To answer my earlier question of whether Karaoke Revolution Vol. 2 is an expansion disc or a stand-alone game, Peter Nguyen of Konami offers this response:

"…the sequel does not require the first Karaoke Revolution game. The differences between the versions is that Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 has 35 different songs, new modes, characters and venues.

"We opted to not release expansion discs because we wanted to provide the consumer with more value and a better gameplay experience. An expansion disc typically contains only 5-10 new songs and costs around $20.00. Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 is a new game with new features, 35 new songs and costs $39.99. Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 is providing better overall value to the consumer, equally about $1.00 per song plus great content."

I find that acceptable, though I wish some interaction with the original volume was included (even if it was preserving costumes and scores from the original memory file). Also, why didn't they think of this before they included the "expansion disc" option in Vol. 1?

Ah well. This may not be a video game, but it is an impressive demonstration of "artificial intelligence" (or a really well-stocked database of questions and answers – remember Eliza?). Play 20 Questions at this web site. It guessed I was thinking of a checkbook in 19 questions.

The GameFAQs spring contest has ended, ensconcing Final Fantasy VII as the Best Game Ever. My hope that the Final Four would be three Zelda games and Metroid Prime, and that the Best Game Ever would be the original Legend of Zelda (now available for GBA!), was sadly mistaken. That these fine Nintendo games were trumped by FFVII makes it even worse. I once wrote an editorial wherein FFVII was symbolic of much that had disenchanted me from RPGs. That article used Lufia II as a shining example of good storytelling. Since then, an even better one surfaced in Skies of Arcadia. I highly recommend either of these experiences.

Release dates have been updated. There are no longer listings for the PSOne; though I was told a year ago that there were still 60 games in development for the nine-year-old system, none are currently listed with the major retailers. I also removed the N-Gage listing but will replace it when and if that information becomes available to me.

I hope everyone's had a good Memorial Day weekend. I got back yesterday from Atlanta, which I used to visit regularly (for E3 and other reasons) but not in the last six years. I remember my first visit there in 1993, when I was first exposed to several intriguing electronic concepts: Dave and Busters arcade, the virtual reality game Dactyl Nightmare, the Mortal Kombat movie, electronic highway toll payments, and others. I'd forgotten that their Shallowford Road highway exit had been from where I derived the last name of a Dungeons & Dragons character I'd once played (back when I played D&D).

This time down I saw the movie The Day After Tomorrow. It was a rather uninspired film with plenty of cliches and a few plot holes, but it was neat to see Donnie Darko in another film, with possibly more screen time than the lead.

I'd like to thank the senders of the 1,062 spam emails I received while I was gone. Actually, what I'd like to do to them can't be printed here.