It's a weird world out there.

Not long ago, there was a kid who was thrown out of school in Salt Lake City, Utah. The school he attended had a zero-tolerance policy for gangs within their walls, and when a mark on his shirt identified him as being part of an undesirable group, out he went. His parents protested the ruling, and a judge in a court of law upheld the motion.

The word on his shirt was "vegan."

Okay, maybe it's just because I don't live in that pinnacle of human achievement that is Salt Lake City, which has spawned such fine additions to our species and culture as the Osmond brood, but WHAT THE HELL? He had "vegan" on his shirt, for god's sake. He identified himself as someone who doesn't eat animal products, and this is an indication that he is a subversive, potentially violent and disruptive force? Is there some sort of Vegan Mafia that I'm unaware of, who spring out from bushes and force red-blooded Americans to swallow tofu burgers and soy milk?

I saw this news story on CNN recently. I'm currently looking for an address for the judge who made this ruling, so I can personally mail him a clue. Was the Bar exam in Utah written by Doctor Seuss or something? Sure, this has nothing to do with video games, but just in case you had any faith in humanity as a whole, I assure you, that faith is misplaced. When children are kicked out of school for wearing a tee-shirt with a dietary plan written on it, it's time to just sterilize the species, and let rabbits take over the planet.

First off, the PS2 doubts article was not canned due to outside pressure. The only article I can recall us taking down due to outside, legal, pressures was the Mr. T in FF Tactics bit, way back when. Ed's piece was taken down for retooling and editing. The downtime between the posted versions was intended to be maybe three days. Due to E3, it's been extended. E3 spanked our schedules but good, so please be patient while we try and get things back on track.

On a similar note, the last part of the Legend of Legaia guide is coming. Again, be patient.

It's funny. The other night, Ed commented to me that expanding GIA's coverage could only be considered a good thing. Nobody's going to complain about more content, he said. I said I wasn't so sure. Fifteen minutes later, I received the above letter, with the "no adventure games" closing comments. Ed is wise in many ways, but has much to learn of the ways of Double Agent. ;)

Taloon, I'm genuinely curious about your gripes with our adventure game coverage. Try to keep it constructive, naturally, but allusions don't help us improve our coverage for you, the readers. Share. We'll see if we can help.

I didn't buy Ehrgeiz for the quest mode. On point of fact, I didn't buy it at all. But I suspect that, yes, some people did buy it for the quest mode alone. Which strikes me as a tad silly, considering how many excellent RPGs we're seeing in the coming months, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Opinions on it seem to be decidedly mixed, but I enjoyed it, and there's sure as hell worse games to pick up.

More distressing to me is the prospect of people picking up Ehrgeiz on the basis of the magazine ads, which consist of a massive picture of Cloud, and a tiny little Ehrgeiz logo. No screenshots, no indication that this is a radically different kind of game from FF7. Effective, but very very deceptive advertising.

Wise man once say "game system only as good as its games." That man was right. In that respect, there have been precious few total disaster systems. But only the best are the real successes, the ones who gathered and held a market share with long-term success. Every system can boast a good game or two. Only a handful have a legacy.

The problem with Sega is that it has no sense of the long-term. The 32X, Sega CD, Game Gear, and Nomad were all the most powerful systems on the block at the time, and all except the 32X had at least a game or two that made the system worth having to some people. Some, but not most. Sega tossed most of these systems to the wolves, giving little first-party support after the initial push, instead opting to focus on and hype the next thing on the agenda. This is a bad idea, in the long term. A system that is neither marketed or milked of its potential properly is worth squat. The Game Boy is perhaps the most successful game system the world has ever seen. It's cheap, the processor is weak, and yet it was supported and marketed brilliantly, and it still thrives today. Sega's always been strong with software, but its habit of letting peripherals and systems die off, unsupported, is really killing them now.

The Nomad sold horribly. So did the Game Gear. The 32X. The Sega CD. They were never the system of choice, the one developers put their killer apps on. The mismanagement of the Saturn in the US is the stuff industry jokes are made of. The Dreamcast needs to overcome this legacy, and prove that not only does it have merit, but that it's the best. It needs to deliver, and keep delivering in the long-term. That's the challenge. Are all Sega systems bad? No. Have they largely been flops? Yes. Have they learned their lesson? That's what the Dreamcast is set to answer.

Ayup. I'm not sure what category Myst and Riven are slated into, to be honest, but they're prime Vault material. Mind you, opinion on the games' merit is split pretty harshly down the middle, so we'll have to select our Vault writer carefully, that's for sure.

Agent Fun Fact for the day: the top three most requested games for Vaulting are, in order: River City Ransom, Riven, and the original Actraiser (on the basis of the growth sim sequences, I assume). An odd group, that's for sure.

