Yep. It snowed a week or so ago. In late-March/early-April. When I’d probably already be outside wearing t-shirts and shorts if I was still in Austin. I don’t recall that happening even when I was in Minnesota, though it’s been a while, and my memory isn’t all that clear.

Still nothing of real major importance happening in my life (working while waiting on, presumably, the summer school term to start), so here’s ever more unimportant things:

As usual, start with games.

Sony PlayStation Portable: Completed my Sony console collection by picking up a used PSP-2001 (slim) and installing CFW (custom firmware) on it. I got it mostly with the intention to play PS1 games on, though I eventually found that the emulation support isn’t quite what I’d hoped for. That said, it’s still the best option available, at least until SCEA stops being completely useless and update the US PSN Store to not be a joke compared to the JP one. On the other hand, there are actually a few nice PSP games, even if they’re mostly ports/remakes (see below).
Verdict: Worth owning.

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth: Seems like this game has become somewhat rare, but I found it at Wal-Mart for $30, so picked it up to play what is supposed to be one of the best RPGs w/o having to pay exorbitant prices on ebay for one of the PS1 copies or through illegal methods. The English voice acting is atrocious, forcing me to get the undubbed version, but the game definite is pretty nice so far (about 5 hours into it).
Verdict: TBD, likely good.

Patapon: Interesting, but I’m terrible at these types of games.
Verdict: Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon, Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon, Pon-Pon-Pata-Pon, Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-: Decent game, though the FFVII world really doesn’t do all that much for me anymore. Supposed to be short, so maybe I’ll get around to finishing it eventually.
Verdict: Who knows.

Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II: Picked them up for collection purposes as they were cheap, probably won’t ever get around to playing them.
Verdict: Will never find out.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions: One of my favorite games on the original PlayStation. The new localization is definitely superior, though I’m so used to the old class/spell/ability names that I’m still often thrown off by the new ones. The FMVs are lovely (they remind me a lot of Valkyria Chronicles), and the English voices are pretty decent. As I’ve already spent hundreds of hours on the PS1 version, and don’t really have the option of playing the multi-player modes that are required to get certain items, I’m basically just cheating my way through this one using LionEditor. ^_^
Verdict: A+++++++++++++++++++ will play again.

Hot Shots Golf: By now, I’m pretty sure the PS3 version, Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds, has surpassed VC as the PS3 game that I’ve spent the most time on. and I’ve spent more money on DLC for it than any other game as well. Not many people seem to appreciate it, but this game is amazingly fun, to the point where everytime I think of playing something on a console, I inevitably end up just playing another round (or 5) of golf in HSG instead. I even ended up getting Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 on the PSP, but stopped playing it half-way through because playing both really messes with my timing due to the difference in play mechanics (OOB introduced the Advanced swing mechanic, which is what I used exclusively, while OT2 uses the Traditional style).
Verdict: While OT2 just merely good, OOB is awesomely fun game full of awesomeness. With an absolutely adorable Jasmine thrown in. ^o^

And anime.

Kara no Kyoukai: Mujun Rasen: Very long (almost 2 hours), and very awesome. Animation is still top-notch like it was in the previous installments. The music is still great, even if sprinter is my least favorite Kalafina ending theme song to date. And there’s an amazing corridor fight scene. Oh, and let’s not forget this:

Verdict: 9 blushing Shiki faces out of 10.

Casshern SINS: Very very slow paced, but I enjoyed it a lot. The main characters are very interesting (and I always seem to have a soft spot for robotic pets). And like most anime, the ending didn’t impress very much – it was depressing, as expected, but also didn’t offer much in action either.
Verdict: 8 decaying robots out of 10.

Gundam 00 Second Season: Great visuals (for the most part), pretty good mecha design (00-Raiser… yay for “wings”!), a few nice songs (Prototype and trust you), and a story that’s meh at best. And let’s not even start on the ending.
Verdict: 7 naked GN particle-induced hallucinations out of 10.

Shakugan no Shana: The series started kind of darkly when I picked it due to expecting a light-hearted show. The cast of characters is fairly interesting, though none of them have a lot of depth. And I didn’t like Shana all that much (I guess I just don’t really care for most Tsundere characters with a few exceptions like Rin). Might eventually watch the sequel series, but that’s dobutful.
Verdict: 7 “urusai!”s out of 10.

