Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Games: Started Persona 3 today after having it sitting in my To-Play pile since release day. I'm a big Persona/MegaTen fan, even though I'll be the very first to admit that the various entries in the series are usually way too hardcore for their own good. Crazy difficulty and grind-lust aside, the series has always been chock-full of superb ideas and interesting design, and Persona 3 is no different.

I'll have more to talk about when I get a little further in, but for now I will say that it has the absolute best intro and tutorial sequence I've ever seen in an RPG, ever. Great music, great voice acting, fabulous cutscenes, a slow but steady pace bringing together several different elements one at a time with extremely clear explanations at every step of the way... It's the perfect way to gently bring someone into the complicated madness that is Persona, and I'm glad they took the time to do it right.

These games are great, but I've felt that they've limited themselves to a fairly small audience by being too inscrutable, too often. I hope this kinder, gentler trend continues.

Food: After going out for a meal with the wife tonight, we chatted afterwards about the experience as we usually do, and we decided to launch a blog about our restauranteering here in Seattle. We're going to aim for weekly updates at this point and see where the thing leads us... hopefully by the inside of a year, we'll have been to every great grub joint in town (and probably a few not-so-great ones, too.) Gina will be in charge of the updates, and I'll be handling the editing and such.

When it's up and running, I'll post a link here and you're all invited.