ffenix

EXACTLY THIS. I don't have kids, but I have a nephew, and he and his friends in school are WAY into STEM toys. We're definitely too old for this, but kindergarten and elementary school kids will eat this up. Now, whether or not Nintendo will stick around with this idea long enough is going to be interesting. I hope they stay in this STEM toy market for the long haul, on top of what they're doing with traditional video games.

My final impression is that apparently people don't want other people's wishes to come true.

Lord of the Rings online... why?
 
And is this REALLY art, or just basically a dude in a box playing LotRO?

The problem with most of Sega's games are that they're purely an arcade kind of experience. Shenmue on the other hand was ambitious. Sure the gameplay is broken, and yes it's pacing could be better, but Shenmue is one of a few games which I played not for the gameplay, but for the "payoff" (in this case, its story).
 
It's kinda like how Jeff gave Comic Jumper a 4 out of 5, even though the game itself is kinda bad. He liked the game because of the "payoff", the ridiculousness of the FMVs.
 
Now, I'm not gonna hold my breath and hope that Shenmue 3 will be released. I stopped caring years ago.

 I don't know if this has been brought up in the discussion (too much shouting in the previous comments and I just tuned out), but I think the point of Jeff's article is not about bias, but how a video game review is handled by everyone in the gaming press (either officially-sanctioned by a company or an independent third party). ONM practically gave away their selling point (the review itself) for free by letting the world know that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is "a Miyamoto masterpiece" in the press release. At that point, unless I want to collect SMG artwork which can be obtained on the Internet anyway, why should I buy the magazine anyway? ONM should've at least tried to hide their excitement and tease the magazine buyer about the SMG2 review on their cover(s).
  
Personally, if the cover of the magazine tells me how a product will be reviewed, whether positively or negatively, then it's pointless for me to buy it. I'll be like "Hey, it looks like this game is awesome; instead of using this money to buy the magazine, I'll use it to buy SMG2 right now." (Or something like that.) But hey then again, the typical ONM buyer is probably gonna buy the magazine anyway. From an outsider's (non-ONM buyer's) perspective though, it just seems strange.

Admit it Jeff. You know in your heart of hearts, you WANT to give 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand a 5 out of 5! LOL =D

Dude! Since Jeff begrudgingly gave 50 Cent: BotS a 3 out of 5 -- I mean, come on, despite the mediocre score, Jeff couldn't contain his enjoyment for the game -- maybe this time with Infinity Ward involved, Jeff won't feel guilty about giving a Fiddy cent game his highest recommendation. (Hahahahahaahahahahahah!!)

So I hurd this is where the free crack giveaway is taking place?