neurological dryer lint

b-mack and i are headed to austin next week, and so i found myself wandering through gamestop, naturally. i've been reading a bunch lately and i know i won't be in the mood to continue that trend on the plane(s).

i had just returned power stone collection - while a faithful PSP port of one of my favorite dreamcast games, it didn't scale down to the small screen very well, and the excessive load times made it near unbearable to play for extended periods.

so i decided to revisit a genre i had largely abandoned - the RPG. when i was a youngster one of my favorite distractions during the 8-hour round-trip weekend drives to lake erie was the final fantasy legend series for the original gameboy. i never played the non-handheld ones - including the classic FF7 that i keep hearing is close to perfect - but i couldn't pull myself away from the black-and-white. they're really the only traditional RPG's i've ever enjoyed. so i saw a recent port of final fantasy 3 for the DS, and said to myself, "self, i bet this will enrapture you just like the GB versions did."

nope. turns out i was a much more patient kid than i am now. an hour in i was absolutely bored to tears.

so back to the store. cally's recommendation of clubhouse games almost had me grabbing that one, but my curiosity about elite beat agents got the best of me, and i switched up for that one.

and i'm hooked - two or three rounds in and i'm cracking up, getting the ridiculous tracks stuck in my head. it's a simple premise but crazy addictive, a DDR-ish rhythm game, perfect if you're like me and drum through every song on your steering wheel but have no feet-eye coordination that DDR requires. i'd love to crank this on the plane and drive other passengers into a murderous frenzy, but i guess i'll resist and use earbuds. blast.