Bippy bippy bippy. The most popular topic du jour was the Final Fantasy End Deep Thought that was posted yesterday, and is still up. The least popular topic of conversation was goat herding in western Mongolia. Oh, and a note for prospective letter-writers: if you've got something you want to say, say it. But please, make an effort to make it readable. Paragraph properly. Spellcheck, preferably. Punctuate. Capitalize. A little time spent making your letter look and read well, even if the content is fluff, makes a big difference in my deciding whether to print it, and how others will react to it when they read it. I'm not asking for proper grammar or references cited. Just a bit of effort on the style makes a big difference to me. Thanks. | The middle ground | To People of both the extremes: FF7 was not the best rpg ever made. FF7 was not the worst rpg ever made. FF8 will not be the best rpg ever made. FF8 will not be the worst rpg ever made. It's as simple as that. Peace out, DSH |
Um, you're probably right, but how do you know whether an unreleased game will be the best or worst ever? You're being pretty definitive about a game that hasn't been released yet. | An incorrect correction | Some guy asked a question yesterday about importing Japanese Playstations inlieu of buying a Yaroze. This wouldn't work in the US because the formatfor US televisions is NTSC, while Japan is PAL (I believe -- I know it's notNTSC). The picture just wouldn't work. Mentat |
Sorry, I'm afraid you're wrong. European TVs work on the PAL standard, but both Japanese and US TVs and game systems use NTSC. However, Japanese game systems and other electronics do work off of a different voltage setting, which means that you'll need an adaptor to plug it in properly. | How was Soul Hackers canned? | Hi, Could you please enlighten me as to how Sony could killed SoulHackers? I know Sony makes the Playstation but they don't own Atlus. Microsoft doesn't bless every single program that runs on Windows, sohow could Sony have a say in that games can run on a PSX? Isn't thata monopoly, when you build all the machines and have a complete andabsolute say in that software is released and where it is released? Maybe we should give the US Department of Justice a call and give thema bone besides Bill Gates to chew on. I guess am just accustomed tothe PC market where one can release ANYTHING one wants to, so long asyou have the money to do it. Dazed and confused in Frisco, Roy Leung |
Very simply, the PC market and the console market aren't the same. All PSX games must be checked out and given final approval by Sony in order to be released as an official PlayStation game. This has been the way things have been in the industry for eons - witness the Nintendo/Tengen wars of a few years ago, where Tengen released games for the NES without the big N's permission and approval, and got sued. (The irony of the whole deal is that Tengen's version of Tetris was markedly superior to Nintendo's, and it's Tengen's that was banned from sale.) Sony didn't approve Soul Hackers, ergo it will not see US release. It sucks, but it's the way things work. | Looking into the void | Hey, Allan! (Not to be confused with Hay, Allan... You're a double agent, nota farm-hand.) I've just got a bunch of comments and questions I'd appreciate your responsesto, so here we go: 1) Have you heard anything at all about Namco's Dragon Valor? I saw a fewscreen-shots (in PSM), but that's about it. What about Pac-Man 3D (ifUn-Jammer Lammy is a thinking-man's game, so is Pac-Man 3D)? 2) WtF is is with Sony and their approval of everything stupid and idiotic andtheir rejection of half the good games under development? Soul Hackers,Capcom Generations, Megaman & Rush, etc? 3) Are we going to see anything else "ported" over from... gasp! Cosmo Canyon? GIA's already got the RPG Cliches -- is that all that fits GIA's profile? Oh, and sorry about that in-joke yesterday. =D 4) Supposedly Sega's got a DVD-based Dreamcast in prototypical form. Nowwouldn't Sony just *have* to release a DVD-based PSX2/PSX2000/Playbase? EvenI (Sonic's greatest detractor) would go for Sega if they were the only DVDsystem on the market. 5) There is no five. 6) GIA was down for a couple hours on Monday, wasn't it? --magius (who would gladly pay $.02 for your response) |
1. Nope, don't know anything about Dragon Valor, I'm afraid. I'll look into it, though, and see if we'll be covering it. As for UnJammer Lammy's inclusion, and Pac Man 3D's exclusion, well, it boils down to a decision that we'd cover Rhythm games (like UJL and Bust a Groove), but since Pac Man 3D appears to be an action game, it is excluded. The "intelligent games" thing is wearing pretty thin, I admit, but that's the way it goes. 2. Sony is pretty schizo about game releases. They're approving Lunar: Complete and Thousand Arms, but rejecting Soul Hackers. Say what? I can see rejecting yet another Mega Man game, but the Soul Hackers thing really gets my goat. I'm not the biggest Persona fan around, but there *is* an audience for a sorta-sequel to it, and rejecting it out of hand as they did is infuriating. 