When he's not busy blogging about the potentially deadly mix of urine and PlayStations, Joystiq blogger Kyle Orland has been busy at work on The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual, a ... uh, style guide and reference manual about video games. Or is that videogames?

Over a year ago, style guide coauthor Dave Thomas prompted this Joystiq poll to determine whether we'd use "videogames" or "video games" here at the 'stiq. Astute readers will certainly note that we use the latter, as determined by our savvy voters. Those who voted for that winner will be disheartened to learn that "videogames" -- Thomas' preferred variant -- is indeed the guide's preferred spelling.

So, why a style guide for games writers? Kyle attempts to tackle that question over at GameDaily, while edifying readers on the correct styling of Xbox (hint: that's the correct version). But what about PLAYSTATION 3? We don't have to write it in all caps, do we? Interested parties -- even you FAQ writers -- can request a free eBook copy of the book for a limited time -- an altruistic effort we can only imagine is intended to save each and every one of us from reading "X-BoX-360" ever again. Want to add a leatherbound* copy to your mahogany bookcase? Hard copies are available for $15 paperback and $25 hardback.

*Leather binding not available.

Free - Request The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual
Read - Book Excerpt: 'A Question of Style' (GameDaily BIZ)

We here at Joystiq don't usually post about our own outside work, but I figured I'd make an exception for my first foray as a dead tree book author.

The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual is an effort to set down some consistent answers for those niggling copy editing questions that constantly come up when writing about games -- questions like whether videogame should be one word or two (the guide says one, you say two), whether to capitalize the B in Xbox (no) and whether the term "Wiimote" should be excised from the English language forever (yes, yes, a thousand times yes). Not everyone will agree with our choices, and others won't even care, but as I say in the book's introduction, we hope that addressing these issues will "build trust and respect for both our art and the emerging field of gaming as a whole."

The guide will be available in hardcover, paperback and eBook editions on June 1, 2007. Working game journalists can register for a free eBook edition for a limited time by e-mailing freebook@gamestyleguide.com.

Read - Excerpt from the Guide's introduction
Read - Official Guide web site