I wish I had known about this while the promotion was going on. I downloaded this on a whim after reading a preview, knowing that classic puzzle games like Tetris were always among my favorites, and I knew it would be worth $15.00 (1500 WiiWare points).

I loved it so much that I not only paid an additional $20 (plus tax) to purchase the Windows PC version, just to play it with a mouse (it's more fun on the Wii, but the mouse allows much better control), but I bought two more copies to share with two friends, who loved it just as much. It's a shame I missed this promotion, because I would have told dozens more to pay whatever they thought was fair to get the game for themselves.

Here's my quick review... The gameplay is simple but addictive. It's easy to learn, and the skills are easy to master as you progress through the game. But it's never too easy, and some levels require quite a bit of outside-the-box thinking. And the game is even spiked with the sarcasm of the "sign painter," who leaves vague clues around each level should you need them. (Forget needing them -- each and every sign is a joy to read, and it's worth beating each level just to get to the next bit of witty advice.)

To me, this is the 21st century thinking-man's Tetris. It's a shame that it will never be as popular as Tetris, because it really should be.

Due to licensing issues, this may never happen for a Wii Sports title. However, you might be interested in the Tiger Woods Golf series. It's probably a bit more pricey than you'd like and a bit more difficult than Wii Golf, but it features a few well known courses.

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are fun to this day, and their graphics by today's standards are terrible. The graphics don't have to be next-gen or hyper-realistic. There is only one crucial element: gameplay. If it's done well -- if it's fun to play the first time and gamers have a reason to keep coming back -- then yes, there is a future for mature gaming on the Wii.

Unfortunately, I think it's going to take a babysteps approach, because Nintendo's current fanbase seems to be mostly casual gamers and the family-friendly types. Anyone not in that category who has a Wii is probably a loyal fan, so Nintendo doesn't need to focus on them -- those fans will find the games they want either way.

Then don't use the same field every time. Encrypt the field names with salt and a time-based password. That'll deal with the blighters.... until they start doing entity counting or the like. Then you insert chaff... Well, there's the arms race for you.

I believe Wisconsin internet vendors can only tax Wisconsin buyers. Out-of-state taxation would basically be taxation without representation, which is what previous legal precedents have disallowed... that is, until the federal government decides to pass a law enabling states to cooperate on internet sales taxation.

And just wait until the federal government gets involved directly. For only pennies on the dollar, an eBay sales tax could fund Social Security and Medicare for through the baby boom crunch. (Or could it...?)

This is one way to deal with it:


$ telnet mailin-01.mx.aol.com 25
Trying 205.188.159.57...
Connected to da.mx.aol.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220-rly-da05.mx.aol.com ESMTP mail_relay_in-da05.2; Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:03:52 -0500
220-America Online (AOL) and its affiliated companies do not
220- authorize the use of its proprietary computers and computer
220- networks to accept, transmit, or distribute unsolicited bulk
220- e-mail sent from the internet. Effective immediately: AOL
220- may no longer accept connections from IP addresses which
220 have no reverse-DNS (PTR record) assigned.


All geeks are required to hate spam. It's in the by-laws, go check.

So paid account users are sending their money to... Russia?

Yes, but your post lacks credibility because it begins with "I just had a similiar discussion with my girlfriend..."