Every year during the Christmas break I play an obscene amount of games. It has been this way since I was a kid. I got one game every year from my grandma. I would play the game all Christmas break until school was back in session. I would continue the game throughout the year until it was finished. But, that bulk of time during Christmas would be a haven for me. I remember some of my Christmas highlights: Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, etc. When I look back at these games I see them for the classics that they are, but they also keep the memories of those wonderful times near at heart.   
 
This winter, being alone in Japan, was especially difficult for me, because this was my first Christmas away from my family. Luckily my friends and co-worker kept me pretty busy, so I didn't really think about missing my family too much. I also speant an abundant amount of time with some good games. I was engrossed in Forza 3 once again. I literally put in 20 hours during this break. Which is and isn't astonishing, because I put in over 100 hours into Forza 2.  
 
I have become pretty good at Forza over the last few years. I don't think I am good enough to go online and battle it out with the drift masters that populate the leaderboards. But, I do think that I can hold my own. One of the greatest things about Forza is that it has made driving "normal" cars fun. I, like many other people, would rather drive a Honda Prelude instead of a Farrari Enzo. Yes. It is a lot of fun to drive those speed demons, but I think it is so much more fulfilling to get behind the wheel of a car that I might actually be able to drive.   
 
The career mode of the previous games was pretty straight forward; you race easy races first, later harder races unlock. But, this time the career mode, which is set up like a calandar, seems much less repetative. Because if I finish a race and I don't finish first I know that I can just go back and choose that same tournament during a different season, or I can just choose the tournament from a menu.   
 
One thing that really has kept me interested is the online store. Users can upload livery, cars, tuning setups, etc. You can even have your own digital storefront. Which makes it easy for me to buy that Love Hina paint set for all my favorite cars. But, the real god-send is that I can download tuning setups. In Forza 2, if I was stuck during a certain race but I knew that I had the best car for the job, I knew that it was probably the fault of the tune of my car. This time, in Forza 3, when I was stuck during a race because of my cars performance, I just went online and searched for tuning setups and purchased a setup. Many of these setups are free or very low priced. I don't have the time or patience to change the calipers, or add or subtract air from my tires, but it is wonderful that there are people who do have time to do that kind of thing. I don't have any problem giving them some in game currency for their efforts either.  
 
Forza 3 is going to be one of the few games that I have all of the achievements. I had a great Christmas in Japan. I had a great time playing games. I think that Forza 3 had a part in my enjoyment of both. I might even go back to finish Forza 2, but I will have to make a crib sheet of my good tuning setups. I guess that it shouldn't be too much work to put those numbers into Forza 2.

Every year during the Christmas break I play an obscene amount of games. It has been this way since I was a kid. I got one game every year from my grandma. I would play the game all Christmas break until school was back in session. I would continue the game throughout the year until it was finished. But, that bulk of time during Christmas would be a haven for me. I remember some of my Christmas highlights: Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, etc. When I look back at these games I see them for the classics that they are, but they also keep the memories of those wonderful times near at heart.   
 
This winter, being alone in Japan, was especially difficult for me, because this was my first Christmas away from my family. Luckily my friends and co-worker kept me pretty busy, so I didn't really think about missing my family too much. I also speant an abundant amount of time with some good games. I was engrossed in Forza 3 once again. I literally put in 20 hours during this break. Which is and isn't astonishing, because I put in over 100 hours into Forza 2.  
 
I have become pretty good at Forza over the last few years. I don't think I am good enough to go online and battle it out with the drift masters that populate the leaderboards. But, I do think that I can hold my own. One of the greatest things about Forza is that it has made driving "normal" cars fun. I, like many other people, would rather drive a Honda Prelude instead of a Farrari Enzo. Yes. It is a lot of fun to drive those speed demons, but I think it is so much more fulfilling to get behind the wheel of a car that I might actually be able to drive.   
 
The career mode of the previous games was pretty straight forward; you race easy races first, later harder races unlock. But, this time the career mode, which is set up like a calandar, seems much less repetative. Because if I finish a race and I don't finish first I know that I can just go back and choose that same tournament during a different season, or I can just choose the tournament from a menu.   
 
One thing that really has kept me interested is the online store. Users can upload livery, cars, tuning setups, etc. You can even have your own digital storefront. Which makes it easy for me to buy that Love Hina paint set for all my favorite cars. But, the real god-send is that I can download tuning setups. In Forza 2, if I was stuck during a certain race but I knew that I had the best car for the job, I knew that it was probably the fault of the tune of my car. This time, in Forza 3, when I was stuck during a race because of my cars performance, I just went online and searched for tuning setups and purchased a setup. Many of these setups are free or very low priced. I don't have the time or patience to change the calipers, or add or subtract air from my tires, but it is wonderful that there are people who do have time to do that kind of thing. I don't have any problem giving them some in game currency for their efforts either.  
 
Forza 3 is going to be one of the few games that I have all of the achievements. I had a great Christmas in Japan. I had a great time playing games. I think that Forza 3 had a part in my enjoyment of both. I might even go back to finish Forza 2, but I will have to make a crib sheet of my good tuning setups. I guess that it shouldn't be too much work to put those numbers into Forza 2.

Forza 3 is an amazing game and one that I keep coming back to even after everything I've done in it...I keep telling myself I'm going to get all the golds, but I'm not sure I can stay focused long enough haha.  Maybe over summer!