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. I've been writing so much computer code that I want to end my paragraphs with */ instead of </p>. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Kind of an early column tonight, because I just finished with another heavy crunch period and now I've got a whole bunch of housekeeping tasks to do, like getting a ride back home for Thanksgiving and registering for classes next semester. Thus, I get this out of the way whilst I can and then allow myself a brief hiatus to go get the new Zelda, and then get back to work. It's an interesting experience to do things this early, I must say - feels like I came into work at 4am and started programming while everyone else is still asleep or something. Gotta love college people, we keep the darnedest hours.

Onward.

An interesting question, to be sure, and not one that I can definitively answer. I get the impression that the PS2 makes the otherwise pixilated 3D graphics in games like Vagrant Story somewhat less so, but wouldn't do anything for traditional 2D style games. If anyone wants to send in a rundown on what their various PSX games look like running in emulation mode, I'd love to hear about it.

$480 strikes me as a bit high, if true, but it's definitely the case that the console'll cost at least as much as the asking price, at least at the beginning. Even now I think Sega's losing $50 or so on each Dreamcast sold, maybe more since the price drop.

But two things you have to keep in mind here. One, yes, every console manufacturer is looking to make their profits on games (but not so much peripherals, I think). Since each CD only costs a buck or so to actually make, that leaves a lot of room for Sony to get a hefty cut of each game sold and still have enough to give the developers a profit, if it sells ok. Two, as soon as a console developer builds their prototype system they immediately start looking for ways to make it cheaper and faster to manufacture. I guarantee the current make price for a PSX or PS One is nowhere near what it cost Sony in 1995 when the system debuted, and the price drop of the PSX since then reflects this shift in the cost point. So fear not, amigo, someday you will see a $200 PS2, even if the PS3 has already come out by then.

Good golly gosh, we got a lot of responses about this, with everybody saying pretty much the same thing. It's basically the same thing I thought when I first saw the letter in question, and probably several of you as well. The way I see it, as much as anything this is another argument against emulation - sure, you can get it to work, but what's the point if your main character is running around on a blank screen with only the key features layer enabled? Admittedly, with computers as powerful as they are now I guess this kind of thing doesn't happen so much anymore, but still, why have a soy burger when you could be having steak instead?

It's probably worth pointing out that Friday's column featured not just one, but two people who'd tried both and ranked Zelda much higher than the PS2, and I haven't heard anyone arguing the other way. Of course, having not actually tried either I can't give a definitive opinion (although at least one of those variables should change by the end of the day) but it's pretty good evidence for the moment.

On the other hand, we cater to all opinions and viewpoints here, so go ahead with your putdowns of us jealous losers, nameless person. It's cool, we can take it.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that the system is "so over-hyped it had no chance of living up to expectations", I'm just saying that whatever potential it might have, it just ain't there yet, near as I can tell.

But as more than one writer has pointed out, this is true of the vast majority of systems out there. The SNES was an exception with great launch titles like Mario World, FF2 and Actraiser, and arguably the NES as well, since by the time most people had heard of it Zelda was already out and games like Metroid were just around the corner. But as fun as Mario 64 was, I don't think anybody would have missed all that much by waiting for Zelda to come out and picking up the N64 at $150, and I'm quite certain that the PSX wasn't worth getting for RPG fans until Square started publishing for the console. The same will likely hold true for the PS2.

Well, thanks, Scott, for that somewhat chauvinistic metaphor. (See, I do know the difference!)

Er, to be fair, this isn't the first we've heard about Sega looking to outsource some of their development talent. I don't have to repeat how pleased I am with the Dreamcast's available and forthcoming games (although I guess I just did) but despite some quite good sales numbers in the US as of late, the general perception is that Sega's just not doing well. And where perception goes, reality tends to follow as far as money's concerned. The fact is, that while I'd like to see Sega stay strong and independent, it's not gonna be any kind of blasphemy if they do end up developing for someone else. That's just the way these things go, and if it means Virtua Fighter 4 ends up on the PS2, that's just something we live with.

This sounds about right. It's true that initial bids were through the roof (numerous people pointed me to the Ebay auction that closed at $14,000), but I'm pretty sure that most of those were either people just screwing with the system, or the rare dot com millionaire to whom hundred dollar bills are about as valuable as Kleenex. The free market has spoken, and while a seller might earn one or two hundred bucks in profit at this point, things are starting to level out. End of story.

Closing Comments:

Tomorrow is, of course, Halloween. My first reaction was to put up a topic about scary games, but then I thought, nah, that's trite and obvious and everyone would probably just talk about Galerians and Silent Hill.

But then I thought again, and figured that maybe one or two people might end up waxing rhapsodically about the horrors of Spice World, and besides, trite and obvious is what this column's all about. So send me some discussion on games that are just pure evil, either by design or not, so you'll all have something at least mildly frightening to read tomorrow night. See you then.

-Chris Jones, dressing up as himself