TRAViS

It was honestly a toss-up between the beta disc and the promotional pillowcase (because come on, a NiGHTS pillowcase? What more do you want?!), but the beta won out in the end. Not because of what it is, but because of what it meant.

Though I'm nothing but a lurker anymore thanks to my continued heavy involvement in another, erm, community, I still have a vivid memory of one of the biggest gambles I ever took in my life and how it paid off. About six years ago I put a lot of faith in the regulars of this fandom by volunteering quite literally my college-student life's savings to purchase a pre-release build of NiGHTS into Dreams, which was thought to have been discarded after its use. A shady online transaction followed, but about a week later this disc arrived in the mail. Penniless, frantic, and distraught, I put a small donate button on the forums and prayed I could recoup 25 bucks for gas money to get home that weekend.

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. In the ensuing month, over 40 of you chipped in enough to almost completely recover the cost of the beta.

This disc still sits displayed in a case on my shelf, with handwritten thank-you letters acting as box art. I had never quite seen, much less experienced, what a caring and devoted community could do when they pulled together to achieve something they truly wanted. Even today I'm still amazed by the generosity of the community when we were given a single, narrow chance to reclaim our prized piece of gaming history. You all helped make this community one of the best I've ever seen, and I've never been prouder to call myself a part of it.

PC, XBOX, and PS3, because that's two-two-two times the fun.

XBOX: Turbolence
PSN: Turbolence88

As of right now I've no idea which port I'll grab, but it's better to be ready either way.

For those who didn't watch the announcement live at Summer of Sonic, I just want to say that they didn't forget NiGHTS.

Permission to freak out and do happy things twice in one week? Please don't be pulling my leg(s) here!

Now that we're in full swing and I'm over the initial wave of blissful shock and awe, something even more awesome has occurred to me.

This is getting released on PSN, XBLA, and PC. Which means they likely share a common code base and assets. Depending how that works out, and how accessible the game data is on the PC port, I'm wondering about the possibility of modifications. Can I dream of texture swaps, model edits, different music, and new stages or routes once the more inclined get their hands on it?

And now back to patiently waiting with my credit card(s) and multiple PSN & XBOX Live accounts at the ready. And my Steam account for good measure.