An e-mail and letters to the editor of Sega Saturn Magazine by
one-time ODWF'er dc_ecstacy...

Quote:
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-- OldmanEka,

After my ritual burning at the stake which took place on Oct. 11th, it
was my intention to leave ODWF (and PSO) behind, as I tried to
separate that part of myself which had become "sick", or contaminated.

However, acting on the concerns of several people who have emailed, I
slipped into the counter-productive, degenerative world that is mIRC
to determine just WHY it is that other people could not leave my ODWF
"ashes" alone.

It was not surprising, in the least, to hear old foes such as Zero de
Hentai and Onlinespat choking on their own histrionic bile, but it was
quite another jolt to my already embattled system to find that EDMOND
HONG - aka EkkerLuvsRat - had now taken centre-stage in his own
dizzying bid to 'deride' me. Not as an ex-ODWF'er...but as a PERSON.

OldmanEka.

Tell me, Edmond, when I welcomed you into my home, shook your hand,
introduced you to my parents (in a bid to be viewed as a
non-threatening, approachable lifeform), were you secretly swallowing
your REVULSION at having to deal with "old" people?

Did we really offend your 'New Australian' sensibilities that much? I
apologise. But perhaps "new" Australians shouldn't be wearing TWO
FACES - that's definitely an "old" Australian attribute. But hey, just
like your #pso peers, you're incredibly YOUNG & STUPID, you'll no
doubt continue to cannibalise my wounded pride until it inevitably
hurts your own. But that's okay too, coz it *tastes* so much better
when your sensibilities are swimming in devolved awareness.

When we parted company that night, I intrinsically hoped to believe
that we parted as 'friends'. After all, I told you my true age in
confidence (partly because I had no recourse to "hiding", in plain
sight). But I wasn't ashamed of it. I was an 'old skool' gamer who
just happened to LOOK like one. No secrets there.

However, your old skool DISCRIMINATION has obviously been carried
over, embedded, or "Alien Ant-farmed", into a very insolvent sector of
the ODWF, ie. the #pso channel. I'm asking you - in the most
diplomatic(?) way possible - CEASE & DESIST with your "Ekker-bashing"
attacks on my conscience.

I had intended to *leave* the forum. I'm not. I had intended to leave
PSO. I'm not. "Old" age may indeed be a curse - or residual
laughing-matter to some - but it also instils *indefatigable*
confidence for overcoming adversities. Or Adversaries. "OldmanEka"
will NOT be buried alive.

Oh, and on a final note, if perchance you are brazen enough to defy my
diplomatic(?) request - remembering also that I now have 'ears' within
IRC - then I too will stoop to YOUR level. I will mercilessly
discriminate (on a level hitherto unseen).

Before our "chance" encounter, Edmond, I never had a problem with New
Australians. They have a colonial right to be here. However, your
insidious 'discoloration' of personage, shall we say, has somehow
tainted my perceptions of others.

FYI, AYUMI is also a "new" Australian. Am I now to view her in a
similarly oblique light?

Just as surely as I grow "older", and weirder (thanx robobit), if you
Mr Hong, DO NOT END THIS MUD-SLINGING IMMEDIATELY, I will begin a
personal campaign of terror...directed at Ayumi.

Can your New Australian 'sensibilities' stomach the sickening
implications of that?! Your call, STRANGER.


- EkkerLuvsEddi



Originally posted by dc_ecstacy: Forgive me if this post is a little
short, but I'm due to rejoin my PSO "family" at any moment. Yeah,
that's the reason I wanted to say 'hey!' to Dragonfenix - and TAILS,
say Graham, do j00 remember me? I once sent you a dormant copy of
RIVEN for Saturn - and to remind the good folk of SWW forum that yes,
there *are* still some hardcore PSO 'phreaks' out there.

Myself, well I've got over 1070 hours logged with the game, and
dutifully log on some *five* NiGHTS a week! Sad I know, but hey,
NOBODY whips up a 'fuzion frenzy' (sic) like Sonic Team, lol. And
besides, they finally got a workable camera(!) that doesn't detract
from their surreal environments.

Oh, Dragonfenix...if you wanna say hey back to (Ecstacy), I'll be
online till the wee hours tonight, and thereafter on Wednesday, Friday
and Saturday NiGHTS. My 'posse' hang on the US server, Puck 15. BTW,
I'm ANASTACIA Lv 123. Mm'kay??

This may be slightly Off Topic Solid, however...just wondering whether
you collected/archived all thirty-seven issues of said 'supremo'
magazine?

