I'm looking forward to the GBA connectivity, and I'm sure to tell you what I think of that when I get around to it. As I recall, all anybody could talk about in the Xbox version was the amazing lighting effects, which always struck me as grasping for straws. The bottom line is that stealth games appeal to me on a very basic level, mainly because I enjoy the switcheroo of actually stopping and planning out the kill path.

Speaking of stealth, then there's X2: Wolverine's Revenge. Boy, is that game going to get a review here on the site soon. It tends to suck. Tends. Not all the way to 100% suck, but a definite, unerring curve into the gutter. There's a high level of trial-and-error as you explore the levels (missteps result in instant deaths), which is something you don't really want in an action game. I think the designers knew there was trouble, so they implemented Wolverine's healing factor to balance that out. Then there's the fancy animated Strike moves, which look great - but you don't actually do them. Instead of mapping different moves to Wolverine via button combos, they are just randomly (randomly!) triggered by a Strike button whenever you maneuver into a Strike position. The Strike feature also turns each boss fight into a race to find the sweet Strike spot, rather than a genuine battle to drain the life meter. Although all in all, the game does try something different, and I can't fault it for that. They probably could have just done a basic boring walk-and-kill side-scroller and sold just as many copies.

Pokemon Sapphire continues, although I am struggling at Victory Road. Particularly the battle against Wally at the end of it.

I sucked it up and did another Link to the Past dungeon, just to keep up with my neighbor friend. We played some Four Swords last week, which I really liked... multiplayer Zelda with simultaneous cooperative and competitive aspects? Wonderful. Very Adventures of Cookie and Cream at some parts.

And of course Wind Waker, where I am scrounging photographs for the game's Nintendo Gallery. The stupid camera only holds three photos at a time, which makes for an unacceptable amount of travelling in and out of the Gallery studio. I'm at the bit where you fight the four bosses again, so I'm sure Ganondorf is very close. I'm going to miss this game when it finally passes.

Need I mention Animal Crossing? I've played every day since September 17th. Yeah, there's certainly not as much new stuff to experience by this point, but there are still upcoming holidays and events, fresh assortments of bugs and fish, and the final series of eCards (which are rumored to unlock the last of the NES games.) If you can avoid cheating, AC truly is a long term investment.