Yo,

My question is in regards to the coming of Lunar Eternal Blue in the Winter. I just finished Lunar SSSC (and loved it) and am curious if the second game will be as heavily modified as the first. This mostly refers to a new translation, redone anime, etc. I am hoping that this is the case because the face-life to Lunar SSSC made it a wonderful experience.

-Lewsteran

Every time I see the Dreamcast banner at the top of the screen, I keep replacing their slogan with: "If you blink. . .you'll miss it." Does this make me a mindless Sega basher?

-Curious

Hey, Drew, if that is indeed your name.

If you really are a sugarplum faerie, (like J. Parish said) can you do that dance that you do? That's my favourite piece by Tchaikowsky.

Oh, by the way, there's just no fucking way the new consoles are the end of the genres. Don't you think there still will be clearly distinguishable racing games, shoot 'em ups, sporting games (yuck) and fighters, eh? Those genres (to name a few) will never become blurred, believe you me. Sure, there will be a few odd mixes, (like Racing Lagoon) but the genres will always exist, as clearly marked as before. Can you honestly imagine a "cinematic and envolving" hockey game? Didn't think so.

-Makkuro

hi!

I have many questions for you! Since eceryone has left the PSX for the soon to be released Dremcast, so u think the PSX2 will be superior on the game side? like is it now, sega has taken all the 3rd party developpers(except square :))....and about the nintendo dolphin, how stupid is everyone??? everyone thinks that nintendo is ready to launch a much more powerful machine than the psx2... fools! nintendo said that the dolphin was arriving soon with a lower price...pffft....even IBM said that they are still searching the components to be in the dolphin.......and abvout that, if the dolphin will be more powerful than the psx2, why it's cost would be more cheap than psx2??? i mean, if the psx2 is really powerful and its cost is high, its cause of all the components in it, but if the dolphin will be more powerful, this means the components more powerful, and more expensive!!! so... and what do u think about dvd playback on sony's next system? given that nintendo announced that dolphin will NOT play dvd movies right out of the box??? me i think that sony won't be doing it cause ninteod won't do it! and also, do u think that ff9(final fantasy 9) will be on psx 1 or psx 2? i hope it's a launch title for psx2! and about the fact that some of the rumored launch title for psx2 are cancelled to be on psx1(tomb raider 4, breath of fire 4) does this means anything??? like the psx2 will not be supported by thrid party developpers like the first psx was??? and also, i heard that bernie stolar was in charge or third party developpers communications for sony at the launch of the psx in the us, now he's with sega, so, I think that the dreamcast will be much more supported than the psx2 cause of that, do u think like this too??? thanks for your opinion and answers! bye!

-from a playstation player and an awaiting supporter of the psx2!

That *was* a funny review. Sadly, that's what every Joe Shmoe action/sports gamer has told me about every RPG I've ever liked. "I had to press the button 92 times to make the subtitles go away", "they look like wrestler midgets", etc. It makes the GIA's review look good in comparison. That's the most amazing part about it. =)

Oh, and I find you sexually attractive, Drew! ^_^ You should have more confidence, man.. Although some letters guys seem to shove their visage down the reader's throat, and I like your humble approach. Ack, I'm sorry, I'll be going now.

~Vera

I saw Eyes Wide Shut yesterday. I came in expecting a lot of sex between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. However, when I came out, I was hypnotized, mesmerized, and absolutely stunned at the incredible story, scenery, and visuals presented in the Staney Kubrick's "haunting masterpiece" (to quote from the commercials. The acting, setting, emotions conveyed, they were all brilliant.

And yet, this movie is classified as a drama, the same genre as Patch Adams.

Face/Off and Star Wars are both action films. However, the difference between them in style, acting, mood, etc.. is clear. Both are great movies, but are extremely different to each other, despite both being action movies.