Because I did. And what's more, my "opinion" evidently counted for
something with those 'paid professional critics', because Ecstacy
managed to get three letters published in the course of the mag's
lifetime...including one *very special* acknowledgment in the last
ish. But I ain't saying no more. (Wasn't using my online nick at the
time. )





Sega Saturn Magazine - Issue 37 - November 1998

Dear SSM (and the bedraggled Saturn masses)

It's a sad day indeed when the hardcore Saturn enthusiast is forced to
jump ship. Forsooth, let it be known that this writer has booked a
berth on the Good Ship Nintendo after 28 months of sanguine Saturn
sea-faring. It's never an easy, nor wanton choice to let your 'ship of
dreams' sail off into the sunset, but then who could have forseen the
high seas of havoc skullduggery that has been the vanguard of Sony?

For too long it has been perceived buy many within the pages of SSM
that Sega itself played no small part in the Saturn's damnation, but
only now, on the cusp of a new voyage with Nintendo can I see events
through a glass brightly. It wasn't Sega who failed to deliver the
Saturn's lifeblood, it was Enos the Conqueror who mercilessly bled the
market dry... desecrating the waters of tradition with a false prophet
of technological wonder. And the gazillions believed. They opened
their tiny minds to the newfound Alpha Channel - all precious little
32 shades of it - and they thought that this was nirvana. Nevermind
the butt-ugly warped and contorted textures of their Z-dimension, this
was a necessary evil.

And so the myth was perpetuated by Enos, year after misleading year.
The Saturn was derided, it's properties condemned, until all but the
gnostic could face the truth. It was time for new blood. But the
corpuscles of the fallen would not regenerate until 1999. That's one
whole year folks, before Dreamcast will descend upon a jaded, bone-dry
mass of humanity.

Eros wil not steal the future. And it will not usurp the present. Not
when a 64-bit entity shakes the ruins with ridiculously good software
like Doom 64, Turok 2, Quake 2, Wipeout 64 and Perfect Dark. This is
the here and now, survivors of Saturndom, and as much as the past
glories (and distant futures) of Sega's finest shine messianically in
the minds of Richard Leadbetter and throng, it is cold - unbearably
cold - comfort to the living fragments of Sega's once gilded community
(ie the cast adrift public).

Don't be mistaken, don't be mislead, get a Nintendo 64 instead. Your
advocate has spoken. For the record I will keep reading SSM in
anticipation of The Deliverance. Oh yes.

Steven ********, Australia




Sega Saturn Magazine - Issue 21 - July 1997

Dear SSM

This letter may seem to be dredging up the past by centring on spiked
comments made by previous EMAP editors (Mean Machines Sega, anyone?)
but, in the land of bated breath (ie Australia) where UK periodicals
are summarily delayed... by MONTHS, it is quite timely. Almost.

Hence, the collective "kicking" cum murderous assault exacted upon
Saturn Doom. As one of the slavering, Doom deprived Saturn faithful, I
was as eager as anyone to give Doom a "fair shake". It's obvious that
Rage Software has stumbled badly with this conversion but, Doom being
Doom I refused to accept that its playability was neutered.

Even as I grappled with the "gridlock" that is Perfect Hatred
perfectly cursing the curse of Rage, I was never once deterred or
remorsed by my purchase (of Saturn Doom). Yes, the almighty Exhumed
has shown the pretenders a thing or two, but let's face it, the kill
count (in that game) was well below par. At least Doom delivered,
albeit in a grogy stupor.

As to the pitiful ratings afforded to Saturn Doom in both SSM and the
dearly departed Mean Machines Sega, how can you possibly justify 56%
and 39% respectively when your own hearty recommendations (for Alien
Trilogy) are utter ARSE?

I bought this limp, wheezing excuse for a game on the basis of many
favourable reviews (yours included). But, due to a broken control
scheme and the worst sprites I have ever seen in ANY GAME (16-bit
included), I immediately replaced with vigour.

Unfortunately the harsh, virulent words that have been heaped upon
Doom by outstanding journos like Angus Swan and Richard Leadbetter
cannot be replaced, nor redeemed and we the Saturn-loving community
must bear the scars forever. Shame gentlemen, shame!

Steven ********, Australia


LEE: This comment may seem to be dredging up the past by centring on
spiked comments made by current EMAP editor Richard Leadbetter, when I
deliver with vigour a quote from the outstanding aforementioned journo
taken from a previous UK periodical. "Rampant stupidity is rife the
world over. I won't rest until such fools are unmasked... and
eliminated". Bear the scars of that, Steve.