This week's Best Gamesville Avatar was created by Aliethia of Phoenix, AZ (pictured at left).

Aliethia says: "I work at home, and have been working so many hours lately that I have not had any fun or vacation. My avatar represents the little girl in me and where I wish I could be now!"

Think you have the Best Gamesville Avatar?

Shine up your Gamesville Avatar, then send your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com We'll check out your avatar and see if it has was it takes to be Best Gamesville Avatar.

Be sure to include a little bit about yourself and your Gamesville Avatar with your entry, so we can understand that special connection between you and your Gamesville Avatar.

If we publish you as "Best Gamesville Avatar", we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

Don't have a Gamesville Avatar yet? Create your FREE Gamesville Avatar now!

This week's Best Pet is from Sulphur Springs, TX.

Bizarre Local Legend: GhostsOfAmerica.com says that the ghost of an old prospector with a wooden leg is often seen snooping in people's mailboxes around midnight in Sulphur Springs!

Pet Name:
Roscoe

Pet Owner:
Gamesviller "Darkhuntresstx"

View Darkhuntresstx's Profile
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Distinguishing Personality Traits:
Darkhuntresstx says: "As you can see, my boxer, Roscoe, loves to eat watermelon. He also likes to eat apples. He likes apples so much, he'll pick them himself off our apple tree!"

Want to share photos of your own favorite pet with the Gamesville community?

Send photos to: members@gamesville.com

In addition to your pet's picture, please include:

• your member name
• your pet's most distinguishing personality trait

Please note: All submissions become the sole property of Gamesville, which reserves the right to hold, reject and/or edit submissions without notice and without limitation in perpetuity.

Around Gamesville HQ, we believe in five very important things: Mom, baseball, apple pie, free games for cash prizes, and Joss Whedon. So when we got the news that all five seasons of Joss Whedon's cult television series, Angel, were being collected into a 30-disc DVD set, we got pretty excited. When the fine folks at Fox Home Entertainment sent us a preview copy, we popped in our fake fangs and sank our teeth into it--and loved every minute of it.

Angel (played by David Boreanaz, now of Bones fame) is a centuries-old vampire cursed with a conscience, who leaves the only woman he ever loved to take up residence in Los Angeles. Between the pervasive evil and countless temptations lurking beneath the city’s glittering façade, Los Angeles proves to be the ideal location for a fallen vampire who has the mission to save lost souls and in turn redeem his own by restoring hope to those locked in a losing battle with their own demons.

The 30-disc DVD Set features all 110 episodes, a signed letter to fans from creator Joss Whedon, and a collectible companion booklet. The box set goes on sale October 30, 2007, for a suggested retail price of $139.98, but can probably be found cheaper if you shop around.

If you're a fan of supernatural dramas and you haven't seen Angel, you should really check this set out. A highlight reel of some of the scenes from season two is below:

This week's Best Gamesville Avatar was created by Test.Anxiety of Collegeville, PA (pictured at left).

Test.Anxiety says: "I'm a writer, artist, metal smith, and part-time English professor with kids in college, and three Betta-Max (Siamese Fighting) fish. During the summer, I grow a small organic vegetable and herb garden, sharing the crops with my neighbors who think I'm crazy for doing all that work when I could just buy the same stuff at the supermarket!

"My avatar represents me, coming in from my garden after discovering that the insects have tried to feast on almost everything but the wildflowers. My expression suggests that I am not pleased that summer is over, and my garden is ghosting away under the autumn leaves, until next year.

"Although my hair is really very long and dark brown, sometimes (kids, classes, presentations, studio!) it feels as if it must have all turned gray-- and it's fun to create a "me" that looks the way I feel. (Aren't avatars great?) I am fairly new to Gamesville, and love being able to play and just not think. :) I really am addicted to Addiction Solitaire, and I really do have test anxiety! If you see me around and need a hand with some English matter, let me know-- I'm always glad to lend a hand. "

Think you have the Best Gamesville Avatar?

Shine up your Gamesville Avatar, then send your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com We'll check out your avatar and see if it has was it takes to be Best Gamesville Avatar.

Be sure to include a little bit about yourself and your Gamesville Avatar with your entry, so we can understand that special connection between you and your Gamesville Avatar.

If we publish you as "Best Gamesville Avatar", we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

Don't have a Gamesville Avatar yet? Create your FREE Gamesville Avatar now!

This week's Best Pet duo hails from Lander, WY.

