Okay, it’s time to talk about something happy. Something interesting. Something pleasant. Hmm…. Kitties? Flowers? Jesus? Nah. I don’t know anything about cute pleasant stuff. So instead, I’m gonna talk about video games.
	I remember the first time I played a 3-D castlevania game. It was Lament of Innocence, for the PS2. It was right after it came out, and my friend Mike Ritenour was over at my house and he brought it with him. I remember playing it and thinking, wow, I liked the 2-D games more. Some how turning into three dimensions had taken the series and made it into something more mainstream, something generic.
	Okay, that’s going a little far. Castlevania will always be a loner in terms of inspiration, coolness, and medieval ass kickin, but still, I play Shinobi, or GTA, or Devil May Cry, and now even Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, they all kinda feel the same. They all kinda have this same vibe going on. Like the thousand or so fuzzy mascots of a generation gone by, or the countless 2-D sidescrollers littering the Nes and Super-Nes.
	Don’t get me wrong. I like Lament of Innocence. I like Shinobi, I like GTA. I have a hard time not liking any game with good play control and decent incentives.
	Some how, though, the mechanics of, say, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night still appeal to me in a way that no three dimensional game ever has. I loved the way that the backgrounds, while mostly uninteractive, still FELT like they where. Vast panoramas of cozy library reading chambers, chapel alters, moonlight cottages, the occasional chair that your character could ACTUALLY SIT IN! They made the castle seem so much bigger than it actually was. In a 3-D game, if you can see it, generally you can get to it. The mystery of background pieces is gone. They’re part of the interactive world.
	Hmmmm. Looking back on what I’ve written here so far, I’m not really getting to the point. I suppose what I’m trying to say here is that I like 2-D castlevanias, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You know what I really want to see? A 2-D Castlevania ONLINE! A massively multiplayer castle where people can explore, hunt vampires, and chat with friends. Somehow that appeals to me. None of this hotkeyed, thousand classes and races, millions of stats and abilities, online 3-D crap that must be rooted through to find something genuinely entertaining and not ADDICTIVELY COLLECTIVE. (Did you know that people will actually pay real money for game money on E-Bay?)
	I want something simple, something I could just pick up and play and enjoy myself. Something with the ease of play as an old school Mario game, yet the vastness of a Grand Theft Auto. I want Castlevania online.

	Okay, so chances are good Castlevania is never going online. People have tried it, stopped, tried again, died; the concept is cursed. So what else could I do to get a 2-D MMO game started? I’d need a good concept. Something origional… something cool…

	OKAY okay, brainstorm, whats the first step? Uh… Oh, yes, finding an audience! What group has been denied their gaming dues? Well, there’s Jewish people, but I don’t think I’ve got the credentials to head up that particular project. There’s curling, but I’m not a big sports enthusiast. There’s country music, but I can only take so many dukes of hazard… Hmmm. What about rock music? What about PUNK ROCK music? Hey, yeah! I’m liking the sound of this. How cool would it be to wander around a big old platforming world, bashing shit with guitars, listening to Offspring and MCR and the Hives? Maybe not just punk rock, but rock in general.. Ozzy and Metallica and System of a Down and Led Zeppelin and Dio and Pink Floyd and Hendrix and all the greats of today and yesterday, a vast world populated with guitars and black clothes and leather and drums and motorcycles and all the great stuff that comes with the territory.
Alrighty. I’m totally stoked about this now. I want to start drawing up stuff already. Still, no one ever made a decent online game all by their little lonesomes. I’m gonna need some help with this project. WHO WILL JOIN ME? 

James “Muffin” Crockett

P.S. I just thought of this, Diablo is technically a 2-D game, isn’t it? Cause it’s isometric. Still, it doesn’t quite feel OLD SCHOOL enough for me. He he. I’m so old school. Oh yeah, here’s my website ( http://www.geocities.com/muffinforsite ). When you decide to join me like I know you will, pop me off a line and we’ll get busy on this.