Wii Virtual Console Idea

Here's an idea for the Wii that I wish that Nintendo had done, and hope that someday they may still do: allow NES and other 8- to 16-bit virtual console games bought on your Wii to be transfered to the Nintendo DS. This seems like a no-brainer to me! What better than having the original Zelda/Mario/other NES games on your portable DS system to cart around when you leave the house? When you come back you should be able to somehow "synch" your saved games back to your Wii console and resume playing on your TV. It would be great. Please, Nintendo, hear me!

So far I've downloaded Super Mario Bros and the original Legend of Zelda from the Wii Virtual Console, and it has been well worth the $10 total.

It's one thing to play those games on an emulator where you can easily cheat using save states and you can easily look up things on the web about how to beat some part of Zelda, but it's different when you treat them as they were played originally, and using a genuine controller and a TV.

I'm biding my remaining 1000 Wii points until something really attractive comes along. I've been considering getting Mario 64, another great game that of course I already paid for once on N64, but which I've never really been able to emulate satisfactorily. I hope they get Goldeneye as well. As tempting as it is I may bypass the original Metroid. That game I've played via emulation enough times that I really don't need to play it again. Super Metroid however...

If you are skitterish about the price (as I was at first), think of it like this: you can get ten NES games for the price of one new Wii game. Games as good (and classic) as Zelda, and Mario, are well worth it. If they can bulk out the lineup I'd be happy to drop $50 on good Virtual Console games.

Ok, fine here's the list of old games I really want to get on the virtual console: Super Metroid, Goldeneye, Mario 64, Zelda: A Link To The Past, Zelda: Majora's Mask, Gain Ground (SEGA), Zillion (SEGA), and probably others.

The Music

Menomena's new album "Friend and Foe" is available, and you can go to their site and stream the whole thing.

I woke up this morning with the song "First Day On a New Planet" by Yatsura going through my head. Here is that song.

TV

George R. R. Martin's *A Song of Ice and Fire* Series is going to be made into a show for HBO.

Yes! That would be awesome, especially since one guy who did Rome is going to be involved. I hope it turns out well. Unfortunately, they had this quote: "Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011." I'm going to be well into my 30s when I finish the series. Damn!

HDTV or not...

I want to buy an HDTV, and the prices have gotten pretty reasonable at Costco. You can get a 32-inch for around $600-700 if you don't mind the no-name brand, and the Sharp Aquos can be found for a good price as well.

I was kind of hoping that the Apple TV appliance would do a lot more (e.g. PVR features), and that it would be one more reason to go with HDTV, but unfortunately I don't see it as being very useful for me. I don't want to buy either movies or TV shows through iTunes since I can get higher resolution TV episodes off of bittorrent, and I pay for Netflix to get movies. The Apple TV doesn't even play DVDs or let you rip them.

What I want is something in a set-top form factor to replace the old MythTV box that I used to have. And that it doesn't cost much money. I suppose my titanium powerbook hooked up with VGA or DVI will have to do. I need to figure out a remote-control for it.

My fish

fish bubble, originally uploaded by gws.

Tricia gave me a wall-mounted fish bubble for christmas, so I finally got a fish for it.

Here's a picture of him with a nice super-mario wallpaper I made for him.

Tickle Me Elmo On Fire

I find Tickle-Me Elmo pretty funny...when he's burning to death.