Toradora!: Decent enough series. Not a very big fan of any of the characters (see above about Tsundere characters), but entertaining enough, and I did enjoy the ending.
Verdict: 7 Taiga-headbutts out of 10.

Rosario + Vampire: Fan service is the name of the game. Awakened Moka does look pretty good, but the show really offers little else.
Verdict: 6 censor bats out of 10.

Final Approach: I made myself finish watching it because I had started it, and it was short (15 minute episodes). Standard-fare of single-minded-ultra-devoted-girl-trying-to-make-hapless-guy-love-her.
Verdict: 6 lack of witticisms out of 10.

And… that’s about it. Think I’m going to start building a new computer system soon – probably going for a Core i7, even though it’s not all that cost effective yet. That or go all the way to the other end and get a Phenom II X3 – even with a motherboard and RAM, it’s still cheaper than just the i7 CPU…

Maybe the only one of this year… or maybe not. Either way, overdue for another update about nothing.

First up, games.

Valkyria Chronicles (PS3): Until this game came along, my PlayStation 3 was something that I regretted buying. Metal Gear Solid 4 came and… well, stayed there, waiting for me to finish MGS3 before starting it (will happen eventually!); Soul Calibur IV was a decent timesink, even if I can’t help but keep comparing it to Soul Calibur II, a much more entertaining game; and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is every bit as awesome as it used to be, but the lack of anyone to really play it with puts a damper on things. But this game validated the purchase for me. I love Strategy RPGs (heaven knows I spent enough time on Final Fantasy Tactics back in the day), but it’s a genre that, whether due to how niche it is or other factors, has evolved very very little over the years. By all accounts they’re good games, but when you look at Disgaea and compare it to, say, Tactics Ogre, the core gameplay is still very very similar – turn-based movement on a grid map. But VC shakes that all up. Combining a 3rd person perspective Action Mode with real-time interception fire, the (admittedly poorly-named) BLiTZ combat system is a sorely needed step forward for SRPGs. Add to that the gorgeous visuals which looks like a beautiful watercolor painting brought to life, a great soundtrack, some interesting characters, and great Japanese voice acting (Lelouch-ian Maximilian = awesome), and you have a game that shows at least a part of SEGA is still capable of putting out amazing titles. This is the type of game that anyone who has ever wished for developers to try making new innovative games instead of making the nth iteration of a popular IP had in mind. Truly a masterpiece, and my favorite game of 2008.

Prince of Persia (PS3): I had my doubts going in for this game. Sands of Time was one of my favorite games from the last generation, and while the two follow-ups weren’t quite as amazingly, the trilogy still set a pretty high bar for this reboot-again of the PoP franchise. Does it live up to it? Well… somewhat. To get the first thing out of the way, this game is breathtakingly beautiful. Like VC, it impresses not by pushing obscene numbers of polygons or making them ultra-realistic shades of gray, but through fantastic artistic direction. I would say this is probably the best looking game I’ve ever seen, and actually made me wish I had a 1080P TV to play it on. As far as gameplay goes, I’d have to say it’s just decent. Much has been made about the (lack of a) death mechanic, but I honestly didn’t mind. It’s streamlined, and as far as an AI NPC sidekick goes, Elika is amazing, so it feels natural. But the combat system is really quite tedious, the Wings/Breath of Ormazd segments are terribly designed, and the story really wasn’t anything better than mediocre, capped off by an ending that I would have to say is very unsatisfactory. I did enjoy the game, but SoT it isn’t.

Next, anime.

ChäoS;HEAd: Based on a VN, this is a series I picked up on whim. It started off well, never making it clear to the viewer what is a hallucination and what is real, but it really faltered towards the end, when the story seemed hell-bent on compensating for the plot becoming clearer with terminology becoming ever more jumbled. The VN is certainly better, but somehow I don’t see me playing it anytime soon.

ef – a tale of melodies: I enjoyed a tale of memories a lot, so watching the sequel (of sorts) was a no-brainer. Maybe it’s because I watched memories together instead of week by week like melodies, but I wasn’t quite drawn into it. The music is fantastic though, and it was nice to see some cameos from the main characters from memories.

