II
Race Driver: GRID demo races to a million downloads

Rumors & Speculation
Rumorang: Killer Instinct making a return?
Gamestop prices Guitar Hero: World Tour bundle at $189
Rumor: Street Fighter IV heading to PS3, Xbox 360, PC this winter

Culture & Community
Metal Gear Retrospective: Part Three explores the Big Shell incident
The eleven-minute Automatic Mario masterpiece
'One Man's Journey' tries and fails at Wii Fit
To Hideo Kojima stalkers: He's in London next week

It's a question we've all pondered at least once in our lifetimes: in the Pokémon universe, is everyone a vegetarian, or do people actually eat Pokémon? Are certain Pokémon bred for mass consumption? And, perhaps more importantly, which Pokémon are the most delicious?

We're elated that GameDaily has actually put some time into this twisted, wonderful thought process, and come up with a list of the ten Pocket Monsters that they'd most like to cook up. Some of these tasty critters are easier to come by than others; we personally see Magikarp as the salmon of the Pokémon world, while preparing a Peking-style Psyduck may be a bit more difficult. Actually, we're getting a bit hungry just thinking about this. Maybe we'll head out to the grocery store and pick up some fried Torchics for lunch.

The safest way to eat green mushrooms, care of Clever Cupcakes (Via Slashfood, thanks Alph). Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Introducing the Joystiq Smash Bros Brawl page
Law of the Game on Joystiq: Royalties 101
Readers pick best webcomic: 100 Kirbies
Wii Fanboy Weekly: Feb. 28 - Mar. 5

News
New details on SOCOM Confrontation
Valve wants to keep it free, with Team Fortress 2 DLC
PS3s used to simulate black hole collisions
Shhh, half-price Undertow expansion available now for 200 MS points
Zack and Wiki Flash demo available
Blizzard to help get Guitar Hero into Asia
World to blame: Mario & Sonic Olympics sells 5 million units
Potential Call of Duty MMO symbolizes 'natural evolution' of Activision Blizzard
Nintendo details Mario Kart Wii channel, online play
Developer admits Saints Row 2 will have 'bugs'
Burnout bugs begone! Paradise patched
Red Mile restructuring continues, appoints new president
Fallout, Medal of Honor devs form new studio
Take-Two's Zelnick reiterates rejection of EA buyout
No shirt? Sony launches official apparel program
Audiosurf becomes Steam's top seller for February
Ziff Davis: EGM, 1UP publisher files for bankruptcy protection
Huxley's back! You know, Huxley ... that MMOFPS?
Individual Orange Box games hit retail April 9
Schilling's 38 Studios chooses Unreal

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Xbox 360 to get 50 Euro price cut March 14

Culture & Community
These girls are more Link than you'll ever be
Study: Two out of three in U.S. play casual games
Zero Punctuation tears up Devil May Cry 4

Among the few guaranteed assurances that come with GDC, one is perhaps the most constant: in the precious minutes you have to eat -- assuming you have any minutes at all -- you will cherish whatever sustenance you can cram down your gullet. It is with this in mind that we decided to snap pictures of (almost) everything we managed to eat this week, thus bringing the masses one step closer to really being there. Without further ado, enjoy the various foodstuffs (and the many, many sandwiches) of GDC.

It used to be that just getting a high score was the be all and end all of game accomplishments. More recently, amassing Achievement points became the all-consuming passion of gamers. Now even that seems passé as a new Japanese cell phone game rewards played with real, raw fish delivered right to their door.

Ippon Zuri ("pole-and-line fishing" in English) lets DoCoMo users in Japan's Fukuoka area set bait, cast their lines and wait for the virtual fish to bite. When they do, a slot machine game appears and, if all three numbers match up, the fish is caught and, as Pink Tentacle describes it, "a message is then relayed to the wholesaler, who picks up the real-world equivalent from the local seafood market and delivers it, whole and raw, to the player's doorstep." Kind of reminds us of Activision's Atari 2600 badge program, except updated for the new millennium ... and with raw fish!

We think this is a great idea, and can't wait for the concept to be applied across the gaming world. Win a real trophy for success at virtual sports games! Win real cash for success at virtual game shows! Win a real disembodied skull for success at a first-person shooter! Er ... scratch that last one.

[Via BB Gadgets]

We're not sure if this is a good thing, per se, but the August issue of Wired magazine features a "Martha Stewart blowout" (never thought we'd write those words in the same sentence) with the queen of gracious living giving tips on a number of geek-related topics.

In the spotlight: Martha shows us how to bake a Wii cake. Sounds ... yummy? Who cares, it's cake, and it looks like a Wii. We'll eat it. Hopefully another magazine will catch on to this trend and get Christopher Lowell to show us how to make a Wii-shaped entrance to our verandah.

[Via Infendo]

A little known fact: in the game industry, everything gets equated to food. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata did it, as did Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima (though, later, he gave new analogies). Our newest public food statement comes from Sony's Jack Tretton in an interview with GamePro, who unsurprisingly relates the PlayStation 3 to a Surf n' Turf (i.e. steak and lobster).

