Who knew Green Day would still be toppin' the charts in 2005?  Anyhow, I'm feeling the winter season and the weather a little more keenly than I usually due, as life and mortality has made its inevitability a profoundly permanent reminder in my life.  As I try to escape the melancholy weight, I'm trying to find a good pasttime of a good game.  Unfortunately (as my hardcore-as-myself brother and I have decided), there aren't any.  Sure, RE4 and God of War are nice, but nothing new.  And don't get me started on Soul Calibur III.  The SC series has always been a good parley of weapons clashing and quick reflexes, not as tight as Tekken, but it's good to have your own personality.  SC, ever since Soul Edge in the arcades, has been lots of action/reaction... and a little button mashing.  With the new SC3, it's more like a mixture of VF4 and lots of button mashing.  The whole attacking-advantage thing was a subtle yet defining thing in the previous SCs, but now it's blown out of proportions and totally promotes randomly slamming on the offensive moves.  And the whole advantage/disadvantage and sort-of rock/scissor/paper & tutorial thing is highly similar to VIrtua FIghter mechanics.  And yes, it plays similar too.  If I wanted to play VF, I would've popped in my own copy of Evolution.  Sigh.

How depressing.  However, speaking of "Evolution", I just received Darwin's Origins of Species in the mail from Amazon today.  I guess I might be spending more of this holiday season reading rather than playing.  Maybe.

Soul Calibur III arrives in a few days. Although I have been only a average fan of the series -- I prefer Tekken's tighter fighting system -- I am anxious to use the create-a-fighter feature in SC3. X3 will also be out very soon, and being a fan of the many space sims out there, I'm hungry for more action like Privateer, StarLancer, and X-Wing Alliance. It's going to be a good holiday season. =)

(And no, I'm not planning on getting a crapBox360)

Without competition, skills and reflexes fade to mediocrity. Constant practice and adherence to a discipline of higher standards will delay this, but the inevitable comes sooner or later. To face a difficult opponent is a blessing. Fighting games are not only a battle with an opponent, but a constant struggle to rise above the conventions of "satisfactory".