Lately I've been spending a lot of time with my copy of Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War, and I have a lot of nice things to say about it. It's deep, it's fun, it's got a great interface”well, OK, it's just a great game. In any case, I was happily playing along in the spiffy 2D mode, feeling nice and comfortable with the familiar board wargame look of the game, when my son looked over my shoulder and suggested we try the 3D view of the game, "you know, the one where the tanks look like tanks instead of chits of cardboard." Figuring it wouldn't hurt to humor him, I switched over to 3D, and”Great Patton's Ghost!--we were confronted with a sight to freeze one's very soul”that of the ugliness that lies at the heart of wargaming. We witnessed wraith-like infantry, indistinct vehicles, Germans wearing green uniforms, Allies grey. It was like World War II on food poisoning.

Catch the Winter X Games? During the women's slopestyle competition, one of the riders pulled a double-grab 360. The announcer hollered, "ding ding ding," and called the trick. It struck me that he was making a Coolboarders reference. The video games are affecting the sport itself.

Yesterday, the arcade nearest to my house officially sold its soul”not to the devil, the government, or even a special interest group with some less diabolical agenda. No, it sold out to the thirteen year old mall crowd and their perceived need for franchise-like arcade huts and the seemingly infinite series of genre clones that go along with them. Don't get me wrong, one of the best things about arcades is the fact that they provide you with the opportunity to play games months before they make it to a console, and generally in better versions.

Obviously, the internet capabilities of the Dreamcast”combined with its superior processor apparatus”give it an edge far sharper than any system to break in the last forever many years. You thought, perhaps, that you had maximized the possibilities of your couch when you finally found the Dukes of Hazzard TV tray you had been looking for the last ten years, or installed the Molson-stocked mini-fridge next to your remote control caddy. But now, Sega has introduced the possibility of leisurely strolling through the internet from that selfsame couch, not to mention given you the option to play console games on-line with friends who are similarly devoted to their domestic sitting arrangements.

AIRPORT, Salt Lake City. Maybe some of you out there haven't been to E3. In fact, maybe almost none of you have. Well, this was my first year, and I just sort of lucked into it, so believe me, I understand the pain and frustration that you must feel knowing that another year has come and gone in which you didn't get to see any Namco girls. Yes, I am just patronizing you. Anyway, a conversation I accidentally got on tape at the airport might help. This kid ("some kid" as I prefer to call him) was on his way to visit his dad in Illinois. The plan was, he was going to go there, try and get free stuff and money, and mostly listen to his dad complain about "your mother the bitch." So I showed him forty-five minutes of footage of the Space Channel 5 Go-go dancers. And after he cried for joy, I hugged him, and we had a pretzel. We also had this conversation:

In the grand scheme of things the Dreamcast hasn't sold as well as it could have and I don't think there's any real mystery as to why this is so. A lot of people felt like they got burnt by the Saturn and they've lost faith in Sega's ability to deliver the goods. Gamers coughed up 299 bucks to take a stroll through the next generation system, but then a little something called the PlayStation showed up and preceded to whoop Sega's ass all up and down the isles of your local videogame store. When Resident Evil came out it gave gamers an experience they'd never had before and the Saturn was on the ropes. Sony landed jabs and uppercuts and if you listened closely you could hear bones breaking. Final Fantasy VII rolled out and "Fatality" echoed in the background. FFVII helped sell a bajillion more Playstations, and the Saturn basically just disappeared. When the dust settled and the blood was mopped up Sony was the undisputed champion of the console world and Sega's mangled remains were unceremoniously kicked aside, and the videogame world moved on.

Well, it's coming up pretty soon now. Assuming Microsoft sticks to the most recent release date, Windows 2000 Professional, Server, and Advanced Server should be out in stores in a few months. And what we all ask is, "Do I want it?," and, of course, we answer "YES!". But what we all really need to know is, "Do I need it?" And that's a definite maybe.

Well, Sony has committed. The PlayStation 2 will be available on October 26, 2000, and it will cost $299. I will take a moment to thumb my nose at anybody who predicted a price higher or lower “ it only makes sense that Sony would release their second system at the same original price as the first. Sony also intimated in their press conference that the PS2 will follow a similar price evolution as its predecessor, which means the price will eventually drop.

One of the promises of the Dreamcast was Internet connectivity right out of the box. Sega realized early on that consumers not only want to game online, but to have easy access to web sites, email, and the plethora of applications that have made the Internet and the World Wide Web so attractive. Indeed, right out of the box users could plug their new Dreamcast into the wall and get online with a few quick clicks. While the Dreamcast Web Browser 1.0 wasn't fully functional on the contemporary network, everything worked pretty well. Within a short time you could download mods for Sonic Adventure, check out the questionable content provided by IGN, kings of the misguided headline, and, most importantly, access the external web and email. Odds are, some of you are reading this article on your Dreamcast right now, so you know what I mean. Hopefully you're using the 2.0 browser, which now supports Flash and MP3s.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences held their third annual Interactive Achievement Awards last Thursday, May 11, 2000 in LA. In the midst of E3, the IAAs have gained some notoriety, and with good reason. It was an all-star event, featuring Martin Short as emcee, and with celebrity guest presenters like Ahmet Zappa, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, and Harry Shearer. Of course, some of the winners were luminaries in their own right like Bruce Shelley, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Will Wright. In all, it was a great evening, and some of the greatest games from the last year were given their proper recognition. Of course, there were some disappointments (Knockout Kings over Tony Hawk's Pro Skater?!?). We've summed it all up below for your viewing pleasure.