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. Well jeez. Now I feel kind of bad wishing death on Yamauchi all these years. Don't say we didn't warn you.

They say that as you grow older, your hearing is the first thing to go. I beg to differ. In my experience, the first thing to go is your ability to write compelling introductions. Now get the hell off of my lawn.

Kickin' it old-school on the GBA

Posibility of hardcore remakes of old titles on my sexy GBA? Three words. HELL FUCKING YEAH. Thank you. ~cipher

This is the most obvious sentiment, for a good reason: most of us Square junkies have already gotten a PS2 to play Final Fantasy X. Taking into consideration SOny's 19% ownership of the company's shares, and the PS2's larger market share, it's unlikely that Square will shift its attentions to the GameCube to the exclusion of PS2 owners, to say the least. So what does this mean? That, in probability, the best thing to come out of this for all of us are GameBoy Advance games, particularly ports of the SNES Final Fantasies.

Then again, Square is supposedly going to commit itself to some original content, and there's been no official denial of the idea that some of this could hit the GameCube. In fact, seeing as part of the funds are coming out of Yamauchi's own little developer-support pool, I'd imagine he'd be highly interested in seeing just such happen. So who knows, maybe Square will further fracture the fan base by forcing people to own 2 consoles if they want to reap all of the Square-y goodness. I can hardly wait for the message board and letters column flame-wars that would generate.

For anyone who doubts the financial wisdom of supporting Nintendo, here's one good point. Square has shown themselves to be mighty big fans of the quick-and-dirty port, and the GBA is already selling like hot cakes. It's a no-lose proposition for Square.

Of course, some people would point out how ludicrous it is of Square to support the the major competitor of the company that owns 19% of its shares, but even that makes sense in its own tortuous little way. The PS2 is going to lead the market in this console generation. No ifs, ands, or buts. Additionally, Nintendo is wise enough to target an entirely different audience, so the GC and PS2's markets hardly overlap. For Sony, their market position is in the bag, and any additional cash Square can make selling on Nintendo platforms is just more money in its pocket. You've got to respect how everything ends up translating to more cash for Sony. There are some clever, clever cats working over at that company.

And what's more:

That would really be something, if after all the headaches the FF series' move to another platform gave Nintendo, they all ended up getting ported to a Nintendo system. And that's all I have to say about that.

Actually, I have one other thing to say. I just want to thank Forrest Gump for creating the smoothest way possible of saying "and I'm too stupid and lazy to write anything else in regards to this subject." All of us here in DA Land owe him. I'd give him a Sexalicious Award, but I'm too lazy and stupid.

Yeah, we're on the same page. Well, save one thing: the GameCube actually has substantially more RAM than the PS2, and is arguably the more competent of the two systems. That said, I have to wonder whether spreading FFXI to one more Internet-capable platform wasn't a major impetus, on Square's part, in setting up this deal. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Note to prospective flamers: I said arguably more competent. And, quite frankly, it's not an argument I'm interested in pursuing. So save us both some time, okay?

Yeah, once again I find myself agreeing with a reader. Either you guys have grown more savvy over time, or I'm just becoming more of a weiny. I guess we'll never know. At any rate, while the Square/Nintendo announcement did make me scratch my head in amazement, it didn't get my mojo going like an actual game announcement would. Still, if they do decide to make a 4-player Secret of Mana, I will be so very there.

I have to admit, the idea of companies that skew more towards an older audience producing on GameCube excites me as well, for this reason: Yamauchi has been espouding the need for "innovative" titles for as long as the GameCube's existence has been officially confirmed. If he puts his money where his mouth is and gives developers some leeway, we could have some crazy, crazy games. And life will be good.

It does my heart good the way the folks at WD not only pay attention to the fans, but get down into the ranks to make loudmouths look like ninnies. I just wish he would've promised something more embarrassing, like eating his family, or driving a semi off of a steep incline.

Actually, I think this will be more symptomatic of the Xbox's ills then causative of them. As I've stated numerous times, the Xbox will most probably fail for one specific reason: MS is going directly after Sony's market without offering the goods. Part of this isn't MS's fault, however: major Japanese third-party developers just aren't interested. Here's yet another example, or nail in the coffin, depending on how much of a doomsayer you want to be.

Personally, I find the idea of moogles that want to devour my flesh absolutely enchanting. Like a big, adorable zombie that Yamauchi is.

...Help me. I haven't slept in days.

Closing Comments:

Okay, topic time, and this one's short and sweet. If you could control fate and all of that, what would you most like to see come of this new partnership? don't worry about logic; this is all about flights of fancy today.

-Drew "CozCos" Cosner