Andrew Long - 16:05 EST

OKAY SERIOUSLY, SONY. Level with me here a minute. You had it all; two straight generations of wildly dominant consoles, marketing that had gamers of all walks in the palm of your hand regardless of the quality of your console and games, and many beautiful ladies with which to sleep atop your giant piles of money. So what I am trying to find out here is, when did you suddenly become this obscene hybrid of 1996-era Nintendo and Sega? Is it really that difficult to have one of your executives make a statement without saying something incredibly stupid or insulting to the gaming community's intelligence? Would creating a console that people could afford have really been such a big stretch? While we're at it, what's the deal with that weak launch lineup? Cuz make no mistake; if this keeps up for another few months, the chances of the PS3 making the miraculous recovery everyone seems to be expecting will decrease markedly. The Wii isn't getting any less popular, and the RPG crowd is more likely to go 360 before they go PS3, owing to the pair of Mistwalker games on the horizon. All in all, I just don't think things are going to right themselves quite to the extent that everyone is predicting, especially not with bonehead moves like removing backwards compatibility from EU models.

But, I suppose stranger things have happened; I just can't fathom how this fall has happened with such rapidity. If I didn't know better, I'd say Bernie Stolar is involved...

Hey, most awesome Andrew,

What game would you most like to see released on Virtual Console that hasn't been announced yet, even? Also, if you could pick, what's one title you wish would never see the light of day again? (And no, Legacy of Goku doesn't count, it was a GBA game. =P)

-Joey

That'd have to be Rygar, a high-quality NES game that I never have managed to get past the first level of. At least, I assume; the demarcation between the zones is somewhat imprecise, so for all I know I made it to level three or four. Why do I want this game? A) the music, and b) the fact that the main character's weapon appears to be a giant, spiky yoyo.

Now, on the flipside, a game that I never ever want to see on the VC is Xenophobia. This game brings great shame to the "Xeno-" prefix, and to this day is the only one I have ever returned within an hour of renting it. From what I recall, you play as a poorly drawn spaceman who wanders from room to room of this mansion-like ship-thing, dodging laser security and junk. It really is a miserable title.

Hihi Otaku Nick hath returned.. I have to send a letter today.. i don't want moogles to die.. they're so cute and cuddly and not annoying at all.... well exept mog in the chocobo's mysterious dungeon games.. I very much wanted him to die... DIE LIKE JAR JAR!!! Hehe. And as far as person who asked for an english patch for an ill obtained game.. FOR SHAME!!!! You ruin the good name of internet pirates everywhere.. Yeah sortof over here rambling today. Though i have a few things to say about rogue galaxy.. On X-play they gave it a not so great review but i myself am loving it to death.. I mean anyone with half a brain can tell its one huge star wars joke but i don't mind.. as i said i'm a star wars geek and i've always gotten a chuckle out of Square and they're sneaking in star wars themed characters.. Biggs Wedge and Piette anyone?.

Andrew I assume you're referring to various FF titles; Level 5 is the developer of Rogue Galaxy.

I also since i'm a game reviewer and not just an rpg reviewer i had to play the new lumines port that in imported from europe... umm... alas many an hour has been lost to me.. i suck at the game but a sware i can do better so i keep trying.. please someone come take it away from me.. its broken into my work schedule..

well i'm done rambling now.. i did my bit to save the moogles.

I dunno... Technically if that moogle's going to live I'll need some questions here, not just rambling diatribes. Thank you for your letter, though; you have hereby intrigued me with your talk of Rogue Galaxy.

Hello,

So I've been reading the column for awhile now and thought that I would drop ya all a line. So I found a copy of "Suikoden IV" the other day at EB. I thought to myself, "It can't be nearly as bad as I remember it.", being as I got it when it came out and played for all of an hour before stopping in disgust. You know what, it isn't nearly as bad as I remember. In fact its pretty ok, that is if you can forgive it for its many faults. 12 hours in I can say that I'm in for the long haul and really want to see where it ends up.

Andrew You know, you can do that just as well by not suffering through Suiko IV and picking up Tactics instead; a lot of the characters carry over.

On another note I've been wondering why "Tales of the Aybss" didn't seem to get much love. I personaly loved the combat system and the story had me coming back (even when I should have been doing other more important things) again and again. I was only through pure force of will that the moment it was over, I didn't start right back up with me New Game +. I suppose the FFXII juggernaut was probebly a large factor in the game being lost in the shuffle.

Andrew Yeah, new FFs will do that. Beyond that though, I think TotA is probably one of the last in the prior generation of RPG battle systems; that is, the Tales-style action battles that you'll also find in places like Star Ocean games and Radiata Stories, so it could be that people were just tired of it.

One last thing. Any one out there excited for "God of War II" coming out next month. I can't wait to slaughter tons of mythiscal creatures as one on the baddest dudes in gaming. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Arkadysmile

PS. Any remember Prince Poo in "Earthbound". Thats a funny named and the best part is that You used PP as magic. Sorry sometimes the 6 year old in me comes out :D

I am fairly certain that several staffers will be excited, although one, Fenrir from news, will probably be avoiding it since the original cost him the use of his right analog stick.

you got final fantasy 7 i do?!

You know, I hate to discourage first-time letterwriters, but seriously. Die in a fire.