entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Neal Stephenson tricked me again... he wound me up with a good book and then STOPPED. WRITING.  Cryptonomicon is a good, if highly nerdy, romp, until he decides, "OK, i'm tired of writing about protagonist A, so i'll just kill him off.  Hmm, and protagonist B was going to get married, but i have these loose ends, so i'll have him tie them up.  That frees me up to use protagonist C to... oh, fuck it.  Explosions.  Sex.  More explosions.  Exeunt."  That bit about the psychopath with the bow and arrows was so random and gratuitous, i still don't get the point.  FUCK YOU NEAL STEPHENSON AND YOUR BROKE CYCLE SEE IF I READ IT `CAUSE I WON'T.  JERK.

Maybe that's the thing... LucasArts, in a hurry to put out KOTOR 2, hired Neal Stephenson to write its ending.

syringavulgaris and solipsistnation wanted more details regarding the LucasArts upfucking of KOTOR2.

• From RPG Vault, an interview with Lead Designer Chris Avellone and Producer Chris Parker where they talk about the game and the pressure to get it out and what needed to be cut.  They talk it up and try to spin it as a good thing, but c'mon, you and i can read between the lines.
• There's an online petition where fans are asking LucasArts and Obsidian Entertainment to restore the scripted ending that is actually in the game files that are installed (and there are accompanying sound files as well), which was extracted and reconstructed (BIGTIME SPOILER OF GAME ENDING) by two enterprising souls.
• A good summary of the above, and more, can be found at TheForce.Net editorial.

Maybe i should consider the lack of a Grim Fandango sequel a blessing in disguise.

I would like nothing better that seeing the person or persons at LucasArts responsible for forcing Obsidian Entertainment to bowdlerize the final sixth of KOTOR2 suffering in eternal torment.  It doesn't quite ruin the game, but it certainly takes the wind out of the sails of a fantastic story, the closest thing to Planescape:Torment yet.