I ripped this video from MSNBC to show you all how terribly wrong Jack Thompson is about his Virginia Tech shooter assumptions. He was blaming games before a shooter was even identified, he moved on to blame Bill Gates for games he isn't even responsible for, and finally we have both textual and video proof that he needs to never comment on video game violence ever again. The video above (yes, I know the sound is off) has an MSNBC Hardball broadcaster, Chris Matthews, refusing to believe Jack Thompson's "theories" until more evidence has been found, and below is that exact evidence that disproves Jack's assumptions. Sorry, Jack, I was rooting for you, this one was all wrapped up and in the bag - he's an adolescent Asian attending college - of course he's going to be an avid gamer. WRONG! Here's what they found in Cho Seung Hui's dorm room:

• Chain from top left closet shelf
• Folding knife & combination padlock
• Compaq computer from desktop
• Assorted documents, notepads, writings from desktop
• Combination lock
• Dremel tool and case
• Nine books, two notebooks, envelopes, from top shelf
• Assorted books & pads from lower shelf
• Compact discs from desktops
• Items from desktop & drawers: winchester multi tool, 3 notebooks, mail, checks, credit card
• Items from 2nd door: Kodak digital camera, Citibank statement
• Two cases of compact discs from dresser top
• Drive: Seagate: 80 Gb
• Six sheets of green computer paper
• Mirror with blue plastic housing
• Dremel tool box with receipt
• Dell Latitude service tag

Not even a single damn video game. This kid didn't even look at porn, we should be interviewing Roswell experts to see if he was human, not listening to Jackass Thompson. You won't listen to college gamers who tell you games aren't responsible, yet when Cho's friends tell you he played video games in high school, they become grounds for several of your "expert" appearances on TV? And then his roommate in college tells you he never played video games, but you won't believe that source of information. He goes on to say that since video games have been involved with other school shootings (most of which they haven't) it's a "forensic fact" that Cho was most using these "murder simulators" to lower his heart rate and plan out attacks. How is it that his childish rants that wouldn't hold up in high school debates make it on national television? Thankfully the MSNBC reporter called him out on his assumptions without evidence, and refused to allow Jack Thompson to project a false persona on the killer or portray the video game industry in such a negative tone.

This is all besides the point though, we know that Jack Thompson is an idiot. What it all comes down to, and always has, is that the video game industry should rarely be responsible for the deaths of anyone, even if there are a few cases where, yep, you got us, a video game directly caused someone's death. Cars kill people each year, we know that for a fact, but we still allow them to be legal because the vast majority of people don't fuck up the system. It's the same with alcohol, and it is the same with video games, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's unfair to target the whole game industry because of a few sick people. And if you do, you've got no right to target our industry before first lashing out against the television companies, movie companies, and alcohol companies.

To those who say we should stop giving Jack Thompson attention altogether, I say absolutely not. Call him out every time. Why? Because it's working. Hopefully this is good riddance, asshole. (Further reading on Jack Thompson this week: Part One and Intermission)

Jeez, I change my Internet homepage from BBC News for a few days and I miss out on nappy headed hoes, boners made from bone, and Kurt Vonnegut's death. So it goes, I guess I learned my lesson. BBC is also reporting that Sony's stock just hit a five year high after the Nikkei business daily newspaper predicted "a sixfold increase in its profits for the current year." Cool, first it folded proteins, now it's folding profits. It seems like electronics shoppers are slowly realizing more and more how much they're getting for the outrageously expensive system, although the Nikkei prediction was made under the assumption that Sony would reach ten million total PS3 shipments by the end of the year. Nintendo's response? Well, I doubt they care - their stock has been dominating demand for a year straight, they get to throw this part every month.

This has been a shitty week for Super Paper Mario players. First SUX 2BU: Circuit City offered customers a twenty dollar gift certificate if they were sold out of Super Paper Mario for the Wii. And by sold out, they meant only if "we never had any to begin with," suckers. Super Scam City was a pretty depressing afternoon for a lot of gamers this week, but things have gotten even worse overseas. SUX 2BU2: Gamers in Europe and Japan who started Super Paper Mario without downloading the most recent updates are reporting that their Wiis are bricking, due to the game containing an NTSC-U Wii update that's not compatible with early PAL and Japanese Wii firmware. Brings a whole new meaning to Mario busting bricks, so beware of the Wii death and deceit that's going around.

