The Black Friday shoppers who were standing in line at midnight to score deals on video games weren't necessarily parents of teenage boys. Some of them might have been pig guardians.

It's true: Pigs love a good video game. Surprised? Then try this one on for size: Pigs can answer to their names within a week of being born. Yep. That skill takes people, what, two years to master?

Pigs are super-smart. In fact, they're classified as the fourth-smartest animal on the planet—ahead of cats and dogs (who haven't the foggiest idea what a Wii is).

And here are some other things that you may not know about pigs:

• They enjoy listening to music.
• They "Eskimo kiss" like humans by rubbing their noses together.
• The intense bond between mother pigs and their babies is just as strong as that between human parents and their children.
• Pigs are chatterboxes, and their wide range of grunts, squeaks, snarls, and snorts all have distinct meanings.
• Just like human beings, they have widely varied personalities: Pigs can be shy or outgoing, serious or playful.
• Piglets play like human children: chasing each other, pretend fighting, squealing, and playing with toys.

Pigs can also suffer from depression, as many on factory farms do. And they don't want to be slaughtered and turned into a centerpiece. This holiday season, serve a hearty and delicious Field Roast and save a pig from your table.

You may just wind up with a new favorite gaming partner.

PETA loves gaming as much as anyone, but Tiny Zoo, which glorifies keeping animals in cages, doesn't make us LOL. Although no actual animals in Tiny Zoo suffer as a result of being bought, bred, and sold, some players may get the idea that captivity is cool, and that's far from reality. 

We've suggested a better version: Big Sanctuary, in which players would become heroes by rescuing animals from bad situations, relocating them to a sanctuary, and overseeing their rehabilitation.

PETA has already scored for pit bulls in the popular Mafia Wars Facebook game, and we schooled Cooking Mama on the wonders of vegan cooking and Super Meat Boy on why tofu always wins out.

Please e-mail the makers of Tiny Zoo and tell them that Big Sanctuary is one game that you'd be eager to score.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Kennethhung / CC by 3.0

We are happy to report that Zynga, the creator of the phenomenally popular Facebook crime game Mafia Wars, has nixed the pit bull as a fighting tool. Countless social gamers stopped plowing their FarmVille fields long enough to voice their objections to Zynga about the game's negative depiction of this most used-and-abused breed, and the company quickly responded in just the right way.

We'll be sending Zynga a thank-you note and a box of vegan chocolates as a token of our appreciation, and Mafia Wars "maniacs" can voice their approval to Zynga's customer service center.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

It's "tofu buck" and "seitan bird" season over at Adult Swim thanks to the new online game Tofu Hunter.

Thanks to the creative minds over at This Is Pop, who also created our Breasts Not Animal Tests game, now's your chance to bag a nine-point block of tofu. Keep an eye out for the trophy buck (he'll score you bonus points), and avoid hitting any does (unless you're looking to end your game early).

As the name suggests, the game is a tongue-in-cheek takeoff on revolting hunting-simulator video games such as Deer Hunter, and it might not be for the faint of heart: Its disclaimer notes, "This game contains graphic depictions of violence against tofu." But if the thought of blasting animated blocks of soy curd disturbs you, just remember: Tofu never screams.

Written by Jeff Mackey

http://www.flickr.com/photos
/brent_nashville/ / CC BY 2.0

Regular readers already know that we at the PETA Files think that pigs are appealing even when they're squealing. But it's thanks to the work of professor Stanley Curtis, who passed away on Sunday, that we know that no matter how beguiling pigs may be, you shouldn't let them hustle you into playing Super Street Fighter IV with them. During his time at the University of Illinois, professor Curtis discovered that pigs can play and excel at joystick-controlled video games.

He observed that "there is much more going on in terms of thinking and observing by these pigs than we would ever have guessed." Pigs did better at video games than some primates (and, yes, based on my gaming scores, I fall into that group).

So cook up some "fakin' bacon" in professor Curtis' memory and then see how far you can get in the New Super Chick Sisters game without help from our porcine pals!

Written by Jeff Mackey

Just in time for Friday afternoon's behind-the-boss's-back video-game break, the creator of our popular New Super Chick Sisters is taking us on a walk through the game, showing us where the secret tofu blocks are stashed and demonstrating the proper technique for butt-stomping doomburgers on the way to save Princess Pamela Anderson from the clutches of evil Ronald McDonald. (Baffled? We promise not to tell anyone that you're a bigger fan of the Bee Gees than of video games if you promise to show this to a daughter, son, niece, nephew, or grandchild. It'll score you some points; you'll see.)

She had me at "hairball-coughing sea kitten suit"!

If you haven't played this addictive game, check it out. After you rescue Princess Pam, why not take down the chicken-abusing clown the good old-fashioned way—by dropping McDonald's a line?

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post