Last weekend I had a major crisis here at the loonybin when the hard drive on my fileserver abruptly went kaput. As pretty much every visitor to the Shack knows, hard drives are not by any means a product with an infinite life. These things happen. That drive in particular was cared for in the best ways imaginable (regular defrags, deep scans for errors, etc.) but ultimately, it died of old age (at least that's my theory anyway). This got me thinking...I regularly play console systems that are 10 or more years old. As new systems come out with hard drives, does this mean they have a limited shelf life? I've had to replace the onboard battery on my Saturn on three occasions, but fortunately that's a $5 fix. What happens when the Xbox hard drive dies? It's not going to happen any time soon, of course, but ten, fifteen years down the road, it'll probably be on its last legs. Of course, someone probably will have figured out the Xbox filesystem by then, so replacing it will be an easy process. At least, that's my hope anyway. Still, it's something to think about, as Sony is committed to releasing the PS3 with an internal hard drive (PS2 add-ons aside) and chances are that whatever Nintendo's next system is, it'll have one too.

	Soul Calibur II Delayed Don't worry, it's just a week, and it's only the Japanese arcade release. Had you scared there for a minute, didn't I? Ain't I a stinker?
	Steel Battalion Movies Computer and Video Games has posted new movies from Steel Battalion, Capcom's uber-Xbox 'mech sim. Unlike the last ones I posted, you won't need to subscribe to anything to view these (sorry about that).
	Dead to Rights, Sega GT Movies Also at CaVG tonight are new movies from Dead to Rights and Sega GT 2002.
	Sonic Mega Collection Revealed? Intensity Magazine has posted a list they claim to have received from Sega of Japan, listing the games in the upcoming GameCube Sonic Mega Collection. This list contains all the major Sonic games from the 16-bit era (including Sonic CD), along with Sonic 3D Blast (ick), Sonic R (not bad) and the absolutely horrid Sonic Shuffle. Unconfirmed is the presence of Sonic Drift, a Game Gear title that was never released in America. Thanks 1trudA for the tip.
	SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Preview GameSpot has posted new text and video previews of Sony's online tactical shooter SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals. You'll probably need to be a Complete subscriber to view the video preview.
	The Elder Scrolls on PS2? For those who like to get their news from online retailers, GameForms has a news item up pointing out that a mysterious game called Elder Scrolls Adventures is now listed on GameStop, with a release date of February 2003. Given the lack of a PS2 hard drive (at least out of the box anyway) it's a safe assumption that this is not a port of Morrowind.
	FFXI Update Details New details from the next update to Square's Final Fantasy XI that will be released next week are up at XenGamers. This update seems to address concerns by experienced gamers who have already hit the game's level cap. The cap still remains, however.
	Game Music at the Hollywood Bowl Hey, neato -- apparently there's going to be an orchestral gaming music concert at the Hollywood Bowl to coincide with next year's E3. If they play the soundtrack from Xenogears I'll be there in a heartbeat.