[05/17/2004]   How is it that we have found ourselves - once again - where we began? Is time something so hateful that it insists everything must grow old, everything must change, everything must fade? Has Points of View truly grown and achieved so much in its short life that we can possibly be celebrating it's 4th anniversary today? Without swelling the heads of everyone involved with this little piece of RPGamer too much, yes it has.

I invite you to skip down to the bottom of the update at any time to read this week's reviews, because I'm well aware of how much babbling you're going to have to read otherwise. Truth be told, I don't think we prattle on that much under typical circumstances, so it is my belief that we're entitled to a little excessive speaking today.

Some of you might recall the stats that BLAlien made for Paws back when we celebrated our first anniversary. Well, in the vein of his work, we present the first annual Points of View Anniversary Awards for your perusal. A detailed explanation of our selection process can be found at the boards link below.

• Most Reviewed Game: Xenogears - 17 Reviews
• Platform w/ Most Unreviewed Games: Personal Computer - 70 Games
• Platform w/ Least Unreviewed Games: Turbo Grafx - 2 Games
• Most Reviews in an Update: August 5th, 2003 - 15 Reviews
• Most Reviews Printed by an Author: Otterland - 57 Reviews
• Most Reviews Submitted by an Author: Otterland - 66 Reviews
• Most Reviews Submitted by an Author in One Day: Roku - 21 Reviews
• Most Versions of One Game Reviewed: Dragon Warrior III - 3 by Otterland
• Game w/ Highest Average Score: Chrono Trigger - 4.6 (9.2) w/ 11 Reviews
• Game w/ Lowest Average Score: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - 1.6 (3.2) w/ 5 Reviews

Now that the nonsense is taken care of, I turn the podium over to Paul 'Amish' Koehler for a bit.

Amish: For once I'll keep this short. Some of those statistics bring back certain memories. They're memories of almost-carpal tunnel syndrome (the 15 review update), pleasure (high score - Chrono Trigger), and absolute awe (Roku and those 21 reviews). For all the coding-intensive labor that goes into making the Points of View sections, little tidbits like these are worth the extra effort. Especially on May 17th. Happy Birthday to Zack and Andrew, and Happy Birthday to Points of View!

Well, I guess that pretty much does it for this year. Stay tuned for your regularly scheduled updates, and remember not to send in more than 21 reviews in a single day unless you want to be reading Roku's reviews for the rest of eternity... Anyhow, here's to a fabulous 5th year of Points of View and all that comes with it!