I hope you won't be too angry, we have stopped the year-end countdown in favor of a new comic. I can just tell you where things would have gone. Third is Sega's brave foray into synaesthesia, Rez, and I am glad of the opportunity to say the word Synaesthesia again. Second was Splinter Cell, universally adored by our crew - keep an eye out in March for the first freely downloadable expansion. In our estimation, Metroid Prime takes the top spot for games in 2002. God only knows what alchemical formulae were leveraged to bring it about, but it is plain that mystical forces were involved.

The awards ceremony just began to smack of continuity after a time, and we who have stood so vigilant against it were caught unaware. And besides, everyone was writing us about this Mavav thing, with the assertion that it was a grave threat, we must act, and other assorted etcetera. The signal went up, and we answered.

To the casual reader it is probably inconceivable, but at this point we have a certain responsibility to deal with issues like this as they arise. We don't always answer them a way people like, for example, a gaming site going pay is not, to our eyes, synonymous with the destruction wrought by man's final war, Armageddon. Nor did we feel the Army Game was an act of unmitigated, cackling evil. But we still need to touch on that stuff, which is to say it needs touching. We take the responsibility very seriously. If there's someone else doing this the way we do it, I don't know about them.

But as regards the dreaded Mavav, I think we have very little to worry about.

In fact, I am prepared to call it a hoax.

I hate moms just as much as the next guy, but that site doesn't have the taint of mom. It has the taint of fancy lads trying to get your blood up. No articles. No privacy policy. Some of the language and word choice rings false. The hyperbole takes a step too far, even for a concerned parents site, to hold any water.

Here is my backup plan: If it does turn out to be real and I just didn't believe it, well, that's because I've reached this, like, hyperspace, higher plane of cynicism where all reality and the people in it are a ridiculous pageant for my amusement.

(CW)TB out.

writing about music is like dancing about architecture

The server for Mavav.org traces here:

drakhath.net [216.226.142.104]

To a devious clan site, no less! There are definately some good bits on that parody, it is my hope that they take a major media outlet for a ride with it. Answer requests for interviews, etc.

(CW)TB

Well I am back from my vacation and it feels damn good to be home. I am desperately trying to get caught up on all the game news I missed and answer all the e-mail I have here.

I am still recovering from my trip so I honestly don't have much to talk about. I did want to mention that the forum will be down for a while. In the meantime you can check out the temporary ezboard forum located here. Like most things in life a few people ruined it for everyone else. I am sick of deleting pictures of girls eating poop and posts about Hitler. In my opinion the Forum is more trouble than it's worth. Like I said, feel free to enjoy the ezboard forum for the time being. We have nothing to do with it though so please don't complain to me about how it's run. The official forums may come back eventually although I can't really say when. The Members forum is still available so those of you who have donated to club PA in the past can still access that.

Speaking of Club PA, if you donated in December but did not get your Samus Aran wallpaper please send me a mail. If you could put something like "club gift" or whatever in the subject that would help me out a lot.

Is it just me or does the new 1.5 patch for the Army game totally fuck up its stability? All of a sudden I am crashing out of games left and right. Is anyone else having issues with the new version?

-Gabe out

Many of you are sending me copies of e-mails that you sent to MAVAV. There is no need to get so upset. Check out Tycho's post above, the whole thing is a joke by some clan.

-Gabe out

I will admit that MAVAV had me fooled for a little while as well. It wasn't until I took a look at the site again the next day with Tycho that we realized it was a joke. It turns out it was a school project. David Yoo spills the beans on his little hoax here.

-Gabe out