Same

well, little kids seem to love it. it's very cartoonish. it was not to my tastes. it was a lot more like watching anime than playing a fighting game. i guess i'm kinda old, but i found most of the non-fighting things going on onscreen to be very distracting. demo before buying, at least.

i was actually amazed at how painless it actually was. i was expecting all kinds of fine print, red tape and runaround, but the guy at the store was very nice. we had to pony up $20 to make up for the difference between the used and the new prices, and it sucked to lose all emily's zelda saves (they couldn't be moved to SD). so we now have a brand new wii, with a one year warranty from nintendo. woot! also, the used one didn't come with a nunchuck, the new one does. so we now have one more nunchuck than wiimote.

unfortunately, the new one didn't come with the internet channel. it must be purchased for $5. i know it's not much to spend, but by the same token i don't think it's too much to ask for nintendo to include a functioning browser with the system.

and super smash bros still leaves much to be desired. the movement is unrealistic in about eight different ways. and call me old fashioned, but i like a fighting game where the background doesn't suddenly turn into something that interferes with your fighting. one stage winds up being basically 90% jumping and 10% fighting.

probably going to be trading that in, along with NFS:carbon, wii music, and a few others to get something new.

dunno the actual age, i bought it used, back when you couldn't really find one new, from gamestop. and i bought the protection plan fr exactly that reason.

but my wii won't boot.

good thing i still have a month left on that aftermarket warranty.

sir, if you have just challenged me to a funk-off, i accept.

mario kart is AWESOME. simple, but fun and addictive. the wheel helps. i'd recommend it, but you can certainly play without it.

yikes. i work in A/V, and i can assure you that plasma burn-in is most definitely NOT a thing of the past. all of our plasmas have "start" buttons permanently etched into their screens.

surely you can admit that there are some exceptions. both obama and i are members of the UCC, whose actual motto is "God is still speaking".

"Maybe principals and school superintendents are cretins and morons in your district."

oh, they are. and i'm sure there's good school districts out there. the wauwatosa public school system, where the incident in question occurred, was a very good district when i attended wauwatosa west. i'm sure the neighborhood, especially on the east side of town, has declined somewhat, but wauwatosa is not and will never be the deep hood.

"But if it does say "call the cops at the first sign of student misbehavior""

again, the complete disconnect between somebody on this thread and the facts of the story.

the only cop that was called was the one permanently assigned to the school. the school cop was called because teachers are no longer allowed to physically remove anything from a student's posession. whether it's a cell phone, a boom box or a bag of weed, some things are forbidden in class. and to call the school officer to physically separate a student from a forbidden item, i can state with a high degree of certainty, is a practice that is very widespread indeed.

the school cop wasn't called "at the first sign". the student was told more than once to put the phone away. she didn't. she was told to give the phone to the teacher. she didn't. the student chose civil disobedience. the situation escalated. the teacher, administrators, and police spent the better part of a DAY giving her every opportunity to act like a normal human being. "at the first sign?" please.

you know, i can't imaging a similar situation in a courtroom would go any differently.

ME: [texting]
JUDGE: sir, cell phones aren't allowed in court. please stop texting and put the phone away.
ME: no. [continues texting]
JUDGE: seriously. there's a big sign right outside the door. no cell phones. i need you to stop.
ME: make me. [continues texting]
JUDGE: bailiff, confiscate that man's phone.
BAILIFF: give me the phone, sir.
ME: [shoves phone into asscrack] what phone?
JUDGE: [mouth agape] congratulations einstein, you're being held in contempt of court.

if you haven't already, read the police report.

i think the issues of abortion and capital punishment make it pretty clear that the morality of everything legal is considered extremely dubious...

personally, i like simple games that are more about puzzle solving than memorizing combos and lots of cut scenes (for instance, i'm going to exchange "force unleashed" asap). if you can find a place to let you demo it, i'd give it a whirl.

"and leave a complete dimwit in control of the country." ...again...

i mostly agree with you. i'm gonna godwin myself, though, and say that

"But when the President and Vice President are ordering torture, renditions, and even assassinations, the chain of command is simply doing it's job."

is exactly what all the nazis said at nuremburg. "i was just following orders." well, some orders are just evil. and it's every human being's responsibility to know that. if i showed up tomorrow and my boss said, "lock this guy up. don't let him see a lawyer. don't tell him what he's done wrong. then beat the crap out of him and pour water down his throat until he's starting to die a little" i would NOT DO IT. neither would you. THAT's the real issue.