chibiforte

Been playin' a little o' Mario Kart Wii.  I'm doing pretty well, actually.  I've raced a few online matches against Ted and beat him a few times.  I'm actually getting fairly adept at playing with the Wii Wheel.  I'm still better with the Gamecube controller, but the Wheel helps make it feel more real, if you can call kart racing while throwing shells and dropping banana peels "real". :P

I received my Myself; Yourself OP CD Single, yesterday.  Along with the anime's opening theme, it also had the opening theme for the visual novel.  Both are actually really engaging songs, and I'm glad I made the purchase.  I still haven't received my H20 ~footprints in the sand~ OP CD single, but I expect to get it tomorrow.

I'm also thinking of purchasing the 2006 "LEGEND OF DRAGONWORLD" CD set, which contains a lot of songs from the Dragonball anime.  It seems to have a lot of songs, and when I was listening to the Daizenshuu EX Podcast, the hosts agreed that it was the CD set that you want to get if you're just looking for the main movie themes, OP and ED themes, insert songs, image songs, etc.

Speaking of Dragonball, I actually just finished reading the series last night.  42 volumes worth, as a matter of fact.  It was nice to just get through the entire series in a non-stressful, easy go.  Reading it was the best choice, since it would be extremely expensive to get all the DVDs right now.  I easily breezed through dozens of episodes worth of material in only a few hours each night.  Now, I have the entire series fresh in my mind, and that's nice to have.

Still don't have the pictures of little Matthew.  I'm hoping they'll send them sometime tonight.  I actually talked to my brother on the phone today, and he held the phone up to the baby while he was making noise.  It was so cute! <3

 Can't wait!  Hopefully it all goes smoothly... I just have a nervous feeling for some reason...

I picked up my copy of Mario Kart Wii, yesterday.  It's actually a lot more fun than I thought it'd be.  The online mode is pretty awesome and flawless, and you actually get to see the Miis and names of the people you go against.  While I don't particularly care for a few of the Miis I saw, overall, the experience was great.  I'll probably start all the different rank-mode things sometime either later today or tomorrow.  Maybe I should just bypass 50cc and just go for 100cc for the time being?  That'd help me get better, since it's tough for me to adjust to the Wii Wheel.

I also laid down a preorder for Wii Fit.  That stupid game's going to be $90, but it's going to be so much fun!  And to think, all it does is help you exercise...

I need to get those recommendation letters sent out...

I received my true tears OP CD single, earlier today.  It's pretty good.  I enjoy "Reflectia" the most, obviously, but I didn't particularly care for "elekta".  Maybe I'll have to give it a few more listens.  The piano in the background was obviously nice to hear, but the vocals didn't really catch me.  Maybe because it's slow?

My nephew should be born on Monday, at the latest (since he was due last week, they are going to induce her on Monday if he isn't born till then).  His name will be Matthew Jr., after his Dad.  He better be cute as a button.  I wonder how Sarai will take not being the only baby anymore?

I'm picking up Mario Kart Wii, tomorrow.  I actually wasn't really planning on picking this game up until the summer, but my Dad ended up preordering it for me, so I don't really have an excuse.  I was wanting to pick up The World Ends with You for the DS, but eh, it can wait.  This is kart-racing with Mario, and I hear the online is fantastic, so I'm looking forward to it.

I just had an idea a little bit ago, while vacuuming the living room.  I think it'd be really neat to have a remix album of, what else, but Haruhi Suzumiya music.  Not just any remix album though, but a PIANO album.  Where all of the songs are done on the piano, without vocals or anything.  I think it'd be pretty easy to fill up an album with music from the series and games.  The OP and ED for the anime, obviously, but you could also branch off and do songs from the character albums, or use the BGM for the anime, or even do the OP/ED from the two games they have out.  Even Mikuru's Love Legend!  I could see it being done... maybe being distributed using Bittorrent... I'd need to buy the albums, though, just so I can hear all the music that can be done... and I'd need to find someone else who can play the piano with me... hmmm...

 Still pondering that particular transition in the novels that I have to figure out.  Hopefully I'll be making some headway on that soon, since I want to finish up these summaries.

This upcoming Spring Anime Season doesn't look all that special.  Allison & Lillia looks really interesting, as well as Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Itazura no Kiss, and especially kure-nai, but that's pretty much it.  I really doubt I'll even watch much else besides Allison & Lillia, but we'll see how it goes.

