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Essentially playing : considering gender, sex and sexuality in video games and game scholarship -- Builders of boys, makers of men : examining the ludic processes of the masculine apprenticeship -- "Putting some work in" : masculinity, labor and hypo-ludicity -- "I am sworn to carry your burdens" : eliminating and scapegoating women in video games -- "Welcome to the family, son" : maligned and misunderstood fathers in "dadified" video games -- "It's the terror of knowing" : resurrection, melancholia and the elegiac game.

Grand Theft Auto IV provides an unparalleled opportunity to consider the outcomes when textual play and game play not only intersect, but operate in concert. Indeed, the two are inextricably linked to each other and to the social commentary which contributes to the game's story, humor, and thematic unity. This article considers the modes of textual play in Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as the locations and situations when players encounter them while playing the game. It also explores the subversive of potential of textual play as it relies on and departs from game play, and attempts to reconcile whether or not the success of such motives hinges on the very act of playing a game, or if the specific game (and its franchise) overdetermine the result.

Grand Theft Auto IV provides an unparalleled opportunity to consider the outcomes when textual play and game play not only intersect, but operate in concert. Indeed, the two are inextricably linked to each other and to the social commentary which contributes to the game's story, humor, and thematic unity. This article considers the modes of textual play in Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as the locations and situations when players encounter them while playing the game. It also explores the subversive of potential of textual play as it relies on and departs from game play, and attempts to reconcile whether or not the success of such motives hinges on the very act of playing a game, or if the specific game (and its franchise) overdetermine the result.

Currently, the discourses of popular culture unflinchingly reproduce the myths and stereotypes of a cycle of abuse in which boys who have been victimized will inevitably sexually abuse others. Moreover, the momentum of the popular discourses leads to their frequent conflation in institutional and even in therapeutic coverage. In many ways, such boys become contemporary versions of scapegoats, branded not for something they have but rather for something that was done to them.

Although critics and scholars have considered the extent to which the terror attacks of 11 Sept. 2001 influenced subsequent media productions, video games comprise a largely unexamined form. This oversight also applies to related forms of media production and among those who study video games is in part attributable to the ongoing debate regarding the relationship(s) between narrative and play. Even so, as early as 1997, JC Herz was investigating the role of video games in the military-entertainment complex. That said, the focus of this paper will not be the obvious games which draw settings and plots directly from the terror attacks, from the "war on terror" or from the overwhelming popular responses to them. Instead, it will consider games which function allegorically (at the very least metaphorically) and pedagogically through their imbrication with the web of so-called "post-9/11" narratives. Syphon Filter 3 and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun both represent installments of successful video game series which were affected by the post-9/11 mindset. Through an examination of the games' content and pedagogical functions, the tension between audience expectations and the media's ideological manipulations will be examined, including how this occurs in and through the playing of the games.

The Canadian refusal to join the U.S. led "coalition of the willing" does not mark the first time the nation has chosen not to follow its "traditional allies" into a foolish, ego-driven, imperialistic and vengeful conflict. Indeed, Canada's record in these matters is flawless. Peter C. Newman points out that "we went along with most presidential global adventures, except the Vietnam War. The other significant time we parted company with the Yanks was over our drive to impose economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa, a policy we initiated and successfully defended despite American objections." In fact, the objections to this policy came from the Reagan administration, which serves as the model for the current Bush regime. Despite protests from its partners, Canada managed to field the fourth largest military among the World War II Allies — the largest per capita — and did so without instituting a universal draft. At the time, Prime Minister Mackenzie King's policy was popularly known as "Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription." Current Prime Minister Jean ChrÈtien's policy is reflected in the title of this paper, which surveys the popular and political responses — that is, what Canadians read and hear — regarding the paradoxical position.

In The Game Culture Reader, editors Jason C. Thompson and Marc A. Ouellette propose that Game Studies-that peculiar multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary field wherein international researchers from such diverse areas as rhetoric, computer science, literary studies, culture studies, psychology, media studies and so on come together to study the production, distribution, and consumption of games-has reached an unproductive stasis. Its scholarship remains either divided (as in the narratologists versus ludologists debate) or indecisive (as in its frequently apolitical stances on play and fandom).

Vaccine biomarkers are critical to many aspects of vaccine development and licensure, including bridging findings in pre-clinical studies to clinical studies, predicting potential adverse events, and predicting vaccine efficacy. Despite advances in our understanding of various biological pathways, and advances in systems analyses of the immune response, there remains much to learn about qualitative and quantitative aspects of the human host response to vaccination. To stimulate discussion and identify opportunities for collaborative ways to advance the field of vaccine biomarkers, A Next Generation Vaccine Biomarker workshop was held in Ottawa. The two day workshop, sponsored by the National Research Council Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Pfizer, and Medicago, brought together stakeholders from Canadian and international industry, government and academia. The workshop was grouped in themes, covering vaccine biomarker challenges in the pre-clinical and clinical spaces, veterinary vaccines, regulatory challenges, and development of biomarkers for adjuvants and cancer vaccines. The use of case studies allowed participants to identify the needs and gaps requiring innovation. The workshop concluded with a discussion on opportunities for vaccine biomarker discovery, the Canadian context, and approaches for moving forward. This article provides a synopsis of these discussions and identifies steps forward for advancing vaccine biomarker research in Canada.