Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. I hate cookies made of steel. Don't say we didn't warn you.

I remember the good old days, when I could materialize a topic on demand, no problem. I'm slowing down in my old age, I think.

Because there's no accounting for taste, of course. I suppose I could try to generate a more complex reply, but that pretty much sums up the thrust of my thoughts on the matter. In a way, there's something of a vicious cycle going on. As an example, jazz isn't as popular as rock, rap, or what have you, so it gets played in less-popular venues. Kids grow up listening to rock, rap, or what have you, and get a taste for it. And so on and so forth.

I've gotten really good at writing prose that makes me sound like a pretentious twit, haven't I?

Well, seeing as this is a forum built around unchecked, and potentially ill-conceived, opinion, I may as well let you know what I think. I think that Ziff, in general, is skewed towards the Xbox in its recent coverage. The people writing for most of Ziff's publications, be they online or off, evidently place a lot of faith and interest in the 'box, and cover related news accordingly. But let's face it; any publication is manned by human beings, biases and all, and the overall editorial is going to reflect this. Strive as well all may, no media outlet in existence is entirely objective in all things.

Here at this site, we do our damnedest to clearly demarcate the patently objective and subjective segments, but we're certainly not perfect. We're broke college-age geeks who can't cover everything that, in some way, falls under our umbrella of coverage, and at some points executive decisions need to be made, or something just slips through the cracks. So yeah, not everything gets covered with the same intensity as everything else. Such is life.

At any rate, it's not like I work at Ziff Davis to give you the "inside scoop," but I generally agree with your assessment, Achilles. However, having worked for this site, I understand why stuff like that happens. They still provide ample coverage of the PS2 and GC games that matter to most people, so it's not like they're maliciously screwing over their heathenish, non-Xbox-playing readers or anything like that.

Although I'd argue that recommending an Xbox over a GameCube is screwing people out of $300 bucks in the long-run. But that's just me being a smug, self-serving prick, who feels he's meting out justice to a magazine that dared print editorial contrary to his own personal views. (Hah, beat you to it, Xbox fans!)

Yeah, that would be pretty cool. What, am I supposed to have something deeply insightful to say in response to that? You guys sure are demanding.

Damn you and your questions! I was hoping to sail along with one- or two-sentence responses until I got down to the closing comments. I hope you appreciate what you've gone and done, Twister.

Anyway, yes. Most video game-related anime sucks, just as the opposite scenario is true approximately 99.99% of the time. Let's hope .hack is to anime/video game crossovers what Goldeneye was to film/video game crossovers. Because stuff that sucks totally sucks, dude.

As for Maximo, the answers you seek: It's more or less the spiritual successor to the Ghouls 'n Ghosts games of yore. It's a 3D action game as far as I know. And yes, as per GnG tradition, it would seem that when your avatar in Maximo gets down to one hit left, he runs around in boxers. I don't know why, either.

Interesting thoughts on .hack. It sounds to me like it's going to end up being a traditional, console-style RPG set in a faux MMORPG world, which is pretty strange, to be sure.

As for the PS2, let me veer from your actual query for a moment. At this point, I don't think anyone is doubting that Sony's machine has a rosy future ahead of it. Sure, it's arguably not as technically capable as the GameCube or Xbox, but that hardly matters when it has the vast majority of the games people care about. So many companies are developing full-swing for the PS2, and so many fantastic games are on the horizon, that there's really nowhere to go but up. As things stand, I can't imagine a scenario that would derail the PS2.

Now, Sega always shoved new consoles out the door first in an effort to neutralize the awkward position the company had gotten itself into. The Master System was pummeled by the NES, hence the Genesis was released in an effort to sneak up on Nintendo. The Saturn was released after the company fractured and upset its audience with a bunch of stupid add-ons, rather than waiting until the time was right and making an entirely new system. The Dreamcast was released after the Saturn tanked in the face of upstart Sony and its PSX.

In other words, the company was always trying to dig itself out a hole with its new consoles, a position which I don't forsee Sony getting into. I can't imagine why Sony wouldn't be content to milk the PS2 for all it's worth before moving on to the PS3.

Then again, Sony is trying to push broadband adapters and hard disc add-ons on the public, so maybe I overestimate its executives' cleverness.

Closing comments:

You want a topic? You got a topic. What do you think the probability of a direct sequel to FFX is, from what we've now seen? Do explain your position as best you can. Then mail me.

-Drew Cosner