Writer and critic Clive Thompson discusses the Super Columbine Massacre RPG! video-game in this edition of Wired News.

Thompson, who also writes for the New York Times, has a knack for being able to clearly explain difficult, complex concepts, and he does so again in this column.

Developed by Danny Ledonne as a response to the dialogue about the events that took place at Columbine High School, the game makes players take on the role of Eric Harris, one of the two killers.

Despite the fact that some critics have vilified the game, whether the game has merit transcends whether or not it offends someone’s sensibility.

I’ve been wanting to write about this game for months, but haven’t been brave enough to tackle the complexity. Now I don’t have to, because Thompson has. Thanks, Clive.

There are occasions when someone else has the same melody playing on their internal soundtrack as I do.

This morning, a sleepy C stepped into the shower with me.

“I can’t get that John Cougar song out of my head,” she said.

Which kind of freaked me out. Because since the middle of the night, I had been hearing the same song, “Our Country,” currently being used in Chevrolet television commercials.

It’s my fault, to be honest, as I had the NFL divisional playoff games on the television all weekend, and if you want to see a commercial advertising trucks, football games are a good place to start.

But as S said during the Bears-Seahawks game, “Why is John Cougar singing a song about ‘Our Country’ on a Canadian ad? When I think of ‘American’ singers I think of Bruce Springsteen and John Cougar. This isn’t his country.”

He’s right. Chevrolet should have licensed different music for the Canadian commercials. At least Ford had the sense to hire Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland to pitch their trucks to Canadians.

Word from the biannual Television Critics Association press tour that the Sci Fi Channel in the U.S. has ordered a six-part miniseries based on Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age.

If recent history is any indication, the series will end up on Space here in Canada.

Stephenson himself will adapt his book for George Clooney’s production company, Smoke House Productions, the company he formed with Grant Heslov, with whom he wrote and produced Good Night, and Good Luck.

Clooney – who has been involved with indie projects such as Syriana, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and A Scanner Darkly – has a great sensibility for adaptations, so the fact that The Diamond Age will be produced under his slate bodes well for the miniseries.

The story – set in a near future – is about a young, disenfranchised girl who gets her hands on a special book that helps her learn about and survive the world. It’s one of my favourite novels, and one of Stephenson’s best.

Read it before you see the minseries on television.

This week’s Channel Changer is a listing of the various shows that have been airing on television since the start of the Fall 2006 season.

Some have been picked up, while others haven’t.

I’ve also provided dates for when you can catch the first 2007 episode of your favourite program. Intelligence started last week, for example.

Heroes is back on-air January 22, and the synopsis I’ve read suggests that Hiro goes on search for “the sword.”

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

In today’s Georgia Straight, my take on Nintendo’s Wii video-game console, which is fine for what it is, but a revamped controller is only that. Let’s see what the game developers can do with it.

I just wish that Nintendo had let the Wii incubate in the design stage a little bit longer. The cabling alone makes the Wii like what the original DS was. I’d rather have the DS Lite.

Also in today’s issue, my take on two of the Wii launch titles: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Excite Truck.