Editor's Comments: Since the release of the Xbox 360 in Japan, many reasons have been put forth to explain just why the next-gen platform isn't doing so well in such a tech-loving nation. MasterChief debunks one of the more popular recent theories.

Editor's Comments: Popular culture is invading our media more and more, and become only crazier since Japanese culture has become so popular in the US. JuMeSyn discusses how topical references in an RPG can affect how players perceive the story.

Editor's Comments: More irritating then the latest internet catchphrase. More screechy then Fran Drescher on a roller coaster. It's bad RPG voice acting! I take a stab at a few games that sound like they're being stabbed.

Editor's Comments: Played for 40 extra hours, and killed the same monster over 5000 times for one rare item? Was it just to see Samus in a better outfit? Michael talks a little about RPGs with multiple endings and what he'd like to see.

So, I'm reading the Princess Bride. Why? Well, mostly because I saw the movie ages ago, can't remember a blessed thing, and I have an interest in seeing what differences there are between the book and the movie. Unlike many novel adaptations, the word in mind to describe those differences seems to be "tolerable." I'm not one to whine much about that sort of thing though, as long as the movie doesn't kill the spirit in which I feel the book was written, which thankfully wasn't the case here. I find I love both versions equally, like a father with two kids. One is very visually attractive but lacking in substance, the other is rather bookish (ha! pun) but has greater depth. But I love them both.

Thoughts like this are probably the chief reason why I have no children. I'd make a terrible father and I know it. And anyone carrying my genes...well, the world isn't ready for that. On a nearly completely unrelated note, did you know Mandy Patinkin was Inigo? I didn't. I can't justify the Mandy that was in, say, Dead Like Me (A show whose early demise I still weep for), with the dashing young swordsman in Princess Bride. I just can't. The mind boggles. Moving on....

This week, obviously, is going to be themed around that delightful novel and the movie it inspired. MasterChief searches for the answer to a puzzle more bizarre then the identity of the six-fingered man. I speak, of course, of why the 360 is doing so poorly in Japan. JuMeSyn sets off across the sea make his fortune and find a place for pop culture references in RPGs. I chime in about a bit of torture worse than The Machine: bad RPG voiceovers. And finally, Michael's in search of a game with more (and better!) endings than "Happily ever after."

Until next week RPGamers, keep the eds coming, and may all your tales end "As you wish."