You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. At least, that’s how it is when it comes to game reviews and previews. Provide soft, fluffy reviews that start at 8 — and only go up — and you’re doing a disservice to your readers by catering to the game companies who advertise in your magazine. Provide hard-edged, honest reviews that tell it like it is and the company pulls its ads to punish you. In the wake of Gerstmanngate, writing up a negative review of a game would seem to be the fastest way to end up in the unemployment line, but what happens when the entire magazine suffers at the hands of a miffed game company? If you’re Dan Hsu, you call them out.

14 million. That’s the number of Wiis that have been sold in the 12 months since the console, formerly known as The Revolution, launched in November 2006. It became the fastest selling console in history and even managed to put a decent margin between itself and the Xbox 360, which already had a year’s head start. Nintendo couldn’t be happier with its success; the console which inspired countless jokes about its name and had been panned by critics for being underpowered has blown through all expectations placed on it. While the games have been less than stellar with a slew third-party titles of questionable quality, the first-party games — games released by Nintendo itself — have been monstrous hits. Games like “Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” and the recently-released “Super Mario Galaxy” have been among the highest rated, most anticipated games of all time. But is the Wii running out of steam or is it just getting started?