I'm not big on details - July 30, 2000 - Andrew Kaufmann
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of
the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There
is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Don't ever change. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Wow, I completely botched yesterday's HTML. I tend to be lazy and not proofread myself, but
you'd think I'd have noticed something that glaring. Oh, well.
| Nitpicky |
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AK,
Isn't this column about games? There wasn't one game letter
yesterday. Unless you count a letter about (ugh!) Sega, yesterday was
devoid of gaming goodness! Why AK, why? Don't torture us. With us
being unable to mention the name of Square in Chris's columns, the rest
of us have no place to turn, help a poor soul. We're counting on you AK.
-Rayeth
|
Ostensibly, yeah, this column is about games. But, more to the point, it's
to reply to letters you guys send (and the ones I choose to answer). If you
want to see talk about a Square game in particular, write me a letter! Take
the reigns of life and use them to steer the horses of your of your life! And
stuff.
| Repeating history? |
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hey there AK
Hm, yesterday some guy was saying "if Sega wants to make a big hit and stay
alive in the consle wars, they should pull out some of their great 'ole
classics!!"
I still liked the old genisis and staurn games better then the new DC games
(i only own 2 games for that! it's so sad!!) but... did Sega fall flat on
it's face *numerous* times? Will repeating everything-- including their
mistakes-- really fix anything?
something to ponder, I don't know.
- talia (i still love my PSX so much more)
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Repeating everything won't fix anything, but repeating the highlights might
help. You obviously don't want to repeat your mistakes, but repeat what made
you successful while trying to fix the mistakes and continue to innovate and
avoid stagnation. A lot of gaming buzzwords in there, but on the surface, anyway,
it seems like a nice forumla to me.
| X-Women |
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AK, when you say the X-Men aren't like Pokemon because they aren't cute
enough, it's pretty obvious you haven't seen the movie. Anna Paquin, Famke
Janssen, and Halle Berry all looked pretty cute to me! Certainly more so
than some weird yellow critters.
Kaxon
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Point made, my friend. You are most definetely correct.
| Hints of the system war rising again |
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That letter was enormously funny. He's saying "where did it all go
wrong"? Right before saying "I'm patiently waiting for my PS2, and
thinking maybe I should get a DC"...
Perhaps someone should let him know that the entire REASON the DC might
not be selling is because of people "waiting patiently for the PS2"
because it's the PS2. People who decry the fate of Sega while buying
the next Sony system because it's the next Sony system are rather sad.
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On the one hand, you make a good point, but on the other hand, can you blame
them? Sega might be caught in an in-between stage again -- the DC is definetely
better, technology-wise, than the PlayStation, but can it compete with the PS2
and Dolphin? People with unlimited money supplies can buy the DC and the PS2 both,
but if you can only afford one, I can't blame people for wanting to wait and see,
especially if you're an RPG fan. If you're a big sports fan, I'd say go ahead
and get the Dreamcast. But an RPG fan? That's a stickier situation. Neither the
PS2 or Dreamcast, as of this moment, have a plethora of RPGs. But lineups look
pretty good, though. I think waiting and seeing isn't a bad idea.
| Bitterness |
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AK,
I think what really hurt Sega was the Saturn. While Sega had
burned consumers with peripherals before (case in point 32X, which Sega
had to know was a stopgap), never before had it, or any other company in
the business, burned the owner(s) of a console. SOA dropped the Saturn
well before the Dreamcast was even unveiled in Japan. Towards the end
many of the games they released (non-rpgs so I won't name names) were
utter crap. Not only that but Sega was declining to port over my
interesting Japanese titles (ie Grandia) and for reasons beyond my
understanding saw fit to alienate Working Designs, a longtime supporter
who, as their years with the Turbographx CD and Sega CD showed, were
perfectly willing to be the proverbial big fish in a small pond.
Working Designs moved to the Playstation and became a tremendously
successful publisher.
When I pay $400 dollars for a console I expected that it will be
around 4-5 years minimum, right up until its replacement comes out.
Saturn pretty much died after three and a half years, eighteen months
before its replacement hit these shores. So Sega screwed overs its
American fans (I don't follow the Japanese market too closely so I don't
know if the same is true over there) and handed them over to Sony and
Nintendo, apparently confident that they would return. Well, we all
know what the base word of assume is. DC got a fast start coming out the
gate, but judging by its slow sales and the amount of people reserving a
$300 PS2 when there is a $150 DC availiable, all is not forgiven.
- Mark
|
I think most of the apprenhention in the market is more concern about the
future, and less about the past. The videogame industry has grown as a whole,
so there are a lot of folks out there that don't know, and don't care, about
Sega's history. Even being completely oblivious of Sega's history, I don't
doubt some people are reluctant to shell out the cash for a system that may
not be top dog for very long.
That's not to diminish the importance of a system "fan." The Nintendo 64 has
survived, nay thrived, on name recognition and old-time fans of the Nintendo
name. Sega's having to build from scratch almost, as their remaining fans
are few and far between. I don't come across them very often. Sega's system
is good, but the games that come out between now and when the PS2's big hitters
come out will be crucial to determining the long-term success of the system,
I think.
| The other X-Men |
|
Ok since both Agent X and Gamer X have X at the end of their names, could
they then technically be called "X-Men"? If so then, would that explain the
sometimes cheesy but somewhat entertaining dialogue we quite commonly
recieve from Agent X? I would like to salute Agent X's and Gamer X's time
consuming and endless pursuit to think up the next pointless, if not
remotely entertaining transmission! Bravo guys! May wit
and...uhh...whatever else you have see you through to the end. Which will be
soon.
There. That should thoroughly confuse you all.
Snoogins and Snoochie Boochies
BerserkerJay "I Know Who You Really Are...."
|
Another person that enjoyed that strange dialogue! Glad to see someone did, besides
myself. Even though I wonder if this is actually Agent X's mom...
| A fairly odd question |
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If the moon was made out of cheese, would we eat it?
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I don't know about you, but I wouldn't eat it. The moon's atmosphere is so thin
that big ole space objects regularly go hurtling into it. And who knows what
stuff has been crawling all over asteroids. Probably nothing, because they can't
support life, but I'm skeptical anyway. Not only that, I'm not much of a cheese
fan, anyway. It's good in the right circumstances, but just eating a chunk of cheese
by itself doesn't do much for me.
Closing Comments:
Chris takes back tomorrow. I'd like to use this space to offer my
sincerest condolences to him on the loss of his father. Losing someone
as close as a parent is one of the toughest things in life (like you need
me to point that out to you). It's one of those things where you really
can't properly express anything useful, so sometimes it's best to shut up.
-Andrew Kaufmann
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