In my case, it's a dream of heading for the desert and my possible future as a desert writer (or geologist, depending on how well I tolerate college while in a setting that isn't extremely depressing) that keep me going, at least when I feel the need to look at the big picture.  Medical problems keep me from accomplishing much toward those goals right now, though, (though I've found work that can accommodate vertigo and severe allergy troubles) so in the short term I focus on developing hobbies to keep me going from day to day and avoid becoming bogged down.

While I don't have an interest in all of those bands anything featuring Cathedral, Neurosis, Voivod, and Corrosion of Conformity is worth seeing.  That said, while I love CoC's 'southern Sabbath' type material I have to wonder if they'll be dipping into their '80s catalogue and playing a few of the old cross-over tunes given that this is supposed to be a metal and punk festival; that would be pretty cool.  By the way, who is playing guitar for Voivod?

Due to time and money restraints, and the fact that San Antonio gets very few good concerts due to being passed over in favor of Austin and Houston, I'm pretty sure the last concert I went to was a couple of years back.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but the last one was either Heaven & Hell (excellent show, of course) or Willie Nelson's 4th of July barbeque (which was an excellent, star-studded affair with the exception of a few flavor of the month bands like Los Lonely Boys).

I'm juggling several books right now, but my main reads are "Bloodties:  Nature, Culture, and the Hunt" by Ted Kerasote, "Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving" by Michael Ham and "The Ultimate History of Video Games" by Steven Kent.

My LE copy came in today but will be on the waiting list for a while; Tactics Ogre is currently taking over my life. (I mean that in a good way.)

Well, hell, I've been out of the loop too long to put together a real list of favorite RPGs, so I'm just going to throw out a favorite that I think deserves a mention here:

Jade Empire.  The battle system was pretty deep for an action RPG, you had plenty of opportunities to talk to the different characters and flesh out their own personality (along with developing that of your own character), and the game was one of the most beautiful of the last generation.  But what impressed me most of all was the world building, from the 'elder' language created for the game to the various pieces of lore you could read, to side quests and architecture aimed at leaving you immersed.  I haven't played this game in several years, but it still sticks in my head from time to time, and I think it's BioWare's most underrated work.

I'm not a fan of Dream Theater (not fond of their song writing), but Portnoy is a great drummer and it will be interesting to see what he does in the future.

Assuming you don't mind a minimalistic plot, I think you would like Muramasa.  The art direction and music are excellent resulting in an extremely beautiful game, and combat is handled in a fluid and stylish manner.   Excellent presentation, and quite fun.

Again, thanks for the tips.  The tip on the lobber was particularly useful, as was the information on planning the classes.  I'll also offer my own tip for people starting the game:  Make sure every party member that you use frequently has Field Alchemy I as an attribute as early as possible.  You will suffer for it at some point if you don't take this precaution.

I've ran through a few more battles and I'm currently working on the beginning of chapter two.  Fortunately, I am not feeling so overwhelmed any more.  It took some time but I got a handle on all of the menu systems and I've been through some challenging battles since then, but none that were disastrous.  (Though there was one battle where I forgot to buy some poison cures that came pretty close to being disastrous...)  That said, this game clearly has a lot more to it than I understand at this point, and I will be buying the strategy guide, which is pretty rare. (The last strategy guide I bought was for Morrowind.)

Unfortunately, I'm finding it a bit bland.  I was expecting a Metroid/Castlevania type platformer/adventure with some monster raising elements to add variety and a more light-hearted setting and art style, but it's turning out to be more of a case of Metroidvania-lite.  The maps are a bit too small and there are too many areas where you're blocked from passage (much moreso than in a Metroid or Castlevania title) to honestly say that the game rewards exploration.  I'm also not fond of the fact that each task is pre-marked for you, though I realize this is the current style.  This can be useful, but I think it's over-done.  The platforming isn't particularly challenging, either, though there have been a few deaths due to combat in between save points.  The monster raising system, while extremely well balanced, is somewhat tedious.  The game simply doesn't have that addictive "it" quality that great platformer/adventure games have.  That said, I love the art style of the game which does a wonderful job with 16-bit style graphics; it's quite beautiful, in particular the backgrounds.

This describes my point of view exactly.

That said, I think a more pertinent example than Duke Nukem (and perhaps one more fruitful for discussion) would be Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2; it gives you the ability to make the female characters breasts shake by shaking the controller during cut-scenes.  Now, granted, Rachel always had huge tits and was clearly intended as a stereotypical sexy and bad-ass warrior woman, but this is a lot lower than that in my opinion.  I think I may be bothered by it so much simply because it seems so childish.  Seriously, I cannot imagine anyone with an IQ higher than room temperature enjoying this feature as anything other than cheap laughs while drunk.  Yet, l can't help but suspect that it was intended for an audience who would actually 'enjoy' the feature, which comes back to MindCandy's point about how insulting it is to deal with game companies that think males are that fucking stupid.

Thank you for the tips.  Yes, the Nybeth battle was one of the battles I was speaking of.  I, erm...didn't notice the branching paths until afterward.  That said, given the way those skeleton archers were decimating my forces, I quickly figured out that the best way through that battle was to send Canopus  and Denam in to assassinate him.  I didn't have much luck using archers against the undead, though; they hit the skeletons for about 2 damage per shot.  My mage needed some leveling and was pretty much useless as a result of this.  

I apologize, but I am unable to name the beasts I fought.  I have a terrible habit of not paying much attention to the names of enemy units, and I met those in a random battle.  They had extremely high defense; end result was that I won the battle but only Denim and Canopus came out alive.  I found this result unsatisfying for obvious reasons.

I'm about five battles in and there seems to be a sudden increase in difficulty, in particular when dealing with undead or beasts.  Do I need to focus more on magic attacks in battles with these enemies?  Perhaps my troops are under-leveled (they range from lv. 4-6 with some exceptions); I've kept current on weapons and armors but there's still some difficulty in getting reasonable damage with most units.

FYI, for those considering picking up Tactics Ogre:  My copy of the game from Amazon that I ordered roughly a week ago shipped with the LE card set.  It's not a guarantee that other copies will have the pack too, but I think it's worth noting.

While I'm frustrated by the loss, and the reason behind the focus group's dislike of the game in particular, I do think that malek86 made a valid point over at the Siliconera thread: