Dmg Ice Interviews 
Jawn S. (Bowza) of Z64: The Legend of Zelda Page. 
Bowza is 16, his birthday is on September 19th, and he lives in Grand-Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. He runs the successful site "Z64: The Legend of Zelda 64 page". His page rivals www.ZHQ.com in it's Legend of Zelda 64 coverage. Bowza's E-Mail is jawn@nbnet.nb.caThis interview was done by The Avardancer. This interview has been edited; mainly to hide all the really nasty stuff; we talked about.
But, all the horrible grammar is still here...
(Like what can be done with the Dual Shock, our love lives, etc. Heh. Heh.)
{What? Did you think I'd let you read all the GOOD stuff?} 
<Avardancer> Welcome once again to a Dmg Ice Interview; today we have Jawn or "Bowza" of "Z64: The Legend of Zelda 64 page".

<Avardancer> Say hello to the audience Bowza.

<BowZa> Hi Audience! Hi Avardancer!

<Avardancer> So, let us start out the interview.
 
<Avardancer> You own one of the bigger Legend of Zelda sites on the web; when did you get the idea to start your site?

<BowZa> Actually, it's pretty funny how the site actually began. The idea started when I was telling one of my friends about some thought I had on Zelda64, some ideas that I thought would be in the game. He laughed at me and said that no one agreed with these thoughts, and I was sure others did, so, one day I started playing around with the idea of having my own ... place to give out my ideas. Of course, the site grew into much more than that now, and my ideas hardly have any influence at all other than the small mentions I make in the news and Q&A that are my opinions.

<Avardancer> I noticed that you make other sites as well. Could you please explain "Stuff Sucks" to the audience? (Actually, there is no Audience :)

<BowZa> Haha, Stuff sucks is great. It's a comic book series I began during a boring History class one day. My teacher said something dumb that really pissed me off, so I started ignoring every word he said, and decided to create two characters that talked to each other. Mind you, I was writing this on paper, so it was hard to read and I noticed that my handwriting is terrible. So, I saw that Southpark did their animation on computers, and I decided to do the same. I did the series mainly for friends at school that enjoyed the series, and I threw it on the web so if i added any new ones during the summer, people could see them without seeing a paper version.

<Avardancer> Hmm. What are your impressions on the new information about the size of Legend of Zelda (40 hours +) and the amount of Cinema scenes. (About 40 minutes.)

<BowZa> I'm happy to hear about the large amount of cinemas. I think they will add a "movie atmosphere" that N64 games lack. Playstation games often don't use movies properly, it's usually just a boring intro, but games like Final Fantasy 7 really showed us some great movie work, like when Sephiroth kills... Aeris I believe. This could not have had 1/2 as much effect if it was done in normal straight angles.

<BowZa> As for the length of the title, I think it's what I expected. I take my time with videogames I buy, and I think it'll take me a good 2-3 weeks before I see the end of Z64, then again, some people'll finish it off the first weekend they buy it.

<Avardancer> Well, how are things in Canada.

<BowZa> Things in Canada are very warm right now, which is great. I get to play lots of tennis, and I don't get to complain about the cold or about icy roads and stuff like that.

<Avardancer> What systems do you own?

<BowZa> I own a playstation, a Nintendo64, a gameboy...and in the past I've also owned a NES, a SNES, and a Genesis... I sold the Genesis off pretty quickly though

<Avardancer> what games for Gameboy do you own?

<BowZa> I owned Final Fantasy Legend 3...which really wasn't that good, and I had Donkey Kong Land, and I had Zelda: Link's Awakening.

<Avardancer> Do you plan on buying Pokemon when it comes out?

<BowZa> Hmm... I don't know, it seems very cool, but I'm getting somewhat sick of the RPG genre lately, but ill give it a try, and if I like it, it might be somewhere on my Christmas list for sure.

<Avardancer> Do you plan on buying a Color Gameboy?

<BowZa> Same thing as the last question... it might make the Xmas list... but I'd be very very much more likely to purchase it if a new Zelda title were to be released on the system.

<Avardancer> Mr. Miyamoto has mentioned that Link's Awakening will be rereleased with Color Tables for the Color Gameboy.

<BowZa> Yes, I read that. I believe that is a good thing! I also heard that Dragon Quest would have a Gameboy incarnation, and its gonna be in color most likely, too!

<Avardancer> The Dragon Quest title will be a "16 Mega-bit title"; where do you think the future of Gameboy is headed after the Release of the Gameboy Color?

<BowZa> The gameboy color is probably going to be the peak of the Gameboy, but it's still had an amazing road, and the color gameboy should last a few years, definitely! I think that Cart sizes can continue to grow, a 2 meg gameboy game is unreal... that is  2 MEGS right?

<Avardancer> Yup.

