Nintendo buys Monolith Soft.

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2007/042607b.html

Monolith Soft is known for their releases in the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos series, as well as Namco x Capcom in Japan (which I want desperately). Nintendo now owns 80% of their stock, with Bandai-Namco controlling 16%.

Good news for Nintendo RPGs. I still haven't played much Baten Kaitos, but I would love for some new, innovative RPG series to come out for the Wii!

New Star Ocean to be announced.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/784/784031p1.html

Here's hoping:
1. It's not on the PS3.
2. It doesn't scale in difficulty like a certain other Star Ocean game does.
3. Item creation doesn't blow hard ass.

Lenny, I thought you in particular would appreciate this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/

Liberal tendencies make me unamerican, it seems.

You Are 50% American

America: You don't love it or want to leave it. But you wouldn't mind giving it an extreme make over. On the 4th of July, you'll fly a freak flag instead... And give Uncle Sam a sucker punch!

How American Are You?

I always have weird dreams.

In one night:

1. Some guy told me that it had been too long since I cleaned my dishes. Now, they were all growing with some kind of plant creature, and I couldn't use them anymore for fear of getting contaminated with some disease.
2. Some guy was pissed at some other guy, so he shoved his head in some kind of netting. Conveniently, this netting was right over some kind of dangerous pit, so we had to figure out how to get his head out of the netting without falling into the dangerous pit ourselves. The first guy learned his lesson... seemed straight out of a sappy TV show, except with NETTING. o_0
3. I was running some kind of obstacle course, and while doing so, I kept burning down bushes that I came across in my path. Later, I had to go back and replant bushes.

I wonder if there's any context behind any of this. Or what they mean.

A theory on my discomforts in life and dormitories

At home, I never had a problem with spending a Friday night in my house, gaming. Sometimes gaming is just the right thing to do, ya know? Gamers game, it's what we do. However, now that I am in college, every night I spend in my room playing WoW, Final Fantasy or anything else along those lines feels like a night wasted, no matter how normal it is for me. And it's not a matter of me not enjoying gaming as much as I used to; FFXII has brought fantastic feelings to me that remind me of some of the best games I've ever played. And it's certainly not that I enjoy being out of my room more; I was just out drinking some with some attractive ladies and cool dudes, and I really wasn't having that much fun. So what is it?

My theory is that dorm life is what causes this feeling of inadequacy in myself. When I'm at home, I see people in school, but when I'm at home all I see is my parents or brothers. Or I see my friends, who for the most part have a similar philosophy on having fun as I do. Here at school, on the other hand, I can hear people out, being drunk as hell and having a good time doing it, at least three nights a week, usually for about six hours straight. And they have so much fun doing it... even though I really don't enjoy it, I still envy them. And closing the door really isn't an option... it's somewhat a taboo here, to close the door while you're in your room (unless you're sleeping or studying). My roommate, and most other people I enjoy the company of here, would find it weird and not appreciate it. So I'm regularly subjected to the message "socializing + drunk = fun," which leads me to feel like a lame person for not doing so every weekend night.

This is just a theory, and certainly isn't set in stone. It was triggered in something Kari said to me, actually, about why she isn't at Southern anymore. But, it's something I'm thinking about, and I'm wondering what to do about it.

On doing work

It always feels nice to get your work out of the way early. I am practically finished with my math homework that is due tonight at 11:59 PM CST, which is really nice, because I can play FFXII for most of the rest of the night.

However, it's also nice to not get your work out of the way at all. I have a couple of CD reviews due on Thursday, and a fancy outline of a future paper due on Friday. I'm gonna be a busy man over the next couple of days... and I could do them right now. But I'd rather play FFXII. Ya know?

On heroes

Square-Enix has gone in an interesting direction with their main characters in recent days. With Final Fantasy VII and FFVIII, they featured two very bishie men, who had major angst in life which they dealt with throughout the course of the games. Plenty of people loved them, but some complained. Since about 2000, Square has instead featured ridiculously happy, upbeat characters. Sometimes dumb characters. Zidane was a pretty awesome alternative from the Clouds and Squalls of the past, but Tidus? He's ridiculously optimistic and oblivious in life, and just seems out of place with a Final Fantasy game. Granted, because FFX was so excellent, they tied him in well and really gave him a meaning throughout the game, but still.
And now, we have Vaan. Vaan has little personality, and really doesn't do much at all throughout the game besides hang out with Ashe and Balthier. Why is he there? The creators would have done better to make Ashe the main character - somebody with personality, a conflict, and meaning, rather than this happy-go-lucky guy who has an annoying little friend and impersonates Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca.
I was never a huge fan of Cloud or Squall. They're cool guys, and fit in with their respective games, to be sure, just never really did anything for me. This new trend seems to be even worse, though. I would take dark and brooding over happy and meaningless any day.