Poor Mojo's Newswire

In terms of in-game originality, EverQuest II should probably win a prize. They're implementing a new feature in GU52 which will let players pen their own stories and distribute the books to other players. Think Lulu but with an EQII twist. Granted we're not talking War and Peace here but for anyone who has dabbled in fantasy fiction or would love nothing more than to pen tales of their character's exploits then this is definitely a feature for you.

Essentially the process is simple: nip to your local crafter and buy a blank book. Once you start writing, that book becomes tied to you the author. According to Rothgar, there's no limit to pages but there is to words. For example, this screenshot shows 16% of the book has been used up which probably means around four pages of text.

But once you've written your masterpiece, what do you do with it? Well you can easily copy the book to another blank tome, then you can give out copies to your friends or even sell them via a broker so the entirety of Norrath can read your tales.

Bethesda has just announced that we'll be getting a new Fallout from the folks who know it best - the original developers. Due out next year for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, Fallout New Vegas, a new, standalone adventure set in the Fallout universe, is currently under development by Obsidian, the company responsible for Neverwinter Nights 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and made up of former members of Black Isle Studios - the developers of Fallout and Fallout 2. Bethesda will publish the game.

Bethesda's Pete Hines says the Fallout 3 developers reached out to Obsidian and CEO Feargus Urquhart about creating a new game set in the Fallout universe. Obsidian's response was: "Hell yeah."

Driving a Zamboni is not as much fun as it looks: Visibility from the elevated left-rear position is poor, the abrupt throttle tip-in takes some getting used to, and the vague steering is totally ’70s Cadillac. Despite the studded tires and all-wheel drive, the handling profile is pure oversteer. Resurfacing the ice is done by a conditioner, the large contraption behind the rear wheels that houses a razor-sharp blade, a squeegee, and a horizontal auger that removes the shaved ice from the blade. Lowering the blade controls how much ice is cut off the surface. Then hot, ice-making water is poured onto the freshly shaved ice. New, a Zamboni starts at about $100,000.

Eric and I recently discovered a shared fascination with the slew of impossibly named NPR hosts we listen to every day: Renee Montagne, Steve Inskeep, Corey Flintoff, Korva Coleman, Kai Ryssdal, Dina Temple-Raston.

In fact, we’ve often wondered what it would be like to be one of them. A Nina Totenberg or a Renita Jablonski. A David Kestenbaum or a Lakshmi Singh. Even (on our most ambitious days) a Cherry Glaser or a Sylvia Poggioli.

So finally, after years of Fresh Air sign-off ambitions, we came up with a system for creating our own NPR Names. Here’s how it works: You take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then you add on the smallest foreign town you’ve ever visited.