The Nintendo Revolution I wrote about a few days ago officially has a new name: Wii. Pronounced “we,” the new name is already generating quite a buzz - and you only need to Google it to find out what people are saying. Me? I’m keeping my lips zipped. Instead, I’ll give you the official word from Nintendo:

Introducing… Wii.As in “we.”

While the code-name “Revolution” expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like “we,” which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive “ii” spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.

Because, it’s really not about you or me.

It’s about Wii.

And together, Wii will change everything.

Yeah, I guess when we Wii all get our Wiis and have those little wee Wii controllers in our hands, We Wii will all be too happy playing and screaming whee Wiiiiiii that we Wii won’t care how crappy the Wii’s name is. You agree with me, oui Wii?

see below. ’nuff said.

I bit my lip recently. As you can probably imagine, it isn’t a pleasant experience. In a slightly morbid way though, I find that I like the taste of blood. At the very least, I’m fascinated by it.

Snakes have been vilified since, well, since as far back as I can remember. I’ve never really hated them though. The opposite, in fact, has been true - I’ve been fascinated by snakes since I was a little kid. Ok, maybe “fascinated” isn’t the right word, but I’ve never really found them repulsive. On the contrary, I like the way they feel, and I wouldn’t mind learning more about them firsthand. For now though, I’m content with just carrying one on my shoulders again, even for just a little while.

Contrary to what I might tell some people (little kids, especially), I believe that there are beings among us that most of us aren’t aware of. I’m not talking about mites, bacteria, and other organisms that we simply can’t see with the naked eye - I’m talking about ghosts, spirits, and other beings lacking corporeal bodies. Unlike some fictional characters in the movies, I can’t see dead people - not unless you’re referring to corpses. I do know, however, that there are times when we aren’t alone, even when it looks like we are. How? I’m not quite sure. What I do know, however, is that I want to know more. Once again, the word comes up - paranormal phenomena fascinate me.

Blood, snakes, and spirits - not exactly common interests, are they? Well, they’re some of mine. Strange? I don’t think so, but then again, that’s not for me to judge, is it?

I considered posting about the Nintendo Revolution before, but I couldn’t quite figure out a way to describe its appeal to me. It is, quite literally, revolutionary.

Consoles put games into boxes. They allowed you to take your favorite arcade games home - whether in cartridges, CDs, DVDs, or what-have you. They put the games that used to only be available at your local arcade into little boxes that you would fit in your living room or bedroom. The Revolution is, forgive the bad pun, breaking out of this box. How? To put it succinctly, by breaking convention.

The Revolution tries to change the way we play games - and from the looks of it, does so quite radically. Most of us have seen consoles evolve from one version to the next, each generation adding just a bit more to the previous one. We’ve seen console graphics grow from the single color games like Pong and the four-colors of Mattel Intellivision to the full-color, I-can’t-believe-that’s-CGI realism on today’s games. Of course, we’ve also seen controllers develop through the years.

It started with a joystick and a single button. The Intellivision tried to introduce a floating disk with a keypad sometime in the 80s, but this (thankfully) never took off. The Famicom and NES, with their 4-direction keypad and 2-button (plus start and select buttons) combination, set the tone for all controllers that followed. Every other console from that point on simply added to this winning combination. Today’s controllers typically have the directional pad, an analog stick or two, 892 or so additional buttons. They’ve also thrown in some other extras, like extending grips with cooling fans, miniature screens, and of course vibrating motors for force feedback.

With the Revolution, Nintendo has thrown the old controller formula out the window. Yes, it still has the standard directional pad, a few buttons, and then some - but these things aren’t the main form of control anymore. We’ve all seen one version or another of a virtual reality headset, complete with a glove or two serving as controllers. Unfortunately, these devices never really took off. Nintendo, it seems, has revisited this idea and made the controller itself, and not just the buttons on the controller, the main, well, control. You don’t press a button to move around, you move the controller around. Don’t get it? well, like I said earlier, “I couldn’t quite figure out a way to describe its appeal to me.” After seeing the video below, however, I figured I could let it do the talking for me. On that note, the only thing I have to say is this: watch this video.

On Jayvee’s suggestion, I’m allowing my geek tendencies to come to light once again and writing about technical, computer-related stuff. You have been warned - this entry is for geeks, specifically tech geeks, and most definitely not for technophobes.

Anyway, Jayvee’s suggestion was this: write about my top Firefox extensions. If your idea of extensions involves lengthening hair (or other parts of the human anatomy), then I suggest you click away to another page - you won’t find what you’re looking for here. If you don’t know what Firefox is, go get it. Get it now! If, however, you know what I’m talking about, then good. Here they are.

1. Tab Mix Plus
Think tabbed browsing is cool? This extension will make you wonder how you ever managed to get any surfing done on IE. TMP will let you really take advantage of those tabs. Lock or protect them, move them around, duplicate them, basically customize them. Did you accidentally close a tab? Just re-open it, or any of the tabs you recently closed. Think of anything else you can do with your tabs? This will probably do it.

What’s with the plus? Did you accidentally close Firefox? Did your system hang? Were you juggling some 34,252,827 tabs at the time? You don’t have to re-open every little link. The session manager lets you restart Firefox right where you left off, or if you choose, at a previously saved session.

2. Show Image
Don’t you just hate it when you load a page, and some of the images are missing? Normally, you’d be able to right-click on the image and load it. This should be the case with Firefox, right? Wrong. You have to reload the entire page just to get the missing image (or images) to load. This little extension is a feature that should have been built into Firefox. Good thing somebody came up with it though.

3. IE Tab
Some sites, unfortunately, simply don’t work in Firefox. Most banking and financial sites don’t. This lets you keep a tab (or more, if you’d like) running Internet Explorer in your Firefox window. Never open IE again - well, sort of.

4. DownTHEMall
Find a bunch of links you like on a page? How about several pictures? Download them all! Enough said, right?

5. Restart Firefox
I install, remove, and update my extensions. A lot.

I’m also lazy - too lazy to close Firefox (1 click), find the shortcut to it (a few more clicks) then re-open it (2 more clicks). Restart Firefox lets me, well, restart Firefox in 3 clicks. Tops.

Honorable Mentions
SwitchProxy Tool, Download Embedded, FasterFox

Well, that’s it. Jayvee, if you’re reading this, it’s your turn.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll use one:

Rent
Chris Columbus
Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1
2045 - 10 April 2006

Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.

My Taiwan trip probably isn’t pushing through.