The PS2 is "your favorite burger restaurant," and as for the rest? The Wii is "a lollipop, and I'm too old for lollipops," he said. "The other one [Xbox 360] I get sick from once in a while because the cook isn't always reliable." Red ring of burn! That jab is sizzling! Okay ... we're done. Regardless of your fanboy affiliation, do phrases like this make you as hungry as they do to us?

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Su-Yin from The Journal of a Girl who Loves To Cook has crafted the most breathtaking Mario cake we've ever seen. The inspiration came when a friend spotted the Super Mario wedding cake and said "Su Yin could do better than that!". So ... she did. As with any serious art project, the design began with a sketch and took several days to complete. The results, as you can see, are beyond stunning. Check out the gallery below and marvel at Su-Yin's ability to blend food, art, and geekery into one delicious dessert.

After the cake presentation yesterday, we decided to show off this Katamari cake Thomas Mannino showed us. Enjoy the video, be hungry, and check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Readers pick best webcomic and hate Mario Party
Today's hottest game video: Command & Conquer 3
Joystiq Podcast 001 - The Dreamcast

News
Ping Pong with Penny Arcade, to the pain!
Blue Dragon paraphernalia arrives in Japan
Wii-chargeable battery packs (almost) ready for release
Xbox 360 sporting new 'super-quiet' internal DVD drives
TransGaming and Nvidia team up for high-end games on the Mac
Sega: Virtua Tennis 3 brings its 1080p game to the Xbox 360
EA bullish on future PS3 performance
PSP mod inexplicably adds a cooling fan
Bubble Bobble Revolution recalled
Rockstar reveals Manhunt 2 for the PS2, PSP, and ... Wii
University of Rochester: Action games improve vision
News Alert: Syrian prez doesn't play video games
Crysis will run on ye olde gaming rig
Sony to market PS3 at English National Opera
Microsoft to reward Xbox Live achievers with freebies
Casual games consuming 'me time'
Oblivion, Okami top GDC Awards Nominations
Tekken in PS3 Store this month
Microsoft to soon decide fate of Space Giraffe, alpha build shipping out
Wii email informs consumers of strap replacement

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Killzone 2 demo before Halo 3 beta
Blizzard: consoles soon obsolete, becoming one with PCs

Culture
Tilt modded Xbox 360 controller now wireless
Metal Gear Solid 4 Snake figure
Ben Heck explains how to make Wii laptop
The death of the game mascot

Now you're cooking with gas. Er, the Wii. We initially joked on that there were several games you wouldn't see on the Wii, and yes cooking was one of 'em. Now we stand corrected, because Cooking Mama actually looks ... well, delicious. Fun, too. We never thought we'd be saying that about a cooking video game, but here it is. Next up, games based on cleaning and doing your homework.

Check it out after the jump. You can practically smell the soup from here, and maybe we'll actually learn something while we play this one. When's Quantum Mechanics Mario hitting the shelves?

Can gaming teach us healthier ways to eat? Nonsense! A recent Electronic Arts study concluded that commercial games can be effective teaching tools in the classroom. Last week, researchers at the University of Sydney found that automated dietary advice, similar to Amazon recommendations, reduced the amount of saturated fats in the goods purchased by the participants.

The two studies are not necessarily mutually exclusive: imagine a 3D platformer where your enemies all shared a common thread of containing copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup. Would you subconscious start avoiding foods that contain HFCS, or at least check the nutrition labels?

Yoshi's Fruit Cake? Veggie Burger Time? Scrumdiddly-umptious.

See Also:
W. Virginia to put DDR in all 765 public schools
Parent prefers kid dabbling in coke over playing video games


Read - New tool helps online shoppers buy lower-fat food [Reuters, via Geek.com]
Read - Video games have 'role in school' [BBC News]

This incredible three-tiered Mario-themed wedding cake was the big surprise at Brent Gustafson's wedding. His bride-to-be planned the cake, keeping it a secret until just before its unveiling. The entire creation -- short of the cake toppers -- was entirely edible. That means piranha plants, mushroom, everything. While the cake toppers weren't edible, they weren't easy to come by. They're part of the "Mario Family" series from Club Nintendo in Japan, only available by redeeming points from Japanese Nintendo products.

If they knew about our Gears of War contest, we're pretty sure the cake's Flickr entry would take the, uh ... you know.

[Via Boing Boing]

This week's Photoshop Phriday over at Something Awful once again relates to the wonderful world of video games, tasking fervent photochoppers to take their slicing and splicing skills into the kitchen. The cataclysmic combination of gaming and gourmet yields some absolutely ingenious (even delicious) results and should easily satiate your appetite for a good laugh. From Metal Gear Salads and organized crime omelettes to the frightening discovery of an obtuse vending machine in one of the ages of Myst, the selection is well worth sampling.

[Image by Overbite. Thanks Lupos.]