Six year old Christer from Norway was tired of his name, and since he was a big fan of Sonic, he wanted to be named after his favorite video game character. In fact, he wanted it so bad that he actually wrote to King Harald V asking for permission to have his name legally changed to "Sonic X." The King must've found the story so cute that he replied. Find out what happened after the link.

So you're planning a road trip, eh? Finally decided to get out of the house, stretch your legs, and get some well-needed R&R after that ridiculously-long all nighter fragging loud thirteen-year-old kids in the Halo 3 Beta? Spiffing! The sunshine will do you a world of good, not to mention the physical rigors of an excursion will get the juices flowing again in those game-atrophied muscles.

While there are some ideal destinations that let you lounge beside a sparkling pool while being waited on hand and foot by beautiful, scantily-clad specimens of the female persuasion, there ARE a couple of locations you might want to mark off your list, or avoid entirely. This Videogame Enthusiast Survival guide is about those locations, and if on the off-chance you find yourself in them - well, you're pretty much beyond all help.

But don't lose ALL hope, though, as this IS a survival guide, and we have a few tips to share - just in case.

The full Survival Guide after the jump!

 

After the downfall of the print in the North American side, Europe is beginning to feel the detrimental effects of the web-based zine and more frequent media coverage. According to a panel discussion by the region's leading game journalists, the print option just isn't viable anymore.

In Norway, Denmark and the UK, it's all the same. Prints are often outdated by the competition on the Web, and those magazines that still do exist rely heavily on advertising from sponsors such as games studios to keep afloat. Thomas Vigild, the panel moderator, explained:

They're really driven by advertisements, so it seems to me there's a really unhealthy relationship between the PRs and the people who write the magazines... We don't have magazines like in the UK where you can say, 'No way, I won't print your PR [nonsense].' That's much harder to do in Denmark because they still need the income from the advertisers.

Similar to how William "Bing" Gordon of Electronic Arts believes games will eventually be 100% Internet-based, the panel believes that even the media coverage will soon be online only. In fact, most of the panel members agreed that the magazines that do survive will be those that actually adapt.

However, certain magazines will continue to sell, because their previous reputation continues to stand and they continue to do very well in what they do. People still feel compelled to buy and own copies of those magazines, either because the layout or design is great or the content that's offered comes in a more mature and acceptable manner.

Finnish journalist Thomas Puha was one to disagree with the panel's sentiments, saying, "I do agree that print magazines are going down, but I look at it as a challenge." He believes that people will continue to read printed games coverage because of better content. "It's not that difficult to provide great content," he said.

But in order for magazines to survive, some believe that they should be willing to evolve. Susanne Moller, a contributor to one of Sweden's national newspapers, believes that if a magazine has both an online news portal to encourage game discussion and a good magazine print each month, a magazine will have adapted well to the changing times.