Dear Diary,

Big doings in Narnia this week! It was Halloween, which was a lot of fun, but then things took a sad turn. Make the jump and I'll explain it all...

Halloween was awesome. Spooky music was playing, and everyone was walking around in costume as Jack, with the big pumpkin head. The trick was that you had to figure out which one of them was the real Jack. Then you give him a piece of candy (the ones you'd been buying at Nook over the past month) and he gives you a piece of the spooky furniture set in exchange. But if one of the townspeople in costume caught up to you, they would demand a piece of your candy and not give you anything for it! And if you refused to give them candy, they'd transform one of the items in your pocket into a jack-in-the-box, which is only good to do once, just so you have one. What I noticed was that the townspeople would chase after you to get the candy, so all you had to do was look for the one guy in costume who didn't seem interested at all. That's Jack.

I'd bought a lot of candy at Nook's to stock up, and I had some leftover from Pavé's visit back in the spring or whenever that was. But luckily, if you were running out, all you had to do was look for somebody who was home and then go trick or treating. They'd hand you a piece of candy, and you could go back out searching for Jack again. I actually did this a bunch of times because it was easier than going all the way back to my house. I'm not centrally located. Of course, it took me two sessions to get the entire spooky set, at a couple hours apiece. I got so many duplicates it's not even funny.

But I did eventually get the entire set, and it threw my HRA point score above 150,000 points, so Lyle sent me a two story model house which I added to my collection of models in the basement. Plus, since I'd made extra cash selling extra spooky pieces (they go for over 10,000 each), I put some bells in the bank for a rainy day and the Bank of Nintendo sent me a note congratulating me on saving over 100,000 bells in my account and commemorating that achievement with a special gift: A box of tissues. No, seriously. How random is that? You can see it in this picture on the table. Weird.

Rod was all packed up to move, and no matter how much I tried talking to him, I didn't even once get the opportunity to try and change his mind. I guess it was really made up. I even sent him presents in the mail a couple days in a row just to see if I could convince him to stay. Sigh.

So I was very, very sad to find this letter in my mailbox the following day. I don't understand why he moved. I thought we had something special. Oh well, I won't hold a grudge or anything..

Well, except for the fact that later in the week, I totally ran into Rod in the city, and he acted like he didn't even know me! How rude! Now I'm mad. FYI, Rod — I'll never be the date you meet in front of the fountain. Ever. Jerk.

Also while I was in the city, I checked Gracie's shop, and she'd rotated the stock back around again to that luxury furniture again. But Gracie herself was there, and I got a little tongue lashing from her about my outfit. So immediately after she mentioned this, I added the tortoise shell glasses to go with my blue argyle top. (I'd changed because it wasn't Halloween anymore and I didn't know what else to wear. Nothing was striking my fancy, so I just wore regular clothes.)

I also got my shoes shined so now they're black instead of purple with white polka dots. Then I went to get a hair cut, since I wasn't wearing a hat anymore. It's been ages since I've seen my hair, and I realized I didn't like it. I told Harriet I didn't really know what I wanted, so she suggested I get the same cut she'd recently given to Cranky T. I accepted, because for whatever reason, folks in Narnia are really into Cranky T. Huh. Anyway, I told her I wanted to keep the same color, and I actually really like how it came out. Yay!

November is mushroom season, where every day, one of the mushrooms growing around town is actually a piece of mush furniture in disguise. I remember this from last year, although I didn't move into Narnia until the end of the month, so I didn't really have the opportunity to collect the entire set. I've already gotten a mush closet and a mush stand that I didn't have before, so that's good. Plus, I dug up a couple of truffles, which they call rare mushrooms here. I don't remember those from the last time around, but they're great because they go for 16,000 bells at Nook's! Nice! (I want to try and save up a ton of money so I can buy the crown or the throne the next time I see them. I was always donating money to the town so I could get the lighthouse. But now I can be selfish!)

One last bit of random business before I sign off for this week, Diary. While I was in Jitters' house this week, I noticed for the first time that he has a birdcage. Who keeps a member of their own species as a pet?! Yikes!

Well it looks like the anime Halo project we told you about a few months back, Halo Legends, final has a set DVD/Bluray release date for Feb. 9th of next year. The project itself tells seven stories from the Halo universe over eight different episodes, and as Wootini explained previously, they got some of the best anime studios working on the project such as Bones (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Fullmetal Alchemist), Casio Entertainment, Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire), Studio4*C (The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight), and Toei Animation (Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, etc).

The project is going to be released in three different ways. There will be the 1-disc DVD version clocking in at $19.98, a 2-disc DVD version that has a few extra features and behind-the-scenes footage for $29.98, and a Bluray version that will have everything the 2-disc has plus a complete overview of the of the Halo universe, all for the price tag of $34.99. Here's a more detailed list of what you can get by buying the bigger sets:

"Halo Legends - 2 Disc Special Edition" version will have several hours of incredible bonus features, including:

• "The Making of Halo Legends" - An introduction to Halo Legends followed by a making-of segment for each episode.
• "Halo: Gaming Evolved" - Explaining the Halo phenomenon from its inception as an Xbox video game to a present day entertainment franchise.
• Audio Commentary with directors Frank O'Connor and Joseph Chou.
• Widescreen (1.78:1)

"Halo Legends Blu-Ray" versions will be loaded with bonus materials, including all the great extras from the 2-disc Special Edition as well as "Halo: The Story so Far," an overview of the Halo universe up until the end of Halo 3.

