Hello to all you wacky and zany readers out there!

Nope, I'm not the Double Agent. Allan is away for about a week battling the evil forces of scholastic oppression, and various other beasts. I'm Brian Glick, his temporary replacement. I certainly can't hope to match his flair and knowledge in answering queries, but I'm going to do my darndest to host this column for the next couple of days or so. Treat me well -- as one of Tennessee Williams' characters would say, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

(Well, at least try to keep back the axes and other assorted weaponry...)

RPGs? Puzzles? What gives?

What does the Gaming Intelliegence Agency specialize in? It looks like mainly RPGs because all I see is RPGs. If it's just RPGs, why didn't you includesomething about RPGs in the site's name? The name now is decepting peopleinto thinking it's all genres of games, when it is just RPGs. Shame on youfor decieving the public!

--Matt Elder


Well, the name "Gaming Intelligence Agency" is a play on the "Central Intelligence Agency," the United States' intelligence-gathering force. It has a double-meaning for us, though, since we cover the upcoming, intelligent, "non-twitch" titles that usually require more thought and insight than your typical video game. And to stay consistent (and avoid the inevitable kind of trouble we'd have if we selectively chose coverage on a per-game basis like pretentious bastards), we decided to stick with the three most "brainy" genres around -- RPG, puzzle, and strategy games.

The reason why you're seeing mostly RPGs is that out of the three genres we cover, it's by far the largest. Check out our Games section, though, you'll see coverage for puzzle and strategy titles too. (And sorry for all the FFVIII coverage lately, but hey -- there's been a lot of goods!)

We've also got our mission statement available here from the About GIA link on the main page.

Baby's Crusade

Hey, first of all, great job with the letters section. I just have twocorrections: Knight and Baby is being published in North America under thetitle "Guardian's Crusade", and the FF Movie is actually being made *in* theU.S. and will be released in North America before Japan. And now, I've gottwo questions:

1) All your screenshots of Lunar have a black border around them... did youguys add that, or is that actually part of the game?

2) EB World lists Bust-a-Move 4 as being released on PlayStation on December5, and Bust-a-Move *3* being released 3 days later on December 8. What's upwith that?

- Fritz Fraundorf


Yup, as of now we've got an extensive section for Guardian's Crusade coverage since we know much more about the title, and we'll certainly be bringing you some more info in the coming weeks. And you're right about the Final Fantasy Movie -- it should arrive here a little sooner than the Japanese distribution, in 2001.

You might notice that on most gaming sites that capture screen shots (IGN, Gaming Age, us *wink*), just about all of them have a black border around the game window. That's because of the way video is transmitted through a video capture card -- it shows up with room to spare on monitors. It also takes much longer to edit them out before posting. (Translation: we're lazy.)

The Bust-a-Move situation is more convoluted and confusing than trying to decipher legal contracts. Here's the situation: Natsume is the publisher for Bust-a-Move 4, which is scheduled to be released tomorrow (December 9th) for PlayStation. Acclaim is publishing the same title for PlayStation, but only internationally -- not in the United States. Acclaim is also publishing Bust-a-Move 3 for the Nintendo 64 all around the world on December 22nd. Bust-a-Move 3 for PlayStation, though? We're betting EB World's just a little bit more confused than we are, and has goofed up...

Who's on first?

The first strategy/RPG is none other than Fire Emblem, which came out in 1990 for the NES.

- Desmond Gaban


Thanks, Desmond. Seeing as I was a poor, unfortunate soul who never owned a Nintendo Entertainment System, I missed a lot of great games (but caught a few notables later on). I'd love to hear some impressions from anyone who's played Fire Emblem.

"St. Nick's Christmas Revenge!"

Ah, Christmas. That time when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of receiving hundreds upon hundreds of various RPGs. Or...maybe not. Nevertheless, Christmas is going to be rolling around sooner than we think, but will it be a happy Christmas for all of us? See, there's this problem...there's too many damn good RPGs out there this year. How could I possibly afford them all? Or ask for them all? Luckily, I already added Xenogears to my growing collection (Which is an excellent game, best I've played since FF2, IMHO) so that is no concern. But what of Tales of Destiny? Lunar? Azure Dreams? Kartia? God knows what else! And with the release of the Dreamcast near upon the horizon, one must save one's money for the system that looks like it will be Sega's first success in years. (I BELIEVE YOU SEGA!! GOLVELLIUS AND WONDER BOY 3 ALL THE WAY!!!) So HOW? How can one afford such a number of products? Simple answer: you can't. (Unless you're a little rich boy/girl, in which case, can I borrow 50 bucks?) So this is my plan! All you folks out there at GIA (Assuming you post this, ALLAN..., let your cries be heard! What is at the top of your list? Don't make it an entire letter, write in your usual questions and add a little "PS: I want this, that, and this for Christmas because..." and help us unfortunate souls who don't even have the chance to rent such games decide on what marvels of entertainment we will delve our consciousness into the day after St. Nick's little visit. Alrighty? Alrighty! Oh yes, and Christmas rules even sans presents, so enjoy it or I'll send Rudolph to your house...and I don't mean the reindeer.

-The Man


Hey, the GIA has its own share of burly, hired goons that would make "Rudolph" wish he took up a career in manufacturing lawn ornaments. And don't forget Allan with his wet Oreo -- the man's a killer, I tell ya.

Seems almost subtly malicious the way so many tempting titles are on the shelves this year compared to the last. Don't forget games like Zelda, Brigandine, and even Metal Gear Solid, too. How about this? Every single person reading this right now, I ask you to send me (yes, I've stolen Allan's email address!) the top three titles from your Christmas wish-list this year. I'll compile the results and post them tomorrow. I dare you -- flood my mailbox.

Tomato? Tomatoe?

Is it supposed to be Sheng Mu or Shen Mue? This is a puzzle similar toOlan/Orlan Durai/Duray.

-Jonathan Weng


I don't think anyone's really too sure. In Japanese, it's "Shien Muu," which normally translates to "Shien Mu." One way or another, it'll probably have its name changed before it makes it to our shores.

Hey, even deities have faults

Hey, nice place you got going here. I have a few things to say.

First, in response to Thor's letter about anti-hype. He makes a good point, but I couldn't help notice a bit of hypocrisy. He first says that anti-hype is bad, then goes on to bash FF7. His, um, reasons this is okay is because it really IS a bad game. However, a good many people, including me, thoroughly enjoyed it, and have had just about enough of all the backlash. By the same standards, I could say that Zelda 64's the worst game in history, and it's all right to say so because it's a fact, not an opinion. True, there are some idiots who say "FF7 is the worst game ever and if u dont agree then u suck loser's," who should probably be taken out of the gene pool. But for the rest of us, practice what you preach, please...

Second, is J. Parish going to do any more work for you guys? He's not officially a member any more, but if you need a new section designed or something will you enlist his aid? I could've asked him myself, but the boards are down now and everything, plus I just want to make this longer.

Ciao!


We've all seen just about enough debates on Final Fantasy VII, but I think Thor is fighting against the anti-hype developing around Zelda because he sees it as truly being a spectacular game. Perhaps he feels most of the anti-hype concerning FF VII wasn't quite anti-hype, but justified criticisms. I have a feeling we'll find out by the next column. *wink*

Jeremy has his time sucked out every day by the full-time working world, but we hope he'll be helping us out with something cool soon...

Sorry this one's a little short. Allan gets a lot of great letters, and I'll do my best to post some others he's forwarded me in addition to those coming in now. Take it easy -- and if you haven't downloaded the new Final Fantasy VIII movie, you really, really should.

- Brian Glick

 
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