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 worry, I happen to like C. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Aah. I really enjoyed the GIA vacation. Not that I really do much, but it was fun nonetheless.

A lot of you emailed me giving me a heads up on The Smashing Pumpkins' new album, Machina II/Friends and Enemies of Modern Music. Don't you guys worry, I had caught wind of it about 4 hours after the mp3s came out! For those of you not in the know, Billy Corgan got pretty pissed off at their record label and decided to release the album to some friends with the intent they upload and distribute freely via the Internet. If you want it, go get it, and do it with the knowledge that you have the band's approval! http://machina2.cjb.net/ is a good a place as any to get started.

And a complete system that's up to date will run you more than 3 times that of a console. Consoles are also simpler: you put the disc in the thing, and it plays the game. Installing games on PCs has gotten easier than in the day when you'd have to spend hours editing your autoexec.exe and config.sys to make sure you could scrounge up enough RAM to play Ultima, but it's still not flawless.

You can, in theory, also do more on a console system than play games... but in all practicality, who wants to surf the Internet on their TV? I don't know, maybe tons of people do and it's the wave of the future... but I like my computer for that. But you CAN do it on consoles now.

Life isn't fair sometimes, is it, Snakeyezz? Here's my understanding of the situation: you could either pre-buy your PS2 for the full amount and pick it up the day it comes out, or put down a deposit to have one on hold for you when they come out. The former gets you at the top of the waiting list, the latter onto the waiting list but below those that pre-bought. Now, with Sony saying that they might not have enough systems ready to meet all those that are reserved, the people on the bottom of that waiting list are likely to be out of luck. By pre-buying, you're moving yourself up the chain a bit. It's my understanding that there's still a chance you won't get your system, but if you pre-pay, it shouldn't be that big a chance. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, those in the know.

Hey man, it's ok! You don't have to! Here in America we can buy what we like, it's a great system. I think it's too early to declare whether or not the X Box will be a good system or not. That's what I'm going to base my purchase on; the fact that Bill Gates owns it doesn't bother me at all. I'd say that he has less power than the tobacco industry, and the US is already leery of him after this last monopoly court case. Also, video game competition is high enough that he's not going to stroll in and win it just because he's Bill Gates. The X Box can only increase competition, which is a good thing for us, the consumers. Just relax and think of it as any other system. If it's good, with good games, get it; if not, don't. That's what it should all be about.

To be honest, not that many, actually (not including the run on them today). But I like it when yall do that, because it gives me a chance to mention that REM is the best band in the history of the world! Like that.

The rumors are floating around everywhere, aren't they? Even some members of Square have mentioned the X-Box by name (http://www.thegia.com/news/0009/n21b.html). But at this point it's still rumor. More important than whether or not Square develops for the X-Box is what they develop for it. Will it be a title from a mainstream franchise, or something new? Or merely ports?

It does look pretty cool. Andrew Vestal was in town for the week, and he picked up a copy, and while I didn't get a chance to see the game, the packaging was impressive, and from what I saw in the manual, the game looks pretty cool.

Speaking of the packaging, it came with a cloth map. I saw it and immediately had flashbacks to the Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete packaging that came with a cloth map that smelled so badly that I had to keep it in an airtight Ziploc bag. I eyed it for a moment, gathered my courage, and sniffed it. Smelled normal. Why couldn't Working Designs make a normal smelling cloth map?

For the record, Vestal laughed as he saw me sniff the map, as he admitted that was the first thing he did, too.

I haven't played that... the only PC game I've played in the last year is the Sims (which is far too addictive to be unregulated by the government). But I'm sure others will appreciate the recommendation. Thanks!

What a pal! Thanks, Agent X! I don't get upset by it ever, because that's my jobbish thing here, to be the lightning rod for yall's emotions! But I just love the chance to talk about myself, because I have a huge ego, and this gives my ego a forum!

My day was fine. Quite busy! Thanks for asking!

I was going to elaborate, but figured that'd get boring. And then I thought about going into my week, but that was so boring I thought I might fall asleep.

Closing Comments:

Catch yall later! (These closing comments are becoming even more brief than my opening comments...)

-Andrew Kaufmann