Just wanted to let everyone know that there are 44 days left until FF XII is released!  Woot  Just in case you forgot

I beat Aria of Sorrow last night.  I played Dawn of Sorrow first, so I knew what Aria's ending was in the first 5 minutes of that game (thanks Konami).  In any event, the game was fantastic.  Now I've played all 3 GBA Castlevania titles, and I have to say in order of preference: Aria of Sorrow, Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance.  I really liked the epilogue music in Aria; it was a remix of the track from Castlevania 3.  [Dawn of Sorrow does some fantastic tributes to Castlevania 3 as well.  I won't spoil it, but it's really a great treat.]

So I started playing another GBA game in my lineup, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.  I like it so far.  I mean I'm only on Chapter 3 and my thumb is sore from clicking through so much dialog, but it's fun.  It's like Advance Wars on horseback... which is not a bad thing.  However, I must admit I stopped playing Advance Wars: Dual Strike right when I got the Dual Strike powers.  That game really just kicked my ass.  I'll get back into it in a couple months, but I'm still licking my wounds.

On another note, I've forgotten about how many cool games are actually being released this Fall/Winter, which may prevent me from picking up a Wii.  I really want a damned Wii, but I've got to contain myself.  Check this list out:

Final Fantasy XII (Oct 31)  -- guys/gals have you seriously played the demo?  Wow, I love the new gameplay.  I was skeptical about the voices in X and the gameplay in XII but, and I mean this literally, Square has blown me away since I was a teenager with new ways of making Final Fantasies come to life.  And is that one character a Playboy bunny?

Final Fantasy III (Nov 19) -- how the hell am I supposed to pick this up when I'll be in the middle of XII?  Who cares, I'm getting it on release day.

Okami (Sept 19) -- wow, this looks so unique and gorgeous.  I don't know if I'm picking it up, but I really really want to check it out. Oh hell, I'm picking it up.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Dec 5) -- A new 2d Castlevania and single-player Final Fantasy in the same year??? What the hell is this? 1997?  Gotta love it!

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Q1 '07) - Betty just reminded me about this one in my blog yesterday.  It completely slipped my mind.  There are just too many games this year, so I'm glad this isn't coming out until '07 -- the screenshots look fantastic.

Zelda: Twilight Princess (Dec 11 GC, Nov 19 Wii) -- now if the Wii version is far superior, I'll just buy a Wii in '07 when Metroid is released. Or this year mwahaahha.  But if the Wii's version isn't different, aside from the control scheme?  I have no idea.

Heroes of Mana - Ok it's still TBA, but isn't this intriguing?  I'm hoping they finally release a worthy follow up to the SNES game.

I think that's pretty much it for games I'm stoked about.  The must haves for me are Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy III and Castlevania: PoR.  ... and Okami and the Zelda's   I guess we'll see come this Tuesday (or will really it really be Wed or Thur when it's in stores?) if I get Okami.