Merry Christmas and other associated holidays. May whatever deity you believe in, if any, see fit to bless you and your household this holiday season.

The holidays were good, having delivered unto me a variety of gifts that weren't video games, but are nearly relevant: the Spider-Man DVD gift set (the most unexpected and appreciated gift of the year), the Back to the Future trilogy DVD set ("1.21 gigawatts?!"), the Once More, With Feeling soundtrack CD (note to self: preorder Buffy Season Three DVD set), and the latest CD by DS9 alumnus James Darren, Because of You (note to self: preorder Deep Space Nine Season One DVD set).

I finished Metroid Prime last week, with a final tally of 12:30 playtime and 75% of items/data found. Since then, I've already spent even more time than that playing just the VR missions on Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance for Xbox. I glanced briefly at the Snake Tales, but am strangely fascinated by the VR stuff. Much of it is repetitious, accomplishing the same missions with different characters. I was one of the odd few who loved the VR Missions disc for the original PlayStation, though, so I guess it fits that I've somehow been sucked in again.

No review this week – all the better to enjoy the holidays. I have some other material to work on as well, and some long-planned site changes that, knowing me, will simply become longer-planned, but let's hope not.