If you live in France, you could send all your holiday pressies by Mario Mail this year thanks to La Poste's game-based stamps.
For €2.65 (£1.81 in GBP), you get 10 stamps that (and please forgive the dodgy translation) "feature the legends of video games: the mythical heroes that everyone knows, from child to adult". Click here and type "jeux video" into the search box to see what it really says.
As an amateur philatelist (very amateur; I'll leave the real deal to my Uncle Andy) I remember when the US Post Office first started putting pop culture icons on its stamps. Elvis, Marilyn and James Dean were my personal faves. But video game characters? No chance. Too controversial.
However, Les French have a habit of tirelessly supporting its digital entertainment industry, in the past pulling companies out of the financial doldrums so uber-corp EA couldn't buy controlling shares.
If Britain chose to celebrate the games industry's interactive cultural contribution by placing pics on stamps, there'd be some great home-grown talent that could feature. Here are the top eleven UK-developed games characters.
Please, help me out with others. If we put together a comprehensive list I'll send it to the Royal Mail.
1. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider, Core Design, Derby) 2. James Bond (GoldenEye 007, Rare, Manor Park) 3. Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark, Rare, Manor Park) 4. CJ (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Rockstar North, Edinburgh) 5. Dark Mistress (Dungeon Keeper, Bullfrog, Guildford) 6. the GUI from Elite (Elite, Bell & Braben, Cambridge) 7. James Pond (James Pond, Millennium Interactive, Cambridge) 8. Worms (Worms series, Team 17, Ossett) 9. Jet Set Willy (Jet Set Willy, Software Projects, Liverpool) 10. Monty Mole (Wanted: Monty Mole, Gremlin Graphics, Sheffield) 11. Horace (Horace series, Psion, London)
