"Rules are made by people." Sato rapped the tabletop. "This week, we'll run a newsflash first. The title will be Midgar's Shock: The Complete First-Phase Experience of FF7. Leave the score blank for now and give it an anticipation rating. Write down what you truly felt over these thirty hours."
Takahashi nodded, then turned back to face the computer keyboard.
"What should we focus on?" Takahashi asked.
"Technology." Sato stood up. "Write about how Square wrung the Sega Jupiter's hardware dry. Write about that seamless battle transition with no black screen, write about the precision of the polygon modeling, write about the movie-like cutscenes. Tell the readers this isn't just an RPG. This is a monster of the game industry."
"And the characters." Yamada suddenly cut in from beside them without even turning his head. "You have to write about Tiffa and Alice. Square's character writing this time is incredible. They've even made the characters' micro-expressions, not like the old days, when faces were pieced together from a few pixels. Players can directly feel the characters' emotions."
Sato stubbed out his cigarette. "Add all of that in. Four pages, full-color print. Hand in the draft before six in the morning."
San Francisco, California.
The editorial department of NetGeneration magazine.
Editor-in-chief Chris strode through the cluttered office area and arrived beside senior editor Tom's workstation.
Tom was wearing over-ear headphones, staring at the monitor, his thumb rapidly grinding the joystick of a Sega Jupiter controller.
Chris reached out and patted Tom on the shoulder. Tom took off the headphones and looked up.
"Deadline's here, Tom. Where's your FF7 review article?" Chris glanced at his watch.
Tom pointed at the screen. "I'm still playing. This game has four CDs, and I've only just reached the world map. The first dozen-plus hours all