It's a thought, but if Nintendo's willing to swallow their pride and make the switch to DVDs, I suspect they're facing facts: kids know how to use CDs. They know how to handle them. Any kid too young to handle them will rely on someone older to help them with as much. But while the idea of having a case around the DVD might be viable (I'm not enough of a technician to gauge how doable it would be), I suspect their drive to have a durable, toddler-friendly system is going to be set aside in favor of pleasing developers, all of whom are clamoring for more storage space.

I remember the days of carts as well, and sometimes I really wish my PSX CDs could take the beating my old carts could. But it looks like those days are done. Basic care of a system is now a given, not a wish. So we'll all have to be a little more careful with our games, because if Nintendo makes the switch, the cartridge is done for.

I suspect that PE2 will be a major technology show for the PSX2. Square would be on tyhe shortlist for Sony to give PSX2 development kits to, and given the capabilities of the system, a cinematic game like Parasite Eve is a perfect chance to see what the system can really do.

As for the FF Anthology, my guess is that they'll print up about 50-75 000 copies. Lower than a major release like Xenogears, and a lot less than the big guns like PE or FF8, but low enough to ensure sell-through, while making it more enticing since it's a "limited edition, one time only" deal. It'll certainly be available in Canada. I doubt anyone who really wants it will have trouble getting a copy. It's a marketing ploy to raise demand for a title with a small target audience. Don't worry about it.

You know damned well what happened to the elephant, you mick bastard. Yeah, you, trying to hide the cheese fondue and whiskey stains around the collar of your polyester shirt. Well, I've seen you, LS. I've seen you, lashing out at that poor elephant, lashing its trunk over and over again with that cat 'o nine tails, screaming obscenities it will remember forever. You know it'll always remember. You've studied the elephants. Probed them, prodded them, pushed them to limits they didn't know they had, all in the name of your sick science.

I remember when Edna came to me, her trunk all twisted up, crusty and dark with dried blood, crying her eyes out. How could you do that to an elephant? How could you do that, and now have the temerity to dab out your Cuban cigar in an Edna-foot ashtray, and ask me where the elephant is? Look around you. All that's left of Edna is furniture and tacky luggage.

You should have just gone to Ikea, dammit.

This is one I'm primarily leaving to the rest of the readership, but a few points. First of all, it IS important to remember that Nintendo is gaming to a lot of people. It's been the big boy on the block for quite a while now, and their consumer base is large and dedicated.

Their problem is not one of support, like Sega's. Theirs is one of resistance to change. You mentioned that Nintendo leads the way in terms of innovations, and that's only partially true. They've innovated and created a number of long-standing trends and features. The games by Miyamoto in particular are epoch-setting. But their weakness is one of pride. Nintendo has traditionally been very hesitant to crib from other developers. They refused to make the switch to CDs. They badmouthed polygonal games as slow and unwieldly when first developed. They kept their focus tightly on kids, when their competitors switched to appeal to a wider audience. And while some of their persistence has paid off (their dedication to the Gameboy has certainly panned out well), it has hurt them recently, mostly with the N64. If a trend is set by anyone except themselves, Nintendo is extremely resistant to get involved, and it's that lag time that hurts them. That's how the Genesis was able to go toe-to-toe with, and for about a year, beat the SNES: it would do things Nintendo wouldn't let themselves do, and refused to copy.

Improving, cribbing, copying, ripping off, whatever you call it, it's a technique that's all over the place, and it works. Microsoft is the best example. And Sony does it, too. They've never been shy about jumping on bandwagons. Nintendo doesn't like to, and perhaps more than anything else, that's why they've lost their edge. They're not on the cutting edge of everything anymore, and breadth sells systems.

Closing comments

An early update tonight, so be sure to check yesterday's column if you missed out. I'm going to be putting together much of Thursday's update late tomorrow, since Thursday itself is a scheduling nightmare, so please, send LOTS of letters. Lots and lots and gumdrops. Or I kill the leopard. Okay?

In other late-breaking news, _Spekkio_ wrote in to ask me why I haven't joined in the hot new trend of mocking fellow letters page guys, by ripping into Drew. You kids and your crazy new fads. Why, in my day, all we did was sit around and ask AK why he wasn't as cool as Jay Boor.

More seriously, I'm not going to rip into Drew because I don't need to. Obviously, opinions vary, but dammit, I like him. A few days ago, when I was on the brink of resigning from DA due to outside pressures, he was my unquestioned pick for successor. If I had a serious problem with his column, I'd a) take it with him, and if it persisted, b) kick his ass. But in a nice way. Remember, friends don't let friends be lame.

- Allan Milligan, preaching