Overall, I have to say I'm pretty excited about this anime project, and I'm not even a big fan of the Halo universe. These studios just always seem to flesh out some interesting back stories in these projects, much like they did with the Dark Knight one, and the Animatrix. Plus I guess I'm a big sucker for good anime. So keep your eyes open for this DVD/Bluray on Feb. 9th.

Because of my lack of fashion and decorating skills, I often fear that the Gay Mafia is going to come and take away my membership card one day. Luckily, Style Savvy for the Nintendo DS doesn't require you to know anything about fashion aside from matching like colors and not trying to mix punk and preppy. I also want to make it clear up front that this is not a game about fashion designing. You are a stylist, which means you will take the 10,000 different items of clothing to create fabulous ensembles. Technically, there is a teeny bit of designing, but it only amounts to a label asking you to pick the colors for one of their clothing items.

Obviously this game isn't going to be for everyone, but long story short, I had a complete blast. Full details after the jump!

There's really no story to speak of besides that. There are a series of fashion contests that you can enter, but they're super-easy to win, and following your victory in the International Contest, you'll see the end credits. But that's not the end of the game, really, because you can continue to run your shop and every day brings new and different items to the buyer's center. The clothes also change with the season, so there's always a reason to pick it back up. Although to be perfectly honest, I sometimes had a hard time putting it down. the gameplay is simple and truthfully kind of repetitive, but I kind of couldn't stop. Yes, customers will repeat because they come back for more (eight visits gets you a discount!), but sometimes I swear they ask for the same thing. Not that I minded. I just sold them some pants or a pair of boots or whatever, and sent them on their way. I especially love when you pick something for them to try on that they particularly love, because a shower of rose petals fills the screen (no, seriously) and this means they're so excited that they'll buy something else.

It would've been nice to have a little more story, though. There's a series of characters who pop in and out of your store, but nothing really happens with them. Sure, there's the ones who run the hair salon and the makeup shop where you can visit to get makeovers and buy new lipsticks and eyeshadows, but I was kind of hoping for a romance storyline with Dominic. There's hints of it, but it doesn't really go anywhere. At least, it hasn't yet. Maybe it takes a few months... Because the game does work in real time. Customers will mention when it's Monday and they need some retail therapy or if it's a holiday. And on Sundays, you can get a preview of the next season's styles at the buyer's center. Thankfully, they don't require you to play during business hours. Your shop will be open whenever you play.

As a business sim, it's very lax. Which is good for me, because I'm not good with the micromanaging. Basically, you'll just sell a bunch of stuff, and when you have some money in your store account, you'll go buy some more stock. You can customize your store interior and music, but it doesn't seem to affect the kinds of customers you get. You can create flyers and advertisements to draw attention to specific items, and a local fashion magazine writer will interview you about items you want to push. It's more about the fashions than the business.

The graphics are cartoony, but the detail in the various items of clothing is impressive. As you play, you'll start to recognize the brands your customers are wearing so you'll have less trouble figuring out what to sell them. The sheer number of pieces available in the game means there are a bajillion different outfit combinations, and if that's not enough, downloadable clothes will also be available. At launch, the game offered up some pieces from Charlotte Ronson's 2009 collection. Oh, and you will have one of every single item you buy for your shop in your closet at your apartment, so you can wear everything yourself. As for sound, it fares a little worse. The music in your shop can get annoyingly repetitive, so I recommend not using anything with vocals or you'll go insane in 5 minutes.

In addition, the game uses the DS's WiFi capabilities for some multiplayer. You can link up to four DS's locally to play the fashion contests together. One player will judge the outfits the other three send down the runway. As far as online, you can open up a branch of your shop in a virtual city that other players can visit. You can also browse around the other shops yourself and see if you like anything on their mannequins. I opened my online branch before the game launched, so I got no play, but the day after the release date, I'd somehow raked in over $800 for my store!

As I said, Style Savvy isn't going to be for everyone, but I have to admit that I found it a whole lot of fun. Even just changing my hairstyle and playing dress-up with my character was entertaining. The constant flow of customers sounds like it should be numbing after a while, but the variety of characters and outfits and styles and requests helps keep things from getting too monotonous. There's also a fun sense of humor with the quirky characters. (Like Rococco, who runs the fashion contests, and whom I'm convinced is a trannie. The wig shifts around on her head too much and she has no curves. I'm just saying...) Focusing on the fun fashions instead of the boring business is also a plus in my book. And heck, I think I'm even learning a little something about fashion. I know what a bolero jacket looks like, now! Maybe this game is making me a little gayer so I can renew my membership another year...

It's hard to give Style Savvy a number grade, because it's so unique. Empirically, I admit that the limited and repetitive gameplay should rate it around a 5 or 6 out of 10. But the crazy fun I had playing dress up makes me want to give it an 8 out of 10. Your mileage may vary!