Puppy love; Sammy and Roscoe

Faeries, yeah Faeries, you fruits!

Alright, I'm listening to Matt's CD and talking about faeries. The first song is "Rocky Took a Lover," which is one of my favorite songs of all time, with lyrics like, "You're such an asshole when you're drunk/ At least I'm Ok in the morning," and "I don't believe in any old Jesus/ If there was ago/ Then why is my ass the perfect height for kicking," but it builds to the chorus which can make me tear up in it's sincerity and simple beauty, "I'll shine for you/ I'll burn for you...I want to be the sky," which when juxtaposed with the banality and grossness of their everyday life is amazing. Matt, you are a connoisseur.

Anyway, fairies, I've been playing the downloadable Faery: Legends of Avalon. I like. Daniel would too. *DID YOU HEAR THAT DANIEL?!* It plays like old school Final Fantasy or Shining force, turn-based combat, text-based dialogue. You can customize your faery, choose it's gender and face. When you level up you can add features like tattoos, horns, different wings, tails, different armor, non 80's headbands. It looks beautiful; you're tin, the world is vibrant, recognizable and fantastic at the same time. And you get to fly everywhere (although I have had some trouble navigating smoothly, but there is no hurry, so no big deal). I have not gotten far, but I've enjoyed it, except...

The map sucks. It's is a lovely two dimensional picture that tells directionally-challenged me nothing. Also, there is a lot of fetching, in fact the game seems just fetching and fighting. The story has been sweet and the mythology both cute and mature. It costs $14.99 currently. So if you're looking for something to tide you over while you wait for Dragon Age 2 and LA Noire, or a break from the bleak insanity of Dead Space two check it out. And I want to see all your faeries.

It's going to be a good year for my hands and a bad year for my wallet.

This coming year is going to be an interesting one for those of us who love to play games on and in portables. It looks like Nintendo will be America-announcing their already-announced-and-soon-to-be-released-in-Japan 3DS this month (the 19th, if I've got my facts straight, so to speak), and then the blog-spin is heating up around the forthcoming and not-announced PSP2. I've been in love with the idea of portable gaming since I discovered the Game & Watch series as a kid. I remember fantasizing about the idea of a Game & Watch with swappable cartridges...and then the Game Boy was released. I played the hell out of that thing. Castlevania. Bugs Bunny's Magic Castle. Tetris...I played that game in my dreams when I wasn't playing it in my waking hours. Handheld gaming has progressed quite a lot, but the question of whether one of these machines can deliver a "console-like" experience has always been met with a resounding "no!". I'm using way too many hyphens in this here story. May need to brush up on their proper use...

Anyway, speaking to the latest generations of major consoles, the PSP tried and failed in the controls and content department. The DS opted for innovation rather than attempting to match the home game play experience, but in the end the library was filled with way too many babysitting, animal hospital working and gardening emulators to please any sort of 'core' gamer.

Onwards and upwards, both the PSP2 (so far only a "rumored" device due to Sony's woefully inept iron curtain PR machine) and the 3DS (about to hit the streets in Japan) are purportedly boasting powerful processors and new control and visualization paradigms (dual analogue nubs on the PSP2, anyone?). And I can't wait. And that's that whole story.