I'd like to apologize for my sudden and lengthy drop from discussions around here. The reasons for it are pretty straight-forward, so for the curious:

1. Burnout - Between work, online time including voting, and family affairs, I was becoming worn out with no time to play. Online discussion was, at the time, the easiest thing to cut, especially since at the time, I'd basically run out of interesting things to say.

2. Phoenix 3 - At roughly the same time, folks who knew enough Japanese to work through Gyakuten Saiban 3 in advance (hey, unintended pun!) thought it would be hilarious* to attempt to spoil the entire game online before even its Japanese/English bow on DS. I decided to to hold off on game-realted sites in general until I'd conquered it. Of course, shortly after finishing it in early November, I go online only to find (presumably the same) people lobbing the three biggest spoilers possible for Apollo Justice anywhere they could. Again, hilarious*. Still pre-ordering it.

3. Christmas Rush - Work bumped up my hours around the time I wrapped up PW3, and amidst working, shopping, decorating, wrapping, and helping my sister prepare for another baby (oh yeah, she's expecting again), time kept on movin' on. I also wasn't sure I'd anything interesting to talk about, but MM's 20th helped break the ice nicely.

My time away has been peripherally eventful - my sister's pregnancy (she's certain it'll be a girl), my mom's broken arm (already healed and done with, but getting her to wear her sling was like putting a saddle on a cat), my grandmother's losing battle with Alzheimer's (otherwise healthy, but refuses food more often than not) - but locally calm. Which is to say, been playing games and watching movies like a fiend unleashed.

Funny thing is, with just a few exceptions (Ratatouille, Super Paper Mario, Picross), not much of my '07 binge was '07 fodder. As Angela alluded to in the MM thread, anniversaries have been coming down left and right: 2007 has seen milestones for Star Wars (30), Megaman (20), Kirby (15), FF7 and Symphony of the Night (10), but looking into the future a bit, is there going to be anything borne of '07 (PW2 & 3 are technically from '02 and '04) with a spark or style which'll be as good (or near it) ten or fifteen years down the line? Dunno. I could just be looking in the wrong places.

Blah-de-blah-de-blahh...I'm eager to get back into the swing of things around here and get back in touch with people I've missed. Tomorrow anyway. Completely tired at the moment. BED.

* - note: not the least bit funny, except possibly in the contemplation of elaborate murder scenarios for said comedians

I hear that.  After the game was shortly released in Japan, I nearly stumbled across the main plot resolutions for Apollo Justice, and from that point on, I stayed away from any site or forum related to GS4.  I'd been pretty good up to now, but upon closer inspection of The Art of Gyakuten Saiban, I came across potentially the biggest interpreted spoiler of the entire game.  It's interpreted as such, because of a certain drawing of an unexpected character's "guilty-breakdown" reaction.  As such, I take back what I said about GS4 in my discussion on the Gyakuten Saiban artbooks.  For maximum safety against spoilers, DO NOT look at the books.

Ratatouille was amazing, wasn't it?  It's vying for my top film of 2007 against Pirates 3 and Bourne Ultimatum, but we'll have to see how Sweeney Todd turns out.   

Cheers and well-wishes for your family's happenstances.  I'd just gotten off the phone with my own niece, and it looks like I won't be seeing her for the holidays.  I had shipped her a boatload of toys and gifts, though; it's probably a good thing she's not here with us in NY, 'else I'd constantly spoil her something awful.

Glad to have ya back, Sonic.  You've been missed.

Welcome back, old timer.