Play by Play
The next time someone asks you what's new, spew the following. You will seem informed and odd all at the same time.
Wii, Wii, Wii All the Way Home
In the 1980s, doctors were baffled by a new condition striking children and teens around the world. After considerable research, they identified what was causing kids' sore, calloused digits — Nintendo Thumb.
Well, now there's a new affliction known as Wii Elbow.
As much damage as Super Mario and his bro may have incurred in the original NES days, it could pale next to the effects of the motion-sensitive Wii controllers.
Lazy sports enthusiasts have long been able to get their game on without getting off the couch, but Wii Sports requires actual movement, leading to sore joints, numb arms and, apparently, profuse sweating.
Nintendo, however, is not feeling your pain. One snarky Nintendo spokesperson said: "If people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more."
Richer in her Second Life
Massive multiplayer online games have enjoyed an economic boom from the exchange of real-world dollars for digital items from virtual sweatshops filled with "gold farmers" to land speculators buying pixilated tropical islands and space stations. Virtual reality now has its first real reality millionaire — Anshe Chung, the avatar of thirty-something Chinese-German ex-schoolteacher Ailin Graef in the virtual world Second Life.
The real estate baron dropped $10 to join the Second Life online community — which exchanges virtual Linden Dollars for US currency — and after a couple years of buying, developing and re-selling cyber land, her assets have ballooned to the equivalent of US$1 million.
Chung's family in China, who she's been supporting for real with virtual profits, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of her online acumen.
Sony Shortages Cause Surges
Sure, the PlayStation 3 launch was plagued with long lines, few consoles and greedy eBay "entrepreneurs," but the next-gen machine's super quick sell-out has an upside for Sony. The aging PS2, which has been outselling the Xbox 360 throughout 2006 despite launching six whole years ago, surged 115 percent, while the portable PSP rose 280 percent in sales around Thanksgiving (the official start of Christmas wish-list writing).
Though the initial North American PS3 shipment was reportedly less than the promised 400,000, Sony is still saying it'll have 2 million consoles available by New Year.
But since those PS3s will be arriving sporadically and departing immediately, you might want to input the phone number of your local game shop onto mom's speed dial.