We forked Ben and Jay's yard, last week.  And just earlier tonight, my older brother and sister-in-law placed hundreds of post-it notes on both Gabe's and Jeremy's trucks.  It looked awesome.  This'll show everybody at the Youth Group that our family is not meant to be messed with. :3

I read today that the Ben Stein movie is going to definitely be airing at our local theater, which is a huge plus for me, seeing as how I didn't think the subject matter would be accepted by the theater's owner (seeing as how he aired the Al Gore movie thing), but it turns out that he's just in these things for the money, and if he can make money from a movie, it doesn't really matter what the subject matter is about.  And considering this is a small town, it'd probably be more accepted than all of these big cities.  I'm predicting that there will be at least one boycott of the movie in at least one state, probably here in California in certain cities.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least, considering the terribly hypocritical patrons of this state who think they're open-minded, but are far more bigoted than the things they fight against. xD

I haven't been playing as much Brawl, lately, but that's because there's not much more for me to do on it.  We've unlocked pretty much everything we can, except for the Boss Battle challenges, which are horrendously difficult and something that I don't want to partake in.  I want to try to get into some RPGs again, like Earthbound, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and play it.  If nothing else, then I'm certainly going to have a giant backlog of video games that will finally be completed once I'm in college with free time on my hands.  I predict weekend marathons will be taking place with my roommates.

Speaking of roommates, I'm really hoping that I get some cool ones.  I think the current allocationg per room is about four people, so I'll have three roommates.  I want at least one of them to be a chef of some sort, so they'll constantly make food and ask me to taste-test it.  I'm also hoping that another one of them is a computer genius who can help me with tech stuff.  And I hope the last one is an artist or musician of some sort, who can draw or help me with music stuff.  It'd be awesome if that happened.

I downloaded at least two gigabytes of OCRemixes, today.  I decided that it was time I go through what that website has and just enjoy what they put out.  So far, I'm impressed by these remixers.  They really know how to take chiptunes and rework them into a completely new creation.

Six words:

Our Copy Of Brawl Is Dead.

My brother and I were messing around in the living room while getting ready to play a match, and my brother accidently knocked over the Wii, causing the laser to burn a line into the disc.  Which caused the copy to stop working properly, and now we can't play the game at all.

I called K-Mart, the place we bought it from, but the electronics worker had no clue as to when they'll be getting more copies, nor did they have a waiting list to be put on so we can be notified that they have more copies.

So we probably won't be able to play Brawl again until sometime next week.  And I'm extremely angry right now.

Phooey. ;_;

One word:

Brawl.

It's fantastic.  To the max.  I'm killin' everyone with Ness.  I've put 22 hours into the game since Sunday morning.

Too.  Much.  Fun. 

I forgot to mention this, but I finished up all the translated parts of Clannad that I was able to, which includes all the main routes.  It was a good game, and I hope I can continue on and start the After Story once they release a full translation patch.  It'll be fun, I'm sure.

I've actually downloaded about four visual novels that I plan to play.  The ones I snagged are Narcissu, true rememberance, planetarian, and Gadget Trial.  Out of those four, I'm most interested in planetarian and Narcissu, as the former is supposed to be a really sad story, and the latter is supposed to be some kind of story about hospital patients and what the patient's who have contracted fatal illnesses (and are without hope) have to go through.  I'm almost scared to finish these novels, since I'm not an emotional person and I'm not sure how I'll react if the ending's are shockingly sad... but I'll make sure to talk about them in the future.  planetarian keeps freezing up my computer as I make my way through the story, though, and it's driving me bonkers.

I've been listening to a lot of Earthbound music, lately.  I downloaded all the "Rock Candy" remix albums from starmen.net, and I'm now in the middle of the fourth album.  And, I gotta say, I'm really impressed by how well these Earthbound fans remix their favorite game's music.  There are some tracks that I don't particularly appreciate, but for the most part, it's pretty good stuff.  I really want to try playing that game again, though.  I have every game in the series, but Mother 1 through 3 are in Japanese, and Earthbound is on the SNES (and I can't find time to play console games right now).  I'll have to figure something out.

