Quote - Area lights were basically (this is my understanding based on explanations in the manual and tutorials) equivalent to arrays of lights controllable as a single entity. They took an age to render with but did look great. I don't see why you couldn't build your own array and see if anyone could write a script to control these as one.

Because to properly fake an area light with an array of lights, you would need an array made up of dozens of lights. If you use a small number, each light in the array will cast its own distinct shadow while an area light casts a unified shadow. Its a lot cheaper (and nicer looking) to have an actual area light.