What makes you say the internal memory isn't a SSD? Solid-state drives are generally made using NAND flash memory. When they say a "flash drive", that's exactly what they mean.

Might I ask what makes you think it won't be superior to the current generation of consoles? The HDD, I'll grant you, has significantly less space (though the fact it's a solid state drive does have a lot to do with that), but going by the spec sheets I'd estimate the WiiU is at least 1.5x the power of the PS3, probably much more (though I doubt we'll see all that power actually utilized in the launch titles). I mean seriously now, suggesting that it's not more powerful than the opposition is simply laughable. The RAM alone is way beyond what any of the current generation of consoles has.

Nintendo has said no such thing. Care to provide a citation for this load of bull?

I can't help be amused at this post. People have spent years attacking Nintendo for its console not being powerful enough. Now it builds the more powerful console people have demanded, one that should serve it well into this next console generation....and people attack it for being too powerful, and talk about how you can still have great game experiences with a less powerful console? Now where have I heard that argument before....oh yeah, that's exactly what Nintendo fans have been saying for years as people have continued to attack them. There's just no satisfying you guys, is there? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

You haven't seen ads for a long time? I'd honestly be greatly surprised by that. Sure, you might avoid TV ads easily enough, but what about billboards and posters? The only way to not see ads ever is to never leave your house.

Many marketers may look at consumers as sheep, but there's also a great many who look at consumers as being cognitive actors with free will. From their perspective, advertising is about persuading you to make that purchase, and giving you the information you'd need to make that purchase decision. In my experience, people who deny that advertising has any effect over them tend to be those who have been influenced most greatly by advertising at a sub-conscious level. I feel a far more effective strategy is an introspective one, acknowledging that advertising has an influence over me. In acknowledging that, and through analysis of my own purchase motivations and intentions, I can become aware of how I'm being influenced by an ad, and thus actively reduce the influence that ad has over me (and inoculate myself to some extent against future uses of that same technique in other ads). Full disclosure: I am a PhD student in consumer behaviour, and have worked as a TA in undergrad marketing and advertising courses. I don't buy into the consumers as sheep arguments myself.

I would wonder if removing commercials from their lives might actually be a negative in the long run. It saves you money now, but they're not receiving any inoculation against advertising tricks and so might become more vulnerable to them later in life. Rather than just turning on the taps of advertising again though, you might consider watching a show together with them that talks about ads in a way that'll give them that inoculation, and which they'll find entertaining. The "Gruen Transfer" series by Australia's ABC is awesome, if you can track it down at all, and the "Gruen Nation" spin-off series they did about election advertising should be a must watch for any voter.

Never invented anything? Oh really now... The refrigerator The electric drill The tank The pacemaker Zinc sunblock cream The Hills Hoist clothesline The Black Box flight recorder Plastic spectacle lenses Ultrasound The inflatable escape slide Cask Wine Variable rack and pinion steering The power board/strip The Bionic Ear The Dual Flush Toilet Multi-focal contact lenses WiFi Anti-flu Medication Scramjets Blast Glass *ahem*

The CSIRO wouldn't, but DFAT - the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - most certainly would, as part of their responsibility to protect Australian economic and business interests overseas. So it's quite likely it was all fought by lawyers already on the government payroll.

Filtering the result wouldn't be neutral, it'd be taking a stance in support of the candidate. Being neutral for Google means letting people on all sides of the political spectrum have their say unimpeded. Which is exactly what they're doing by not biasing the search results.

...there really will be a santorum surge this Valentines. ;)

...the first thing I thought of was "Skylanders".
Skylanders uses RFID for its "Portal of Power", not NFC, but NFC is essentially just building on RFID anyway, and is backwards compatible with existing RFID infrastructure and tags. The "Portal of Power" may have been a gimmick, but it was a very profitable gimmick that was popular with the kids. Incorporating that kind of functionality direct into the Wii U controller is a stroke of sheer genius from Nintendo, IMO. RFID tags are cheap. $0.15 for a passive (unpowered) tag, $0.50 for an active tag. It'd be quite inexpensive for developers to incorporate those into their products and merchandise to have them interact with games on the Wii U.

Considering the comparisons made by journalists between the Wii U and "XBox 720" specs are that there's only about a 20% difference in power between the two (about the same difference between PS2 and the original XBox), I'm calling bullshit on your statement.

Nintendo hasn't been opposed to public social interaction and sharing. The entire Pokémon franchise is arguably built on that concept. The reason they've stayed away from direct online interactions has mainly been because of fears over how those services will actually be used. ie. They didn't want parents to hear their kids being exposed to bad language or sexual predators over a Nintendo service. Were those fears of Nintendo justified? Given how many FPS gamers seem to behave, they probably did have some legitimate reason to be concerned there.

Having said that however, it's clear from more recent efforts, such as the direct voice communication inbuilt in Pokémon Black & White, and the communication features included in the last 3DS update, that they're starting to open themselves up there. I'm sure it'll continue to go at a glacial pace that will continue to frustrate "hardcore" gamers, but in terms of selling to the "family" market it actually does make some sense.

How much of the 3DS's poor launch can be explained by a poor economic climate, and how much can be explained by having a relatively poor selection of games on release? The 3DS sales started to go up after the price drop, but they only started their spike when Super Mario Land 3D and Mario Kart 7 came out, a spike which was perfectly timed to disrupt the Vita's launch in Japan. To me, that suggests that the real determining factor behind how strong the Wii U launch will be is what games they have available on release day.