<BowZa> How big was Link's Awakening? I believe I read 4 megabits.
<Avardancer> Link's Awakening was 4 megabits; or 1/2 megabytes.

<BowZa> right.

<Avardancer> What is the future of your site going to entail?

<BowZa> Well, I've already begun work on the site that will superceed (sp?) Z64, and I plan to launch it slightly prior to Zelda64's release date. Of course, these things can change... but those are my plans. So, in other words, I'll still have a Zelda based site up when Zelda64 is released, although I may broaden its ... content.

<Avardancer> What is your opinion on "mature topics" in video games?

<BowZa> well, when I was a kid, I thought: "Videogames are all violent, how can you have a non-violent videogame?"... The games have broadened though. Now we see games like Parrapa the Rapper and Bust a Groove that really aren't centered around violence, so more types of games are coming our way, and violence is not 99% of the titles anymore. Of course, I don't necessarily like killing carrots by kissing them and collecting gifts for my sick grandmother either... which  some nintendo games seem to emphasize. I wish people wouldn't look at games based on the amount of blood in them thought, and I don't like getting the question " Will there be blood guts and puss in Zelda64 flying all around?"

<Avardancer> I got an outrageous letter once asking if the Pokemons could eat each other and if it left blood. Strange people.

<BowZa> Strange people! Ever get a question asking you if Pokemon could eat Pu**y? :) haha!

<Avardancer> I might leave that response out. :) (But, it's too funny.)

<BowZa> (couldn't resist, sorry! ) :)

<Avardancer> Well, what is your stand on emulation?

<BowZa> I love emulation. my Snes was sold, and screwed up a bit too, ... I had trouble with the RF switch. I use emulation to play old games that I used to rent all the time... you know , I still play all the Zelda games on their once in a while too. The Snes emulation is fun because I couldn't possibly buy these games around here, and I still enjoy them. I think Emulation could be potentially disastrous for company profits if they ever start emulating systems as soon as they are released... Gameboy Color , for example, could probably be emulated simply enough, and this may not be a good thing for Nintendo at all!

<Avardancer> That's true. Well, what music do you listen too? (This is a "friendly interview.")

<BowZa> Well, I listen to several different styles of music. First off I play the piano, so I like anything I can learn :) I also like the metal band "Korn", which are very strong and they kept me up last year during the few homework sessions I had after school. I like all the Final Fantasy series and I have the Mp3's of them, and I like a lot of videogame music too!
<Avardancer> How long have you been playing the piano?

<BowZa> god... I don't know, I took courses when I was a kid, like...grade 6, and I stopped after about a year 'cause I moved. Then maybe two years after I started playing around on it again, so ...4 years ago, and I started writing my own stuff and learning other songs by ear, and I love playing, it's really fun!

<Avardancer> I absolutely loved the Piano version of Princess Zelda's Theme you did. Any more songs from Zelda 64 coming anytime soon?

<BowZa> Thanks, I learned that in about 15 minutes after doing the recording for the exclusive Z64 movies that I made up. The other song, on the other hand, took me a LONG time to learn, I remember learning it while my emulator was running the SNES Zelda, at about 3 am in the morning! I don't have any other Zelda songs learnt yet, but if i get more sounds from the title I'll try and learn them and put them up!

<Avardancer> What is your opinion of the huge amount of Legend of Zelda 64 screenshots on the web?

<BowZa> I like them, but some people don't like seeing the game until they have it in their own hands, and I can sympathize and understand that. I don't mind seeing them though, and its not like I have a choice, if I don't expose myself to all the Zelda news, shots and movies, I can't have my website.

<Avardancer> I'm going through the same thing with the "Pokemon" games; there are people who don't like the idea of seeing all 151 creatures; and I've actually gotten a request to take them down as not to spoil it.

<BowZa> haha! well, that's an odd request. A few people did tell me that they weren't going to visit my site because they wanted to wait until Zelda64 was released. I don't know... I read everything about Mario64 before it was released, and it was on par with my expectations, and I was surprised by lots in the game.

<Avardancer> When Banjo-Kazooie cam out; I had only seen a little of the game from the video. What do you suppose those people at Rare have for us next?

<BowZa> They're definitely working on a Donkey Kong Title, I doubt they have another Killer Instinct in the works...they also have the beautiful looking conkers quest, which is just the prettiest videogame! I must sound effeminate here, but it's the closest thing to "cute" I've ever seen in a game. Conker smiles, yawns, stretches, looks at butterflys, he's just so cool! :)

<Avardancer> I think that Conker is a little creepy sometimes. I'm going to buy the game because I haven't been scared by a video game in a while. :)
 
<BowZa> hehe!! Well, I don't think I'll be buying conker...unless I have the extra stash... I plan on buying Metal Gear Solid for playstation next, then Zelda. Right now those are my only planned purchases this year.
 
