Kamikaze:
The great thing is that everyone who missed out on them on the SuperNES and now have a GBA would have a chance to play them. As for the rest of us, some might be apt to get them. GBA is still coming out with some great new games, but just like the GBC, there is a lot of new CRAP coming out too.

Googleshng:
Well, the gaming comunity is currently deep within a rabid porting frenzy. It started out nicely enough, with games first released on Sega systems nobody ever bought getting big shiny remakes so everyone could play them, and that was fine. Then some NES games snuck in, that's nice for newbies. Now though we're hitting a point where logic is being tossed aside and people are drooling over the possibility of playing dirt common SNES, PSX, and Dreamcast games, that there's quite frankly no reason not to own if you care at this point, being brought to newer systems, mostly the GBA. Now, I can't complain about games being brought to larger audiences, but when the masses get swept up in this movement buying 2 or 3 versions of the same game, we start to get into this nasty ouroboros* sort of deal where publishers will keep releasing the same games over and over because it's profitable and a whole lot easier than making brand new games.

It'd be like a world full of Capcoms!

* You know, the snake eating its own tail deal.

Kamikaze:
I've never been into table-top RPGs and the like, so Goog is more qualified than I am to answer.

Googleshng:
Well, I suppose I could point you to the official web pages of various publishers, but they're easy enough to deduce on your own if you really want to. Anyway though, here's the best way to find paper RPGs:
Go to you local mall. Wander around until you find a store that looks like it sells model kits, model paints, weird chess pieces, and little lead figures. They used to be pretty easily identified by the big racks of Magic cards behind the counter but now everyone has those. They also tend to have sets of dice on the counters though. Anyway, any store like that, and they're everywhere, should have a bunch of bookcases lined with RPG books towards the back.

As for what to start with, well, traditionally, people start with games like D&D, random Palladium stuff, or one of the various ubiquitous Whitewolf games (Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocolypse, Smurfs: the Smothering, and so forth). Why? Because the rules are darn simple. From most people generally want to move up to games with really complex well-thought-out rules, like Shadowrun or GURPS, or swing to the other extreme and get into diceless games. Or both.

Kamikaze:
Ballet isn't something I'm into, but if a chick forced me to go (especially a rather cute one), I really wouldn't have much of a choice. =)

Googleshng:
Let's all stop bashing ballet before someone comes to defend it. Especially since Chesh would be forced to deal with it, and that's just not fair.

Kamikaze:
1.) Maybe its a special place that sets off some Doomsday machine somewhere in the world! Well...maybe not..but I honestly cannot remember something that specific in the game. In times like these www.gamefaqs.com is your best friend.

Googleshng:
Pretty sure it's just nice pretty background stuff.

Kamikaze:
2.) EARTHBOUND! 'Nuff said.

Googleshng:
Well, I think I established last letter that I'd rather see some NEW games, but if you're going to twist my arm, I'll have to say Dragon Force. Just seems really well suited to playing while walking.

Kamikaze:
3.) Not that I know of, keep your eyes open though. You could always bribe a Square employee.

Googleshng:
Still just a rumor. Granted, a well founded one, but a rumor nonetheless.

Kamikaze:
4.) I don't know who he is, but umm, cool!

Googleshng:
That would be spiffy. Would've been even spiffier last hardware generation though. He's one of the few artists whose stuff would actually look GOOD as grainy low poly-count stuff. These days though, sharp edges are out, and primary colors are in, so I don't see it happening in the near future.

And for Kamikaze's benefit: Jhonen Vasquez is some guy with a REALLY warped sense of humor who is responsible for such wonderful creations as Johnny the Homicidal Manic, Squee's Big Book of Unspeakable Horrors, and Invader Zim.

Kamikaze:
5.) Amano better not step out of the video game character designing business, he's damn good. You never know, he might have burned out or something, or he could just be focusing on non video game artwork. Either way, I would like to see him do some more character designs.

Googleshng:
Technically he was never really IN said business. He's just a famous artist who is occassionally hired to do character designs for games, usually by Square. It's just that lately Square is employing some no-talent hack who I'm guessing works for much less money, and since nobody seems all that bothered by it, they're keeping him.

Kamikaze:
6.) What happened to six?

7.) NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO!

Nothing can eat the divine wind, cause, well, I have no physical form to speak of...

Googleshng:
"... Doom d-doom doom d-doom! DOOMY DOOMY DOOMY..."

Kamikaze:
I can give you one thing, Odin is the supreme god in Norse mythology, Zeus and Jupiter would be his Greek and Roman equivalents. Now Goog, you got any more for our reader?

Keep on slacking man! =)

Googleshng:
Except Odin's cooler and doesn't turn into a swan to pick up girls, and he let's his son Thor handle the duties of being God of Thunder. ANYWAY though...

The Final Fantasy series has, last I counted, somewhere around 70 or 80 summoned monsters (although at least half are exclusive to FF6). I'm not going to go listing off ALL of them, but here's a nice sampler for you:

Shiva as you almost know is the Hindu GOD of death, destruction, and dancing. Traditionally, he has 4 arms, 2 wifes, a necklace of skulls, and no connection whatsoever with ice, so Square's just being really @#%$ed up there.

Rama is also from Hindu mythology, one of the many many incarnations of Vishnu, which pretty much makes him one of your standard hero demi-gods.

Bahamut is found in a few mythologies, Babylonian for example. He's also a big fish, generally, but Tiamat who comes from the same source is indeed a dragon.

We already covered Odin, but Ragnarok is also from Norse mythology. Ragnarok isn't a god though, it's the story of, simply put, the great big fight at the end. End of what? Why the world of course!

Quetzalcoatl is the #1 god in Aztec mythology, and is a flying feathered serpent.

That a nice enough sampler? If not, feel free to dig around a big mythology website, like www.www.pantheon.org or that much better site I can't remember the name of at the moment.

Kamikaze:
God I hope Square is making another Front Mission game. Just please make the battles a bit more challenging this time!

Googleshng:
No word on any new FM games in the works.

Now, said mini-series is indeed both potentially cool and horrifying. On the one hand, exposing more people to that series, or for that matter anything by Roger Zelazny, is a very good thing. On the other hand, while most of the first 5 would be just fine, I wouldn't trust anyone but Jim Henson to put any scene close to chaos on film.

In any case though, based on how Skiffy handled Dune, we can at least rest assured that it won't get the sort of neutering Damnation Alley did. (What? The main character is a brutal thug named Hell who needs to be blackmailed into doing anything for anyone? We can't have that! Make him a nice happy shmuck!)

Oh right. None of you give a smurf about this sort of thing. Sorry, I'll move on now.