Gradius 3 and Halo 3.

I read Maddox's article on Ikaruga (again), and I decided I should look for some other ball-smashing games. And I found one- on the SNES- called Gradius 3. I'll use a simple explanation of why this game is so awesome: The game was immediately pulled from arcades because it was so hard. Even though I beat the game in Hard mode, I still played it on an emulator and used state saves to beat it just to get to the ending. It's impossible to win the game all in one run without dying once. If you like Galaga, this game is for you.



On another note, I GOT INTO THE HALO 3 BETA PROGRAM!! AWESOME!!! HAHAHA!!!

I (don't) feel sorry for everyone who wasn't in the first 13,333. I actually registered at about 4:00 PM on the first day. Suck on that, Crackdown noobs.

You, unlike me, will not get to play until late 2007, unless you buy Crapdown. Hah.

I HATE THE IRS.

"Sometime in the next few months, the Joint Economic Committee of Congress will publish a report regarding the economies of World of Warcraft, Second Life, and other massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). And the report's number-one question will be: Do real-world tax laws apply to virtual transactions?"Source: PC World, March 2007, "Virtual Gold Could Draw Real Taxes"

Ask ANY gamer in the world and you will get a response much like this one:

HELL NO.

The MMO economy created annually is estimated to be between 1 and 10 billion dollars. And according to our great congressmen, every single penny of it is taxable.

I swear, I thought I've read disgusting things before (see my previous post), but this is by far the most horrible thing I've ever read. The Congress, not content with its outrageous spending on $20,000 mini-fridges and multi-million dollar offices, has decided that it wants even more money. It's like dangling a few acres of real estate in Donald Trump's face; despite the fact that he's got more real estate than maybe 99% of all Americans, he doesn't care-- he'll take it from you anyway.

I can understand raising taxes on people (I am NOT supporting higher taxes; I'm using this as a reference), but TAXING THINGS YOU GET IN A GAME? It's amazing how a few lines of code are worth money to the gluttons at Congress.

Congress says that since those gold coins you just got from the monster you just killed are considered "income", they have the right to tax you. Now, there's two things wrong with this:

1. You are probably under 18.
2. If you aren't, then it's not income until it's converted into hard cash.

Of course, Congress has got a solution: They want to go by the unofficial trade values for coins, such as how about seven Azerothian gold coins usually go for about a buck.

Let's say you've got 700 gold coins in WoW. Now, that's worth $100 in real life. Let's say that the IRS decides to tax you like it does to the average person with an entry-level job, for about 17%. Congratulations! Congress just stole $17, or a whopping 119 gold coins, from you! Aren't you glad that everyone (except everyone who doesn't work with the government) is going to earn more now? The economy is so great now. It's a good thing that I'm getting ripped off of the quality of the games I play so that some asshole can buy his $25 million office with rare-wood floors and a plasma TV in his bathroom.

Now I normally hate WoW players, but when it comes to Congress VS. Freedom to Play Games Without Paying More, I've got nothing against them.

Congress's tax-money handling (or the apparent lack of it) is bullshit.

Just in Case Someone Thinks I Don't Own in Halo PC...

Exactly.