i remember  the calm excitement when i first read about this title for the nintendo ds. it boasted a real-time RPG-Action adventure, where you would have to draw your spells using the stylus! and the good news is that they totally delivered their promise on this one. the game is fun, challenging, and features multiplayer battle. so what's it all about, you say?

you assume the role of a young magician in the making, taught by a well-respected mage of the town. as usual in game, some turmoil has arisen in the homelands, and many of the powerful leaders in the area have been put under an evil spell. you even face-off against some of these wizards, attempting to knock sense into them while recovering the special staffs across the land, which are the target of the evil enemy who is ravaging the place. you yourself possess a magical staff handed down by your father. the RPG storyline even splits with decisions such as when you are asked to give up your magic staff. very cool indeed. but let's discuss the best part: the gameplay!

as a magician, you learn spells based on the elements (water, fire, wind, etc) and each spell has a signature "rune" design that you must draw with your stylus on the screen in order to activate. furthermore, the better you draw the rune sign, the stronger the spell will be cast. neat-o! so how this works out during gameplay is: you hold down the L button to bring up the rune-drawing menu. a circular design with points shows up, waiting for you to start drawing. now you draw the symbol as a series of lines and curves, to make up the rune sign. for example, one spell is a simple ^ triangle shape. now the spell is activated, which for this example is a fire attack spell. once back in the battle, you now have to click on your enemy to cast the spell on him. other spells have you clicking on other things, such as heaing yourself/ your pets, or enironmental spells where you click on land to cast. one of the coolest spells is an earth spell where you can literally draw a line on the battlefield, and huge rocks will grow there creating a wall barrier!

this game is a must-try if not a must-have. it also features multiplayer action where you can battle your friends wi-fi styles. each player will need his own cartridge for that. it also has a free wi-fi download option, but this only lets the cart-less DS download a demo single player version of Lost Magic, tsk tsk.

traumatic brain injury is a hidden enemy that is unexpectedly on the rise in our soldier's lives. this is because of the gritty nature of the wars in iraq and afganistan- the countless horrific bombings that our precious brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers are exposed to daily. i wasnt even aware of this terrible situation until ameneas and i saw a sad program about bob woodruff and his brush with death in iraq, which resulted in an accident where he got TBI. fortunately, and with heaven's blessings, woodruff has been able to recover amazingly; yet the same is not true for hundreds of soldiers and servicemen/women. these injuries are paralyzing people, both physically and mentally, forcing adults to return to what seems like the thought-process of a baby or child (and this is for the lucky ones who wake up). i mean, it is very sad to even think about this i know, but this is part of the problem: nobody wants to talk about it, the gov't doesnt want people to know how terrible the war really is, and honestly, the average person, even when confronted with it, is very likely to feel repulsed and ignore it. i dont support the war but i believe our soldiers really need our help and the true help of our gov't. some of these souls aren't able to get proper treatment for their advanced brain injuries, and this is cause for great concern. there is a foundation called Wounded Warriors that is helping alleviate the problem, and get the right authorities to do their jobs better.