No, it's more like the movie "Tron". You have to break into the company, go inside the computer, free the program Tron, have him defeat the OS, and then the evidence you need will be printed on every printer and terminal on the network. Your name will be cleared, the evil programmer will be fired, and you become the CEO of the company!

There are a few factors in the GC vs PS2 race. The GameCube's biggest failing was the optical drive. Nintendo made the bad choice to use a format based on MiniDVDs instead of full-sized DVDs. I remember so many developers bitching that they just couldn't port games to the GameCube because they couldn't fit the assets on the disc (which was a very similar problem that the N64 had vs the PS1). It also meant it was incapable of DVD playback.

Nowadays, the media center angle doesn't matter too much as all the consoles have internet access and can stream videos from Amazon, Netflix, and Youtube. The DVD features put Sony in the right place at the right time to launch from the moderate success it probably would have had being the earliest and weakest of the (surviving) consoles that generation to become the greatest selling console ever made. It simply was the best DVD player on the market at the time as well as being backwards compatible with PS1 games and having a fairly decent library by the time the X-Box and GameCube came on the scene. Simply put, it wasn't that the X-Box and GC were failures so much as nobody (not even Sony) could have anticipated that the PS2 would have been nearly as successful as it was.

I have to disagree, the Wii U is not a lost cause. It has only been out for a bit over 6 months, therefore it is way too early to call it a lost cause. The problem is that Nintendo has yet to bring their A-games to the table. They also have much more than just Smash, Zelda, and Metroid; however they need to actually utilize their huge collection of franchises and IPs in ways other than just occasionally posting an old game to the VC. It would also be smart to give Mario a bit of a break as he seems to be a mascot of solid but mediocre sports games. If they can lure some sales success with their first-party magic, maybe we can get some solid and original third party titles as well instead of crappy ports of old games and the cheap shovelware that the Wii was known for.

I'm not saying that the Wii U is not in trouble, because it is in a seriously bad position. However, to count it out this early in the game is shortsighted at best.

Games. The Wii U has no games. Nintendo released the system before it had any major 1st party games aside from Super Mario U and Nintendoland, deciding to rely on third parties to round out the launch only to find that third parties are horribly fickle. They release crappy ports and cheap cash-ins to test the water to see if the Wii U will be an instant hit, and when the sales start to tank after the holidays, because there are no good games, it is pronounced DOA, and all but a few developers abandon it. So, until Nintendo can start to release their AAA franchises to gain some momentum, who's going to buy it?

As for the Wii and PS3, The end of the generation is one of the best times to get a console. You can buy a new console for dirt cheap, and then acquire a huge library of (new and used) good games for next to nothing. Plus you have the filter of time to know what to buy and what to avoid.

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

How does what Subway and McDonalds sell not fit the definition of Sandwich?

Actually, I graduated in 2005 and my workload was not exaggerated. I was in all AP and College Prep classes and, ironically, I had a lighter workload than most of the general placement students who did nothing but repetitive worksheets that ask the same questions 50 times with slightly different phrasing.

It's easy to blame computers and cell phones, how about not giving out 5+ hours of homework a night? To make it worse most of it was busy work in addition to the nightly reading assignments. When you have 6+ classes per day with reading and assignments, that stuff adds up pretty quickly. In high school, I was lucky to get 4 hours a night.

Even my heaviest college semesters weren't anywhere near as busy as my average high school week.

I agree. You can say what you want about Origin, DRM, constant DLC, running franchises into the ground with uninspired sequels, and any of a thousand other reasons to hate EA, but at the end of the day Bioware, DICE, and Visceral Games are all very competent developers that know how to make very solid and fairly polished games. I dislike EA as much as the next gamer (OK, maybe not as EA has so many rabid anti-fanboys) and while I would love to see any other publisher get the Star Wars license, these guys are hardly anywhere close to the worst choice. At least with Bioware, DICE, and Visceral we know it isn't going to be some child-friendly schlock and while it probably won't be the best games ever made, it should still be some solid and fun entertainment.

It could be worse, it could have been Ubisoft!

The best way to stand up to these developers is to not use their product. There are thousands of apps, very few are so specialized or esoteric that they can't be replaced by something that better fits your needs or simply deleted outright. Granted, the ad-free apps probably cost a few dollars, but it is a price well paid for an ad-free experience.

Then again, if it is something as trivial as the latest iFart application, you would probably be better off not downloading it in the first place.

The most memorable puzzles were probably the most dickish ones. Those where you were stuck in some place and strewn about, out of reach were all the items that would easily get you out of that situation, just because the developer wanted to be an asshole to the player.

You are stuck in a snake, outside the snake is axe, a sword, a machete, a lightsaber (it was a LucasArts game). How do you get out of the snake? You escape by mixing an ipecac flower with pancake syrup to make the snake barf you up.

I love Curse of Monkey Island.

Probably because most of the memorable Star Wars games made within the last decade or so weren't made by LucasArts. KoTOR was made Bioware, KoTOR 2 was done by Obsidian, Jedi Knight 2 and Jedi Academy were done by Raven, Battlefront was done by Pandemic, and Rogue Squadron was developed by Factor 5.

As I can recall, the only good games developed by LucasArts in recent history were Republic Commando (Which was a surprisingly good and dark game) and the opening mission of Force Unleashed (the Darth Vader pwning the Wookies level). Starfighter and Jedi Starfighter were pretty good, but they don't hold a candle to X-Wing and Tie Fighter

There are valid reasons to prescribe placebos, usually it involves hypochondriac patients or those who come in with simple ailments like a cold and demand that they get some of the "good stuff". Sometimes "stay in bed, drink plenty of fluids and take some Dayquil if you need it" just isn't good enough. The real quacks are the ones who cave into their patients demands when they are unfounded.

That is taking it way too far. Suspend their medical license, sure. Pay a fine for negligence or malpractice, why not?

Prisons are already overcrowded with non-violent offenders on trumped-up charges, without adding medical incompetence to the list.

So what are you saying, that KDE development is in such a horrible shape that it will fall apart in the near future leaving KDE in some stagnate turmoil just before a major overhaul that would have been designated "KDE 5" or are you saying that the next major overhaul will be rebranded without a numbering scheme, (e.g. "KDE XP").

Because odds are good that a few years from now, enough developers are going to want to overhaul the code (or reach some arbitrary benchmark) and create a new branch, and last time I checked, in most integer numbering schemes, 5 comes right after 4.