The women's league is hoping to make a limited comeback next year

The tentative plan is for the league to have a small presence next summer, before the Athens Olympics. The form would be in a handful of ``festivals'' featuring games between the original teams and other activities. The festivals would be self-funded, through tickets and sponsorship. Such a plan would keep the WUSA name alive and help bridge a year of reorganization.

When the league was set to launch, I had hoped that politics could be set aside and that the men's and women's leaagues would cooperate in a meaningful way. Unfortunately that didn't happen and it seems like that window of opportunity won't come back.

The players originally wanted a league of their own. They wanted it to be first-class, and they didn't want to be ruled by the males in their sport. In retrospect, they should have cooperated with Major League Soccer, sharing staffing and stadium costs. Such a joint effort is one of the things Cummings -- who previously worked for MLS's New England Revolution -- is studying. MLS, however, may not be interested now that it has staunched some of its own bleeding.

Yes, leave it to me to post my gift giving advice to one week prior to Christmas but you still have the weekend to shop. If you're looking for a good gift for that special geek in your life, I'd highly recommend picking up a Nintendo GameCube.

The chief reason is the low price and the exclusive games. I mean low price, exclusive games, and great games. Dang, amongst the reasons to buy are such diverse elements as:

• Price - \$99 for the box and a controller, another \$25 bucks for a second controller and \$20 for the memory card and you're still under \$150. Plenty of cash left to get a game or two.
• 4 Players - you can splurge and get four controllers without having to buy any other gadgets ala playstation.
• Small & Compact - you don't have to worry about the gamecube taking over too much space, its not much bigger than a dozen cds stacked up.

A lot of criticism of the gamecube has been levelled at the comparitively smaller number of titles available for it. I'd argue that what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. You're more likely to find a good title than scores of crapware. Some of the titles I'd recommend are:

• Zelda: The Wind Waker. I wasn't big on adventure/exploration titles until I got my hands on this one. The setting is great and really immersive. Plus the gameplay is varied enough between exploration, puzzles, and combat that I was never bored playing it. Definitely one of those titles you'll be up playing until the wee-morning hours.
• LOTR:Return of the King, great action game. Its easy to pick up and play and has a great cooperative mode. Definitely a must buy for fans of the movie.
• Mario Kart Double Dash is a fun party game. You can race against up to four players at ones, have lots of weapons to hurl at other drivers, with wacky and original tracks to race on.

I'm also looking forward to Star Wars, Rogue Squadron II Rogue Leader but since I haven't played it yet I can't say recommend it. However, the reviews I've seen have been very positive and it includes the first rogue squadron game with an all new cooperative mode.

Harry Feucks, of php patterns fame has put together a really good guide to getting started with php. Instead of trying to do it all himself, he's helpfully collected the most useful links available and gives advice on how to use them.

In this chapter, you'll find out where to get help-a defence against those that bark "Read the manual!" at you-and how to deal with errors in your code. We'll also discuss some general tips for keeping your code portable, and provide other essential roughage for your PHP diet. Not everything here fits under the heading of "basic" there may also be a few surprises in store for the more experienced PHP developers, so keep your eyes peeled!