I seriously cannot wait until Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out.  I know I've said it before, but I can't help myself.  This game is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, and trust me, I like sliced bread.  I've been dreaming about it, listening to the music rips from the Japanese version, planning on sleeping over at my cousin's house so that my friends and I can play it all night, figuring out how quickly we can get back from the Gamestop in the next town so I can play it as soon as possible, etc.  I can't help that I'm addicted to it... and it's not even out, yet!

I'm still in the planning stages of my novel series.  I'm not sure whether I should keep the name or not ("Law/Grace").  It's a bit of a rip-off from WOTM Radio, since that IS their catchphrase, and I wouldn't want to make it seem as if I'm plagiarizing them or that their whole organization was involved in the production of my novels or anything.  I may not understand business matters, but I can at least figure out that unintentionally associating their name with mine is not a good idea for either of us.  They don't put that forward slash in how they present the entire concept, though, so maybe I'm safe.  It's kinda like Fate/Stay Night, in a way, so maybe there won't be too much confusion.  I'll have to send them an e-mail, just to be safe.

I'll be leaving in about an hour or so for Disneyland.  We're going there for, what else, but a dance competition.  But I've been told that I actually don't have to stick around for the dances, since I'm unnecessary and not in charge of anything, so I'll probably just bum around the park with Zach.  Sounds like fun to me.  We'll make sure to ride Splash Mountain and Star Tours at some point during our adventure. :3

But, this also means that I'll delay the release of the test chapter for Law/Grace until I get home.  I need just a little more time to edit it a bit, and I'd like to reread it when it's not fresh in my mind in order to hopefully gain a new perspective on my own story.  So, that'll come when I get back on... Sunday night?  Monday?  I'm not sure at the moment.  I'll be bringing my laptop with me, but I probably won't use it.

I purchased and downloaded the original Harvest Moon for the SNES on the Wii's Virtual Console, yesterday.  So many typos... but it looks like it's a fun game!  And they don't have the typical Popuri-Ann-Elli-Karen-Mary combination of wives in the original!  They have some of those already mentioned, but there are some new marriage candidates!  Awesome.

I also bought Super Metroid for the SNES on the VC, as well.  That'll be fun.

I got my new CD in the mail today, the Dragonball one with the long title.  I'm enjoying it very much, and I am surprised it took me this long to buy it.  I guess I just didn't have a chance, before.  But it's good.  A few too many slow songs, but that's okay, they'll grow on me.  The last track is the best, though. <3

I'll post up an entry of the Kotomi route either later tonight, or sometime tomorrow (if it doesn't get lost in the shuffle).  If I tried to post it up now, I'd cry, because it was that sad, yet also very, very happy.  I love her story so much...

I need to make some new icons.  I'm not really sure what to make one of, though.  Maybe Harvest Moon?  Or perhaps one of Vegetto?  Or, maybe, a Forte related icon (considering what my journal name is...)?  I'm not sure, yet.  But I know I'm getting kind of tired of the normal ones.

I can't wait until my Brave Heart CD single gets here, but WHEN is it getting here?  I ordered it either last week or the week before, and I don't even know if they sent it out, yet.  I can't find anything in my Dad's e-mail...

I'm trying to do all this college financial aid stuff, but it's hard when my Mom can't find the time to help me.  I'm not a number person, so I can't say for sure what our income is, nor can I explain anything related to tax information.  This is getting dull.

I haven't been playing much besides Clannad, lately.  I don't know, I just can't find the time to delve into a game.  I'm going to waste all of my video game time once Smash Bros. Brawl comes out anyway, though.  That game is going to rock so hard.  I'm waiting for these people at a website to live stream it, tonight.  It's at 7:00PM, and I'm totally excited to see how the game works out.  The soundtrack is fantastic, I know that much.

It turns out that the theater here has some advanced screening privileges, seeing as how they invited their e-mail subscribers to a free advanced screening of a new movie I knew nothing about.  It's called "Inhuman", and it stars actors from 24 and Prison Break, so I'm excited to see it.  I can bring along four guests, as well, which will obviously be Steven, Ben, Jay, and probably Zach.  We get to have a Q&A session with the filmmakers after the movie, as well, and hopefully some actors will make an appearance.  I'd like to meet Tony from 24, seeing as how they cancelled the seventh season.

