Dear Future Gamer,

Finally, an interesting and comprehensive piece on the new Nintendo console. Want my comments on the article? Well... the only problem is that all my emails are sent once a week when I go on the Internet - which is precisely the same time I download the magazine - every Thursday. Consequently, it's a waste of time commenting on this issue primarily because 10 million others will undoubtedly have already sent in theirs before this has even been read.

Soooo, I'll write some universally applicable Monkey Island comments: I wish modern games had a splash of Monkey Island's sense of humour. Silicon Valley's brilliant introduction sequence is the closest a modern game has come to making me laugh, so therefore, I am of the opinion that next-generation games have completely forgoten how to have fun.

We either get games with a splash of humour (the Gorons in Zelda) or games that try to compensate by being cute (Yoshi's adorable exercise routines in Yoshi's Story, for instance). I'm convinced that a Monkey Island-style spitting contest in The Ocarina of Time wouldn't have upset anyone. We could even control the Linkster with the analogue stick, with Big Link having an advantage because he can spit further then Young Link. As many people rate The Ocarina of Time as God's gift to the world of computer games, wouldn't a few instances of smirk-snigger-giggle complement perfectly Zelda's epic storyline, involving gameplay and expansive visuals? Perhaps have a few funny bits to relieve the 'seriousness' of the story?

It appears that graphics, controls and frame rates are replacing fun and laughter as a means to entertain - all the development emphasis is placed on the former rather then the latter. I don't particularly want to marvel at the graphics in Monkey Island, as I have better things to do - like playing the bizarre spitting contest, fighting the dastardly pirates using the power of sarcasm and just generally wondering around the whole place looking lost and having a good time doing it. Fun games, like Monkey Island, have more entertainment value then any game currently on the shelves can ever hope to offer. Unless games are actually meant to be all about frame rates and piles of polygons rather then giving us the giggles, I challenge all the readers of Future Gamer to find me any N64 or PlayStation game that contradicts what I have said and I'll be happy to retract the aforementioned comments (for a small fee...).

Neil Clowrey

FG: Your comments on the Project Dolphin feature would be most welcome. You'd be the first. So - are games not funny anymore? Neil's thrown down the gauntlet. Your suggestions for funny games can be sent to the usual feedback address.