Andrew Long - 16:11 EST

DAYLIGHT SAVING'S TIME is something I approve of in general, as it means that my nocturnalism is, for a few months, briefly exposed to a few more hours of daylight than normal. On the downside, it also means that tonight will be the crappiest night on life, since I just woke up at 3:30 in the afternoon and I work tomorrow. I do believe, therefore, that I am screwed.

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed Steve the Monkey's kick at the can, and I'd like to apologize for the lack of a column Thursday, but I'm gonna peg that one on you guys, because almost everyone who wrote in for that day addressed the letters to Goog. I do Thursday now. Try and remember that this week >_<

Also have you ever played the original Lunar (sega CD) and what do you think this new one for the ds is going to be based on (before the 1st one's events or after the 2nd lunar)?

Oh yeah and also the new dot hack looks freaking sweet and PSP is great (especially darkstalkers!!!!!!!!!!!).

Welcome to so pissed, chucks, cuz both those stories are faker than Joan Rivers. I have in fact played Lunar for the Sega CD, and in my estimation it's the only one worth playing. I just didn't like the music or the changes to the storyline in the PSX remake, and while cloth maps are all very nice, I'm an old-fashioned curmudgeon and that's the way I likes it.

Incidentally, you are three times fooled, for that new .hack is as bogus as Sakaguchi's sudden acquisition. Also: please never use that many exclamation points in the same sentence again.

I should remember that it seems designers have few variances in NPC appearences, and this to some degree still exists to this day. Maybe they're all inbred and would explain how they can be rather stupid at times.

I'm thinking on who this "steve the monkey" character is. I've come up with some theories that maybe reval who this is. Especially since it's a post on April 1 and I know how strange the internet is then. If I recall someone referred to people as Steve in the past as a past Q&A host. So I have an idea that it's Brad Lohr back from the grave, or quite possibly even Thor.

ANDREW Your idea is most certainly wrong... or is it? ...Yes. Wrong.

What is really odd is that the first letter was NOT from me, but from someone who apparently is a clone of me. The idea of a me clone is amusing, where they found my DNA is one thing, espcially since I have only a handful or less people on here who has ever met me in person. If I really wanted something would be a fangirl, especially since I can't find a girlfriend for the life of me.

I'd be suspicious of anyone online with financial advice, or selling things as well. Though putting some cash in oil exploration would be a good idea these days due to potential for high-value return. At least the letter didn't involve increasing size of parts of your anatomy.

What April Fools Jokes online did whoever is hosting liked? I was expecting something involving the erotic dragon up in the left-corner with a lewd animation.

Imperial Mog (that's how I spell it as people)

The person who was hosting yesterday was an avid supporter of all of our site's many jokes. That's the only clue you're getting out of me though.

I read the article on Square-Enix, jumping for joy, but also scared- would S-E now go the way of Mistwallker to the Xbox? My stomach churned at the notion... then I saw a new Chrono game... you're good, oh... you're too good. But that's just the problem, it was too damned good. You've probably broken many a gamer's heart who saw that, myself included. Good April Fool's jokes should be funny to everyone involved, even those who got the joke on them, but I'm just mad.

I know I'll probably just get laughed at for this. Big deal, I just wanted to say that there's a line between being funny and mildly embarassing, or being just downright cruel. Sadly, this was the latter.

Very depressed fan,
-W

I'm not going to laugh at you, but I am going to question why everyone is so eager for Sakaguchi to return to the helm of Square Enix. By all accounts, he was still around for most of the crap titles that have spewed forth in the past couple of years, and even if that was in a steadily declining role, the fact remains that he is as equally responsible for the diminishing quality of Square Enix as any other scapegoat you might name. I'm not saying that Mist Walker is going to suck or anything, but I think it would be wiser to leave the jury out until we see exactly what the studio is planning, because while Sakaguchi could certainly rest on his laurels from his earlier work, I haven't seen anything in the past three years or so to make me believe in his magic again...yet. Here's hoping that a fresh start changes that.

I guess it just means I'll have to pick up an Xbox 2 and play those mist walker games when the time comes.

s.f.

You make that sound like such a death sentence... Is everyone so addicted to Square Enix / Sony brand loyalty so much that the notion of jumping ship when a better deal comes along is this repugnant?

Most likely, Sony will get the amount owed substantially lower in appeals, as appellate courts love big business, and then just have to start paying a couple of bucks a PS2 unit to them for now on.

I'd love to see them lose all access to the technology and then have to start from scratch on their PS3. Sony has done a lot for the gaming industry. They've almost single-handedly made it cool to be a gamer. EA Sports is probably a close second for contributing to this attitude shift. Long gone are the days of people hiding how much they love video games in school in fear of getting their clock cleaned.

Still, for the sake of quality and innovation, I hope NIntendo or Microsoft wins the next round. Sony has done little to promote inspiration and much to support mainstreaming sequals. Sony is the Hollywood of the gaming field. The dried up, lets make nothing but sequals and remakes starring Ashton Kuscher Hollywood.

Amen to that. It sucks for Sony that they didn't think of buying out the offending company before Microsoft exercised its right to be diabolical, but hey - anything that forces them to put a little extra work into their console is probably a good thing (Well... aside from all those games that will no longer be sold if their last appeal fails.)

So, sorry this is going up late; your American beer and I do not mix, and why I even attempted to drink it is a mystery that I will be years in the solving. I leave you now with Google, and remember: my next column is Thursday. Your letters Wednesday night should be addressed to meeeee!

Andrew Long is hunting the elusive Budweiser frogs because they must die.

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RIP John Paul II