I play nothing but my DS these days. Why? Because I simply don't have time for any larger time commitment (I have posted about this before at Ludology.org, my other blog). Thanks to GGA, I just ran into an article arguing that Nintendo may open their upcoming Revolution console to independent developers who would be able to create downloadable content. Funny, I have read quite a few things about Revolution but so far I never heard that before. It seems this info was inferred by Boing Boing from Nintendo's Press release, so I won't expect this happening anytime soon (I am still waiting to use my DS's WiFi. Hellooo Nintendo, are u there?) Certainly, it's an interesting possibility but based on past experience I would be EXTREMELY surprised that such an anal-retentive company as Nintendo (hey, I still love you Kyoto guys!) would be going open (after all, they invented the ultimate indie kiss of death: the Nintendo Seal of Quality.) So, I guess we have no option to wait and see. Certainly, desperate companies do things right, even though it may be too little, too late. Hey, I am fully aware that Nintendo is doing very strongly with their DS. They have covered Europe with their "over 5 million DS sold" ads. But they lost the cool contest with the PSP, which by the way doesn't need to go telling people how many consoles it sold: a picture of the PSP is enough. So, when I say that Nintendo is desperate I am not saying Iomega-desperate (remember they use to rule the world with their Zip disks?). Nintendo simply got a wake-up call and that's great for us all. Hands down, Nintendo has today the most original games in the market. WarioWare keeps being fantastic, even after 3 or 4 sequels. So, to sum up, I think it would be glorious (to me and other indie developers) that Nintendo opened-up their console to third-party creativity. If they ever do it, that's another thing.

Update: Thanks to Peter Smith for his comments, pointing out to stories at Buzzcut and Nintendo Insider showing that Nintendo is doing great on the business side even though we all perceive it as lagging behind the console wars. Really interesting articles. Meanwhile, I cannot wait for Advance Wars on the DS...

Now, something completely different. I am 32 years old and it wasn't until last weekend, for the first time in my freakin life, that I was able to hold a rubber chicken, a mythical toy that I loved to cherish in the Monkey Island series. It was over 20 dollars, so I didn't buy it. But I should have. Now, I wake up in the middle of the night, hearing that glorious rubber chicken sound. Rubber chickens...