On and Off.

I was in and out of the office last week. Many of the product lines were dropped completely but not all. Some were just moderately affected in one way or another. So right now, no work needs to be done on new product because no one's quite sure about what is going forward and what isn't. So I don't need to be there to design new product, but I do need to tie up some loose ends for the time being.

I was approached about being one of the designers to continue forward, so I will still be working once they get they're act together. Which is nice.

I helped Lindsay on a project on Wednesday, and on Thursday I went in to the office to do file management and archiving.

Friday I had the day off. I had made plans to meet the sick father of a friend, but unfortunately he wasn't in any shape to have visitors after all, so we had to cancel.

It was rainy and crappy and cold out. Instead we went to Best Buy. I wanted to pick up Gears of War 2. And I did. But I also picked up Valkyria Chronicles, which is a choice that kind of even surprised me.

I had the demo sitting on my PS3 for a couple weeks and finally got around to playing it the other day. And it's awesome. Totally awesome.

It's takes some of the best parts of strategy games, like Final Fantasy Tactics (one of my favorite games ever), and combines it with a 3rd person perspective for movement and shooting. It really adds a nice layer of attachment to the whole strategy genre and works amazingly well.

I feel like the game was made for me. Well, besides the story and characters...

The story is almost embarrassing to watch with anyone else in the room. I could and should skip it, but I can't bring myself to do it. What if all of a sudden it gets good? Or engaging? Even though it won't.

The graphics are nice, though, with a washed-out watercolor and pencil look. It's a little sparse and barren, but overall it's very pleasant. It'd be nice if the characters weren't so generically anime, but hey, I'm sure some people love it.

But the gameplay is super tight. And I love it. I was blown away by the demo, so I figured I should pick it up.

And I'm glad I did, because even with Fallout 3, Little Big Planet and Gears of War 2, I still find myself playing Valkyria Chronicles a whole lot...

I also feel really sick this weekend. I wonder if I'm coming down with something? Maybe.

Maybe it was raking leaves in the frigged air, it was too cold this weekend.

Oh yeah, I also drew up the Return of an old friend.