Blasto: The Most Impressive 32-Bit Title Yet?
The Short Answer: Hell no!
The Slightly Longer Answer: Perhaps you should have asked, will George W. Bush go down as the greatest President of all time? Will Howard the Duck win the Oscar for Best Picture? Was Chinese Democracy worth waiting a dozen years for? Of course the answer is no, nobody is going to say yes to any one of those crazy questions. It's bad enough that a prestigious magazine like Next Generation could put Blasto on the cover, but then to ask if it's the most impressive 32-bit title yet ... that's just one step over the line. In fact, that may be the most offensive question ever posed by Next Gen. The answer is obviously no, it's one of the least impressive 32-bit games ever released.

Has the PC Finally Won the War?
The Short Answer: It depends on what they were fighting over.
The Slightly Longer Answer: In the late 1990s the PC won a few skirmishes, but I don't know anybody who would say that the PC has won the war. These days the PC is home to a lot of great games, but their release schedule (and sales) are dwarfed by the consoles. Then again, it's not entirely clear what ground these two competitors were fighting over. For the most part PCs and consoles played to two entirely different audiences, so I'm not even sure they knew they were locked in a war.

Metal Gear Solid: The Last Great PlayStation Game?
The Short Answer: Not at all.
The Slightly Longer Answer: Metal Gear Solid the last great PlayStation game? Oh give me a break. Metal Gear Solid came out in 1998; there were still plenty of great PlayStation games on deck. Don't believe me? Check out this list of great PlayStation games that came out AFTER Metal Gear Solid: Gran Turismo 2, Chrono Cross, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1, 2 and 3, Vagrant Story, Ape Escape, Resident Evil 3, Syphon Filter and R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. And that's hardly a complete list, I could go on for paragraphs talking about all of the great games released on the PlayStation after Hideo Kojima's masterpiece.

Will Tekken 4 Be on PlayStation?
The Short Answer: It will not.
The Slightly Longer Answer: I like it when the questions are this easy. The only Tekken games released on the original PlayStation were the first three. When the PlayStation 2 was released it was introduced to Tekken Tag Tournament, quickly followed by Tekken 4 and then Tekken 5. So no, Tekken 4 was not on the original PlayStation. However, maybe Next Generation was talking more broadly, asking if it would be on ANY PlayStation console. If that's the case then yes, Tekken 4 was on the PlayStation 2. I have a hunch that's not what they meant when they asked this burning question.

Tomb Raider 3: Are We Still In Love?
The Short Answer: We so aren't.
The Slightly Longer Answer: Sorry Lara, but we really aren't. By the time Tomb Raider 3 hit the store shelves we had kind of had enough of Ms. Croft's acrobatic stunts and enormous breasts. The first game was ground- breaking and the second game was more of the same, but by the third game we wanted to see somebody else. It's not that we didn't find her attractive, but we had been there, we had done that. It was time for a new girlfriend. But don't worry Lara; we came back to you years later when Eidos figured out how to make a compelling Tomb Raider game again.

PlayStation 2 vs. Dreamcast: Is the Next Console War Already Over?
The Short Answer: Sadly, it is.
The Slightly Longer Answer: Due to poor worldwide sales and a lack of funds, Sega's hopes of winning the "next console war" were slim to none. It didn't help that Sony had more money than God and a massive following. And you can't forget that Electronic Arts wasn't putting software on the Dreamcast, which certainly hurt Sega's bottom line. Throw all these problems together (and then add in the impending GameCube and Xbox launches) and there was practically no way for Sega to win. So yes, the next console war was over before it even started.

Soul Calibur: Is This the Game That Will Make You Buy a Dreamcast?
The Short Answer: Yes, it's one of the games.
The Slightly Longer Answer: Soul Calibur was one of the best selling games at launch, and for good reason. Even though Tekken was fantastic, Soul Calibur was Namco's early triumph. It was a fighting game that was considerably better on the console than in the arcades. What's more, it looked amazing and had a phenomenal single-player mode. Was it THE game that made people buy a Dreamcast? No, there were certainly other games that contributed to the successful U.S. launch, but Soul Calibur was definitely one of the brightest stars for Sega that year.

Will Sega's Shenmue Make You Forget About PlayStation 2?
The Short Answer: Only until you get bored.
The Slightly Longer Answer: What will make you forget about the PlayStation 2 was the PlayStation 2's crummy launch line-up. Talk about depressing. About the only good game you could buy at launch was EA's stunning SSX. As for Shenmue, the truth is that the game was good enough to make you forget about the Dreamcast competition. However, the game was also slow, deliberate and not the kind of thing that everybody can get into. Those waiting for the fast-paced action games on the PlayStation 2 would likely have been bored by Shenmue, so it likely would not have made them forget about Sony's system.