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Hello World!

When I'm not busy working on TrekToday or Slipstreamweb, surfing the net, sleeping, eating chocolate or having an interesting, fulfilling real life, I like to play the odd video game.

My current fixation is with "Vagrant Story" for Playstation, which came out here in the UK some time last year. I played it for a little while, but the fact that I kept getting thwacked by a great big crab thing made me stop playing. I recently picked it up again to combat the "I've-just-finished-Final Fantasy IX-how-can-anything-ever-be-as-good-as-that??" blues. Only this time, I'm not getting stomped.

Vagrant Story is a weird game. Its a sort of cross between a role Playing game, an interactive movie, a war game, a Tomb Raider style adventure, a puzzle and a platform affair. In short, I've never played a game that's quite as unique.

The atmosphere in its dark medieval setting is incredible, with ghostly sound effects and rousing melodies in all the right places. I've had the "Fighting the Fire Spirit" melody stuck in my head for two days now. (Thanks to my good friend the Mighty Tor, I've been able to find the soundtrack, try GamingForce Audio if you too are searching) Graphics and attention to detail are amazing: I noticed the way the Goblin boss wiggled his ears just before I killed him with my axe.

There is no FMV in this game. All the story driven cut scenes take place within the setting of the game itself. If you go into a scene with your weapons drawn, you'll have them drawn throughout the scene. What this does is really draw you into the game environment, and is very smooth and seamless. One of the key elements for me in a game is storyline, and the plot in Vagrant Story is so intriguing and with enough cunning twists that I'm already hooked. And I'm only 30-odd per-cent of the way through.

Why not have a look at the game's official web site? Its a very nice site, and you can look at the cool graphics even if you've no idea what on earth I've just been going on about. Of course, you could always head over to amazon and see for yourself.

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Is the Voyager finale going to be boring?

-Would you like to see an alien in the Captain's chair of a Starship?

-Who is a typical JetCer?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

• Scarlet Pompers Interview. - Michelle Erica Green at Mania Magazine published an interview with "Voyager's Youngest Astronaut" Scarlett Pompers, who plays Naomi Wildman. Scarlett revealed that her Katarian makeup only takes ten minutes to apply, and that her favourite actress is Kate Mulgrew. The interview included an absolutely adorable photograph of Mulgrew with Pompers, which is still in the TrekToday archives here. Go take a look. I dare anyone not to think it's cute.

• Christian makes a statement - Christian reminded the readers that he IS NOT officially involved in the production of Star Trek in any way. Apparently he had been divulged with requests for autographs. And I don't think they wanted his own scrawl. Two years later, he still isn't officially involved in the production of Star Trek, and you should still check out the official site for ways to contact actors and the like.

• 136 members at the TrekBBS - Apparently that figure was "guaranteeing lots of interesting discussions." Two years later, the boards have 4092 registered members and more discussions going on than a High School girl's toilets. They're a friendly bunch. Do pop in and say hello.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

How would you grade 'Natural Law'? 7-8 29.2% - (534 Votes) 5-6 20.6% - (377 Votes) Wasn't able to see it 14.9% - (274 Votes) 9-10 12.5% - (230 Votes) 3-4 11.2% - (206 Votes) 1-2 7.6% - (140 Votes) Didn't want to see it 3.6% - (66 Votes) Total Votes: 1827

In this week's poll, we ask which of the upcomming Trek attractions you're most excited about. Thanks for voting!,

Today's Television Listings

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series' 'The Devil In The Dark' at 10:00am Eastern Time.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky Premier 3 will be showing 'Star Trek: Insurrection' at 13:05 GMT and at 18:00. Sky One will be showing three TNG episodes, beginning at 14:00 with 'The Loss,' followed by 'Data's Day' at 15:00 and 'The Wounded' at 16:00. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

Tomorrow's Television Listings

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series' 'Errand of Mercy' at 5:00p.m.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Lineage' at 20:00 GMT. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

• In the Netherlands, Yorin will be showing DS9's 'The Reckoning' at 17:10 CET, and Voyager's 'Remember' will be on Net5 at 18:35. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
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