Oakland is Warm

D-Pad Destroyer borrows the car and drives over another batch of your letters, back and forth and back again, until they're wrinkly and impossible to read.

Friends, it is really, really hot in Oakland.

I don't mean just "high temperature" hot, but also "air-conditioner not working correctly" hot and "where's my refrigerated beanie" warm. It's an odd condition where it's just slightly too warm to be truly comfortable, and it makes one wish for the chilly summer days in good ol' San Francisco.

What does all that have to do with Head 2 Head and your letters? Not a single thing.

This week we have the other side of the Nintendo-Bein'-All-Kiddy debate, a question about Atlus' PS2 supermodel game, and a big ol' spoiler for Eternal Darkness. Not only that, but someone really wants a Civil War RTS, someone else wants Natalie Portman, and yet another guy wants to know the truth about my back hair.

So let's get started. Hand me that lemonade.

One More Historical RTS Needed
D-Pad, ya wrote the article on historical RTS's, you used the Civil War as an example, i happen to be a Civil War reenactor and would love a Civil War RTS game, do you know of any coming out?
John

D-PAD DESTROYER: Yeah, I did do an article about historical RTS games (See Everyone's Making A Historical RTS). Little did I realize the flurry of emails I'd get about the topic. Some people wrote to tell me that they, too, are tired of the flood of historical real time strategy games coming out, while others wanted to know why their favorite RTS wasn't mentioned (in the case of Empire Earth, I didn't mention it because it's been out for going on a year). The above one is my favorite, though, because it shows that the Civil War RTS we created in the article would actually sell.

John, as far as I know, there are no Civil War RTS games on the horizon. The list of titles at the bottom of the article contains every single historical RTS I could find that is due out in the next year or so. I'm sure I missed some (historical RTS games are generally made by smaller companies that tend to fly under our radar), but to the best of my knowledge, you'll have to keep reenacting the Civil War on real fields.

Just curious, which side are you on? Being from the South originally, I know people who are still fighting that war in their hearts. Just stay away from live ammo, man.

Primal Babe-age
Dear D-Pad: I was wondering about the game that was previewed a while ago called Primal Image. Is it going to be released? Or is it already released? If its not out yet, is there a release date. Or any information on this game? I would like to see this game if you know what i mean. *wink*
Fan Zhang

D-PAD DESTROYER: Primal Image was one of the first PS2 games released in Japan, but it never did come out here, and as far as I know, there are no plans to bring it here. Why? Because the game is all about taking pictures of beautiful women in various poses. That's it. It was a little odd, and a little disturbing, it wasn't all that good, and Atlus decided that it wouldn't be worth bringing out here. As far as I know, there are no plans to bring it to the states.

No to Nostalgia?
Not to insult you or anything, but your letter column just drives me crazy sometimes. I get tired of people giving you crap about nintendo being a "kiddie" company and all of those Zeldammit letters. My question is why some people can't be open-minded about games? I've seen the new Zelda in action and i love the graphics! It's got to be the most artistic use of cel-shading yet. Also, what is so bad about innovation in games? It seems like everybody wants next-gen games to be all nostalgic. If all of the mario games were about mario saving peach, where would the surprise be? I'm sure you'll back me up on this. Matt "Nemesis" Camden

D-PAD DESTROYER: The anti-anti-Nintendo crowd came out in force this week in reaction to everyone bashing the GameCube's "lack" of M-rated titles. I just happen to agree with you, Nemesis (if that is your real name), so that's all I have to say.

Conspiracy Theory
A couple of days ago my younger brother and I were playig Simpson's Road Rage (I have no idea why) and we got stuck on an unbelievably hard level and couldn't beat it. This got me thinking back to a game I used to play that I got stuck on and couldn't beat. This game was The Incredible Hulk for the Sega Genisis and there was one part that impossible. Then I had an epiphany. Couldn't a game developer make a level on a game so difficult or out right impossible so that nobody could beat it and then not have to finish the game? All they would have to do is not release any cheat codes and then every one would think that it was really hard. The only thing that would really stop this is a gaming magazine that HAD to finish the game inorder to write the review. People would never find out because they would get too frustraighted and quite but a gaming magazine would be forced to finish it, or at least I trust that you guys finish a game before reviewing it. This is a pretty frighting idea.
Jeremy Jackson

D-PAD DESTROYER: That IS a "frighting" idea, but not one that's particularly likely. In general, as far as getting your hard-earned cash in their hands, game companies don't care if you finish the game or not. In the olden days, when most people got their gaming fix at pay-to-play arcades, it was in games' best interest to be as difficult as possible, milking gamers of their quarters (or in the case of today's high-priced machines, their mortgages) as people keep dropping coins to continue playing. Now, you can generally continue whenever you want, and you've already paid your $50 to play the game, so other than providing you a challenge and a fun story, the designers don't care about keeping you from winning.

