I don't know whether it's a sight glitch or a permanent change, but my Gamecube badge has become a hella old skool badge. If anyone was wondering why I have to Gamecube badge as my picture, this is exactly the reason. Aside from the Gamecube badge being rare, I knew it would disappear someday. Either through the Gamecube really becoming a hella old skool system, or from my collection getting diluted when I upgrade to the current generation, whenever that may be. But...a hella Old skool badge? The Gamecube isn't THAT old yet, in fact, I think there is still going to be two games released for it in North America. It seems the Gamecube has been a victim of being quickly forgotten; hold that thought as I explain.

Here in Japan, it's really easy to see that there are only two systems dominating, the PS2 and the Wii. In fact, even with the Wii's popularity over here as it is, I do believe that it will explode tenfold within the next two years. One non-game related trend that's happening in Japan right now is the increasing popularity of home aerobics and exercise machines. The American, Billy Blanks, is making a killing pedaling his DVD's over here (nothing against the guy either...his stuff is pretty good) and has spawned an entire wave of imitators. Awhile back on the Hotspot, I remember them talking about a Wii software application that would have you do some sort of exercise and send your medical information over the internet to be assessed. If this software actually does this, while genuinely providing a decent workout for people, the popularity of the Wii will go through the roof all over the country. In fact, I would be bold enough to say that this is the killer app for Japan in this generation. Wii sports convinced Japanese families that the Wii was an excellent addition to the living room, Twilight Princess convinced the Nintendo fans and RPG otaku, Pokemon Battle Revolution convinced children all over the country that they need a Wii over any other system and this new Wii exercise software will put a Wii in front of every woman in the country. I am truly convinced of this. I don't think it will affect the European or North American markets in the same way, but I'm sure the Wii will dominate Japan, with or without Mario, Metriod or Smash Brothers. This brings me to my next point:

No one here seems to realize that the Wii is backwards compatible with Gamecube games. Why? What would make me think that? Well, long before the Wii was even released, Japanese department stores were getting rid of Gamecube software in order to free up shelf space for more successful systems like the PS2, PSP and the DS. This is completely understandable in an environment that sells new software. Yet, the other day, as part of my quest to find and purchase Beach Spikers Volleyball for the Gamecube (don't ask), I was in and out of the used game shops all day. You would figure with the popularity of Wii, and I know it's popular because there is nothing for the Wii in a used game shop, people would be snatching up used Gamecube games left and right. Why not? They're cheap and there were a lot of good games on the Gamecube. Yet the amount of shelf space awarded to Gamecube games, even in the used shops, is minimal. I asked why this is, and the clerk told me that Gamecube software just doesn't sell. This is surprising to me; I figure that people who have a Wii would be interested in playing Gamecube games. Yet, it's not advertised anywhere on the Japanese Wii box as far as I can see. It seems everyone wants to forget the Gamecube as quickly as possible. That's not good for guys like me that still only have a Gamecube and are looking to expand their collection a bit. I'm not ready to jump into the current generation, because I simply haven't decided which system I want to "invest" in. Until I make that decision, I'm quite happy with my Cube, even though shopping for it has become ridiculous.

The system I've really been leaning towards is the PS3, for the simple fact that the games are region-free. The fact that I didn't have to modify my system and could use the Gamecube's Freeloader software really influenced my decision last generation, along with the region-free Gameboy Player. Aside from the fact that at this time, the only game out on the PS3 I would buy would be Oblivion, the other nuances of the system hold me back a bit. The fact PS1 and PS2 games still adhere to region-coding really annoys me. If I buy a PS3, one of the first games I want to play on it is the ultimate PS1 classic, Symphony of the Night. To find out more about this, I usually try to create some dialogue in the PS3 forums. I guess that wasn't a particularly good idea on my part. I often find myself more sarcastic than I mean to be in the presence of all those Sony fans, who will only give me ridiculously positive information on the PS3 to the point where I'm not even sure it's true. I made a sarcastic comment about the backward compatibility and got a TOS violation for "trolling". Apparently that means that I made the comment with the sole intention of annoying other people in the forum. There is some truth to that accusation I suppose, so I'm not particularly upset about being moderated. The time frame in which the post was written and posted and the moderation took place is absolutely mind-boggling. I guess I can't expect the moderators to be particularly competent; they do this for free and on their own time. Yet, I made the post on May 7th, and I was moderated on the 11th of June, in a forum that hadn't been updated since May 9th. Like I said, I'm not upset about being moderated, I deserve it. I just want to know what kind of moderator surfs dead forums...that have been inactive for over a month, in order to hand out moderations. Do moderators have a quota? Do they have to hand out a certain number of moderations a month in order to stay moderators? That would make them the equivalent of cops that wait at railway crossings trying to catch people who don't stop and look both ways before they cross. A little ridiculous, and really quite sad. Either way, I should stay out of the forums, and try to get information about the PS3 the old fashioned way, talking to people about it face to face. I'm going to have to improve my Japanese first before I can do that.