3. I'm gonna see about getting the Name Origins list from CC up as a Feature sometime in the coming weeks, with additions of course. Beyond that, well, we'll see. We've got a pretty full plate as it stands. 4. Sony's going to launch their new system before Sega has a DVD-capable Dreamcast variant or add-on on the market, in all likelihood. And, as proprietors of the DVD format, I consider it highly likely that the PSX2 (or whatever it's called) will be based off a DVD drive. Then again, I don't think buying a system simply because it uses the latest technology is a great idea. Games are what makes or breaks the system, and if using the latest gizmos was all that mattered, everyone would look back fondly on the Turbografx 16-CD, wouldn't they? Wait until you see the glitter of the software packages, says I. The proof is in the pudding. | Seven paths | Oh mighty holder of knowledge and wisdom (and BS), hear me out for a fewquestions: 1. Do you or anyone else at GIA have any plans of getting jobs in thegame industry? 2. What was your favorite installment of Double Agent? Which batch ofquestions did you have the most fun answering? 3. In the case of emulators, what does ROM stand for? Read-only memorydoesn't seem to make sense, since you can save games in a ROM. 4. You ever heard Nobuo Uematsu's album Phantasmagoria? Is it any good? 5. I've actually heard the chocobo song on some Asian TV shows before.I've also heard Xenogears tracks 1-08 and 2-02 on a Chinese soap opera.What could possibly be behind this? 6. Why didn't you put those mirrors up BEFORE I tried downloading the FFMovie clip without GetRight's resuming function? 7. Why not take the gas mask off? Are you afraid we might look upon yourface and laugh? |
1. Don't we already? :) Some of us (read: Vestal) are pretty well in the gaming press indsutry already - ever visit videogames.com? Others are studying programming. Me, I'm hopeless with programming, and while I'd probably enjoy working in the gaming industry, I'm just not qualified. I don't speak or read Japanese, and aren't about to start. I don't program. I write and I make snide comments about stuff. It's obvious - I'm going into politics. 2. The first half the 100 questions was actually pretty fun. I got really tired of bullshitting it by the end, but the first bunch were fun. Got some good one-liners in there. 3. ROM does indeed stand for Read-Only Memory. When you save a game on an emulator, it automically creates a seperate .sav file outside of the ROM. It saved games around the ROM, not in it. 4. It's quite good. I don't own it myself, but I've listened to most of the tracks, and they ranged from the good to the excellent. 5. They're both probably modelled after a famous piece of older music, adapted and expanded by later composers like Uematsu, so there's a distinct resemblance between the two pieces, but no direct connection. 6. We put the mirrors up as they became available. 7. Yes. | Paragraph power | Well, why not end Star Trek too? It's on its 9th movie. Why not end the Tonight Show? Leno isn't Carson. End it or Rename it! Why not end Democracy? We've certainly had plenty of examples - it's notcausingsome dramatically final goal of humanity to be achieved, is it? It'sdoing OK, though -we better end it before it gets bad! Final Episode! Enough. The suggestion that FF should be ended can only come from an oldschooler who has played many of the old FF's. If you want to end it -just stop buying the games. Despite changes, FF is still a great RPG series, attracting new players.*3D or 2D. But why not 3D? (Would you like games in black and white,as well?) *The battling style remains similar - close your eyes and seehow similar. *FF8 sounds harder. *People say on the net they cried atAeris' death (or even Celes' jump - is the article complaining about FF6or just FF7?). Who cries about _shallow characters_, then? Suggestions that FF is stagnating are ridiculous. It's in itsRenaissance - FF 7, 8, 9, and Tactics _all_ happening in the US and inJapan in the space of 4 years. Perhaps the standards of those thatsuggest ending FF are impossible to meet - they are as follows: 1: Less complex story, but BETTER story! (somebody tell me FF1's greatstory, then?) 2: " " music 3: Less technology - when technology is in every FF game. FF7 justactually *explains* its existence... 4: Playability, the most user-relative term possible. If you ask me,FFT is the most 'playable' yet by the above standards. Everyone likesbattles and hates exploring and story, right? hands? Best Regards Omni/ |
