Knowing, as we do, that Gabriel plays games in order to be rewarded with "new art," the fact that Kingdom Hearts 2 ranks high for him - as high as it can, actually - probably isn't a surprise. I find the story fascinating, the sort of game one drains with a FAQ chaser; there are huge ideas all over the fucking place, when the fact their tangle of warring franchises works at all is surprising out the gate.
Of course, that's not what he's after; he finds it superfluous, which is how you know we're in this universe and not another one.
He was able to grab a demo for it, much the same way you can, from the cramped, authentically terrifying cave that is the eShop on the 3DS. He'd never been in there before; it was the Dream Drop Distance demo that drew him in, and when he found himself ensconced by that haunted thicket he cried aloud.
There are many things one can say about the 3DS, and we routinely do. I have suggested that just as with the DS itself, it can take a while to find that game which makes the system (with all its attendant idiosyncrasies) disappear. After that happened, I found myself hungry for those "snack" threshold games I've grown accustomed to on traditional systems and personal computers: not full discs, no carts, just something I can point to on the cart and grab quickly. This was when I was a young man, new to the world; my soul had built no callus.
The experience of using the eShop is like waking up in a coffin. The way the interface is set up, you've got a tiny pinhole through which to view individual categories, and without apparent caching the experience doesn't encourage exploration - performance is swampy. Games tend to be blissfully quick downloads, so the fact that you can't use the device for anything while that's happening is assuaged somewhat, but still. Thanks for buying stuff! As a reward, let me shunt your device into the nega-realm.
They are engaging in one of the most elaborate treasure hiding operations I've ever seen; it's practically an Easter-level scenario. There are real Nintendo games of the very best kind in there; ones that somehow make universal concepts new and invite every player. Real world-beater stuff. Good luck finding them.
(CW)TB out.