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I suppose it's part of my American identity but one of my video game weaknesses is video game currency. It makes games just a bit more addicting for me whether I'm collecting Grand Theft Auto dollars, Ratchet and Clank bolts, Devil May Cry orbs, or even Metal Gear Solid 4 Drebin Points. I'll crawl out onto a raging battlefield to scoop up dropped guns for those puppies even though I almost never need to use them. It's found money, so how can I just walk away? The sound is a key part of it, too. The blips of Drebin Points and whoomp of Devil May Cry orbs can't hold a candle to the king of game currency -- Ratchet and Clank bolts. The jangling of those bolts as you scoop them up and they literally float into your account must've been designed by someone with some serious psychology chops. The clicking of the studs in Lego Star Wars probably comes in second mostly because I liked Legos so much as a kid.

I'm not kidding

Earlier this month in anticipation of the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 the PlayStation Universe posted a list of 12 tips for players of the game. Now that MGS4 is out we won't grumble about their possible early access to the game, we'll just pass them along to you to help you through the sometimes convoluted and always cerebral world of Metal Gear Solid.

Like many others, I downloaded the MGO Beta from the UK Playstation Store last night and left my PS3 online all night to download and upload the 1.10 patch via their P2P option. I attempted to create my "Konami ID" via the Konami ID website but the site was barely responding. Konami is obviously aware of the problem, posting a message on 4/16: