Wow Drew, that award's really great, but I think you could have been more merciless. Sheesh, stick a little joke comment at the end of a letter and the ever-comidic columnest gets a little testy. What is this world coming to? Anyway, on to today's topic. I've been playing games since I was 5 or so, because my older brother had an Atari 2600, and we played games on it whenever he wasn't hanging me on door knobs by the elastic on my underwhere. With (practically) every console I've purchased, my game collections have increased. Games have almost always managed to fascinate me no matter what. The only time my love for the past time ever faltered was after RE2 came out. I didn't buy a game for like 5 or 6 monthes after it because nothing coming out at the time was really that interesting. That all changed with games like FFVII and VIII, Tenchu, Metal Gear Solid, Lunar and so on. We're seeing so many great innovative games nowadays that I wonder how anyone could get bored. Games like Ape Escape, Metal Gear Solid, FFVIII and the likings all take the formulas that their specific genres have used forever and add unique twists to them to hieghten the experience even more. The only thing I'd like to see more *gasp* sprite-based RPG's get released. While games like FFVII and VIII are truly fantastic in appearence, sprite-based characters just seem to be more alive than polygonal characters. That's about it. Have a happy New Year, everyone (even you, Drew :P)!

-CTZanderman

Cosner the Cosnerian, how are you today? Good, then.

Let's start by stating the obvious: We are the first mainstream console gaming generation. Anyone from ages 15-24 or 25 probably falls into this category. Most of us started up with one of the Atari consoles or the legendary NES and never looked back.

It's also obvious to say that most of us have been at our craft for between 10 and 15 years. That is, basically, a really long time. Most of your regular readers are more of the (forgive the term and don't flame me) hardcore set. We not only play the games, we can recite facts about the creators and write into letters columns about them.

All this leads up to one point: we all have a lot of experience with gaming, and we're all very familiar with the evolution of technology and complexity in gaming.

The key word in that last paragraph was "complexity." When we all started out with Mario Brothers, or Adventure, or Pitfall, or whatever the hell we started with, it was simple. You move around, you jump over some holes, you jump on or shoot at the bad guy. Lather, rinse, repeat. You could turn it on and have some fun whenever you wanted, and there was no need to progress.

Now, I realize that RPG players are sort of a special breed. We exist to advance in the game, build up our characters, and move on in the story. I'm talking about gamers in general, though, so just think of RPGers as not being included in what I'm about to say.

Games have become a LOT more complex. (Note: That's what I like to call a "duh" statement.) It's a lot harder to turn on your average N64 or PSX platformer, play for a little bit, and turn it back off. Gameplay has progressed from the very simple "keep going right" type to a more objective-based system. In other words, it's WAY less "mindless."

This is sort of a big-ass shock to most of game-dom. Games have lost their brain-numbing, thought-free fun. Now some thought, strategy, and dedication is required to make progress. In other words, it's not a matter of instant gratification anymore.

(Side point: That isn't a bad thing. It's a different sort of fun now. You just have to appreciate it. 3-D is still a good thing.)

A change like this is weeding out a lot of the people who grew up with more "casual" gaming. That's a whole chunk of the gaming population, if not most of it. Since the fun they're used to isn't really there anymore, they are going to move on to other stuff.

Is this bad? Probably not. The fact that so many people aren't "growing out of it" is making electronic gaming an accepted part of young adult culture. It's definitely not a "nerd thing" anymore.

What about the future, then? Well, there's clearly a new generation of gamers on its way in. We, the NES/SNES generation, are beginning to share our hobby with a younger group that is cutting its teeth on 3D platformers. They're mostly going to accept this more complex, objective-oriented gaming, and they'll appreciate it. Some of them will be causual gamers, others will join our ranks. Regardless, gaming survives.

Then again, maybe new games just suck. I'm no expert, so I'm not one to say. I'm not losing interest in electronic entertainment as technology progresses, but I might be a sell-out graphics whore.

Time will tell.

--The Professor, Tom Lillis

ANDY!

Drew never prints my letters! You always do! either Drew's standards are too high, or yours are too low! what the hell AK!? Why the hell is Drew such an ass when it comes to printing my letters?! i've tried everything! i even sent two whores to his apartment one day, with a little card saying it was my gift to him! but nothing AK! nothing! Should i go the next step and order him a russian bride?? Tell me now!!!

~nick

...I'm so disillusioned by the year 2000. Could it be that movies and videogames have lied to me all these years? They promised me hover cars and minicomputers and robots and mechanical suits. Hell, Chrono Trigger said we'd be livin in domes by the year 1999! Where the hell is MY dome! In fact I was hoping against hope that at 11:59 we'd all magically get these things but NOOO. LIES ALL LIES!!!!! IM GOING BACK TO JUST PLAYING MARIO!!! * it's a me, Mario...hee hee *

- the "not so UFO" kidd

Hawaii should not be this cold.

It also shouldn't be the last to celebrate 2000. But I digress.

Yes. Yes to all of those horrible things. I've experienced them all. That disgust. That hatred. That loathing. It's not pretty. It's not fun. Unless you like to think of yourself as 'seduced by the Dark Side of the force' and inflict such negativity on others. Then it's a blast.

I've also been playing video games since a little before the NES Era. And just as there have been low points, there have been high ones. Lots of them. Lots of laughter, lots of sore thumbs, lots of truly grotesque deaths. All in good fun. I'll continue to be a gamer just as, I imagine, I have been a reader, a writer, and an...Ah...Artist. Yeah. I'm an artist too.

One would think I'd have something grand and touching to say on the dawn of a new year, being a Brazillian Monkey whom the GIA found in a rain forest, as well as being a guy who earned enough GIA Points to win a jet but didn't. Oh well. Here, have some crappy ACSII art to tide you over.

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 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

There you go buddy. Have a good one. Kiss a super model at midnight for me when you're at one of the many high-class star studded parties you'll no doubt be attending tomorrow, you suave bastard.

It's 5:30 AM and I'm off to bed, whee!
~Ian P.

The gaming world was shocked as a Sega promotional event backfired on them, ending in the death of a random Tokyo couple. While promoting their game "Space Channel 5" in a popular Tokyo electronic store, some of their hired aliens escaped. Swearing vengeance on the human race, they quickly made their way through Tokyo traffic, and began attacking passersby. A vigilant photojournalist snapped a few shots of the rampaging aliens, including one taken only seconds before the brutal attack of a local man and woman, whose names have been withheld for legal purposes. Sega refused to comment on the issue. Space Channel 5 star Ulala was terribly saddened by the news, and had this message to give to the families of those people who were attacked: "Up up left, down, right, kiss kiss kiss."

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