BC,

    Nintendo questions? Okay then, do you think the big N will take a closer look at our "niche" market this time? Or will they continue to snub their nose at all RPGs, even in the aftermath of FF7? To ignore such a growing market of gamers was just plain dumb, and they had better have taken some notes from Sony this time.

    Speaking of the Gamecube, did they ever announce what kind of medium the games are going to be on? I thought I heard "mini-DVD with plastic caddy" or something to that effect. Why Nintendo feels the need to invent their own medium instead of just sticking with DVDs like everyone else just escapes me.

    Side note: When are the other staffers going to get their bios up? Anyway, there's a total of 5 questions, which should get you off to a good start. Oh yeah...hello, new guy.

  -Red Raven, amazed at the "revolving door" aspects of RPGamer, especially in QA

Black Chocobo:
  What's up with the "new guy" thing?
  Allegedly, Nintendo has learned from their mistakes with the N64 and is attempting to get as many developers as possible interested in the Gamecube. The console itself is engineered to be a dream to develop for. As for RPGs, well, three of the announced potential games; Zelda, Metroid, and Too Human; should certainly appeal to RPGamers.
  About the medium: Nintendo has decided to use proprietary 8cm mini-DVD discs with 1.5 GB capacity, although I haven't heard anything about the plastic caddys. It's one of their big anti-piracy measures, and believe it or not, they're supposed to be cheaper to make, 'cause Nintendo doesn't have to pay that stupid DVD Consortium fee.
  As for bios... other staffers should be getting their bios up asap :) Unfortunately, /bios/ doesn't have an index yet, so you have to search to find them. And about the revolving door thing; RPGamer doesn't have a central office, you know. We all work from home, in whatever spare time we have, so it's only natural that people come and go more often than at "bricks and mortar" sites.

Hello, O Black Feathered One!

Since there seems to be a lack of questions, I thought I'd give you something to answer. Having no questions isn't much fun. Here goes...

1. Have you ever played Grandia? What did you think of it? Right now, I'm about 25 hours into that game. It's fun and charming in its own way, but very s-l-o-w! Does the plot ever pick up any speed?

2. Once I finish Grandia, its back to my stack of unfinished games. Which game in my collection should I play next? I have yet to complete Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Front Mission 3. Also, I need to see all the endings in Chrono Cross still, and I definately want to get FF9 when that comes out. Ah...too much gaming goodness.

3. What RPGs are you looking forward to in the coming month?

4. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if that woodchuck's name was Nerb?

5. What are you dressing up as for Halloween? I'm going as Ash (as in Army of Darkness, not Pokemon...'ell, no!).

Later,
Vitamin D
"What else floats in water?...Um, uh, apples? Gravy!? Very small rocks?"

Black Chocobo:
Wooo! A multi-parter!
1) Why yes, I have played Grandia, and I quite enjoyed it. It's in my big "unfinished" stack. I'm only half as far as I should be, though, 'cause I spent WAAAAY too much time buliding up my magical skills. I'll agree it's not the speediest game ever, but it's still charming, and yes, it does pick up.
2) You MUST finish Xenogears. Seriously, before you forget what the heck was going on. You just don't leave a complex plot like that hanging. After that it's a hard choice... although I'd probably get the extra CC endings, and by then surely FFIX will be out.
3) Skies of Arcadia has invaded my dreams. I WANT that game : )    FFIX also looks very promising, and there's Shen Mue, too, but I'm in college, and therefore I have no money.
4) If he lets the constant prodding he gets from his peers for having such a stupid name get him down, he probably doesn't chuck as much wood as he could.
5) Good choice. As for me, I don't have any local buds that are willing to go along, so I don't partake of Halloween costumery : (    I will, however, (probably) be attending Anime Central in March as Jigen, Lupin III's trusty gun-toting cohort : )

Aww yeah, obscure cartoons abound. That last one that Gin posted is from Thundercats. Anyone who has seen half an episode knows that. BTW, my girlfriend got me a Thundercats shirt for my birthday. Gotta love 'em.

To keep in tune with the "Q&A" portion that this should be, I have a few questions:
1) Are you a flying chocobo or are you a mountain/river chocobo?
2) Do you speak in ebonics?

I believe that is all.

