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. Nature seems to be making a serious attempt to kill me right now. Cool! Don't say we didn't warn you.

Yup, it's gonna be a short column today, but at least I've got some interesting grist for an intro. Drew made an interesting statement yesterday:

"During the 16 bit days, I didn't just not own a Genesis: Sega was the enemy. Sure, Sonic looked cool, but if Nintendo's biggest competitor thought they were getting a single red cent out of me, they had another think coming. Now I root for Sega, and plan on devoting most of my gaming time in the coming months to the company's latest machine. I'd like to make some kind of comment about how fate has a strange sense of humor, but I feel really geeky getting philosophical about videogame consoles."

To which I say: Testify, brother! That's exactly how I used to feel about Sega - Nintendo was the source of all that was pure and good in gaming, while Sega was just a punk upstart that deserved to be crushed like the worm it was. Of course, since then sanity has reasserted itself, thanks to a long extra-Nintendo affair with a complete babe known as the PSX, who showed me that there was more to life than Mario.

What's upsetting here is that I think history may be repeating itself, with Sega getting the cold shoulder from Sony loyalists. And there's nothing that I can say to convince those poor, misguided fools that they don't have to be monogamous forever... but the sad thing is, by the time they come to their senses there may not be a Sega left for them to come home to. Perhaps the X-Box will take its place.

Onward.

Oooh, so close, but not quite. You've made the statement about FMV, and that's fine, but now you've got to back it up with some kind of argument. Simply faulting a game for having FMV is insufficient, you've got to tell us why FMV is so evil if you want us to percieve you as doing something besides spewing out self-apparent dogma.

Excellent point about the Phantasy Star series, tho.

See, this is the way I want to feel about the movie, the way I felt when I first saw it. It's Square for cryin' out loud... others may feel differently, but I don't think they've ever let me down when it really counted.

And then I figured out what it was - the damn trailer. Square's trying to market this thing for the masses, and they've watered it down in the process. Just like the ads and commercials for FF games never impress me as much as the game intros themselves, these trailers make the film look flashier and shiner and less substantial than it really is. If we do the smart thing and avoid the hype, we'll be ok.

Nothing to say, except:

"Garth... that was a haiku!"

Except it wasn't. Kill a syllable in the first and third lines, and you'll be ok.

Hey, that wasn't a fun fact at all! He lied to us through email! I HATE when people do that!

The thing is, what Drew didn't tell you is that only 11 people responded to the survey, meaning that there's a grand total of 1 (one) female gamer out there. And I think she's married, so you're SOL, my friend.

Perhaps this is why Tokimeki Memorial sells so well in Japan...

Closing Comments:

Yes, that was nothing more than a collection of half-assed responses with the occasional pop culture reference. And your point is...?.

This week is finals week, so in the interests of grabbing a bit more time, I've decided to make it a free topic week for as long as I'm here. Which will only be for two more days, since I'm taking a week or so off immediately following exams. Which means that Thursday, Friday, and for as long as you like next week, we should have someone here who can talk FF9 spoilers, so get prepared. See you tomorrow.

-Chris Jones, experiencing mercury falling