In Focus

Nintendo's Wii game console put the "we" back into video-gaming this past year. Wii - which was released in late 2006 - has both changed the video-gaming scene and resulted in a major impact on Nintendo's revenue. Nintendo's profits for the first nine months of the fiscal year, which will end on March 31, nearly doubled in comparison to the previous year, due in large part to Wii game machine sales.

When it comes to conflicts of interest in the world of higher-ed admissions, there are always gray areas. That's why universities need to explain to their admissions officers which activities are okay and which activities aren't. Unfortunately, the communication process seems to have failed in the case of Judith Hodara, a Wharton MBA admissions officer who simultaneously worked in two private admissions-counseling businesses.

King's College in London charged international students studying English a tuition of $9,400 to study there in the fall. According to Penn estimates, students paid an additional $8,285 for room, board, travel and other costs. But a Penn student at King's paid $25,831 to be there, not $17,685.

Thus far, this year's primaries have seen a significant jump in youth voting and involvement - and Super Tuesday's election results only reinforced this trend. "The bottom line is, the turnout was very much up," University of Maryland research scholar Peter Levine said.

With a new general manager dedicated to improving customer service, $150 million in state funding and concrete plans to modernize fare-collection systems, SEPTA could be in the middle of a renaissance. Unfortunately, Penn doesn't seem to be on board. So far, the only discounted SEPTA pass that the University offers to students costs over $280 per semester.

Despite living in China as a child, it wasn't until Zhi Geng returned as a study abroad student that she discovered her own jewel in the capital city: a small restaurant near the west gate of Beijing University that serves the most amazing chicken wings. For the Wharton and College senior, spending a semester in Beijing allowed her to reconnect with her cultural roots, which she had few memories of as a child.

Don't let anyone tell you student activism is dead. Students involved in last week's victory for AlliedBarton security guards at Temple would say they proved the contrary. The security company granted its Temple guards up to three days' paid sick leave after coming under pressure from a coalition of its employees, Temple students and local activists.

NEW YORK - At Columbia University yesterday, students turned out in high numbers to support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's run for the Democratic presidential nomination. But the showing was lighter for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, even on her home turf. Students for Obama set up a phonebanking station on Barnard College's campus and made calls throughout the day.

Men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller believes that in a tight season, experience is "what can put you over the edge." If he's right, then he has a lot to look forward to next year, when the team will feature 12 seniors. But on the flip side, it also means that 12 players will graduate in 2009.

Actor Woody Allen once quipped, "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying." His wish might just come true. Aubrey de Grey of Cambridge University, author of Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging and Ending Aging, spoke yesterday in Levine Hall about the possibility of indefinitely preventing aging.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College junior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

The Lady Monarchs technically hail from Norfolk, Va., where their school is based. But when the Old Dominion tennis team heads to the Lott Courts today, the match will have a far more international flavor. Old Dominion's roster more closely resembles a United Nations roll call than a list of varsity athletes.

Several members of the Penn faculty and staff recently received a threatening e-mail, which claimed that the recipient was marked for death by an alleged hit man, whose contract could only be terminated if the recipient paid a certain amount of money. The e-mail was brought to the attention of the Division of Public Safety, which then discovered that the message was part of a national e-mail scam currently being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Philadelphia earned the nickname Killadelphia in the national media last year as 392 murders took place in the city. Now, new Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey is trying to change both the number and the nickname. Ramsey recently announced his aims to reduce the number of homicides in the city by 100 in the next year.

PRINCETON, N.J. - Princeton students couldn't claim to be uninformed yesterday. Volunteers for PVotes, a non-partisan, get-out-the-vote organization at the university, walked dorm-to-dorm to let students know where and how to vote in the day's New Jersey primary.

The Penn men's basketball team went 4-for-15 from three over the weekend. Instead of being disappointed with that first number, the squad is content with the second one. The nation's 334th-best three-point shooting team was attempting 17.3 per game coming into the weekend but managed to get different kinds of looks in wins over Harvard and Dartmouth.