Gamasutra has posted a thoughtful editorial from Duncan Fyfe about the role of video games in education. This warrants more attention than, say, Mario’s Time Machine, because the article treats education not so much as formal schooling, but as the transmission of important ideas and inspiration from person to person.

The main thrust is that video games are in a unique position spark an interest in knowledge, without necessarily cramming the information down our throats with a test at the end. You see this frequently from gamers–claims that they learned words from formative games (how many of you knew the word “spoony” before Final Fantasy hit the SNES?), or discovered new bands through Guitar Hero–so there’s something of substance about the claim. Check it out, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

1up is reporting that phishing messages are being propagated around XBox Live that appear to come from members of your friends list. The message offers 1600 free MS points for logging into a New Zeland domain website with your Live account. Naturally, once you’ve done this, your user name is hijacked to send the same message to everyone on your friend list and (surprise) no points are awarded. So, if you have an XBox Live account, keep your eyes peeled.

That said, it’s heartening in its sinister little way to see thieves exploiting Live like this. It means there’s something worth stealing on there in large enough volumes to justify the risk. When unscrupulous people take an interest in your financial enterprise, you know you’ve arrived. Congratulations all around.

In case you’ve ever wondered if you’re wearing too many belts (or not wearing enough), 1up has provided a top five worst-dressed video game characters list. If you can look past the banality of the top 5 format, it’s funny how easy it is to take ridiculous video game fashion for granted. Even ignoring the legions of nearly nude femme fatales, character design has become so focused on making something striking and memorable that it plummets headlong into the absurd.

Just a little something to remind you how jaded you are.