I have been very busy since I moved to Ohio with my bf about a month ago. We have slowly acquired furniture from the IKEA close by, and our apt is slowly starting to look like a home. I have not found a job yet, but I have been interviewing and I'm hopeful.
I have devoted much of my spare time lately to Tales of Vesperia, which, if I didn't love Symphonia so much, could totally be the best in the series. I love it so much I'll probably be reviewing it here soon.
I picked up Shadow Hearts 2 and 3 the other day for cheap. I played SH2 when it came out, and I hated it because I thought Karin was trying to move in on Yuri after what happened to Alice (Yuri & Alice are my fav couple in games & I also have a malice amulet tattoo because I love the 1st game so much) but I now know the ending and I'm going to give it another try. I hated what happened to Kato after SH1, though... and the whole thing with Princess Anastasia is so historically inaccurate (I know it's a game), and I hated Joachim when you compare him with his brother Keith from SH1. But maybe I was being overly critical since I was upset that SH1's bad ending became the canon storyline.
I have not heard much about SH3, except that it has nothing to do with the first two, which is good. My expectations are low so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.
My dear friend Jessica came to visit me this weekend in my new place, and she started playing Wet on my 360. I was irritated when it wanted me to do a mandatory update to be able to play the game, but I was downright angry when I saw the new 360 dashboard. It reminds me of the Wii, how you have to pick a stupid Mii avatar. I was just uttering a constant "NO", "OH NO" when I was choosing a stupid cartoony avatar of myself. I got the 360 because it's an adult system and I don't want it becoming cute and family friendly. I know this is probably really old news, but I am sooo upset about it. Apparently there is no way to downgrade, and there was no way to opt out of the update. Thanks, Microsoft. You suck.
The last bit I have to share is my Rotten Tomatoes account. If you're not aware, RT has a new beta community set up that I enjoy rating movies on. My taste is kind of strange, but if anyone wants, they can add me at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/gameslave
So I just played through Bioshock for the first time, and I was really impressed! It gave me a reason to start up my 360 again (it had been a while) and I was not disappointed. It was gorgeous, engaging, and hardly lagged ever. I just gotta say though, why the dead cats? I counted 6 of them throughout the game. I am a cat lady so of course this saddened me greatly. It was strange that there were only cats, no other dead animals throughout the game, unless fish count. Oh well, I'm hoping Bioshock 2 is equal-opportunity in its housepet-killing. LOL.
I've also been playing some games I picked up in the PS2 bargain bin lately, none of which have really held my attention. The Mark of Kri is boring and the targeting system is just horrible. I only played the first 2 missions and I have no real desire to pick it up again. Anyone think it gets better? I also picked up Extermination, which is pretty awful and hard! Stretch Panic is almost unplayable in its obtuse controls. It is funny to show people, though. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is pretty good, I'm gonna have to force myself to pick it up again.
Really after beating Grandia III (story was HORRIBLE btw but battle system is great) and Bioshock, I have gone right back into playing FFX again. So these other games will just have to wait!
Lately I haven't really been gaming or hitting the 'nets as hard as I normally do. That's because I've been totally hooked on the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons. If you like sci fi novels at all these are a must read!! The series consists of 4 books, "Hyperion", "The Fall of Hyperion", "Endymion" & "The Rise of Endymion". I am finally making my way through book 4 and I am still hooked! These books are not new (can be found at used book shops cheap) and won awards like the Hugo and Locus awards. They are well worth your time and truly epic! /End nerdy gushing 
