Let's get one thing straight right off the bat. This isn't a weekly thing or a monthly thing or anything like that. I like schedules about as much as I like standing in line and so the chances of this column/rant/blog/love letter never showing up again are about as good as the chances that you'll see it next week. That being said, there's a lot going on around The Next Level, and our loyal readers deserve a look at what to expect in the future. But first, a few things fresh out of my mind.

Be a Fanboy, But Don't Be a Stupid Fanboy

It's fine to love a company. As a matter of fact, loyalty and respect should be encouraged among gamers. I myself have always been a Nintendo fanboy and I have never been ashamed to admit it, except for maybe during the 64 era. However, as good as loyalty is, don't let it make you stupid. Upon experiencing E3 and reading a lot of the news on other sites and message boards when I got home, my faith in humanity was shaken. Surely, no one could really believe that Nintendo stole the show this year, but it seems that a lot of people did. You can replace "Nintendo" with "Microsoft" or "Sony" and my point still stands. There were too many examples of this kind of stupid fanboyism.

Let's get a few things straight right now. Did Sony have a pretty solid line-up of games to show off this year, and were most of them fairly fun? Yes. Did SOCOM 2 or Syphon Filter 4 set the gaming world on fire or make anyone pee their pants? No. Was the Halo 2 trailer the greatest thing ever and did it make everyone wet themselves? Yes. Was that enough to counteract the rest of Microsoft's arguably underwhelming line-up? Nope again. Did Nintendo have a lot of fun little sequels and some small pleasant surprises? Hell yes, they did. Does that change the fact that all of their best games this year were made by third parties - i.e., Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero, and Prince of Persia? Nope.

What's my point with all this? It's all well and good to be a fan of games and game makers. I myself have a list of companies which I am particularly fond of. But don't lie to yourself, and don't try to change anyone else's mind. It only makes you look bad. Keep the games that are really special to you as a personal thing. Like you do with your crushing feelings of sexual inadequacy.

Sega: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Suck

How can the same company that is responsible for F-Zero GX and Sonic Heroes also be a part of some of gaming's worst atrocities? I have no idea, but that seems to be Sega in a nutshell. Phantasy Star Online Episode III is, at least so far, the rape of a good franchise, and Vectorman isn't much better off. It's almost unfathomable that the four games mentioned even come from the same planet, let alone the same company.

Where were those guys that made Heroes brilliant when someone said "You know how we've talked about making a new PSO, except with a ton more weapons, more features, better gameplay, and making it massively multiplayer? Well, I think we should put cards in it. No, I'm totally serious here. Cards." Don't get me wrong, card games definitely have a place - I'm not sure where, but not in my new PSO game. Yeah, I know it isn't my game per se, but after buying three versions of it and logging in several hundred hours, I have a right to be angry when they totally card up the sequel.

Nintendo GameCube Demo Disc

If you haven't gotten this yet, it means that you're either poor or don't have a GameCube, and in either case I hate you. Nintendo finally broke down and did the demo thing with good results, releasing a disc that's far better than any demo disc yet released by anyone, except for maybe that Xbox one with the almost full version of CVS2. Viewtiful Joe and Soul Calibur II are the showstoppers here, and Splinter Cell is a good addition for the two of you who haven't played it yet. A shaky version of Sonic Adventure DX and a Billy Hatcher demo couldn't even ruin this one. It's available at most Target stores, so get to it, you poor bastard.

Soul Calibur II Import

If you have a modded Cube, a Freeloader, or an Action Replay, then it's time to put it to good use and get yourself a real man's import game. Soul Calibur II is not only the best fighting game out there without Virtua in the title, but it's also import-friendly. The menus are all in English, and since it's a fighting game, it's not really text-intensive. The Weapon Master mode and all of the endings are in Japanese, but that's not anything that's going to make you hate the game or anything, plus it gives you the chance to make up your own endings. Like this:

" . . . and then Link went and killed that big-eyed kid who played him in The Wind Waker. The end."

Pure joy. And yes, Link is as cool in the game as you might imagine.

Some Games From E3 That You Haven't Seen Mentioned Much But That Were Actually Kind of Cool

Rogue Ops (Kemco, developed by Bits for the Xbox, PS2, and Cube) - A fun stealth game starring a Lara Croft look-alike. A lot of interaction with the backgrounds and an innovative system for doing stealth kills make the game seem promising. Besides, it might be the closest you ever get to a good current-gen Tomb Raider. Plus, she has huge breasts.

kill.switch (Namco, for the Xbox and PS2) - I mentioned this game in my E3 awards, but it bears mentioning again. Some nice visuals wrapped around a smooth engine wrapped around a sweet caramel inside make for a tasty third-person action game.

Seven Samurai 20XX (Sammy for the PS2) - TNL has a preview up already, found here. It's a fast-paced slasher with a great flow to it. Almost like Devil May Cry, but with a better camera and no bad sequel. I wouldn't have played it had I not gotten the opportunity to go along to the Sammy appointment, and I'm glad I did.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (Nintendo for the Cube) - I liked the first Golf a lot, and this one improves on everything it did. Better graphics, more golfers (I assume), and some new tricks, like warp pipes that'll move your ball up the hole. Hehe. Ball up the hole.

Ice Nine (Bam! for Xbox and PS2) - A nice looking FPS with a good physics engine and some good gameplay. Also, not many games have names cooler than "Ice Nine."

F-Zero GX (Sega, for Nintendo, for the Xbox . . .) - Yeah, everyone's mentioned it a million times, but it's so hard to explain how much this game rules.

Coming Soon

The Next Level is growing, and faster than you might think. Our traffic over the last three months is up a quarter from the three months preceding it. That's pretty damned good. We've got a good staff, good content with even more on the way, with a couple of additions to the staff and some nice written things with words coming down the pipe. I even have word that Eric Williams (omgninjas) might be working on his yearly review. He's good enough to do that though.

Among the things we expect to have are more reviews, including but not limited to Ikaruga, Final Fantasy Origins, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter, and whatever Eric decides to do. Probably Halo 2. There are also some nice Q and A's and that sort of thing in the works, as well as a new look for the page and a new focus on some older games that a lot of you will find very interesting . . .

I love using ellipses . . .

Anyway, keep reading The Next Level for all the good stuff, and some contests and that kind of thing. I'd thank you for reading, but I didn't hear anyone thank me for writing.

· · · AFX