There are even those who believe that the reason so many games are anticlimactic at the end, and why a lot of games' final levels are so lame, is because the developers don't expect people to try to win them and don't put as much effort into the endgame. Whether that's true or not is a mystery.

MrDude vs. Alex
How's it going? I have written you at least 3 letters and never gotten a reply, but that's ok. I forgive because once again I have a question, and maybe you can answer it. In this weeks letter column there is some guy named "alex" complains about the "brilliant" games, Metroid Prime and Zelda. He said that he played Zelda at E3 but that he wasn't very impressed. Do you think he actually went to E3? I was under the impression that E3 wasn't open to the public and that you had to be in some way associated with the video game industry to get in. Are there exceptions like having a rich dad or something? It just seemed doubtful that someone who couldn't write a letter with proper punctuation would be a journilist. Please give me a reply. Thanx
mrdude

D-PAD DESTROYER: I got a lot of letters this week specifically calling out "Alex" from last week's column. It seems when one man stirs up some controversy around here, he really stirs it up.

I'm not sure if Alex went to E3 or not, MrDude. It is a trade show, and it's industry-only, but the definition of what constitutes "industry" has been somewhat flexible. He might have gotten in with a fansite's credentials, taken someone's guest pass, or been related to someone who's high up in the industry. The 18-and-over rule seems to be broken regularly there, but it seems like the kids at the show are all children of some industry CEO or other.

Read on for another attack on Alex, this time a little more personal:

Oh Alex, We Hardly Knew Ye
It is so funny how someone can claim to represent an entire community of gamers when we are all so diverse. So what if "Alex" doesn't want a Cel-shaded Zelda or a FPS Metroid, I do; and i will be one of the first people in line to purchase both of these games. Who said that every game must be liked by every gamer; its called personal preference. For example, I haven't personally taken a liking to GTA3, but I love Jak and Daxter, Pikmin, Eternal Darkness and the little appreciated ICO. Yes I am one of the many gamers who has more than one system, and while I prefer my Gamecube, I still love my PS2 ( and plan on getting an XBOX, just for Panzer Dragoon Orta). So "trust" you, I will not, pity you I will. Gaming isn't about what "I" want, it is what "We" need, innovation and entertainment. Oh and by the way, Castlevania did bad because it was a bad game, not because of its innovative leap in to 3D. Why didn't "Alex" include Mario64, Zelda:Oot (and MM), Sonic advance, the Metal Gear Solid series, and Pikmin, which all made great innovative transformations, and were great sales successes. I guess some people like to take one example of failure to characterize an entire movement. What a sad, bitter life he must lead.
Tarek

D-PAD DESTROYER: All good points. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Preview Prejudice
I have a question about the game magazines in general. My question is why don't you guys pass any sort of judgement in the previews? Sometimes I'll see a preview for a game that is just an obvious cash-in on a liscence ("insert-your-name-here cart") and you guys don't even comment on the obvious suckitude or at least lack of originality in said title. I'm just curious whether or not the game publishers can harm the magazine if they give a prediction as to how good or bad a game will be. I understand that you probably don't want to pass judgement on an unfinished product but sometimes you can just tell that a game is going to suck. Could you please tell me if there is anything stopping you guys from doing this.
Ian

D-PAD DESTROYER: Because previews are completely unfinished versions of games, to judge them at such an early stage would be unfair to both the developers and the readers. It'd be like throwing someone in jail at age 5 because they look like they might grow up to be a criminal in 20 years. Even when a game exhibits such utter suckitude that we can't stand to play it for fifteen minutes, we still try to give it the benefit of the doubt on the off chance that the developers simply haven't added the good stuff yet. Sometimes there are huge improvements to a title between the previewable and reviewable versions, and to be fair to everyone, we reserve judgment until the company says they're ready for prime time.

You Just Might
i dont really no what is up with all this "gamecube has too many kidie games" talk but i think it is a waste of time and spacec... anyways i just think natalie portman(padme from star wars) is hot... i dont' no why i said this but hey, not gonna get killed for this... PADME PRIDE!!!!!!!!
dangetyou

D-PAD DESTROYER: Oh, she's cute and all, sure, but I think she might have been ruined by Episode 2. Her acting was just so horrible that I'm not sure I could stand to watch her in another movie. She was the best looking female in the whole film, but then again, I think she may have been the only female in the whole film.