- Nichabod "I am the terror that flaps in the night!" Potter

Black_Chocobo:
Eye of Thundara, give me sight beyond sight! That's enough of that...
1) I do it all, baby! Flying's the most fun, though.
2) Sadly, no. I can speak "T" decently, though! Allow me to demonstrate... *ahem*
 "Yo, listen up, sucka! I pity the foo', be tryin' ta play mah man Darkwing Duck. Now shup wit yo' jibba-jabba 'fo I toss you through next area code!"
...
My apologies to Mr.T

Hey Black Chocobo,

Umm...it seems that I am the only reader of this column that actually managed to get a PS2 (not that I'm bragging or anything, but i didn't wait for 8 hours in front of a Wal Mart for nothing), so I decided to send you a little something about it. I picked up Orphen and Tekken Tag, and am eagerly awaiting Summoner (I can't find it anywhere around here). Anyway, Orphen is pretty cool. I've never seen the anime or manga or whatever its based on, but it has an ok plot. Of couse the graphics are great too. The only problem I have with it is its rigid linearity (so far, at least).

Well, this sounds more like a review than a Q&A letter, so heres a question: Were you able to get a PS2? Or maybe so one you know? If so, what do you think?

Son of Sabin

Black Chocobo:
  You waited 8 hours in front of Wal-Mart? That must be scary. Oh well, at least you didn't pay several thousand for one on Ebay. Then I'd have the nice men in white jackets take you away.
  Nah, I didn't get a PS2. I wasn't willing to do all that waiting for hours crap that I knew I'd have to, plus the launch software is really rather lackluster. Then there's the whole "I'm not a big fan of Sony, if you know what I mean." thing, but we'll not get into that : )    I might get one later if it's cheap enough by then, and I can't get my RPG fix elsewhere. A friend of mine did get one, though, and even though the only thing he got was Tekken Tag (why?) he seems pretty happy with it, mostly because he now has a decent DVD player. He also mentioned the odd placement of the power switch... what's up with that?.

Did you realize originally that the parts of the Rebirth demo were running in realtime, or did you find out later that it was a combination FMV, realtime? And to think Mix-Core said with another few days it could have all been in realtime....that's a lot a water and fog effects.

Guif‡
"I only write poems when I feel like it
NOT when teachers tell me....mmkay?"

Black Chocobo:
Yep, I knew.

Hey Blackie...

1. Why are you worse than Red and Yellow? Sure, you're stronger, but what about Choco Meteor, which is mysteriously missing from your attack list, and you can't cure? 11 speed at level 99, and no auto-haste items is no good, my friend. On the other hand, as a Red, you get props and you get to do a victory dance when you launch an attack. If you want a future in this buisness, Red is the way!

2. What's Nintendo have planned for the Cube thing as far as RPG's go? I love Nintendo to death, but unless they start producing on the RPG front, or at least showing signs of life on main systems, I'm going the Sony way.

3. Do you believe in life after love?

Black Chocobo:
  Ouch, man. Nobody ever gives Goog smack for being a lowly weakling slime, or got on Gin's case while he was an almost completely useless bottle of gin, and yet here I am, getting picked apart simply because I can't dance, and I can't control space/time without a little help from a friend? That's rather shallow of you, Sevenex. You didn't even mention my biggest advantage, flight! Very handy for getting out of trouble, and transporting snipers into position.
  Anyway, for Cube RPGs, see the answer to the first question. I haven't heard about any truly traditional RPGs in development yet, but there were a couple guys from Square at Spaceworld. That's a little something to keep in mind, but don't get all frothy at the mouth.
  Life after love... no, not really. When you fall in love, the rest of your life seems unimportant in comparison to the object of your affection. Once you're truly in love, your life changes completely... until you get dumped and it goes back to it's former boring, lonely self.

If you don't hand me the PS2 now you will face the wrath of my army of sea animals HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

WHO LET THE SOONERS OUT?

Black (African-American) Chocobo.
Do tell me you are voting for the most kick ass choice for President November 7th. None other than the enviromental, bad guy bashing, tights wearing, Captain Planet.

"What the **** is entrophy?" The people exclaimed

The Last Laugh:

Well... that was both fun and challenging. I don't think I could do it every day, though. Suddenly I have a newfound respect for the little ball of goo known only as Googleshng. I hope I was able to both answer your questions, and keep you awake for the duration of the column.

Oh yea, one more thing... speak out against racial bias! Vote for Black_Chocobo, who was cruelly nixed from Radrisol's "Playstation2: Dance of Death" comic. Nevermind that I've never done Q&A solo before today, or that I don't really hold any imporatnt positions... vote for the underdog! : )   How you ask? Just email Rad and cast a vote for your favorite large, dark purple-ish, flying pack-bird... or for me, if that desription doesn't fit.