Philonoist.net

Nintendo continues to show off more details of their new-generation Wii gaming system, and I continue to be unimpressed. I’ve slowly moved from hard-core gamer to more casual to now almost playing zero (though I still play a mean game of Mini Putt). I just have problems with the Wii system.

We’re in a premium-buying mood lately. We tend to splurge, especially on big-ticket items such as cars, appliances, and consumer electronics. Guess what? Non-gamers aren’t going to pick up a Wii unless it’s the trendy thing to do. And it won’t be trendy unless Nintendo makes 1000 of them as a Special Edition Limited Release (cough Xbox 360 cough) or Nintendo makes it the next big thing in gaming.

Folks, the Wii is not — cannot be — the next big thing in gaming. It barely beats out the last big thing in gaming, in terms of speed/power. And with two new bigger things out there, it will be tough for the Wii to find its niche. The Gamecube found a nice (albeit small) market appealing to families with young children parents who didn’t want their children to have the ability to play GTA and the like. Unfortunately, the GTA players currently dominate the market. I don’t think the Wii can find a large enough market in first-time gamers unless the price is incredibly low and the performace reviews give it a favorable comparison  to the 360 and the PS3. In other words, it has to be the best bang for the buck.

“Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fielding questions regarding bird flu and our preparedness regarding hazards associated with this illness (and other associated illnesses.) As a participating member of Needham’s Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC); Olin and Olin’s Crisis Management Team have assembled tools and resources for emergency response and management. Both the team and the LEPC continue to prepare for (and would respond as necessary to) pandemic flu outbreaks/incidents.”

Internet junkies will have undoubtably seen one red paperclip, the internet bartering story of a man who started with the titular item and has “traded up” in his quest for a house. When I last checked in, one red paperclip guy had half of a duplex rent-free for a year. Not bad for starting with a paperclip.

Of course, the story is rife with slightly questionable trades and people looking to cash in on the fame castoffs (the Coleman grill for the doorknob is the most egregious bad trade), but they’ve always been in favor of ORP guy (whose real name is Kyle).

I was a little disappointed to see Kyle trade the duplex deal in for an afternoon for Alice Cooper. WTF, mate? The current offers section shows what’s being offered in exchange for golfing with the “School’s out for summer!” singer. None of them, in my opinion, have any real potential.

We’ll see how Kyle gets out of this jam. My advice: take the country music radio promotion.

Ah, a local treasure, in the basement (near the toilets, perhaps intentionally) of the Dedham Community Theater. I took a trip here while seeing Super Size Me. Trust me, it’s bad. The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA)

Oh, forgot to mention, for all the Firefox bloggers out there, I’m trying out Performancing, a pretty cool in-browser blogging tool. Works for WordPress definitely, looks like MT people are having problems. Also does cool del.icio.us bookmarking for free! (But who uses that anymore?)

Even does Technorati tags (with the appropriate WordPress extension)

Technorati Tags: web, firefox

Just found out that I’ve been using the wrong units of measurements for my VLSI project. On a frustrated-o-meter, this ranks about a ten.

Here’s the other things I have to do (by Friday):

• VLSI: Import into padframe, write up why I can’t multiply by 0.3, cry.
• Creative Writing: Revise my creative nonfiction. (Wednesday, 7 PM)
• FOCS: Study, take final. (Actually, this is Tuesday)
• SigSys: Study, take final.