Bitterman's blog

This all started when I happened across a post on the site Infendo. The hot topic right now is Super Smash Bros.: Brawl. Greatly anticipated Wii title not just because it's an awesome game, but it's the expansion of an awesome franchise into an online world. We haven't had much in the way of fighting games that play online anyway, which is a genre that at it's core is catered to multiple players. Many fighting games include a single player aspect as an afterthought. You'd think fighters and online would go hand in hand, but it just hasn't been happening. Nintendo's foray into online gaming hasn't gone smoothly however, and Smash Bros. online reminds me of trying to play Quake 1 over mPlayer on a 14.4 baud modem. For you kids who have only known broadband, that's nerd talk for "criminally slow."

People are asking a lot of questions, they just want things to work. So enter Infendo, trying to bring some rationality or explination to the table from an outsider's perspective:

"This has been Nintendo’s plan all along. The ironic thing about it all? It’s going to work. ... As a company that exists to make money, Nintendo has sought to remake gaming in its image. Eventually, this will include online play."

And in this statement the article stops just short of calling Nintendo the reincarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been playing with power since 1986, and I'm as big a self professed Nintendo fan as anyone. But come the fuck on. It's broken on purpose? Now you're just being ignorant.

The population is starting to compare the Blindly Patriotic American to the Extremist Zealot Muslim. To the outside it seems as if the slightest insult against America will incur the wrath of a thousand men, a thousand bombs, and a hundred thousand lives. Even on the inside the slightest hint of dissent against the machine is met with rabid patriototic ferocity. A foaming mouth of red white a blue, gnashing star spangled teeth.

I don't understand why people have a hard time understanding it.

On the morning of March 17th 2007, I sat at work doing what has become part of my after lunch routine. I surfed Digg, to learn the news, events, and concerns of the public. The democracy of Digg creates an interesting environment to show you what is important in the eyes of the people; the treasure hunt aspect of Digg creates this wild world full of things you didn't even know were on the Internet. A giant scavenger hunt of ideas, stories, blogs, and everything.

This morning was different. We didn't get any stories of Wii Sports: Bowling Robots, or essays on Why I love RPG Towns. No, today tucked away in the corner of the Upcoming Stories section, I spot this headline: American Girl Place store employee humiliates 6 year old girl. Intrigued, I ponder about what this click could contain. I mean, who humiliates a six year old girl? Just, who does that? What kind of empty depraved human takes time out of their day to bring down a six year old? Also, what the hell is an American Girl Place? We don't have these high society things in Iowa. Full of questions, I tunnel down the rabbit hole.