I'm not a big follower of couture fashion, but that might just be because it hasn't been targeted to me. Yeah, that's the reason. But including Lego and video games might change that.

The video game industry racked up impressive sales in 2008, pulling in more than $21 billion in sales in the United States alone. That makes for a similarly impressive marketing tab.

According to researchers at the Nielsen Company and its Monitor-Plus advertising monitoring service, the industry spent an astounding $823 million promoting its video game wares to consumers. Hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right? Surely we wouldn't complain.

The Rubik's Cube folks figured out a way to make the simple puzzle even more maddening than before. For Graham Parker, the guy who took 26 years to solve the original, this is bad news.

The new puzzle, called Rubik 360, is set for an official unveiling at the German toy industry fair on February 5. Like the original, the premise is simple. It's the execution that's going to cause people to lose 26 years of their lives trying to solve it.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ubisoft unveils a brand-new video game based on the turtles, with no movie, TV show, or comic strings attached.

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is being developed by Game Arts of Super Smash Bros. Brawl fame, with a release window set for fall 2009. It's a four-player brawler, as it should be, and for the first time there is no tie-in with any movie, television show, or comic book. It's completely its own title.

Story from Kotaku Australia

Wii Fit! Chart tracking GfK has slipped to Jason Hill a list of the best-selling games of last year. Cementing Nintendo's stranglehold on gaming this generation, six of the top ten places went to Wii games, with a further two going to DS titles. That leaves just a couple of spots left over for the 360 and PS3... and you might be surprised by how that turned out.

Story from Kotaku Australia

Bad-ass US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger recently completed the first successful water landing of a commercial aircraft in 45 years, touching down on the Hudson River. Now, you can relive the magic, via flight sim.

The BBC's recent report on the amazing, everybody-unbelievably-survived landing recreated the ditching of the Airbus 320 with the help of the folks at Just Flight, creator of fine flight sim add-ons, and Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Story from Kotaku Australia

There's a reason the Gaming Showcase at CES doesn't light the gaming world on fire. It's packed to its borders with subwoofer-filled seating designed for games and lame Chinese knock-offs, like the iSports.

At CES, where Resident Evil 5 will soon be projected onto the side of Planet Hollywood, video games are everywhere. But some go beyond mere entertainment. During his keynote speech today, Intel chairman Craig Barrett talked about how technology can help people in the developing world. One of the most interesting efforts he mentioned: Warner Brothers Interactive recently created a PC game that uses an engaging story to teach Kenyan teens about HIV prevention.

Living in a New York apartment, I barely have room for two stereo speakers – let alone 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 surround-sound rigs. So I may not be the ideal person for Dolby’s new Dolby Prologic IIz setup, which features up to 10 speakers, with two up in the air.

There's playing online games, and then there's collecting 68 virtual "husbands" in a game. That's when Chinese parents intervene and send their wayward offspring to a boot camp staffed by soldiers of the People's Liberation Army.

Story from Gizmodo Australia

The SkiGym simulator looks like it's going for realism rather than the silly fun offered by the Wii, but some people probably want an accurate depiction of brief exhilaration before the inevitable faceplant.

Story from Kotaku Australia

A Missouri State student came back to his dorm to find his Xbox 360 stolen. Realising the controller still connected when turned it on, he set out to find the console. And he did.

This is probably the only set of circumstances in which this would work -- 360 stolen, thief lives 30 feet away, that's only gonna happen in a college dorm. But credit to Ryan Ketsenberg for using some critical thinking and old fashioned sleuthing to get his stuff back and bust a thief.