We've heard it mentioned briefly before, and even seen some idiot use GlovePIE to play a knock off version on his Wiimote, and according to Red Octane's Web site, it's now confirmed. It's also scheduled for the PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360 later this year in Fall. Guitar Hero is the type of game that will sell well no matter what console you bring it to, but I expect the sales of GH3 on the Wii to backfire a little. Many people that own the Wii have a PS3 or 360, and if you don't have the PS2 that's borderline sinful, so this definitely isn't a game that Nintendo gets to brag about when the game drought is in full force later this year. Now that Super Paper Mario came out yesterday, all Nintendo really has left for Wii owners until winter is Mario Party 8 and some shitty Pokemon game. And maybe Metroid Prime 3 some time after June. In other words, December.

A Virtual Console update pattern is emerging, the last three weeks have been a shit sandwich, and sadly not with shit in the middle. Two weeks ago was the worst Virtual Console update yet, and last week was one of the best, leaving us with yet another shitty American update:

Galaga (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Players control their fighters, with their unique ability to combine with other fighters and shoot down the invading aliens. Aliens attack in formations using a variety of attack patterns. Rescue a captured fighter to combine with it, forming a Dual Fighter with twice the firepower. Earn Perfect Bonuses more easily by using a Dual Fighter on the Challenging Stages. Galaga was released in 1981 and became an instant classic with its innovative fighter-combination system and varied enemy attack patterns.

BRAVOMAN (Turbografx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): The village of Nitta has been invaded by the army of Dr. Bomb, an evil scientist who is plotting to take over the world. Facing this crisis is Bravoman, who received his powers from Alpha Man to stand up against Dr. Bomb in the name of justice. The village of Nitta consists of 22 stages - action stages that take place on the ground and shooting stages that take place underwater. Action stages use a unique control system in which the height of a jump and the distance of an attack changes depending on how long players hold down the button. Players collect the Luck Symbols that appear when they defeat enemies and give them to Lottery Man to get recovery and power-up items. Stop Dr. Bomb and bring peace to the village of Nitta and the rest of the world.

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): When King Thor was kidnapped, his son, Alex Kidd, held out hope that his father would return to their kingdom on Planet Aries. Finally, it was revealed that he was being held captive on Planet Paperock. As Alex, players race to his rescue through 11 levels, battling enemies and avoiding obstacles while winning coins that will buy special items and vehicles. At the end of each level, players encounter a boss and enter into a match of “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” Throwing the right symbols puts players ever closer to bringing King Thor home; throwing the wrong symbols squashes them beneath a heavy weight.

TheLastBoss is appalled. That is not a boss. A boss is not one in which you engage in paper-rock-scissors battles. If the Virtual Console was your reason for buying a Wii you might as well just take it back and invest in a TI-83 calculator, its two color games are way better than what Nintendo has served us this week. Phoenix > Galaga. Block Dude > Bravoman. And simple addition > Alex Kidd.

PSP gamers, don't forget about the April content pack. It's now available as a 107 MB download that includes the following:

• PlayStation Mayhem show (3/9 & 3/16)
• MLB 07 the Show (motion capture videos, trailer)
• Virtua Tennis 3 (screenshots)
  
• Prince of Persia Rival Swords (screenshots)
• 300: March to Glory (videos, screenshots)
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (wallpaper, TV spot, trailer)
  
• Full Auto 2: Battlelines (trailer)
  
• March Wallpaper

Seems like a waste of space though. Even if some of it is exclusive, why bother when you can get most of it on the Internet? Why would you even want most of this stuff on your PSP? That Mayhem podcast better be hilarious.

Turns out you don't have to wait for Super Mario Galaxy to play as Mario in outer space, the video above shows a few more levels, including a floating space shooter area filled with asteroids. I love the pixelated explosions they added in. That's not the big news though, Super Paper Mario comes out in stores this Monday for the Wii in America, and if you can't wait that long and want to see more, and the first 30 minutes of gameplay wasn't a big enough spoiler for you, then GameSpot is offering a sneak preview at the first four hours of play. That's pretty hardcore, I'd rather watch 300 two times in a row, or, you know, not ruin the first four hours of a game I plan to buy. It's your choice though, the live show starts today at 1:00 P.M. Pacific time, and you need to sign up to be a GameSpot member to watch. Tune in here to check it out.

