Gentle Ones....

    I propose you listen to this while reading this short, unscheduled entry...

    Serenity...
    As a gamer, I've experienced countless moments of intensity, agony, horror. I, like so many of you, have grown accustomed - and attached - to the sounds of firearms, the screams of characters, the groaning of engines and other such stimuli. That's why it's moments like this, while I am sitting here drinking a glass of white wine, that I am contemplating just how little of that sublte, discreet state of mind I've come to expect from my favorite activity... how little serenity there is to be found.
    It really is no suprise... It's in the nature of man to expect and crave exhileration, to seek out moments of... force. It is simple, most of the time. You can sit down, tweak the lights and, if the pacing and direction is accurate, get swept in the maelstrom of the events taking place inside the frames of your monitor. But calmness... lucidity... Those require a different state of mind.
    They require a connection. A connection with the world, the characters in it, the sounds of the enviroment. They require that you listen, become on with its "living" entities, breath the air they do. You need to BE Ico, to walk in Tim's shoes, to touch the walls of Misty Town as Fred...
    It isn't easy. These... people want you to invest in them. To care. To look beyond their actions, right into their cores, to what keeps them going. Like all worthwhile things in life, it is a process of nurturing, of understanding. In the end, it turns into a bond. One that, due to the undying nature of all fantastic beings and works of art, is eternal and incorruptible. The process will ask for some of your time, of your ability to feel, of that which makes you human. It, if you listen well enough, will reward you with the most important gift one can hope to be given: Enduring, dear memories.
    There is a particular short text, found in the back of a title that few have experienced, that has moved me like few thing of its ilk have. You will find it following my closing statement... this wish: May you always be able to feel on you the touch of these mystical creatures' magic dust like I have... even if it is a fleeting, rare state of serenity...

"Together they must find a way to escape. Their prison is vast and holds many secrets. Every twisting stairecase, creaking door and towering pillar is another part of a much larger puzzle. Each torch and shaft of light serves only to illuminate another mystery. Their journey is dark and treacherous, but together they know they will find a way out of the dark castle, back into the world of light..."

FiOth