Well, it's been an extremely long time since I did this the first time, and I'm in the Holiday Spirit of Giving, so I'd like to share with everyone some of the e-mails we get through the contact form on our site.  Some of these are nice fanmails, and some of them, well, some of them make my job the colorful job it is.  On to the mails!

First let's take a look at some nice fanmail for Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway (then we'll get to the funny ones).  These are all copied verbatim, so spelling, grammar, and etc. are all from the originals:

"Just wanted to email you and tell you, you guys did one heck of a job on Hell's Highway."

"I imagine you guys get a lot of feedback from loyal supporters like myself all the time, but thank you for reading this. I recently purchased BIA:Hells highway, and would like to say that it was amazing. The single player campaign was f####ing sweet. Never have I been so engulfed by electronic entertainment as with the BIA series. It has had me hooked since the first installment, and hells highway blew me away. I felt an actual emotional attachment to all of the characters, and the story had me grueling through a marathon session just to see what happens. "

"Thank you for Hell's Highway, a title that goes above and beyond to deliver us an uncensored war game that doesn't ignore the most important factor; the soldier's story."

"hey I was just wondering if you would be developing another brothers in arms game. I have played hells highway and have loved it and I was just wondering if you would be making another one?"

"Just wanted to let you guys know, Brothers In Arms Hells Highway is an absolute masterpiece. Congratulations and keep up the good work!"

"3 minutes ago I've finished the long and intense ordeal that BIA Hell's Highway was and after the ending I felt that I must thank you guys, this was an awesome game experience. I followed all of BIA games and for me they are the best WWII FPS that were made so far and this last one , its simply amazing."

"I didn't know who to write this to but I just finished Hell's Highway and i wanted to express my gratitude and excitement for it. The whole franchise has been my favorite since the first one on the original xbox, so thank you folks so much and i can't wait for the next one!"

Now let's take a look at some of the other e-mails I get.  I've excluded the nastier ones (we do get some pretty rude mail from time to time) and focused on some that are silly or just generally entertaining.  My own comments and explanations in italics:

 "For your Halo Cstom Edition i cannot make my very own custom made maps and i would like to do so could you please give me a list of all the necessary software and estimated price of this software that i will need to be eligble to create my own maps for Halo: CE thanks" 

"Thank your  game. I is chinese boy   !"  This one is just cute, it made me smile.

"i dont know how too play halo online like the shooting thing."

"Hi.  There is a simple question about the game called brothers in arms.  How can I actually kill enemy? Maybe I should get any patch?  You call it realistic! But I call this stupidistic! So tell me how can I kill enemy at least from ten shots?"

"Is this the man of the house?  Would you be interested in a press subscription to Bears and Bares?  Please email me a response."  Sometimes spam gets through, and sometimes it's creepy.

"Hi, I understand that some illegal footage has appeared on the internet of Aliens: CM. I just want you to know I think Jace Hall was out of line when he filmed and aired the game play. ssupport your company"  Referring to the split second of Aliens footage that Jace "stole" as a gag part of his show.  Some people took this very seriously.

"how to download the game?"

"do you guys have any beta codes for the upcoming game borderlands??? if you do is there any way that i can get one to see how the game will be?"  Asking about betas is one of my most commonly received mails.  That, "can i haev halo cd key," and "I have a great idea for a game" are in the top three.

"Hi I was emailing to ask do you have any free samples of games or software that i could try please?"

"hi are you still the software"  We sure are.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a keyboard shortcut to start and stop the metronome in gear box, when that frame is active ?"  There's a Line6 product out there that is a piece of software called Gearbox.  We get a lot of questions about the Gearbox Software through our website, which you'd have to look at to send a contact form and would immediately be able to tell wasn't a music gear company.

"I dont know if i am in the right department. i am trying to reach the weapons developers on the Borderlands team. How can I contact them?"  Hold on, I'll set you up a conference call with them.

"Great Game! Just got done. I have a 10 year old. On the next game can you get rid of the cussing, so my son can play it."  Because there's no problem with the, you know, killing.

"dear i want 2 download u r games 2 my pc 4 free of cost plz help........thank u."

"I have an idea for a game mechanic / new project."  Get in line!

That's all for this edition of the mailbag.  Keep those contact forms coming!