Onward and Upward...

Well, I finally finished off The World Ends With You this morning. Having played the game to completion, I think I can safely stand by my initial impressions that I posted last month. It's a superlative example of an action-based role-playing game, and I highly recommend it, but be sure to take heed to the "T for teen" ESRB rating - it's well deserved, as both the complexity of the game and the thematic content are far more compatible with the sensibilities of an older, experienced video game enthusiast than with the young gaming newbie or the "casual" crowd that's accustomed to games of a more quaint and quiet variety (sudoku and Brain Age, for example).

I’m not sure what game I’ll be covering next here on the blog, as I have plenty of older games that I bought months or even years ago that I still need to finish. My copy of the Xbox 360 game Lost Odyssey that I received for my birthday nearly 4 months ago is still sitting on a shelf in the basement, waiting to be played. At the same time, there are other recently released games that I’m also anxious to try out! Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 was just released this week, and the game’s publisher, Atlus, inc, is notorious for printing and distributing their games to stores in extremely small quantities; couple this scarcity (rarity?) with high consumer demand, and it’s not hard to see why Atlus holds a unique place in the gaming industry: while most games see a depreciation in price with the progression of time, it’s not at all uncommon to see used copies of Atlus games sell for more than the original suggested retail price for a new copy, even months after the original release.

I’ll keep the blog updated with anything new, but I’ll be watching my “gaming time” with more scrutiny now, as well.. Amidst all this excitement about video games, I can’t let my hobby turn into a sort of “gaming gluttony,” and I’m resolved to refuse to let this hobby become a distraction from the call to holiness. It ought to be integrated into my spiritual life, not detract from it!

I’ve been a bit lazy with posting as of late (my trip to Mexico not withstanding), and I’d be lying if I said that a laxity in my physical and spiritual life hasn’t been a factor in my rather brief contributions as of late. If I wrote about games as much as I played them, I’d be averaging far more than 1 new post every other day. I’ll try to more astute about this from now on. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paul, and all holy men and women, pray for us!