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Apparently a release date for a video game doesn’t mean that’s the day it will be in stores. Despite today being the well-published release date for New Super Mario Bros., it won’t actually be available in any store in Madison until tomorrow at the very earliest. Why bother to publicize a release date if you can’t get the game on that day? Just so I can go online and officially order it instead of pre-order it? I guess I’ll have to wait at least one more day for my Mario fix.

For anyone interested in my thoughts on E3 and Wii, I’ll get to it soon.

I’ll let this speak for itself:

He then holds up the final PS3 controller. It’s a silver DualShock with a little black button in the middle with the classic PlayStation logo. He asks Harrison to demonstrate what the controller can do. A demo trailer shows a crate, hopping around of its own accord. It breaks open and the PS3 controller is inside. He lifts the controller up, and the controller on the screen lifts up. With no external sensor required, he can move the controller in six degrees of movement.

6:36: Harrison notes that the Bluetooth-capable, wireless controller will be lighter than the PS2’s normal controller, and calls it “a fantastic innovation.” Harrison says Incognito’s Warhawk will make use of the motion-sensing capabilities, then asks Incognito’s Dylan Jobe to demonstrate. He controls the game’s fighter using the PS3 controller as a proxy, tilting the controller to gain altitude, bank, perform barrel rolls and other actions.

Gee, wonder where they got that idea? Needless to say, I was pleased to hear many Digg users shunning the system, especially noting the similarities to the Wii controller. And with a launch price at $499 or $599, I can’t blame people for thinking they just might pass on PS3. At least the boomerang controller was a little different. Microsoft at least reconfigured the controller for 360, but what did Sony do? Slap an extra button on there and add some tilt sensors. I’m sorry, Sony, that’s just sad.

Update: Apparently Sony also removed the vibration feature of the new controller, probably to avoid getting sued again.

Update 2: The cheaper version won’t support memory sticks, HDMI, or wireless. Wow.

Update 3: Awesome.

Update 4: Gotta love whoever put up this PS3 entry on Wikipedia. This probably won’t last long, so I’ll include the quote.

Well, let’s see. They stole a bunch of crap from Nintendo, and they act like they came up with it. That’s about all you need to know.

Holy crap, this sounds totally sweet! TIME reveals details for a WarioWare game on Wii, as well as info on Zelda: Twilight Princess gameplay, a tennis game, and the next Madden.

It’s a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It’s almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion–the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world–is powerful. And there’s an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you’re jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody’s having a good time.

That’s a pretty awesome first impression. I think this might be my favorite part:

But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don’t listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal–they blog a lot–but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. “[Wii] was unimaginable for them,” Iwata says. “And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds.”

This excerpt didn’t go on to explain what the second notion was, but it’s not really important; Nintendo knows what they’re doing. I’ve been saying it since last September when they showed the Wii controller to the world at TGS. They will continue to be successful where Sony and Microsoft struggle to break even. Maybe Nintendo won’t overtake Microsoft and Sony this time around, but I know they’re going to surprise a lot of people. Games on Wii are going to be something everyone should experience. I’m just waiting for Nintendo to announce a launch price so I can finally pre-order it. Unnfortunately, most people don’t think this is one of the details to be revealed this week at E3. Still, with TIME journalists writing things like this about Wii, I can’t wait to get my hands on one

My sister just told me my parents have decided they’re going to put our 16 year old Westie to sleep.

Last week I was in Seattle for my customer who is implementing. I wrote this out right when I got back, but since I didn’t finish it right then it didn’t end up getting posted. I’m throwing it up now for the hell of it.

The trip was interesting. I felt a little out of place because it’s still kind of early in Swedish’s implementation and there isn’t a lot for me to do yet. Still, the trip was kind of nice and I did get to meet a few of the people I will be working with later on.

As we went through security at the Madison airport, Jeremy and I ended up grabbing the wrong boarding passes. The result is that I ended up in exit rows on both flights (extra leg room), while Jeremy was at the back of the plane both times. I didn’t realize until we were somewhere over Montana, but it was pretty funny because he was just about the last person off the plane when we landed in Seattle. I had the right seats on the way back - it wasn’t nearly as nice.

There were five of us on the trip, so we ended up taking a limo to our hotel because it was cheaper than two cabs or waiting for a minivan. Our hotel was pretty nice, although I still think it’s ridiculous to pay an extra ten bucks a day for internet when your room already costs $159 a night; I could have stayed at a Holiday Inn and gotten wireless for free.

At this point I was going to continue to talk about what happened on the trip, but I totally got derailed and never finished. If you wanna know more, leave a comment.

Note to self: DO NOT drink Vault with evening meal.

Granted I just watched three hours of great TV (Prison Break, 24, and Everwood) and that can always pump me up a little; still, this is ridiculous. I haven’t been this restless since the wedding and trip to Jamaica. The stupid commercials pulled me in just like the marketers intended (you know it tastes like a soda, but kicks like an energy drink). So I stopped off at the grocery store on my lunch hour to pick up some essentials and grabbed a bottle to see if it was any good. I didn’t get to it until dinner.

I’m not sure what they put in that stuff but it sure seems to have had an effect on me. It wasn’t particularly tasty or gross, so I finished a 20 oz bottle in about 30 minutes. Now, I’ve tried an energy drink or two before - I tried Red Bull a few times in college to see if it would help me stay awake in class, but it never seemed to have any affect at all and it wasn’t particularly tasty (unless it was mixed with Vodka). Needless to say this has kind of caught me off gaurd. I can’t seem to sit still and I don’t think I’ll be ready to sleep any time soon.

If it wasn’t raining outside I’d consider running around the block…but instead I’ll probably play several rounds of of Tetris DS and see if I can boost my rating at all. I think I’m hovering somewhere around 5500.