 I can't believe I never mentioned that I got my hair cut.  I was really starting to look shaggy, so I had it cut.  It's the first haircut I've had since the end of July, actually, so it was fairly long, at least according to male standards.  I was starting to adopt the Solid Snake look. xD

It seems up-in-the-air as to whether we're going to Las Vegas, this weekend.  We were thinking of heading over there to see our little niece, but Dad has to be back by Monday in order to go to work, and going down there for only one night seems a bit wasteful.  Not to mention the fact that Las Vegas is nothing more than a teeming pit of debauchery and greed, but that's another post, altogether.

I'm really enjoying watching H20 ~Footprints in the Sand~.  I find it interesting that they used the Footprints in the Sand poem (or at least, the first part of it, without giving away the ending) at the beginning of the first episode.  I'm not too sure of all the theological implications of the poem, but it doesn't seem to be heretical, as far as I can tell.  I'm sure they will actually give the ending to the poem at the end of the final episode, where the poet states that "at the times when there is only a single set of footprints, that's when God is carrying you".  It's definitely something you don't expect to see in an anime these days, even if the anime itself has enough fanservice moments to kinda nag at me.  I'm sure it was just a stylistic choice of the makers of the original game that the anime is based on to design the scenarios and title around that poem, and I'm fairly certain there's no deeper meaning than that (but then again, I very well could be wrong).

I'm totally loving Digimon Adventure, again.  It's just such an engaging show for me, even if it is designed for children.  I just finished the first arc, surrounding around Devimon and the Black Gears, as well as Angemon's evolution.  I read that they originally planned to end the show after Angemon killed Devimon, which could've totally worked, but they kept going because the show got popular.  But they managed to make a good, interesting show out of the 51 episodes they made, so I'm happy they continued.

I think I'll wait to try and play Clannad after they release the Full Voice Version in February.  I heard that the patch is being postponed until that version comes out, and since it's nigh impossible to find the original version anywhere on the internet (to download or purchase), it's better to wait.  It'll be a good thing to have when I start college, since I won't be able to buy many games during that time (which is why Smash Bros. Brawl will be played to death).

I might be getting all of those library books I ordered, tomorrow.  I believe I ordered them last Thursday, so they have had plenty of time to get here, therefore, I conclude that they will be here tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to waking up in the wee hours of the morning, sitting on the couch with some coffee or hot chocolate, and just reading and studying away.  I ordered big books, too.  There are a few about science, some about history, others about politics, but mostly ones about theology and apologetics.  I'm so ready to tackle those subjects, because, as Michael Ramsden alluded to from his Biblical studies, we have to be ready to give a coherent answer when asked, but the answer must be given with grace and patience.  I believe I can give answers, but I must work on the grace and patience with which I give them, since C.S. Lewis stated that apologetics are like a violent weapon in the hands of the youth (if I recall correctly; I believe the wording is different, but that's all I could remember).

I bought myself a new library card, today.  I figured that since I couldn't locate my previous card, I'll just buy a new one.  And right after I did that, I went straight to the library catalog and put twenty-five separate books on a request list, so they'll deliver each and every one of them to my local library for me to pick up.

Ain't libraries fantastic?  This will save me hundreds of dollars, and I'll only end up buying the books that I really need for my continuing research.  Yes, it will be difficult to read all of these books before I have to return them, but hey, I get a little carried away, alright?  If worse comes to worst, then I'll just renew them, no biggie.

This will really help me get into reading steadily, again.  I've kind of slacked off on reading anything serious for the last few years, so by ordering all these smart people books (ranging from politics, to science, to everything else I'm interested in learning), I'll be able to discipline my mind and stick to reading seriously.

Well, anyway, aside from the library news, it turns out that I might be able to spend the night at Ben and Jay's house, this weekend.  This all depends on what their parents say.  This is big news to me because it'll be the first time I've actually been inside their house, and actually spend the night there.  This'll be great if I can, since I can bring the Wii, or we can just watch movies, or we can play the Xbox, or something fun, I'm not sure yet.

Oh, and I'm planning on seeing Cloverfield when that comes out.  I hope Steven will be able to go, since we don't really see him, anymore...