Been There, Done That
Head 2 Head would be a lot better if you just dismiss all GC being kiddie, XBox being more powerful, PS2 having more violent games. Just thing about how much time you can save by just ignoring those useless letters. If people smalk talk Zelda, why just put an mpeg of Zelda to shut them up?! If you want people to be able to dispute what system is better, set up a live chat so they can battle it out themselves instead of taking up valuable space in Head 2 Head!
rattlesnake6663

D-PAD DESTROYER: My ability to ignore certain types of email has become mighty in the past months. The only problem is that if I ignored all those types of emails all the time, my letters column would just be me here with a sock puppet asking myself questions. As you could imagine, that wouldn't make for a good column.

What's Missing?
Id like to take a moment and show you something Ive reflected on recently. My personal opinion on the hayday of gaming was not the Atari 2600 or the NES or the constant struggle between Playstation and N64(All of which were amazing times for all gamers and I enjoyed every one) but the era of Sega Genesis and the SNES. In my opinion no other systems had as many perfect games that had learning curves that a child could understand and yet still mature adults could enjoy it just as well. Whenever we played another game of Sonic The Hedgehog there was nothing else important in the world and I miss that feeling. Was it because I was a child and things could easily keep my atention forever...or was it because these games were made the best they could be without competition and taking the users doller in mind. So my question to you is what do you think is missing from newer games that makes you want to play them untill you beat them and never pick them up again?
Chris Schultz

D-PAD DESTROYER: That's a good question, Chris. I think a lot of games are just missing the soul that some of the older games seemed to have. Games like Super Castlevania 4 and Final Fantasy 3 just gripped me and made me play the hell out of them, whereas few games today do that (Eternal Darkness is the latest example). I think a lot of games are missing that "I've Never Played Anything Like This" factor, and it doesn't seem like much when you think about it, but think back to every game you really liked, and remember how innovative and cool it was. I think that's your answer.

Spoiler Warning
[Note from D-Pad: The following letter contains a spoiler about Eternal Darkness' insanity system. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip to the next letter.]

Um, I was playing Eternal Darkness the other day and one of the insanity thingies is some screen that comes out and says something about "Eternal Darkness:Insanity's Redemption" or something like that coming out next summer. Now is that legit? Is there a sequal already in the works or are they just yankin' my chank?
ButtGoblin

D-PAD DESTROYER: That one really got me, Gob. That screen is meant to make you think you're playing a demo of Eternal Darkness (the game's full title is Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem), and that somehow you paid full price but received only a demo. Once I figured out what was going on and got over the original "What?!?!" reaction, I thought it was brilliant.

Two Rings to Rule Them All
I'm confused d-pad. Are there two LOTR games on their way to PS2? I ask because saw in this E3 preview that there was LOTR: the two towers by EA and just plain LOTR by another studio. Thanks for the help.
Me

D-PAD DESTROYER: I believe there are indeed two Lord of the Rings games on the way. EA is making games based on the LotR movies, whereas Vivendi Universal is making games based on Tolkien's original books. EA's series starts with The Two Towers, but Vivendi will begin their tale with The Hobbit.

No You Cannot
Ok if you read this THEN REPLY TO IT. Now that that's out of the way I had some or rather one big question about what I will need to get online and play Final Fantasy XI. Well I suppose I just asked the question but now I have some comments now that I think about it. Now I know that my opinion really doesnt make a difference but what the heck... I have been playing games since day one. I grew to love RPGs though( Final Fantasy and other Square games). I don't really think that its fair to guys like me( 15 no job and aint rich). how can I get to play the freakin game! I mean I know that they have to charge money but my god they want your whole bank account for god's sake. I mean I think so anyway at least from what I understand( Hard drive playonline service and game) and for all that I know thats just the begining of the junk that I need. Well to wrap it all up I just want to play the game and well I know that you guys at Gamepro are the guys to tell me if I can or can't.
bert2002

D-PAD DESTROYER: Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XI may be the most expensive game for PS2 when it launches. You'll definitely need the PS2 Network Adapter and the PS2 hard drive to play, and you'll probably have to pay a monthly fee to continue playing online. As far as I know, there's no offline single-player mode in the game, so if you can't come up with the online equipment, you're most likely out of luck.

As to whether or not it's "fair," I think it's okay. If you want to play the game, you need the hardware. If you don't want to get the hardware, you can't play the game. Tradeoffs, people. It's what life's all about.

You Didn't Know?
sup gamepro. this is the spongey one here. around a year ago i was walkin around a local mall when i noticed a huge ad outside of a toys'r'us. it was sayin something about a new console called the dolphin. i just figured that a new system was comin out, but for some reason a year later there is no dolphinn. was i just seein things or did i just miss something? oh and expect more mail from me. heh.
Sponge1121

D-PAD DESTROYER: I love these easy ones. The GameCube was originally known as "Dolphin" when it was in the design phases. Nintendo only released this working title in the early days, so for lack of anything else to call the machine, we media types called the GameCube "Dolphin."

Question of the Ages
Do you have a hairy back?
Moi

D-PAD DESTROYER: Yep.

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