As if Facebook didn’t need any more issues, after their latest privacy meltdown… here comes something else. In case you were living under a rock, Facebook decided to capitalize on everyone’s profile on search engines. They did so by presenting users with a Privacy Wizard. Users that “skipped” the wizard, unknowingly unlocked all privacy options, putting their entire profile up for view.

Well, here’s the new debacle. Companies (a key revenue generator for Facebook) are locking down their walls. Ordinary fans can continue to post comments (hidden replies that require multiple clicks to appear). But, fans can’t make new threads on the company’s wall.

Two big culprits that I’ve seen are General Motors and Sega. However, there are many, many more. I suspect this was the call of a couple of social media companies that manage dozens… if not hundreds of company blogs.

Facebook needs to step in here and explain that this won’t work in the long run. It turns off fans from interacting with the company’s wall, and thus, Facebook in general.

I know Facebook has taken pride in giving more control over access to people’s walls, but this is just going to hurt Facebook, and if they can’t force companies to have open walls… they can at least work to head off such lockdowns. If I were Facebook, I’d be calling some social media managers right now.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. When Dreamcast failed, I said there has to be a better way. If a great system like that failed, it’s time to re-think consoles in general. The competition, unfortunately, ordered up more of the same. So, I decided to build a startup that would deliver some real change.

Blogs have been an awesome bootstrapper, but today I step down from PhoneNews.com as the Editor-in-Chief. The future for MechaWorks lies in Full Circle: The open, cross-platform, cloud gaming console. You can head on over to MechaWorks for all the details. No need for me to rehash it all here.

The good news is, I’m not going anywhere. I’m just now doing what I’ve dreamed of for years… pun not intended.

Thanks to all of you that have tuned in, and I’m sure there will be many more. I hope to stay just as open and available, tackling all of your questions. Between my contact inbox (over on the right), and my Twitter page… you can ask me just about anything MechaWorks-related. I’ll try to answer all your questions.

And, I promise, zany-off-topic entries will continue. I wouldn’t be a good startup CEO otherwise.

No, it wasn’t the PSPgo (didn’t like it, sorry). It wasn’t the Project Natal (like OnLive, I’ll hold off judgement until it’s in the real world). It certainly wasn’t Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. No, folks, it was New Super Mario Brothers.

Friends of mine will probably gasp at that, as I am a Sega evangelist and typically shun most-things-Mario. Scratch that, all-things-Mario.

But, the game does underscore what I have been begging Sega (publicly for the most part) to do… get Sonic back in 2D. And, don’t pull a Paper Mario, but make a new Sonic game that feels like the old ones. It should have the graphics of the old ones. No, I don’t mean 8-bit, but the same texturing, the same shading. The same pseudo 3D elements (that don’t conjure up the word pseudo-3D when you play it).

Please, Sonic Team, rip off New Super Mario Brothers… because I was telling you to implement the idea long before there was a Paper Mario. And, to be honest, with Sonic churning out 2D games throughout the Game Boy Advance era, I don’t think anyone would consider it stealing the concept either. But, please, Sonic Team, don’t take the GBA-era and apply that to consoles… reach back to your Genesis (and Sega CD) roots.

Kega Fusion is one of the most popular SEGA Genesis + CD + 32X emulators out there, and the developer has just finished porting it as his first Mac app.

This really opens up a lot of potential for better emulation on the Mac, as well as possibly on iPhone and iPod touch. I haven’t had a chance to use it throughly, but all three platforms are supported in the first release, and netplay will be added eventually. The only real caveat to the Mac version right now is that SEGA CD games have to be in BIN/CUE format to be played.

Kega Fusion

Where’s Sonic? Bueller? Bueller?

Anyways, the evidence that they did the port lies in all the online files residing on Sonic Team’s Japanese servers… Like, here.

After the disaserous game Sonic the Hedgehog (Xbox 360 & PS3), not to mention the even larger disasters (as in, all the Sonic games since Sonic Adventure 2), I can understand Sonic Team’s break… the team needs to re-align after Yuji Naka’s departure.

That said, I think the future is brighter for Sonic Team. The last time Naka-san was away, Sonic Team made Sonic CD. And, as any major Sonic fan will tell you… it was one of Sonic Team’s finest hours to-date.

Assuming this is correct though… one wonders what Sega WOW is up to. We haven’t seen House of The Dead 4 on either Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3… both systems are capable enough of handling a port. Sega, unfortunately, is letting many of its great arcade titles languish in the arcades only. The same could be said about many other games from other branches of Sega. In Yu Suzuki’s absence, Virtua Cop 3 has not hit home… and VC3 was made using almost pure Xbox hardware (no, not Xbox 360, the original).

Imagine a company that made movies, put them into theaters, and then never did a DVD/Blu-Ray release. That’s where Sega is right now, and it’s a big reason why their stock is in the tank. Oh, but they are dusting off Dreamcast and Xbox 1 games and porting them to Wii… where nobody will pay twice for the same game.

Why it’s $10.98 is beyond me, but it is an excellent deal. Many stores aparrently are screwed up, and not recognizing the SKU, so have them look up the “DCPI” for the game itself (which is Target’s internal SKU system). If it still doesn’t come up, remind the cashier that it should be $10.98, and they’ll usually price override.

With Sega launching NiGHTs, House of the Dead, Golden Axe, and some other new titles next year… they appear to be banking on Wii as their temporary Dreamcast-replacement console. Sega fans should consider choosing accordingly… I’d personally suggest the Wii-360 approach (buying both a Wii and an Xbox 360 to satisfy hardcore and interactive gaming approaches).