My monthly meeting for schoolwork was today.  Always nice to go to, even though I usually wait till the last minute to do my work.  We (my brother and I) were surprised that we had to take some extra tests, but we were able to get them done.  Although, I'm not sure I'm happy with the test results.  I mean, I did really well on them, and I honestly don't understand why.  This isn't false humility, because I seriously thought I didn't do well on them, and I'm kinda angry that I somehow stumbled upon the correct answers without putting much thought into them.

I mean, really, I'm a seriously lazy student.  I wait until the last few days before our work is due before I actually finish it, and I don't put that much thought into what I'm doing, and yet... I still get correct answers?  You might think I'm weird, but I'd rather FAIL HARD and actually get the motivation to work on the schoolwork the proper way, than to just take the easy way out and do things haphazardly and somehow get the answers correct.  Isn't that the difficult, yet morally and ethically correct, way to do things?

And I can't change myself, since I'm already settled into my routine and can't diverge from my set habits... v_v

And c'mon, the test results said that I was well above my grade in MATH!  I mean, COME ON!  MATH?!  If there's one thing that I believe I'm so terribly BAD at, it's definitely math!

...

Wow... Baroque actually looks pretty swell.  Not that I'm much for the obviously questionable symbolism, but the art style is pretty nifty.  Looks like a winner on the Wii.

Oh yeah, speaking of the Wii, I did end up buying a Wii Points Card.  2000 points, to be exact.  And yes, I did indeed purchase Pokemon Snap on the Virtual Console, and I just unlocked the Volcano level.  It's about as fun and entertaining as I remember it, although I'll probably finish it fairly quickly.

I apparently can't go to the book store, anymore.  As soon as I walk into the appropriate section, I waste so much time just looking at the various titles, picking up books in my hands, examining them, memorizing the names of the authors and titles, etc... and then I find out that I don't have any money to buy them.  I'm certain that as soon as I get any cash whatsoever for Christmas, I'll be buying books.  I need to add more to my theology shelf...

Oh yeah, and a new book arrived on my doorstep, today.  It's thick as a phone book (768 pages, to be precise), and it has a ton of information on pretty much every major religion in the world.  Neat.

I've been watching more of -ef- a tale of memories, lately.  And it's actually a pretty decent show.  I can't wait to see where it takes us, as I'm only on episode 9 and it's going to finish off at 12 or 13 episodes in three or so weeks.  I gotta say, though... if there is a single anime on earth that reminds me of Kingdom Hearts in both artistic style and musical choice, it's definitely this show.  I mean, just watch the opening theme.

I'm still getting close to finishing Rune Factory.  I'm still on the second-to-last dungeon, but I'm getting stronger and stronger, and my crops are almost finished up with their growing, since the door to the second half of the dungeon requires you to grow five crops near the door to proceed.  I just wish it was a bit easier to finish these dungeons up, but eh, what can you do?

And... there's not much else to talk about.  I'm sending away for college information tomorrow (and let me tell you, I'm going to sign up to get information from well over fifteen colleges, at the least), so I'll be happy with that.  Definitely trying to go for Cal Baptist, since employers are actually predominantly looking for workers from Christian colleges these days, due to the fact that they believe they'll be getting workers with more honesty and integrity than graduates from secular universities.  Plus, that's where Gabe went, and he's one of the smartest guys I've ever known, so why not?  In addition to that, they have an arcade right there on campus, with a bunch of arcade cabinets with games that I'll probably be familiar with, so that's a definite benefit.

I love this message. <3

I'm trying to finish off as much as I can of Rune Factory before Christmas vacation starts, so I can move on to other games and not have to spend hours on a single week in the game.  I started Luminous Arc even though I wasn't finished with the previously mentioned game, and it's okay, but kinda difficult.  I also have to play Hoshigami Remix and Phantom Hourglass... x_x;

I gotta start applying for colleges and financial aid and scholarships and all that, soon.  Pastor Miles bought me a college magazine, which kinda surprised me because I completely forgot that I talked to him about colleges and theology and the like.  He's such a nice guy. :3

I also have to retake the SAT sometime this year or next.  I received a fairly decent score the first time around last year (1640), but my parents believe it'd be in my best interests to try for a higher score now that I understand a few more things (like Geometry stuff).  I'm okay with it, but I have to find out when I need to sign up for it...

