I really thought my life would turn out differently. Back in college in the early 90s, I was part of a 2-man cover group that played the local bar scene (with actual guitars, I might add). Today, I press plastic buttons on a facsimile Gibson SG, pretending I'm shredding to one slammin' rock song after another. I don't need to be told that this is pathetic, but damned if I'm not having a blast anyway. This is the reality of the Guitar Hero series, which has offered up addictive fun even while making you look like an enormous tool.

The 2007 college football season is winding down, and while the last of the autumn leaves falls lazily from the trees in Charlottesville, VA, there's no slowdown for Erik Elvgren, senior producer and animator at the University of Virginia's Athletics Video Services Department (AVS). The last home UVA football game is only days away, and while Elvgren's animated CavMan adventures make their final 2007 showing at Scott Stadium, basketball season is already heating up, and CavMan is expected to pull duty for the Cavalier basketball team as well.