There is a conspiracy among game manufacturers to deprive me of my constitutional rights to operational games. Let me clarify: a used copy of Final Fantasy 9 doesn't work for me. Its broken. It boots up, plays fine until 45 minutes into the game. When I try to go through a door with Zidane after Princess Garnet, the game goes black and stays that way. Meanwhile, the music loops endlessly without hanging or sounding distorted. So, I'm flummoxed.

I haven't had the chance to try the game in another Playstation, so its possible that it could be my system. It is after all about 6 years old. But I haven't abused it, and it plays other games flawlessly. The disc itself isn't badly scratched. It looks like it has numerous light surface scratches, but nothing I haven't played before without any problems. Perhaps FF9 requires an absolutely scratch free disc.

In the meantime I'm fidgeting, playing other old games which of course work fine. This will be resolved, the only question is how and when.