I'm going to try to purchase Pokemon Snap for the Virtual Console sometime this week.  I could probably trade in a game or two at GameStop when we go out of town for our monthly meeting, and I could buy a 1000 Wii Points Card then.  I'm really looking forward to replaying that game. n_n

I might be getting a PSP for Christmas.  Ever since the Xbox 360 debacle and the fact that we're certainly not going to be getting one anytime soon, my parents have been kinda skirting the issue and not giving me a direct answer about the PSP.  That'll be cool.  I just don't know how I'm going to purchase Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku for it, or whether I should at all (text adventure + only Japanese text = not understandable at all).  But it'll be fun to play games like Jeanne d'Arc, Parappa the Rappa, MegaMan: Powered Up, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, etc.

I'm going to clean off my shelf in the room and put all of my theology-based books on a single shelf.  I'll call it the "Shelf of Theology".  Yes, that's totally clever, and completely awesome.  Maybe I'll take pictures of it.

My face still hurts from my accident, yesterday... x_x

Can't believe I almost forgot to post an entry for today.  Well, I suppose the best thing to do is post some stuff up.

Well, first off, here's a link.

Fans Tokusatsu Indonesia - Gekiranger VS. Boukenger!

Yeeeeeah, baby!  Production photos from the new Super Sentai team-up movie, featuring two of my favorite teams!  So awesome... I desire to cry at the thought of seeing Akashi and Sakura come back from their end-season voyage... and to see them clad in black leather, single-handedly fighting against Mele and Rio while staying unmorphed?  Fantastic. :3

Seems like Pokemon Snap is being released on December 10th for the American Wii Virtual Console.  I'm happy with that, for sure, but I need to get 1000 Wii Points before then so I can actually download and play it.  This is going to be such a throwback to my early N64 days... ahhh...

We went to the Christmas Parade downtown earlier this evening.  It was nice... although, it was freezing cold.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was down in the 20s, to tell you the truth.  But since my sister was in it, it was necessary that I go.  Who knows, maybe the cold weather cryogenically freezes you and I'll now live longer than my peers because I'm frozen down here?  That would explain why people in Minnesota live longer, since they are frozen for half the year! x_x

I got to ride in a $60,000 Mercedes Benz today.  That was nifty.  It was almost as nice as the $200,000 Rolls Royce I rode in for free last time we were at Disneyland.

Did I ever tell you that I like riding in fancy cars?

Yes!  There are going to be Melee stages in the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl! :D 

YES!!  Pokemon Snap is going to be released on the Virtual Console!!  And it will have online capabilities!! <333

Awesome... can we please have updated stages in Snap, though?  I'd totally love to take pictures of more Pokemon, Nintendo.

Top Five Video Games I Want To Play Right Now 
1.] Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Wii]
2.] Geometry Wars: Galaxies [Nintendo DS]
3.] Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles [Wii]
4.] Devil May Cry 4 [Xbox 360/Playstation 3]
5.] Super Mario Galaxy [Wii]

Well, I'm finally done with the Driving School thing for my Uncle, who paid me $60 to do the whole test-deal for him.  Dishonest, of course, but he forced me to do it, seriously.  My Mom volunteered me accidently, and if I would've told him no, it would've caused a problem, so there's really nothing I could've done. x_x

Tiffany's pageant is tomorrow.  I think she has a pretty decent chance of winning, honestly, because she hers was the only talent related to classical music (which was recommended by the judges), her "Broadway Persona" for her speech is Little Orphan Annie (which was the only broadway-related speech, even though the entire pageant is related to Broadway), and she's just plain good at what she does.  If she wins, that's great!  If she doesn't, it's not the end of the world, since she still has her dancing trips to take and all that.

When we were out of town today, I saw almost all of the books that I mentioned in yesterday's post... and they were far too expensive.  BUT!  I found two of the books on eBay for pretty cheap, so I'll just go that route.  It would've cost me $48 for John MacArthur's study guide, but I'm going to get it for about $25, and it would've cost $30 for D'Souza's new book, but I'm getting it for about $20.  So, great deal, good hustle by Wesley, there.  I just can't get the Archeology one yet, because it was also about $48 without tax. o_o

I saw Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii for sale today at Wal-Mart... and it confuses me.  Isn't this game due out in a week or so?  And Wal-Mart has some copies on the shelf?  Are they breaking release date?  If so, I hope they don't get slammed by Nintendo for anything, since it IS a highly anticipated game...