Happy New Year to all those who follow the arbitrary decision to divide days into the artificial Gregorian calendar.

Two-thousand four saw the end of my tenure as a system operator (sysop) on CompuServe, where I joined the staff of the Video Gaming Publishers' Forum on May 10th, 1994. (It was later rechristened the more general Video Gaming Central Forum.) In November of 1997, CompuServe discontinued their text- and telnet-based access to their fora, so I adapted to their other interface, HMI (host micro interface), employed by proprietary software such as MacCIM and MacNav. In fall of 2003, VGC closed as part of a restructuring and streamlining of the entire service, and was absorbed into the even more general Games Site Forum. In 2004, the service further eliminated support for the HMI protocol; the interface they exchanged it for is web-only, designed by Prospero, the same firm responsible for the online service Delphi's fora (another service of which I am a refugee, along with GEnie). This time, I chose not to adapt. But the ten-year run was fun and introduced me to many friends (Joe, Jeanne, Alissa, Arc Nova, Rudy, and innumerable others), whose company, both online and at E3, and gaming insights I've appreciated. I've now closed my personal CompuServe account, opened in the early Eighties with a 1200-baud modem, and my sponsored account will likely disappear with the next round of renewals.

Speaking of accounts, my registration for E3 2005 has been approved.

Cheers!