<Avardancer> Do you have any advice for budding site creators?
 
<BowZa> yes, find something original, find something that people enjoy that no one else thought of. That's the problem with 90% of sites, they don't offer anything the others don't , and that's why they fail. Dont over promote yourself, don't call yourself the best, don't bad mouth other sites, kiss @$$, write well, don't use too many exclamation points, don't use BIG LETTERS all the time...those are just a few things. :-)

<Avardancer> Umm. Do I dare ask what the others are?

<BowZa> haha! um, never badmouth my site ;) haha! no, I don't know, those are just a few things...don't have 123 banners up on your page...dont have porno banners on your page, for gods sake! I saw a Zelda site with a porn banner the other day, I couldn't believe it...dont they know their target audience isn't horny old men...but virile non-horny kids!

<Avardancer> Umm. That's a little much. Maybe they've been to "www.Z___a.com".

<BowZa> haha, yeah, I went there once... of course, I took a few hours to make SURE there wasn't any Zelda content! :) Only naked women!

<Avardancer> I wonder if Neils would ever admit that.

<BowZa> Nah, he wouldn't want to ruin his image; of course, I don't mind ruining mine :)

<Avardancer> Btw, what is your opinion of Neils, and IGN?

<BowZa> Niles is a good guy, he has a nice site, he and steve are really cool. I think he's offered too many sites to Join in to his group...he asked me to join him once, I refused, but several sites think of it as making a big step or something, but the fact is when you join another site you loose a lot of your opportunity to express yourself, I guess that's why I like to stay alone. But I don't want to badmouth the ZHQ, it's an excellent site with lots of stuff.

<BowZa> As for IGN, they're good. I used to really disrespect a lot of their ideas, but they've grown, and the guy who used to work at nintendojo works there now, that's Peer, and he's a real smart guy.

<Avardancer> I've been trying to get an interview with Peer.

<BowZa> that would have been easier a few years ago...

<Avardancer> Well, do you miss UGPOnline?

<BowZa> I didn't mind UGPO at all, but it wasn't my fav site either. I loved it back when they had the top ten lists, those were very funny!

<Avardancer> Have you been to Dmg Ice?

<BowZa> Yes, it's one of the few gameboy sites out there, it's kewl! its in the links section of my site, and I visit it periodically.

<Avardancer> Hmm. What is your opinion on Nintendo's "Next System"?

<BowZa> They'd better not throw out another cartridge based system or they are honestly dead! I don't really look that far into the future, the system is very far away and I'll look at it once the system is on display, which is a good two years away, at the very least.

<Avardancer> What are you planning to do to obtain a Legend of Zelda 64 cartridge? (i've got an idea on how I'm getting mine; but it involves bloodshed..)

<BowZa> well you see ... I have the best plan on earth, I'm going to take my car, turn it on , and drive to the store an pick it up! I'll probably pre order about a week before it comes out, and of course, if its not there, ill tour the united states and canada searching desperately for a copy!   And .. happily enough, ill be paying for the game with the money I made off my website Z64. So, I've been working to ...appease my worries about the game and to appease my excitement with the website, and in the end it will have actually paid the game for me, isn't that fun?

<Avardancer> Hmm. That's great. Dmg Ice doesn't make much money for me right; now; but it's averaging more hits lately.

<BowZa> That's great. I think as the excitement for Color gameboy grows, you'll be more successful.

<Avardancer> How do you deal with "Flamers"?

<BowZa> Flamers...hmm, define the term please.

<Avardancer> "Flamers" are the people who e-mail you and say "you suck" and they have horrible grammar.

<BowZa> oh, well, I can't say I've had very many... maybe 6 or 7 since i've had the site, but I always either delete the mail, or answer very politely... you know "Thank you for your interest in Zelda64. I believe you when you say your site is one million times better than mine, and I'm sure your website will be a great success for you." or something of the sort.

<BowZa>  they want to anger you when they write this, they are  ...god I keep forgetting words today, they are ungrateful.
 
<Avardancer> Hmm. I'm having a little trouble getting my readers to participate in the site. (You know, BBS, Guestbook, Reader Reviews, etc.)

<BowZa> I suggest asking friends around the web to get a few done for you. Then people'll start jumping in. The first prediction I ever had was from a friend of mine, the next few hundred were from my readers. Start the domino for them, they all fall in too, and that's a good thing.

<Avardancer> This interview is getting long; and I have to end it now; but is there anything you would like to say before we close?

<BowZa> Hmm, well, good luck to all webmasters out there, the web is a cool space for everyone to give they're opinion, and buy Zelda64! ...as if anyone isn't. Best of luck with DMG Ice, and let me know when the interview is up, I'll alert my readers to check it out and your page too once its up. This interview was fun! 


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