am I the only one who played this?

Kenji reminded me of the many means of keeping in touch with my friends besides actual face-to-face contact, and urged me to join Twitter and start updating this blog again. As many of you know, life has been a whirlwind these past two months, including getting engaged, getting a job for when I graduate, buying a house and adopting a new dog. I'm completely ready for life to calm the eff down after this upcoming Saturday. I sincerely miss some of my closest friends and I yearn for the idle summer days of reading a good book or playing my DS on the beach.

In the meantimee, I have very little free time atm and want to fill the void with some kind of casual-enabled game. I downloaded Stubbs the Zombie on XBLA as well as the Puzzle Quest expansion (including a Rogue class, who I named Maddy :). Hope the dog doesn't mind). I have also been contemplating re-entering WoW, especially since its quiet right now. I've been really jonesing for some good Hunter play, and the pic I saw of the Engineer motorcycle mount makes me want to grind out some Engineering levels before WotLK hits.

Been watching a lot of TV recently too. We just worked through Jericho, which ended in a disappointing entire second seaosn, including outrageous over-the-top deaf-girl-shotgunning scenes and an abrubt change in tone and direction from the Season 1 finale. Now we started Alias, and I don't think I've ever been so impressed with a show's first episode. Alas, I hear Alias falls apart somewhere after the 4th season as well.

The dog is named Maddy, btw. She's half Norwegian Elkhound, which is an awesome breed of sled dogs and moose hunters. MOOSE HUNTERS! I had never seen one before, but when we took Maddy for her morning family coffee walk today we saw that the neighbor actually has a full breed Norwegian Elkhound right around the corner. Maddy, quite the timid little army-crawler, was not as excited as we were. I will have to take a nap with her on the couch to make it up to her :)

Hope people are still reading Vox. Look forward to some of my famous Potato Salad, soon-to-be-famous Buffalo Chicken Dip, hot dogs, burgers and beer. And please, bring anything you might want to eat/drink/do at the house. Also, pray/hope/bribe someone to prevent storms, or we'll all be huddling together in a hot house with not enough seats!

Kid

Effing

Icarus

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Add me, and send me your code too!

Another review for an Atlus game, Super Robot Taisen is a strategy RPG that basically rips off Fire Emblem but uses giant robots. That can be seen as either a great thing or a meh thing ...

In just a week now, a game so universally panned by critics and fans alike releases, and I couldn't be happier. Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person shooter using the RE4 camera style and starring everyone's favorite almost vampire, Vincent Valentine. Thus begins the FFVII suite of games that triumphantly herald the not-yet-announced but constatntly-hinted-at remake of FFVII for the PS3.

(editor's note: for those not versed in the lore of games, Final Fantasy VII represent a sort of pinnacle, a genesis of modern video games, and an epic moment in the life of one Jon Novak, though the reference has this universal meaning to all gamers. consider it the equivalent of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' or 'The Godfather' in terms of meaning to its medium)

Right now I find solace in XBLA and the tepid competition between my lady and me versus Andrestin Rudmont for domination of the Gamer Score (we're winning). Yet the games in my collection right now seem mostly empty for the moment. There's only so much online Uno or the suprisingly disappointing SFII that I can play before desiring more substance. Oblivion needed a break, Ghost Recon presents a challenge to the Nth Degree (in which N stands for "Not Fun in Any Way") and the remainder of the 360 fare doesn't appeal to me for now.

The real kicker is, I start orientation and classes next week, the idle days of free time drifting away while the fall schedule looms heavy with Squenix goodness (Rocket Slime, Children of Mana, FF3 DS, FFXII) and hot times for the 360 (I'm looking at you Blue Dragon and Rainbow Six: Las Vegas). But for now, all I can think of is a return to Midgar.

Dirge of Cerberus will most likely not be a great game. But I wanted to mention it because this is a huge part of the video game experience that I think people miss; anticipation. I often say that Secret of Mana is my favorite game of all time, which it is, and yet here I am practically losing sleep over the idea of once again seeing what life is like in a town I knew so well in my youth.

... to everyone who made it up for Mia's gallery opening. For all intents and purposes, she is now a professional artist (though not a big-headed one, as you can imagine)

It was wonderful to have the support of so many friends and family members for this moment in Mia's career and in our lives. Thanks again, especially to those who came back and rocked out afterwards.

The show is still up, and will be for another month, so please let us know if you want to come up and visit and see it.

After making me edit the piece down to half its size, AmpedIGO posted my review of Summon Night: Swordcraft Story today.

My major point, now lost on the cutting room floor, is that the game's is a metaphor for its own existence. In trying to talk about games in a new way, I tried to speak about the mood and intent of this game. In light of those facts, instead of "neato graphics" and "awesome RPG action" I think I did the game some justice.

Enjoy, and feedback is always welcome.

For starters, Mia is having her very first gallery opening in about 2 weeks. Its a solo show, her very first, and she's a combination of nervous, excited and a little gassy.... okay, maybe not the last part. Here are the relevant details:

Mia's gallery opening

And of course, more new content for AmpedIGO. Magical Starsign is a new DS RPG coming out in October that looks pretty... and it should, since its by the team who made Sword of Mana. Preview goodness here.