The best piece of 3DS box art yet? I think so.

Quite a few pieces of 3DS box art have impressed me since the system was launched early last year. Among them: The box art created for Beyond the Labyrinth and Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die (aka Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward).

I think the piece of cover art below may have them both beat, to tell you the truth. What game was it created for, you ask? Fire Emblem: Kakusei (aka Fire Emblem: Awakening).

I'm not entirely in love with the game's logo, although I do appreciate its rather understated elegance. The illustration that resides behind said logo, though, is where it's at. I especially love its diagonal focus and movement.

This fabulous piece of cover art will appear on Japanese store shelves on April 19. Here's hoping both the game and the above-mentioned box art (and maybe this bundle, too) make it out of Japan and into other territories sooner than later.

(Via tinycartridge.com)

More bullets, more buff dudes, more ... butts?

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While I was away ...

I may have been tending to my dad (and mom) for the past week or so, but that doesn't mean I've been completely oblivious to the goings on in gaming world while I've "been away." Here are some of the stories that have popped onto my radar over the last few days:

* A bunch of Bravely Default demos are about to hit the Japanese eShop--If you're like me, you groaned when you read that they're only hitting the Japanese eShop for the time being. Here's hoping Square-Enix announces a western release for this 4 Heroes of Light-esque 3DS RPG soon--and pops the aforementioned demos onto the Australian, European and North American eShops tout de suite, too.

* Etrian Odyssey IV was announced--For the 3DS, of course. And, as of now, only for Japan. I have a feeling the folks at Atlus will bring Etrian Odyssey IV to North America eventually, though, and hopefully to Australia and Europe, too. Although I've yet to buy, let alone play, Etrian Odyssey II or III, I'm planning to pick up this sequel on day one--assuming it's released in my particular region, of course.

Update about my dad

Hello everyone. I'm just popping in here to give you an update as to my dad's condition/situation--in case any of you are curious.

The good news is that he's doing better. He's still in the hospital, and he's still battling a number of issues--headaches and lethargy are the main culprits, in addition to the left-side "paralysis" that was caused by the last of the three strokes he suffered just over a week ago--but he's shown a number of ever-so-slight signs of improvement over the last few days.

My mom, dad and David at the Fremont Troll.

The bad news is that this is going to be a long, tough battle--for him, especially, but also for my mom and my brother and I--and I have a feeling we're still at the very beginning of it at this point. We're hopeful, though, that the swelling of the brain that followed his strokes will start to diminish over the next week and, as a result, his headaches and lethargy will follow it out the door--and allow him to participate more fully in his recovery moving forward.

As you can probably imagine, I'm still a bit out of sorts--although I'm no longer alternating between bawling at the drop of a hat and feeling like a zombie. So, I think I'm going to try to return to some semblance of normalcy this week by getting back to work and by getting back to blogging, too.

I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words of encouragement and for the energy, thoughts and prayers you have aimed at my dad and my family. We appreciate it greatly.

Going home to be with (and take care of) my mom and dad

I feel kind of strange mentioning this here, since it's awfully personal and not at all about gaming, but I can't help myself.

My dad had a stroke last Thursday night. Actually, he had three strokes--two "mini" ones while at home and a third, more serious one shortly after he and my mom arrived at the hospital.

My mom tells me that if they hadn't been at the hospital when the third one hit, he likely would have died.

I don't know enough about strokes to be able to tell you how severe this last one was. Regardless, it was bad enough that he had to have surgery to remove the clot that caused the stroke. Also, it seems as though he suffered some amount of trauma/paralysis to his left side. His mind seems OK--he hasn't suffered any memory loss, nor has he lost the ability to communicate or understand language--which is a miracle in and of itself, but he's hardly in the clear at this point. He's still in the ICU and we're unsure as to when he will be moved out of it--or when he will be discharged (likely to some sort of therapy/treatment center until he's strong enough to return home).

I've been devastated by this surprising turn of events, as have my mom and brother. Ever since I heard the news, I've been alternating between bawling my eyes out and feeling like a zombie.

My original plan was to keep this to myself, and to continue updating this blog as I always do. This morning, though, I decided it would be best to take a few days off--especially since David (my husband) and I will be flying home late tonight and the next few days are sure to be filled with trips to see my dad, phone calls to family and friends and hopefully a bit of rest.

I'm not expecting to stay away for long. In fact, I plan on returning to some sort of normalcy--on this blog, at least--next week (thanks in large part to a slew of posts that were written before all of this happened).

Anyway, I just wanted all of you to know so that you won't worry that the lack of posts over the next few days means that something has happened to me or that something is happening to this blog.

Also, I'd greatly appreciate it if any of you would be able to spend even one second today or tomorrow or whenever you're able to send positive energy/thoughts/vibes my dad's way.