Other currently-airing series that I’m watching are Gundam 00 Second Season, Tales of the Abyss, and Toradora!. G00 S2 is coming along nicely, but TotA has become progressively less interesting, with some serious pacing issues – somewhat expected given that it’s based on a RPG and partially forgiven because of it, but still a problem. I’m sure I’ll finish it though. Toradora! is just light-hearted entertainment, but with some patience-testing thrown in due to the fansub group having some trouble with getting releases out.

And finally, books. The only thing I’ve been reading lately has been Star Wars novels. Since the last update, I’ve finished both the Legacy of the Force and New Jedi Order series. I’m not sure I’d call either of them great, but I suppose they’re entertaining enough. Now working through the previous books (almost done with the Callista Trilogy, and then read the Han Solo and Dark Nest trilogies).

Oh, and have to share this. A beautiful figure of Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai that I knew I had to have the second I saw it:

Decided that the old Water3 theme was getting a bit long in the tooth (not to mention I see it everytime I read Random Curiosity), so looked around and found this new theme, Praggio. Kind of funny that the Echelon website went from red to blue, while my own blog did the reverse. Anyway, reasonably happy with this look, though the header banner definitely will need a full redo when I find the time for it.

And WP-Cumulus is quite cool – it’s the plugin that makes the neat spherical Tags/Categories chooser on the left.

…of things of awesome. And a bit about each.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2: It’s been a very long time since there’s been an anime series that I’ve enjoyed so much that I will eagerly await each new episode every single week, but that’s precisely what happened with CG. I started watching it after R2 started, and from there I was hooked. Every Sunday afternoon was spent idling in IRC channels waiting for the newest episode to be released, and when the series finally reached its conclusion, I went back and re-watched the entire two seasons again immediately. And I don’t think I can remember ever having done that before – I just don’t have the time to re-watch shows usually. As for the show itself, I can’t say that it’s one of best I’ve seen, but I will say that it’s far and away one of the most entertaining, and the ending is one of the very few, from any anime, that I can say that I completely enjoyed.

Fate/stay night: After all this time, the final version of the English translation by mirror moon has finally been released, covering all 3 routes – Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and now Heavens Feel. I really don’t think I can think of much more to say about this amazing piece of work that I haven’t already, but suffice it to say that Heavens Feel has done nothing to change my opinion. From disgust to elation, from hatred to love, from sin to redemption, the story of Heavens Feel really encompasses it all, and capped off by a true happy ending to boot. The only downside is that I now have to decide if I consider it to be superior to Tsukihime.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: Finally went back and finished PoR, the first Castlevania that I finished since the old PlayStation days (just going to ignore Lament of Innocence on PS2 here…). Since I haven’t played any of the GBA ones (yet?) or finished Dawn of Sorrow, I really can’t say how it compares, but it was definitely a fun game in its own right. Sisters Mode was also neat, though rather too easy in many ways. Order of Ecclesia, on the other hand, is damned hard, at least at first. I hear it lets up after that, but still working my way through, so can’t say for sure. But Shanoa is a cool character, and the higher difficulty level is welcome.

Valkyria Chronicles: Finally, another reason for my PS3 to do something other collect dust. The art style, combined with the CANVAS system, makes the game look absolutely gorgeous. Since it just came out, can’t say much else about it yet, but I definitely think I’ll enjoy it.

Specter of the Past/Visions of the Future: Also known as the Hand of Thrawn duology, it’s by Timothy Zahn, probably the most famous of the Star Wars Extended Universe novelists. While I can’t say that this had nearly the same impact as the original trilogy that kicked off the opening of the post-movie trilogy EU, it’s still very much an enjoyable read featuring an interesting cast (more Mara Jade!). And it lead to me discovering once again the inner SW geek in myself, as I find myself also reading the other novels by Zahn (Allegiance, Outbound Flight, Survivor’s Quest), and now starting on the 9-book Legacy of the Force series. And I don’t see an end to that until I’ve exhausted books to read either…

Enchantment: Orson Scott Card, another one of my “old standby” authors, mixes Jewish and Russian peculiarities, folklore, and witchcraft to offer quite an interesting take on the age-old Sleeping Princess story in this novel. It’s a sweet story of course (it is a fairy tale at its core, after all), but it also mixes in quite a bit of interesting humor.

Alright, so not so short list. Oh well.