So I got a letter from my friendly omnipresently local Amazon e-tailer informing me that the Nintendo Wii was now available at a new low low price of 199.99 . Gamespot has also commented this as well, since it was apparently announced at the Tokyo Game Show.

Now, this is excellent news and all, however I am a little curious about what this means, and how this is even happening.

Point #1:

Analysts all over it seems, including many that Gamespot have posted, have cited that the Wii will not be dropping in price any time soon. Signs point to Nintendo's continually high profit margins in the hardware sales sector and increasing profits from even lower than before hardware costs. Signs did not point to any huge slackening of Nintendo's sales, so the question again remains, with a veritable mountain of evidence towards why they didn't need nor want to drop the price, why do it now?

Point #2:

What does the decreasing of the Wii say about Nintendo and their current market confidence? I have felt for some time now that the Wii fever had been subsiding and Nintendo was indeed going to have trouble using that stout install-base of systems to sell as much software as the other two competitors could. Could this apparent unexpected price drop spell certain issues within Nintendo's longer term sales goals? With the current generation of consoles now well on their way to a more mature stage, Nintendo needs it's sales to continue strong more than ever (although I feel Software more than Hardware should now be the focus), so it does make sense that this price drop is indicative a long expected (but not yet seen) reduction in the Wii sales blitz that has gone on for so long.

In conclusion, while I disdain at this point people trying to declare any kind of winner or loser to the console war, and find that the Wii's sales success not exactly a marker for a winning product, it is interesting to see these unexpected developments, and will be keeping a closer eye on Nintendo to see where else this may go.

I forgot to post about this earlier but for those that were not aware, Imax theatres playing I Am Legend also had packaged with it a special 10 minute sneak peak of the next Batman movie, specially formatted, apparently, for an Imax screen (a couple shots showed that this was possibly true).

All i got to say was it was sweet, not since the uncensored Batman Beyond Joker Returns movie has anyone shown so wellthe Joker as the maniacal and intelligent (but of course quite mad) villain that he truly is. Probably is tool late to go check it out now on the big Imax screen but the actual movie will be here before you know it.

It isn't really hard to guess as this point what the latest several editorial blog posts (and pretty much everyone else's) are about, or for that matter everywhere else people can post something as well.

In what I have decided to dub the great Kane & Lynch fiasco of 2007, we have a bit of a controversy on our hands. Now, one thing I'm reading in almost all of the many posts about it is the key word, "rumor." Now at this point the evidence is pretty damning, what with the video review being pulled, and Jeff apparently, at least for whatever reason, has signed his walking papers.

What I want to say then is not necessarily something I personally believe, but is more of an attempt at devil's advocate (since almost no one else is saying it and instead stoking the flames). Could this all possibly be a very poorly timed set of decisions, leading to a misunderstanding? Could Jeff have maybe chosen to just leave, or gotten let go for some other reason?

I only pose the question because we have all too often gotten upset over something only to get the full story later. Unfortunately we may never hear the full story, but at this point, I'veseen many people, even volunteer support members, posting blogs riddled with denouements and even swears directed at Gamespot. As much as this may actually be an appropriate response if this has all happened as the initial reports ordained, I'm wondering how much we may be jumping the gun on our judgments of all parties involved.

Jeff is no stranger to review controversy either, if anything you'd think some of the other games he's shunned in the past would land him in more hot water than an Eidos game.

In short, for those who so far have completely misread the purpose of this post, the theme is "withholding judgement", at least until a suitable time when such judgement can be fairly passed. If at that point in time the judgement is a rage-gasm in the form of anangry mob with pitchforks and torches though, then so be it.

With all this jumble of hesitant thinking I leave you with a departing thought: maybe Kane and Lynch, even with its score not being the most terrible ever, but rather due to its enduring negative stigmata, willbe the new "Big Rigs" game that all new GS members must play....an ironic twist appropriate of such a trial by fire don't you think?