It's been a rough week, and with finals coming up on Wednesday, it isn't about to get any easier. There've been a number of things on my mind, most of which I won't bore you with. There are a few things I'd like to vent about, though: my disappointment with Nintendo, internet culture, and anonymous posters.

I recently posted a rant about my Wii launch system not being able to access the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and the Wii Shop Channel. As I sort of suspected, the malfunctions weren't the result of a faulty system or Nintendo's lack of experience online, but rather a communication failure. Nintendo's web site contains a list of routers that are incompatible with the WFC or are known to cause certain issues. Granted, my Netgear WGR614 was nearly 5 years old, but I've never had a problem with it for my 360, DS, or PSP, and it wasn't on Nintendo's incompatibility list. Turns out though, it should be. The Wi-Fi specialist I spoke with earlier returned my phone call and basically said that the WGR614 ver.1 just won't work (although versions 4, 5, and 6 do). Simple as that. So I was forced to upgrade and waste what was otherwise a perfectly good router. This experience, coupled with Nintendo's complete lack of foresight on demand for extra Wii-motes and component cables, is very disappointing to someone who, having grown up on Mario, Zelda, and Samus, admittedly holds Nintendo to a somewhat biased higher standard.

What upsets me moreso, however, is anonymity on the internet. Since becoming a moderator for GameSpot, I've seen more than my fair share of bigotry, racism, and downright stupidity. And I understand that this is (for the most part) a direct result of the anonymity that forums like these afford their users. I don't consider myself naive, but I'd like to imagine that the majority of the people who post offensive material on this site would not say the same things in real life. I understand that, every once in a while, people get upset and need to vent their frustrations. Most do so harmlessly. When they don't, that's where the moderation staff comes in. What I cannot for the life of me understand is why people think it's OK to use the words gay or retarded as insults. It infuriates me to no end. But what gets to me even more is that the majority of people who use the words in a derogatory manner don't even realize that they're being downright offensive. Are parents really so uninvolved as to allow their children to use that kind of language? Or is the education system in this country not doing a decent enough job teaching that gay and retarded are not to be used as insults?

Obviously, there's only so much influence that parents and teachers can have, and there's no feasible way to monitor kids 24 hours a day (especially on internet forums). And maybe I'm just oversensitive about it. I find myself getting more offended than some of my gay friends would get. It's just beyond me how people can say certain things and not realize how bigotted they sound.