For today, I decided on something different. Maybe not necessarily great, mind you, but different at any rate. In the course of collecting game goodies over the years, you can get a lot of stuff that, though somewhat interesting, aren't exactly the most exciting or photogenic of items. It's not like they're unworthy of mention or anything, it's just that they're hardly "dance for joy" items either. So for today, here's a handful of neat goodies that can, for the most part, be summed up in one picture each.

Item #1: The Manhunt Voice Changer With this handy item you can change your telephone voice and fool your friends, issuing death threats and bomb scares with impunity. [Legal note: That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke!] You take the comma-shaped widget and attach it to your phone, speaking into the microphone on the comma's dangly part. On the opposite side is a speaker pointing into the mouthpiece, and there's a little rubber/foam ring that'll hopefully prevent your real voice from filtering into the mouthpiece and giving you away. In theory, your voice will change to something strange and/or sinister, but I can't say I've ever tested it. Still, it's just the thing for the stalker in you.

Item #2: The Resident Evil: Outbreak Watch Not as fancy as the GameStop bottle and face mask, but still quite nice. This is a watch designed to hang off a convenient strap or belt loop. It's got a compass on the band, just like the bottle, and is just a generally high-quality piece.

Item #3: The Sony Carabiner Watch (car•a•bi•ner also kar•a•bi•ner - n: an oblong metal ring with a spring clip; used in mountaineering to attach a rope to a piton or to connect two ropes.) This one has a watch on it, and though I'd probably clip it onto my backpack I don't really think I'd entrust my life to it on a sheer rock face.

Item #4: The Xbox Live Watch It's a watch, cloth band with velcro to hold it shut, orange and black, and there's a big Tomax logo on it. The reason that's there, now that I've gone back and taken a look, is because it's part of the soft plastic face protector that I hadn't realized was on it when I took the picture. Heh, whoops . . .

Item #5: Sony PlayStation Pen Normally I wouldn't list a pen, but this one has a light on it, and as long as I'm doing knickknacks I might as well toss it on. It was in the same pile as the rest of this stuff, after all, so might as well. Besides, it came in its own case with extra batteries for the light, so that shows at least a little thought went into it.

And that's it, a random collection of stuff gathered from here and there. I'm sure just about everyone who collects stuff like this has a similar pile of things that hover in range between "really neat" and "not worth mentioning," and this was a good cross-section of mine.

· · · James Cunningham