Probably way too long for you to watch now, but it's here for you later when you're not busy. I'll sum it up for yuh, it gave me some mixed feelings. I've talked about this game a lot before, and seeing the beginning of the game play out for half an hour polarized the two things I was hoping Nintendo would deliver.

First up: story and atmosphere. I'm not going to defend any of the Paper Mario storylines or plot progressions as being profound, these games are made for kids, and are mainly enjoyable for all ages purely because of their solid game mechanics. Paper Mario 64 might not have Final Fantasy character building cinematics and baptismal imagery, yet its party system was still done smoothly and the whole cast of characters turned out to be fun. Then there was the Gamecube Paper Mario game, which was retarded at times, but had the possibly the best thought out atmosphere in the series - the levels were filled with people to talk to, puzzles to solve, and secrets to discover. The story was more goofy than usual, but you could tell it was Nintendo just trying to get you to laugh. And it worked. Will Super Paper Mario make you laugh? Not so much. The villains and characters are all disappointing, and the first twenty minutes drag terribly. One part of the level design mechanics in the first two games that I loved was how you got to explore Mario's world of networking sewers, that tie everything together. Not in Super Paper Mario though, they just give you a teleportation pipe and use their "dimensional" gameplay to write it off as being plausible. Lame!

So can its gameplay save it? I'm not too hesitant to say yes, you only get through the first two chapters in this clip, and the extra dimension to gameplay is completely refreshing. I was really worried at first when Nintendo ditched the tight, RPG turn-based combat, that it would just be a dumbed down game for kids. That's not the case though, this definitely looks like a great example of taking a sidestep in a series to try something else without injuring the series as a whole in the future. I think I'll have a lot of fun playing the game when it comes out on Monday, but I bet it's the one I remember the least. I'd say the first in the series is still my favorite.

Oh yah, by the way, if you live in Europe you're screwed. This game still doesn't have an announced release date over there yet. Don't worry though, there's a big list of games coming out in the next few months. For space reasons I'll trim it down to just the ones that look really good:

                                      

Yup, you're screwed. Sux 2BU. Ok, I lied. There's Mario Strikers for the Wii and a few cool DS games too. Also, Metroid Prime 3 won't be coming out before June for the Wii. Reggie blames us though, the nerve of Nintendo, wow. He says that the sales for Metroid Prime 2 were shitty, so expect number three to get pushed back to a Christmas release.

Sixteen months after the Xbox 360 launch, Sony has finally gotten the pleasure of welcoming Microsoft to the future of gaming:

"We think every PlayStation 3 owner should have an 'elite' experience, which is why we include an internal hard drive and HDMI output in every PS3 we sell, along with the 50 GB of storage capacity on a high definition Blu-ray disc. Sony has been the strongest advocate of high definition as the future of next-generation gaming. This requires high-definition components, including HDMI output, and large storage devices to deliver and store all that rich and vivid HD content. Microsoft's announcement today [er, "tomorrow"] not only legitimizes Sony's PS3 strategy, it moves us closer to adopting universal standards in the area of high definition gaming that will benefit game developers and ultimately the end user." 

According to Sony, once you go black, you never go back. Celibacy has definitely taken its toll on Microsoft's movie love making, rough black and Blu-ray banging has proved successful so far for Sony. Meanwhile, in the world of Wii, Miis still haven't experienced online gaming. Don't expect the rock, paper, scissors styled flaws and benefits to stop any time soon.

Square Enix has announced they're holding a party on May 12th and 13th, here's the translated details:

Square Enix released, in daily Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, a publicity page  to  announce  their  special  event  "Square Enix Party 2007" which will take place  the  12th and 13th of next May at Makuhari Messe, a few kilometers east of Tokyo, Japan. We also find the logos of all of the shutters of the Final Fantasy series in development, as well as a phrase that's intriguing enough, but leaves us dreaming; "Evolution will never stop, the series continues ... and a new Final Fantasy that no one knows will enter the scene." So, will a new Final Fantasy really be presented on the 20th anniversary of the series? Something to follow very closely.  

Damn, it's hard to keep track of all the different projects Square Enix is working on lately. Now that they've got the Unreal Engine for their games, I'd guess their new game will be another PS3 title, or will this be one they're giving to Xbox 360? I've got a feeling the next game might not be an RPG at all, but they said it's a Final Fantasy title. Is FF14 going to be unveiled already? Make some predictions and we'll take a look back here once May comes around.