Daniel X

this series is downright stupid. a study in cliches. worst of all, you can tell when Patterson's (good) writing stops and Ledwidge's (terrible) writing begins. James Patterson can (and might i add, should) go back to the beginning and rewrite this whole thing. ALONE. the entire series is filled with the same repetition and some bad jokes. i don't mean distasteful. i mean TERRIBLE. one more thing wrong is some of the interaction and response doesn't even make sense! in one chapter Daniel is taking a taxi to some place and the guy asks him why he's there and he say's it's his job, "lettuce shredder at taco bell." he'd have done better by having him say "I'm an alien hunter!" usually you see continuity from one book in a series to the next. not in this. the continuity from chapter to chapter doesn't even fit! normally when going from book to movie they leave out stuff that needs to be in, or else change things for the worse. not for this. i don't think they could make this series any worse. in my opinion they can only go up! (seeing as they started at the bottom, there is no place else to go) i got the first one in audiobook form from my library. some of the filler and stupidity didn't come off so bad but in the book it just seemed stupid! the thing that got me interested in this was the first chapter being printed in the back of Maximum Ride Manga. the library didn't have that so i got the audiobook. after listening to the book i got a hard copy from the library and found that what just seemed odd in the audiobook was actually cliche after cliche! i tried to read the second one but found that even with a different co-author it wasn't any better! this series is not recommended unless it is rewritten by Patterson. ALONE. it gets a 0.7* rating. when i find the  manga novels i will probably rate them better.

one more thing, in the necessary rewrite, make it so that Daniel's sister escapes with him, it would make more sense. also, make the other alien kids so they all find each other on earth, and maybe make the gun that #6 uses the actual gun used by #1 to kill Dan's parents! as well as not swapping out non graphic swearing for crap that makes no sense!

Wii

what can be said about the Wii? it had motion control before kinect and PSMove. it has some great games, it might not have 1080p HD graphics, but it's the best console for sale. motion+ means it duplicates motion 1:1. otherwise motion control is shoddy at best. my Wii is definitely a great console. if you are planning on getting a Wii get an older vertical one so you can play gamecube games as well, and not have to spend money on classic controller pros. if you get extra Wii remotes you should get the ones with motion+ built in because the addon is sloppy and adds weight and makes the already tough job of removing the jacket to insert batteries even harder:

here's an example of the difference between the addon and the built in version in case you don't already know:

. it might not be able to play DVDs or CDs but then that's why you get a DVD player isn't it?
when you need more memory (you will, the internal memory is lil more than half a gigabyte) you will need to purchase a 32 gigabyte SD card (any will work, but the capacity is obviously greater) a series of articles on SD cards and flash drives is in the works. when i run some through tests i will post what is best here but for now i am reviewing the Wii. you'll want to keep virtual console, Wiiware and game saves on the SD card and leave the main memory for online multiplayer saves, and channels you use frequently. you will want to reserve an amount of space on the memory for transferable saves since the Wii cannot run them from the Sd card. as for Miis (avatars for games like Wii sports and some wiiware) you will want to keep one persons Miis on their remote, and another persons on theirs. speaking of Wiiware and virtual console (Wiiware is download games made for Wii and VC is older games for older consoles ported to the Wii) you will need an internet connection to download them (as well as internet for multiplayer) a minimum of DSL is recommended and works fine for me. you will also need to purchase Wii points to buy old games, and Wiiware ( if you already know this it's fine to skip it. i'm just covering my bases here) one gripe i have about it is you cannot just take VC, Wiiware, channels, and multiplayer saves from one wii to the next, so you will want to find a way to clone the memory (WARNING! THAT MAY VOID THE WARRANTY On THE WII YOU ARE CLONING AND THE ONE YOU ARE TRANSFERRING IT TO!!!!!!!) or buy an extended warranty ( or wait until you experience problems to register your Wii with club nintendo.

all in all, this is a great system. FPS games are insanely easy to aim, sword fighting games actually feel like you are swinging a sword, and the platformers replace button mashing (for the most part) with motion control. if you want a real workout from it you will need to get ankle and wrist weights, as well as purchase a zumba, just dance, or Wii Fit game. the Wii is the most reliable of the seventh generation of home consoles, and i have had nintendo games a long time, call me pre decided on this, but the Wii is by far the best console you can finds for everyone. with games for young children and hard core players alike, this console gets a 10.1* rating. the cheapest one in stores is 99.99 USD, and you can get ones with several games bundled on eBay for a lot less. this is by far the best console i could have purchased.

photo credit(s) Wikipedia.