Do yourself a favor and read the review (Gamespot's as well as user reviews) to at least get a general idea of what it's about. There's a good chance that you'll love it, but you'd better be sure to understand what the mechanics of it are before you buy it. Plenty of people have picked it up, assuming it's a certain kind of game, and then when it doesn't meet their expectations they say that "it's bad" when they really mean "I didn't know what it was when I bought it".

Apologies for the mini-rant, but it's something to consider.;)

I can relate to the idea of "waking up" to reality. It's all about how you perceive the world around you. Nowadays it can be really hard to separate your preconceptions from what you actually "see".

In other words, your brain has a tendency to associate certain objects and people with certain ideas and concepts. Instead of simply "seeing" what it is you're looking at, your brain is going through the process of first identifying the object or person, then associating that image with any memories attached to it, and then combining it all together in your actual conscious thoughts. Being able to break down that whole thought process makes it possible to actually SEE the world as it is, instead of having your brain try to figure it all out and categorize it.

It's one of the things that a lot of artists have to learn before they can really create work of their own. It's friggin hard to do, not something that comes easily, that's for sure (although the use of certain drugs does create a bit of a shortcut). This is mainly because all the things we surround ourselves with (TV, Movies, Websites, Magazines...) are constantly trying to manipulate our concept of what is real, what is important. We have to break that cycle of indoctrination on our own.

At least with games, we are given the ablility to interact with and change what we witness on the screen. In many ways, playing a beautiful game can put us in touch with that "pure visual splendor" because in most cases we are left on our own to interpret the images.

I'm still rockin the phatty. I would trade it in for a lite, but higher on my list are a Wii and a new PC, so it's not all that necessary.

They Might Be Giants are super-sweet. :D

So's Kool-Aid. :lol:

And Lavar Burton. 8) Reading Rainbow kicks ass

Masturbation isn't soulless! It's essential to a healthy mind! "If you don't whack it, you'll go whacko" as I always say.

Anyhoo.... as far as cheating goes, In my opinion a person who buys a new game and immediately looks up the cheatcodes before even PLAYING it is a total waste of good brain matter. What's the **** point in playing games if you're not even going to TRY to see what the designers have spent all their time developing as a challenge? You're better off taking your CPU into the backyard and laying into it with a tire iron, at least you'll LEARN something by the end of the experience.

Cheating is great as a means of getting past a place you're stuck at. Getting stuck without knowing how to proceed is incredibly frustrating, so why not go online, find out what the next step is, and then go back to playing on your own?

However, habitually cheating in every game you play from the beginning is nothing more than gratuitous laziness.

No doubt...The all-time GREATEST GameCube game EVER...

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THEME PARK ADVENTURE! Yeah, baby!

Personally, I'm more excited about Metroid than SSB. Metroid will end up being everything that people wanted Red Steel to be, and SO much more. It's gonna blow the doors off of FPS conventions (at least I'm hoping it will). Naturally, SSB will still kick gigantic ass.

Back before I even had an NES of my own, I would play at my friend's house (this was probably about 16 or more years ago). One day I was playing Super Mario Bros and for whatever reason, the table under the TV collapsed, sending the TV to the floor at an angle. I was so into the game that I didn't even pause it, I bent my head down and kept playing. Then my friend's mom rushed into the room to see what happened, completely surprised to see me calmly tapping away at the gamepad with my head on the floor.:oops:

Yikes. Now THAT'S a powerful game.

I suppose it's not what you'd call a "fond" memory, but it still sticks with me to this day.

My greatest memory of Mario was when I actually got my own NES for Christmas the following year. (My parents were sick of me inviting myself over to play at friends' houses...yeah, I was THAT kid.)

Getting to World 3 when all the colors change was the coolest thing in the world back then.