I started reading the three volume Chikyu Misaki by Yuji Iwahara during the holiday break after receiving the manga as an early gift. As the cold winter air crackled outside the house, I cuddled up in my heated blanket with some hot coco and read a captivating story that was layered with humor, suspense and self discovery. The story is about Misaki, a young girl who inherits her grandfathers house in the snow covered village of Hohoro after her mom passes away. Mikaki and her best friend Sanae discovery a Hohopo named Neo, a Lock Ness looking monster that lives in the local lake, who transforms into a little boy after kissing a human. The girls struggle to keep Neo a secret from family, which is compounded by scheming criminals in search of stolen gold bars, kidnappers and a hitman hunting Neo. The adorable illustrations and the wholesome narrative gave me a feeling of warmth and happiness inside that reminded me of spending those lazy summer days at auntie's cottage. I had a great vacation and Chikyu Misaki was the icing on the cake.

(Drum roll please).....I'm starting a union this autumn about a very niche gaming genre or game company. The former has the advantage because I started creating a website on this topic. Revealing more later...

Shifting gears, the PS2 reminds me of "The Little Engine That Could." After seven plus years the console is still chugging along with some great new releases. Here is my top 5 in 08.

Heavenly Guardian (aka Kiki Kai World) - The spiritual successor to Pocky & Rocky, this top down shooter featuring 2D hand drawn animation stars snow fairy Sayuki as she journey's across ancient Japan battling mythological creatures to save her man. To avoid copyright infringement (Square Enix owns the series), developer Starfish changed the protagonist but kept the enemies and stages from the cancelled arcade game - victory to the underdogs!

Obscure: The Aftermath - The sequel to Hydravision's 2004 survival horror game. The original survivors have graduated from high school and are now attending Fallcreek University. College life is all about sex, drugs and mutants. This cheesy horror romp has always been on my radar even though I never played the first iteration due to limited copies releases.

Samurai Shodown Anthology - The greatest fighting game series on planet earth receives a compilation that includes Samurai Shodown 1-5. Hanzo, we will be reunited very soon.

Silent Hill: Origins - "In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill." Yes, everyone's favorite ghost town is returning for more scares, pain and torment. Trucker Travis Grady is the latest victim to embark through hell as he uncovers the beginnings of the twisted town. Konami is only improving the controls from the PSP conversion

SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 - 2D lives! If you owned a NeoGeo in the early 90's and could afford the $200-300 games, your daddy had a Ferrari park in the garage. SNK is re-releasing 16 classics that cover the gauntlet of my favorite genres: fighters, shooters, beat em' up and platformers - all for 20 smackers.

The list of games continues with Baroque, Innocent Life, Sega Superstars Tennis, Lego Batman, Yakuza 2 and dozens of Japan only releases. Next Gen consoles - who needs them

This past weekend at the Sunshine City Hall in Ikebukuro Toyko, Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and comrades gathered together to celebrate the blue bombers 20th anniversary. The event displayed rare artwork from the first FC Rockman through Rockman Star Force 2, original packaging for all games, Q/A with the development team and exclusive merchandise. Playable versions of every Mega Man game were also available. Inafune ended the party with a birthday cake candle blow-out.