Kelly

Sorry to nitpick, but read the article more carefully. The deal hasn't gone through yet. Also, the land does not separate Microsoft and Nintendo.
Nintendo is bounded on the west by Digipen, and on the east and south by Microsoft already.

The best part, that the article doesn't mention, is that Nintendo bought that land back in the 80's from a church for (I think) $18000. It's now appraised at $23 million. Microsoft has been trying to buy that property for years, and Nintendo has just been sitting on it, watching the price go up. Now that they are selling, do you think they are going to let Microsoft get away with paying merely the appraised price? Would you?

What's also really awesome is how long Nintendo waited to sell the land. Microsoft just paid an obscene price for the SafeCo and Eddie Bauer buildings. Buildings MS would not have needed to buy if they'd had that land.

It's amazing to me how Nintendo kicks Microsoft's ass at everything!

This is what I thought I was getting all along. I was incredibly upset when I started on the pill at 16 only to find out I still had a period. Many times while I was on the pill I would skip the sugar pills and just get the next month's prescription early. It was easier with the NuvoRing, I just left it in for an extra week.

However, there is a much more important issue here. Forget about the period, I want to be able to take birth measures without the incredible depression that comes with them. Why don't they fix that?

My kitten Loaf loves the Wii pointer. I have wasted way too much time playing with it for his sake.

He also really likes 2d games. the bright point against a dark background can be more easily distinguished I guess. His favorites include Jaws(NES) and Super Metroid(SNES).

Of course, nothing is quite as awesome as when Loaf is watching the mouse pointer on the laptop screen. When it goes off the edge he runs around back looking for it.

Oh, yeah. And he loves the Wiimote wriststrap.

if anyone cares, or is even reading this far, the tv behind the guy (lower right picture) is displaying the launcher screen for the 360 dev kit.

Redmond, Washington.

and I just got my power back.
After 4 days of freezing cold video-game-less dark.

@39

You reference "hardcore" gamers in a negative way, which I think is false.

Since this is a post about the Japan Wii launch, I assumed you were talking about Nintendo hardcore gamers, which is where I disagree.

Nintendo hardcore gamers are generally not like the hardcore gamers you describe. Nintendo hardcore are all about brand loyalty. They buy every console/ handheld at launch, always buy the latest Mario/ Zelda/ Mariokart/ Smash Brothers/ Metroid/ Pokemon incarnation (even if they have heard nothing good about the new version), and tirelessly devote far too much time to tracking down the references to earlier games and consoles. That's what Nintendo hardcore are about, the familiarity. Zelda always has returning ideas (outside of the obvious Link-saves-Zelda) and music from all previous Zelda games, like Kakariko Village, milk healing you, and variations on fairy music. At the Smash Brothers trophy display screen, you can see all Nintendo's consoles and handhelds sitting on the shelves in the background. And the idea of Smash Brothers itself, having a bunch of familiar characters from all kinds of old games. Nintendo hardcore get together and talk about playing the games as kids, constantly reliving old memories while building new ones with new friends. In my experience, these hardcore gamers work, bathe, and don't necessarily live with their folks. What makes them hardcore gamers is not that they have devoted their lives to gaming, but that they have devoted their lives to Nintendo.

But I will have to agree with your assessment of hardcore gamers when it comes to Xbox gamers. I work for a company that does hardware and software testing for the original Xbox as well as the 360, and I feel that every comment you made regarding hardcore gamers is spot on in this case. There are a lot of hardcore gamers that work there, and I hate almost every single one. The problem with saying anything bad about them is that they are generally the ones who start these ridiculous hate-speech filled flame wars. These hardcore are all about being better than everyone else, in every way shape and form. It amazes me that what defines them as gamers also defines them as people. The same guy that responds to "I heard some guy beat that stage in twelve minutes, there's a video on YouTube" with "Oh, well I once beat it in eight minutes, but no one ever believes me, even though I totally did it," will also respond to "I took a little jujitsu once," with "I have a black belt in three kinds of karate, uh, jujitsu, muy thai, and, uh, I forget the last one, but I still totally have a black belt in it." These people are so narrow minded and dead set against anything not Xbox related they'll say things like "I used to work for Nintendo, but I had to stop because I couldn't deal with playing kid games all the time," after spending an entire day playing Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion, Barbie's Horse Adventures, and The Fairly Odd Parents game. Yeah, okay, maybe I have a grudge against these guys. Weekly reminders about personal hygeine don't make a dent in the stench. Frequent announcements to keeps down the noise yield impotent little men throwing their controllers and shouting that the game is cheating. The 16 person multiplayer was the worst, though. Despite repeated announcements that if they didn't shut up they would be fired, expletive, pwn, and noob comments were vociferously shouted all over the room. And again, despite repeated warnings that they would be fired for discussing testing outside of the building, these guys couldn't stop with the claims of ultimate superiority when they got outside. These assholes represent everything that is wrong with the gaming community.

Earlier it was commented that the reason the Japanese Wii launch was so incident free is because of the Japanese populace, not the Nintendo fan base. (That the US Wii launch was also incident free is true, but irrelevant here.) Maybe this is the reason the Xbox does so poorly in Japan. There aren't hordes of people in constant need of shouting out their superiority. Decent non-assholes generally don't do that. Most of the hype around the 360 seems to be related to the idea that it's the best, it's the greatest, and only losers don't like it. While that sort of sales strategy may work in the US, it does not work in Japan.