Double Agent
Patience - October 24, 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. Miniblinds. Don't say we didn't warn you.

In honor of the people that hate me doing non-game related things in this column, I'm going to do something non-game related. Send a band name suggestion to andrewk@thegia.com. I may or may not use one of your suggestions, and this isn't a contest. Well, OK, let's make it a contest. If there's a winner, the winner will get a copy of our first CD, if we ever get organized enough to make one.

Sorry about the lack of columns the past couple of days, but the server being down kinda messed with our schedules.

Just a little more guitar talk...

Hey AK, check http://www.kontek.net/vgjam/ out. Do you know about that? Video Game music tabs. Is there anything cooler than that? Good luck playing the most awesome melody by far though. (Tristam) Freaking need a mandolin and 12 stringed acoustic guitars and several of them; crap like that. But uh I've got breezy down pat baby! ^_^

-Nick Herman

Wow, that's a very cool site. It has Terra's Theme properly tabbed, which is a first. Some of the tabs are a bit perfunctory, but most are really cool. What a great site! Thanks!

Blame Canada

Do you know how many PS2s there will be in Quebec? 10 000? hahaha, no... 2500!!!! Only 2500!!! Take a look at a world map and look at how big Quebec is. Sure we are only 7 to 8 million here but still it sucks not to have more PS2s than that.. And only Toys'R'Us will have them too. At one of the best videogame stores in Montreal they have 90 PS2 preorders, which includes my cousin and two friends. Of course they won't have even ONE PS2 to sell. So they have to wait a week to know how many they will receive the next week. You guys are really lucky.

As for the whole DQVII deal, I think that again people complain without trying to see if what they complain about makes much sense. I didn't see ANY coverage of DQVII at IGN, videogames.com or RPGamer, or any other website. Why? Go fiure, but there's no reason whyt he GIA should have any more than anyone else. There is simply nothing to say except "the game is out". If they want so much info on it then they could import it and send the pictures to you, if not then quit whinning. There will be DQVII review whenever it will be released in the US.

-Phil

2500 isn't many. Man, Canada gets the major shaft again. Maybe it's time to move south of the border!

DQ7 seems to be flawed, but I'm not ready to pass judgement just yet. I hear it really does have a good plot.

Lucky man

The Yanks win game one and I have a front row center ticket for the Smashing Pumpkins next to last show ever. Life is good. Now if only I could pick up one of those PS2s...

JT3

I'm jealous. I'm decidedly anti-Yankees and have no Smashing Pumpkins tickets. Want to sell yours? I have... $7...

Hey AK... Do you ever get days when you just can't be bothered to read the letters you get? I really hate reading long letters in DA. You must get like a billion of them! Anyway.. er... rage against the machine split up, what do you think of that? erm....

*cough*

erm.....

Oh I made up a joke!

What happend to the solider who couldn't restart his computer

He had to go to reboot camp!

ho ho ho ho

!

!

-- Fragmental

Yeah, I have to admit, sometimes I'm a bit tired and not in the mood to read letters. But hey, it happens, it's all good. That's a, uh, good joke, I'm sure it'll really brighten the day of everyone upset by Rage breaking up. I'm not a big Rage fan, so I'll shed no tears, but the joke brightened my day nonetheless!

Cartoons

He-man was for selling toys. But so is every other cartoon, when you think about it. He-man just didn't try and lie to you and tell you they were different.

It was the same with G.I. Joe and Transformers, and Thundercats and Silverhawks, and Tigersharks (noticing a trend?)

But, really, who cares? I loved all of those shows. I couldn't wait to buy the dolls--

no, wait, action figures! I meant to say action figures!

--and the castles, the creatures, the vehicles. It was one of my favorite past times. I'd watch the shows and then go re-enact some of the scenes, sometimes changing them and inventing new ones. I suppose that's where I got my start as a writer, making up scenes for the Silver Hawks.

I was about nine or ten when they took He-man off the air. I can't remember how old I was when they put out that extremely stupid movie. Why, Dolf, why!? You were really good in "I Come In Peace"! Why couldn't you have left well enough alone!!

I keep wondering why they don't have He-man or G.I. Joe on the Cartoon Network. They have Thundercats and Silverhawks, even though those two were pretty bad. Why not get the two that were actually pretty good?

I know, this makes me look a little immature, talking this long about cartoons, but I never really found cartoons to be immature. I've heard countless times that the Cartoon Network audience is comprised mostly of 18 to 30 year olds.

That's interesting. So's the serial killer population. Connection...?

-Banjax

P.S. no matter how hard anyone tries, my favorite will always be Asteroids. I could sit and blast away at those rocks for hours.

I hated He-Man, he irritated me. Voltron, on the other hand, was totally where it's at. I bought all of those action figures and accessories. I believe that the Cartoon Network is watched by older folks, I love the channel. They need to show M.A.S.K...

As for simple games, I'm a big fan of Worms these days. It's in my cell phone, it's quite the diversion.

