Drew,

I just heard that Lunar: SSSC is coming to the PC. If I'm not mistaken, the Playstation port was done by Game Arts and localized by Working Designs. Is this the same lineup involved in the PC port? And if so, can we expect PC ports of games these two companies are involved with in the future (and I *do* mean "future")? Also, given the FF7/FF8 PC port and the Playstation port of Septerra Core, is it likely that more [popular] RPGs will be multi-platform in the future?

One more thing. Do you have any information (announcements, rumors, etc) about a possible Chrono Cross PC port?

Thanks,

Nazhuret

Drew, it's time we looked into... THE FUTURE! Yes, all the way into a couple months from now! So now a look at videogames, an a few other stuff... IN THE LATE YEAR 2000!

Shen Mue will be released in America, however will have dismal sales, because every main characters voice is done by Gilbert Godfreid and Carol Kane.

An amazing episode of Jeopardy occurs, in which Sega makes one of the competitors a Dreamcast, in an attempt to prove it's power. Fortunately, it goes on Celebrity Jeopardy and wins with a score of $0.

The true purpose of Superman 64 is revealed to be that it releases a virus that infests whomever bad mouths the game, which will have their head to explode after a year. (I told ya that Jan 1 wasn't the day of the Apocalypse.

Fritz Franzendorf causes controversy again when his "home movie" of himself and Chu-Chu is released on the internet, outselling even the Pam-Tommy Lee video!

Well, that's all I can think of now. Okay, SHOW'S OVER!

-Solidus

There's this Poe story I read many years ago about a man who finds and raises a stray black cat whom he loves dearly and who loves him dearly back. Gradually the man develops a strange revulsion for the animal, and hangs it from a tree until it dies. The narrator explains that he was filled with self-loathing and anguish even as he did this, but that he did it BECAUSE he knew the cat loves him, and BECAUSE he knew it was wrong to kill it, and that such an act is the true essence of perversion, which has forever placed him beyond the reach of God's mercy.

What I'm getting at in this long excessively rambling story is that you don't read that bit of the story and think "Gee, it's a shame that guy lost his cat. I feel sorry for him.", and by the same token, you don't look at the bloody smoldering wreck of the Saturn and think "I feel bad for Bernie, it's too bad that whole Saturn thing didn't work out for him." Bernie Stolar wa kowai.

"..slayer of the Saturn.." Blah. "..but the last time Bernie was in charge of a decent system that could have succeeded, he failed miserably." Oh please.

Unlike you, I actually did my research on the man you ignorantly put down. The last time Bernie Stolar was in charge of a decent system that could have succeeded? The American launch of the Sony Playstation. Remember that? He was the executive vice president of SCEA, and he was a major factor in building its strong base of third-party developer support (And his relations probably built Dreamcast's 3rd party support as well). And as for your accusation that Stolar was responsible for Saturn's demise? Stolar was not Sega of America's chief operating officer until later in Saturn's short life span, and by then, let's face it, the console's fate was already sealed. It did pretty bad from the surprise launch 'till the end, so Stolar was not responsible. In fact, he handled the last year pretty well, conserving developing and marketing money for that mysterious "Katana/Black Belt" system, but still marketing it enough so that at least Saturn will be remembered as the system with some good games that never really got popular.

Also, remember that when Bernie Stolar was promoted from Sega of America's chief operating officer (COO) to president and COO of the North American division of Sega, he ran the most successful US videogame launch in the history games. His major accomplishments are a huge $100 million launch campaign (say what you might about the commercials, but it certainly raised awareness for the system, as 1 million units in two months can't just be sold by "hard-core gamers"), the $199 price tag (that certainly was a major factor), the developer support, and the many, many promotions, sponsorships, and partners through the pre-launch (sponsoring concerts, sports events, and celebrity parties).

The lesson of this story, Mr. Kohler, is do your research before blasting a VERY respectable COO of a company. Oh, and as for your comment, "Bernie will learn from the mistakes that got him fired just a few short months ago", do you KNOW why he was fired?