Useless Fact: Lander, WY, holds many festivals year-yound, including the International Climbers Festival, Gold Rush Days, and the Chokecherry Festival which sounds vaguely disturbing but is actually a wonderful chance to celebrate the abundance of our earth's harvest.

Pet Names:
Kona & Clancy

Pet Owner:
Gamesviller "Jerrysgirl8"

View Jerrysgirl8's Profile
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Distinguishing Personality Traits:
Jerrysgirl8 says: "Kona is a great big brother who is very protective of his younger brother Clancy. Both are rescue cats that are very well-behaved and sit up for dinner and treats. Their previous owners do not know what they have given up!"

Want to share photos of your own favorite pet with the Gamesville community?

Send photos to: members@gamesville.com

In addition to your pet's picture, please include:

• your member name
• your pet's most distinguishing personality trait

Please note: All submissions become the sole property of Gamesville, which reserves the right to hold, reject and/or edit submissions without notice and without limitation in perpetuity.

Without a doubt, one of the premiere symbols of Halloween in the United States is the Jack O'Lantern. And one of Gamesville's premiere symbols is the alien bunny from Three-Eyed Bingo. So, it is with great pleasure that we present to you...

This year's Gamesville Jack O'Lantern:

For more information on pumpkin carving, including how to lay your creations to rest with some dignity, check out pumpkincarving101.

Today, we're introducing a new feature on the Gamesville Blog: The Gamesville Poetry Corner! Today's poem was sent in by Kalcan4 of Chesapeake, VA (pictured below).

View Kalcan4's Profile

 Kalcan4's piece is titled, "I Love Java Games". Take it away, Kalcan4...

I play online Gamesvilles Java games hours on end

Laborious these Gamesville Java games are not,

  but they're free

One, two, three thousound GVs, I win

Victorious, I be

Endless brain thinking restores the stress

Joyful card games, checkers, math games, more

Always thinking the math games are the best

Vigor proclaims more tokens galore

Again to choose a card game

Glory be, I won more GVs

A family member thinks my Gamesville games are lame but

My Gamesville Java Games make me feel unbroken

Everyone will soon see

Satisfaction in playing Gamesville Java Games is a need

  so, please, let me be 

  
Do you write poetry?

Send us your poetry (about Gamesville or anything at all), and send your verse and your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com

If we publish your poem here, we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

(Like the avatar art that accompanies this poem? Then you've got good taste. Create your own FREE Gamesville Avatar today!)

Thanks to players such as svetislavmi, jengrz1222, and others who sent us their Java logs, we were able to diagnose and solve a key complaint about games not loading.

The particular issue that these players were facing related to Java version 1.6.0_03 which contained new code that made it incompatible with Gamesville.

We've put in a fix to address it, and several people with that version of Java, who could not play before, now say that they are able to play again. If you've had trouble recently playing at Gamesville, please try again now.

If you still cannot play, then you may be experiencing a different issue--and to solve it, we'll need your help.

If you're having trouble playing Gamesville games, please send answers to the following questions to customer service via a customer support ticket:

• Which browser are you using (eg, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Safari, etc.)?
• Do you have security software on your computer that acts as a pop-up blocker or a firewall (e.g., Norton, McAfee, etc.)?
• What operating system are you using? For example, Microsoft Vista, Microsoft XP Home Edition, Macintosh, etc.
• What is your Gamesville member name?
• What game are you trying to play?
• What version of Java are you using?

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not post information about your computer here! Instead, send it to customer service through the link above.

Once customer service has this information, we'll be able to diagnose the issue and help fix it.

This week's Best Gamesville Avatar was created by Etsu_mom of Kingsport, TN (pictured at left).

Etsu_mom says: "My avatar represents myself as a child that actually dressed and looked much like my avatar that I have on Gamesville. I have been a member for quite some time and love most of the games. My favorites are Bubble Popper, Magic 21, and Mah Jongg. I am a stay at home mom and love chatting and have made some friends online playing these wonderful games. Thanks!"

Think you have the Best Gamesville Avatar?

Shine up your Gamesville Avatar, then send your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com We'll check out your avatar and see if it has was it takes to be Best Gamesville Avatar.

Be sure to include a little bit about yourself and your Gamesville Avatar with your entry, so we can understand that special connection between you and your Gamesville Avatar.

If we publish you as "Best Gamesville Avatar", we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

Don't have a Gamesville Avatar yet? Create your FREE Gamesville Avatar now!