Dear Future Gamer,

I was flicking through your great new site the other day and read the letter "Sales Bitch". Being a sales assistant in my local software shop, I feel I must point out that this letter is rather unfair, even your reply suggests that we all have rather 'under the counter' dealings with manufacturers and that we are all biased against the Dreamcast already.

I would like to point out that myself and my colleagues (and, in fact, most sales assistants) make sure we know all the facts before advising customers, and never slag off something we know little about.

Something else I want to mention is the way publishers are saying that PlayStation 2 games are going to end up costing millions. How can this be good? Okay, the games will look good but gamers nowadays want original titles and ideas. A publisher isn't going to want to spend five million on an innovative game that may flop - they're going to go for Tomb Raider 9 because they know, like sheep, people will buy it because it's a Tomb Raider game.

Thank you for taking the time to read my rants and I look forward to hearing your reply, because I do value it, even if sometimes I don't agree with it.

Hiltono

FG: I'm especially pleased to hear from you Hiltono. It's very heartening to hear from a sales assistant who actually cares about what they're doing. Why not tell us who you work for? I don't mind giving a plug to any independent shop or High Street chain which hires staff who actually know what they're talking about. As for your second point, it's something that worries us too. Despite the fact that there is indeed a great deal of conservatism in publishing at the moment - on every major platform - there are still signs that some innovations are being made though. Empire Interactive were showing a rather bizarre but very promising sheep-herding game at E3 for example. More on this in a future issue...