It turns out I’m a big fan of capitalism. If I were to rank the world’s socio-economic strategies in a list, capitalism and all that it entails would be atop the heap; a sort of “king of economies”, if you will. Unfortunately, capitalism engenders a certain money-at-all-costs mentality which lingers about society like an embarrasing and potentially odorous relative, a mentality which causes much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst those to whom the term “hippy” could apply. The worst of capitalism’s bastard children has to be advertising, and the darkest spawn of that inbred family is the sponsored link. IGN - which will remain unlinked in a silent protest - perpetrates these insults by peppering their articles with such phenomenal links as these:

It’s not totally unexpected for a costumed hero to meet a major physical set-back on the job.

Go ahead, click on the link. I warn you, however, that it may cause confusion, exasperation, and indeed even rage.

When I click on a link I expect an extrapolation of the topic at hand that provides me the chance to expand my knowledge base of said topic. When I click on the link I expect a pretty lady to jump out of the cake to wish me a happy birthday. At IGN, the only thing that bursts from the confection is Martha Stewart, and she wants to explain the ins and outs of decorative frosting. Damn you IGN. We will be enemies until the firmament crumbles.

On the upside, .hack//mutation ate the bomb and I’m enjoying Sonic Heroes. I’m not going to recommend either game with any kind of vigor, but Sonic Heroes is a pleasant distraction from reality. It features team play in which you select one of four teams each with a speedster, flyer, and brawler member to take on Eggman. Each team has a slightly different storyline but all play on the same levels; the diffence is mostly in cosmetic execution and difficulty. It does lose something in the translation from 2-D to 3-D so it’s not as fun as the classic side scrollers, but it entertains. Making up for that fact is the classic “challenge” mode. Remember running down the tube trying to collect more rings than your friends? Oh yeah you do. I give it a BORROW.

I don’t know Tails, why don’t you go and ask it while I keep running.