There were a few more responses, but many of them fell prey to the curious tendency of letter-writers to not use paragraphs. Grrr. So, for that and other reasons, Omni gets the nod. I think he raises an important point - so long as something is profitable and good, arguments to end it are questionable. Yes, the FF games have wandered far afield of their original style and gameplay. That's the nature of the beast. Are people calling for the Mario series to end? Mario 64 doesn't play a whole lot like Mario Bros. for my Atari 2600. A lot of people point to FF7 like it's the Mark of the Beast and cry that the Final Fantasy series is doomed doomed doomed until their voices go hoarse. I find this puzzling because, well, it's one game. I have three letters today stating that the magic and spirit of the Final Fantasy series has been lost forever, and all support this statement by citing their complaints about FF7. It strikes me as somewhat absurd that an entire series is being tossed out the windows because some people didn't like one game. I mean, Dragon Quest V was utter crap, and you don't see people wailing that the DQ series should die. It seems to be that the Final Fantasy series is evolving in a very dramatic and radical direction. These changes, as best represented by FF7, have turned some people off. What we all seem to lose track of is that Square, like most companies, relishes the opportunity to branch off and try something new with each new release, and a brand name that locks down sales like Final Fantasy is the best way to try new things and get public reaction. And it works - no more Popeye arms. Higher difficulty. Most people liked the technology, so it's back. And so forth. But in my view, the solution to perceived problems in a game is not to say "end the series" or worse yet "go back to the way it was." The way we see brilliance is by saying "that didn't work, so let's try something else." Innovation, not revisiting. | A man with far too much time on his hands | Double Agent, In your column from the 9th instant, you post the following letter andaccredit it's truth. >>I HEARD THAT A GUY SOMEWHERE IS GAY<< I wish to dispute your statement of truth on this matter. I will do so bythe use of logical reasoning, extemporaneous theoretics, and a very largeamount of free time. I will also prove that the person who wrote that letterto you suffers from severe personality disorder. Let us assume, for the moment, that a guy somewhere is gay. Now, accordingto the current practice in U.S.Government, whereby everything must beassertively proved by (proven) solid fact to be considered fact in itself,how do you manage to prove that a guy somewhere is gay? Do you know whichguy is being referred to? It is simply a guy. What if, for instance, theword guy is not meant in relation to gender but in fact to the type of rope,chain, or wire used to fix something into position? How many gay wires doyou run across in your normal line of work? Can you prove they are gay? Ifyou believe you can, the public would like to know. Now, assuming for the moment that a guy is a gender, in reference to a man.Now, we must say that "A man somewhere is gay." Prove this. Find the manbeing referred to. I want to find a man somewhere. Most men, in fact allsane men, when questioned as to their location will not say "somewhere". Nowwe must assume that this man is in a real place. Let us say, for instancethat he is in a fictional city we will call Anaheim. Now, we are reduced to "A man in Anaheim is gay." Where is Anaheim? It is afictional city, not capable of supporting life. Perhaps the gay people inAnaheim would not prefer the term gay, which also means happy. Thisintroduces a WHOLE new variable into this already garbage-filled mix. Now wemust return to our base theorem and assume, perhaps, that it could mean "Aguy somewhere (in Anaheim) is happy." But, what is happy? Living a fullerlife? Perhaps that is what this means. "A man in Anaheim is living a fuller life." Now, this man in Anaheim living a fuller life must have an expensive farmand a stream and probably has it full of trout 24 hours a day- a much fullerday if I have ever heard one. Oh yes, kick back and fish and see how yourlife becomes full in 24 hours- along with your boat. This is the manner inwhich people get fuller lives, or so silly city folk are led to believe bythe oft-unpublicised agrarian propaganda. "A man in Anaheim has Stream, fuller day." Surely you are beginning to see where this is going, now... if we continueto follow the trail of this letter writer's madness, we see that as thesyllables break down, and the words are traced back to the base of hismadness, it is not long before we reach this final statement. "Mannheim Steamroller Today" Obviously, your disconnected letter writer has taken it upon himself tobelieve that he is, in fact, Chip Davis, and has gone about writing letterscontaining subliminal messages that will force millions of people to buyremixed orchestrated CDs and so throw off the entire world market, causingeconomic breakdown, collapse of the North American countries, and aremission of humanity into a pre-stone-age existence! I implore you to post this letter, and alert your readers to the nefariousplot being brought against them by this evil anarchial letter writer, withhis ever-so-simplistic and easy-to-agree-with "A man somewhere is gay".Don't let yourself be drawn into this hideous trap. You could be a part ofthe destruction of the world as we know it. Be informed. ~Shawn Cooper English Guy Somewhere Who Isn't Gay |
This letter scares me so. Okay, that'll do. Ciao. - The Double Agent | | | |