Video game jobs

Are there graphic design jobs in the video game business? If so, what kinds of jobs do graphic artists preform or do relating to video games? Do you know the name of the job that creates stories for videogames, or the name of the job that actually creates videogames?

-Timmy McGibblet

I'm sure there are graphics design jobs, anywhere from drawing backgrounds to animating characters. I'm not sure the best way to go about getting these jobs, though, but I imagine a degree in a related field would be a good start. www.videogames.com had a good feature story once on getting into the videogame industry in various positions, I'd go there and take a look for that article.

Rock climbing

AK

Rock climbing...so sore...hardly type...

-Agent X "...sucky letter..."

Rock climbing! Good fun. But it does make the body sore. It's good exercise, I recommend it.

For those of you wondering why I printed this letter, I couldn't really tell you. I'm in the mood for mindless letters before some good-thinking Chris letters, so Agent X makes the cut. Go figure.

FFXI, again

Just thought I'd add a few comments on the game that some are drooling over but most are having heart attacks about.

Mainly, the game is doing anything but exciting me. The first time I saw Everquest I thought it would be kind of cool until I discovered that there was NO ENDING to the game. You go around, get swords, get armor, kill things, gain levels, pay your monthly fee...wow, fun. No story, a key element in RPG's. And that is the main problem with online RPG's. No ending. No grand conclusion to strive for. I play my RPG's mostly for the story, and part of the story is that grand finale final boss and the ending that ties it all together. Without that, you just have boring gameplay and stupid monthly fees. Whee.

Which brings me to my next point and all the claims that XI will ruin the series. I don't know if it can single handedly destroy Square as we know it, but I don't think it should be part of the main FF series. I think it should be a standalone. We got Mystic Quest, Tactics, why not "FF Online?"

The one thing I can say that could be good about XI is if they would incorporate Squares notorious Job system into the game. Just make it harder to obtain every single job, and balance all the abilities out (nothing's more unbalanced than beating Queklain in Tactics with one flare...).

-The Alley-Viper

These anti-FFXI letters start to irritate me a little bit. Mainly because each one assumes that the problems with Everquest will be repeated in FFXI, while the game is still in early development.

Now, FFXI might end up being a terrible and horrible excuse for a Final Fantasy, but it's simply far too early to write it off. Comparisons to Everquest are ridiculous, in my opinion. If Square repeats all the problems in Everquest, then you can write back and call me an idiot. But let's focus on FF9 talk for now. It's coming soon!

A better plan

Yesterday "~Jason" mentioned that you could get a PS2 early by going to a large chain like Walmart or Kmart. I work at a Super Kmart, and we received 12 PS2's on the 23rd (6 of which are going to be bought by employees. And if we sold them before the 26th not only would it be breaking the contract, but it is also breaking the law and grounds for the employee being fired AND the manager if they are put out on the floor. In other words, no you cant get them early at a big retail store. Solution.... go to Kmart at 11pm on the 25th (our store is open 24-7)and wait for them to bring out the eletronics boxes and remover the pretty blue boxes, then grab one and run from all the mothers there trying to get it for there sons for Christmas.

~Fear Factory
"aka Beer Boy"

Ah, yes. Realism rears its head. This is a far better solution than the previous letter. And legal! Just beware of those mothers, they trained hard and have the Elmo-Experience...

A fascinating, yet probably untrue, story

Hello Andrew, a small statement was brought up yesterday concerning the PlayStation 2, and it took me back. Back in 1996, I had a Nintendo 64 on hold at Toys-R-Us. On September 29th, the system was to be released. Myself, an uninformed lad of 12, entered the store on the morning of the 28th, due to bad information I received. The clerks were helpful and uncaring, and they sold me my system on that morning. Now, four years later, I encounter a new problem. I didn't reserve a PlayStation 2, and I planned to wait at my local Wal-Mart for close to nine hours tomorrow the 25th. I walked into Wal-Mart this morning, the 23rd, and talked to the sales rep about PlayStation 2. The conversation went something like this:
Me: So, do you guys already have the PlayStation 2 systems in the back.
Him: Yep, and I already have mine.
Me: Really! Can I get mine today? Me: Great! I have just that, and the money for five games, an extra controller, and a memory card!
Him: Follow me, sir.

So the long and the short of it is that I have my PlayStation 2 due to the illegal early selling made by an employee. He even gift wrapped it so no one saw what it was as I left the store. Hahahaha.

-Some arrogant jackass who could be lying for all you know and just wishes that he had done this. Or maybe he did do this....

I doubt this story is true, but, in theory, it could be. But again, I highly doubt it. It's theft on the part of the sales employee, I think... even though it could be on the part of the purchaser, too, especially since he was aware of what was going on. I don't recommend this, remember, winners never cheat and cheaters never win! Not only that, it can get the whole store in trouble.

But it's pretty safe to assume this is just wishful thinking. Fear not guys, and patience! PS2 day is nearly here!

Closing Comments:

Chris returns tomorrow. Have fun!

-Andrew Kaufmann

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