-Clyde Hudman, who definitely does not know that guy Stephano

Upon awakening this lovely morning, I instantly came to the realization that my canine companion of ten years, D'Angelo, was dead - of five bullet wounds to his poor chest, nonetheless. This immediately aroused a great state of ire in me, at which point I scurried to the ancient Uzumeri mantelpiece and rotated the off-color brick which was located near the base.

At this point the fireplace quickly rotated to reveal my trusty blade Masamune, given to me many moons ago by my late mentor and friend Addison M. Godel (of www.ummagurau.com fame). After cleaning off its blood-rusted blade with a lace handkerchief embroidered with my step-uncle's initials, I placed it in its sheath on my belt and prepared to catch the perpetrator of this heinous act.

I then realized that to do this I would require a significant amount of investigative materials. Thus, I traveled into my dusty attic and found, in an old cardboard crate at the corner, a veritable collection of early-1990s "Spy Tech" toys, which provided me with acute listening devices, bugs, and a good bit of fingerprint powder and tape.

Thus prepared, I returned downstairs to find that - interestingly enough - the dog had disappeared! Apparently, some scum had stolen it - and rather incompetently, I must add, for whoever did so apparently did not think to clean up the blood trail he had left. Prepared with spy technology from my childhood and my Masamune, I set out on my journey.

The blood trail went on for many miles, but I was finally able to locate the perpetrator in the rural town of Loachapoka. He had stopped his car at a gas station, but D'Angelo was nowhere to be found in the area.

That is, of course, until I looked at the back bumper of the car. This barbarian had, apparently, dragged the late, lamented D'Angelo tied to the bumper of his car for that many miles. Out of anger, I quickly cut him free and waited for the owner of the car to leave the shop and take possession of his auto-mobile.

However, I did not get this chance. Within two minutes, a cold barrel was pressed against the back of my skull - the same handgun, perhaps, that had killed my friend. "Yes, I killed him," he whispered. "And now I have called you out here... you, my friend, are next."

I grinned, for apparently this fool had not done his research. Within a millisecond I managed to unsheath my sword, slap his gun out of his hand, and turn to face him with the good Masamune at his throat.

To my surprise, what I found was not a person at all, but a person dressed... as a moogle! The oddest of odd things, I assure you. I quickly looked at his wallet, and discovered that his name was one "Andrew Vestal" (the last name, I must comment, means 'virginal.')

I grinned evilly and asked: "Why did you do it?"

Vestal sighed drunkenly. "Becush.... it was a nice little doggie! And I don't like nice dogggies!"

I sighed. He was simply drunk. Letting my ethical code take over, I gathered the corpse of my poor D'Angelo and walked towards my home, a trail of tears left behind.

So what's the moral of this story? Don't let Vestal Virgins dressed as moogles drive drunk.

And that, Drew, is what you get for requesting an open topic.

-David A.W. Uzumeri

Is Ian P. your lover or something?

-Matt Elder

In regards to Alexander3025s letter yesterday, I have to say I agree completely. The Internet simply has to go. As of now, I am going to begin a boycott of the entire Internet and I encourage all of you to join me in my most righteous crusade to completely annihilate the Internet and it's dens of spoilers, nests of nitpicking, and most of all, it's over abundance of sarcastic comments made about virtually every video game, and video game genre. Join me now brothers and sisters in this upholding of all that is wholesome and decent in the gaming community!

For the sake of making anti-'net activities easier for us all, I have already come up with a witty campaign slogan: Drop the 'Net.

Here's hoping this little conflict doesn't last long and we can all go about our normal routine of active resistance against things we don't like all the sooner.

Sincerely,

~Ian P.

That link you gave us readers was actually kind of funny. I pulled my friend into the room and settled our little discussion we had earlier. I said, "You see, THAT is and ASSHOLE." His review was, quite frankly, there to piss off true RPG gamers and was never meant to be anything near positive. I don't think if God himself graced the cover of Final Fantasy VIII with His image that "Jed" would've given the game less than a -30.

-Omega Rat