What's the point of this? To show exactly the future of videogaming. Movies have been around since the early 1900 and have evolved to what they are today. Early in the life of the movie, filmmakers set to make new genres to impress the audience every year. Soon, however, movie makers realized what we are starting to realize today: There are no more genres to create! Despite combining genres (action/drama, action/comedy, drama/comedy comedy/horror, etc..) filmmakers couldn't make any more genres! You would think that they would be in a severe rut. However, it's 1999, and they're making fantastic movies like Eyes Wide Shut! Why? Because movies like Eyes Wide Shut are either redefining the genre or advancing the genre further. That is what game designers need to think about when making a game, not how many marketing tie-ins there will be.

What is the future of gaming? Not necessarily meshing genres together nor "blurring the lines". The future of gaming is simply better games in established genres.

-Clyde Hudman

Yeah I think women can be cold and calculating. They can be evil and mean and nasty and you can develop a real hatred for them. Unfortunately, I can't see myself axing away at a woman as the final boss. Unless something happens to her. Like in Parasite Eve. I really didn't want to kill Eve for whatever the reason, but when she turned into that hideous thing with the big arms and killed like half the city, I was pretty hellbent on stopping her. I guess my opinion is that the final boss has to be powerful. A cruel and shrewd person just wouldn't be all that much fun to bust up on. Like Hojo. He's not a girl, but he's got all the same characteristics that would make up a female villain. Unfortunately he was not particularly strong or dangerous, so that's why I didn't like the battle with him very much.

In short, A final 'boss' in a game should put to the test everything that you've learned in the process of the game. It should require all your strength and might to defeat. Physically. That's why I think a big evil guy would be better than a woman. I'm not saying women can't be evil (ahem... I have a female manager), but in a final, earth-saving confrontation Edea ought to be in some form with like so much strength its not funny.

-Alexander3025

What's Up Drew,

You know, I have been thinking lately about how much the videogame and movie industries are similiar. There are "event movies" (Star Wars) and "event games" (FF VIII), a seemingly unending stream of sequels, and the almost obligatory clump of exceptionally bad movies and games. These gaming industry is growing larger every year and we are now seeing multi-million dollar budgets and huge diversified staffs on gaming projects, which are even equal to some film productions (the Final Fantasy series once again comes to mind).

Now, a few days ago, I had the chance to see "The Blair Witch Project," and I must say it was an extremely good (and even more scary) movie. And the best part, in my opinion, is that this film was produced on a shoestring budget by a couple of unknowns. In fact, I will go so far as to say that it is definately superior to at least half of the movies released this summer.

Back to the gaming side of things (and the main point of this letter), I would like to see games of this kind; games which are developed by unkowns and independents. We, of course, would still have our Squaresoft and our Konami (the gaming equivalents of say 20th Century Fox and Paramount), but we would also have our smaller companies, like those who produced quirky off-beat movies like Blair Witch, or the Kevin Smith Movies (Clerks, Chasing Amy). I think that this would open up a world of oppurtunity to struggling game designers, as well as broaden and enrich the gaming industry as a whole. Thanks for your time (and the space).

-Michael Kenny

It was interesting to read you comments when you opened up yesterday's column. I read the review, and I must say unless I'm completely off, I think it was you who missed the point. The review was obviously aimed at either the casual gamer, a non rpg fan, or both. And I really don't think the casual gamer would find some of Star Ocean's "qualities" as endearing as an old school rpg fan would. If I were a casual gamer, I too would be wondering what the hell those water droplets were, why you couldn't save anywhere, and where the rest of your party went. So, keeping in mind that the review wasn't really aimed at us, I think it did the job well enough (it even stated at the end that if you are an rpg fan you would probably dig it).

It was also interesting that you made these comments during a time when the direction of where rpgs are going is a hot topic. With the advent of more powerful consoles and game developers "blurring the lines" and adding more rpg elements, I really can't see games like Star Ocean or Lunar making the cut on the Dreamcast or PSX2 and garnering enough sales to keep game companies producing old school rpgs.

Let me take time right now to state that I really have nothing against old school rpgs. I love em and I thoroughly enjoyed Lunar. But I think you'd be hard pressed to convince someone that after John Q. Gamer plays Final Fantasy X on his brand new Next Generation Playstation, he'd really get into Lunar 3. I fear that these games will be lost, like tears in the rain. Whatever you believe, it's something to chew on and contemplate for a while.

-Bringin' food for thought,
Darian Knight