Editor's Comments: There's a strong belief in society that video games contribute to any number of incidents of youth violence. Could they also be posititve influences? Cidolfas describes how video games have affected him.

Editor's Comments: Unda da sea! Unda da sea! Jumesyn doesn't have a bad Jamaican accent, but he does think it's better down where it's wetter. He also things an entirely suboceanic RPG might not be a bad idea.

Editor's Comments: Swords and sorcery are as atypical of RPGs as hit points and looting people's homes while they watch. Dallas, however, thinks the time is right for a wider variety of temporal settings in games.

Editor's Comments: MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Phantasy Star online have brought many beloved series into the online revolution. Michael has the unique idea of doing the same thing...but in reverse.

I was listening to music the other day, and an odd piece of synthpop called "Popcorn" came up. And while the song itself is a far more complex piece of audio, it got me to thinking about MIDIs.

I think everyone reading this knows what MIDI is, but I'll briefly recap in case you lived in a cave in the 80s and 90s. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface was invented in 1983 to allow for a universal standard method in the operation and interaction of electronic musical instruments. What that means in shorter terms is it made full multi-instrument musical pieces by electronic devices (such as keyboard synthesizers) a reality. Moreover, it quickly became the manner of delivering music in the video game business for many, many years due to relatively small file sizes and compression rates.

I myself spent a large part of my youth plinking quarters into an arcade machine at my local 7-11 or glued to my TV screen saving princesses, all the while listening to this wonderful music format. The "bloops" and "bleeps" of the Mario theme stay with me to this day, as I'm sure they do with many others. And who could forget the first time they popped Final Fantasy into their NES and heard those stirring opening tones? The MIDI may well have been a shaping force of my generation, and it's in use even today. So here's to you, MIDI. Keep on beeping.

And now, on to the editorials. We have a whopping four (count em, four!) articles this week. Cidolfas is back with us, showing us that video games aren't always negative influences. Jumesyn takes us on an undersea journey, while Dallas ponders a little time travel. And finally, Michael puts an interesting twist on the growing trend of changing one-player RPGs into online ones.

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts, too. Send submissions to editor@rpgamer.com and we'll post your article in the next update. Until then, see you next week!