17/12/08 So a Game will fall down if I Tap it?

Okay, just taking a short break from playing Psychonauts. I can see why that game is considered to be underappreciated.

Lately I've been leaching a few of the games available for free off the Gametap service. The way I understand it is that you pay for a subscription and then you can play any of the games available while that subscription lasts, but there are a few free games to try and entice new subscribers. It's not much of a pain. Logging in and working through the interface can take a minute or two, but that's not bad for some decent free games. Ads try to come up when I start a game, but fail for some reason, so I don't have to bother much with them.

The only thing that bugged me was an option (set by default) that downloaded enough to start playing, then downloaded the rest while you were playing. This bothered me, because I live in Australia, land of download limits, and a) it didn't show the full file size, b) I wanted to download during my off-peak download limit, and play without downloading during my peak limit. But I've sorted that out now.

So I've played a few games off Gametap so far:
Sam & Max: episode 4. I really love humerous adventure games like this, just need to find the full-season set on sale somewhere.
The classic arcade games, Metal Slug 1, 2 and X.
Second sight, A decent psychic 3rd-person action game (with a story!) that I'd never heard of before. Just think Star Wars with real guns & stealth, and you'll probably have a reasonable idea. Made by the same guys who make Timesplitters.
Mr. Robot, a 2D isometric puzzle-platformer with an RPG hacking system.
A few old fighting games, Samurai Showdown (seemed weak), and Last Blade (better, but sudden difficulty spike was a pain).
And now, Psychonauts.

In a while I'll start on Dues Ex and Hitman 1 (the sequels are available too). Tomb Raider Legends (I think) is also available, if I can spare the download. Of course, it's not all decent stuff. There's a lot of lousy-looking stuff that I'm afraid to touch.

I won't go all out with a detailed review, but I'll add a little note about Second Sight down here. They added one tiny little detail I found interesting. During one cutscene, a guard gets up from a computer, confronts the main character, and gets (unintentionally) killed. Then if you use the computer and one of the programs, you can see the guard was just having an IM conversation with his wife. A happy conversation. And now he's dead. and since you logged on as him to see the conversation, she starts leaving more messages. It's almost enough to make you feel guilty about all the killing. You could miss it easily enough, but it's such a creative little detail, I'd like to praise the developer for it.

17/11/08 - White Chamber

Pulled some free stuff off the net recently. Got the World of Goo demo. Sticky-structure-styling is fun, though watching things collapse can be a bit disheartening. Pretty nice.

Also a free game called The White Chamber. It's a point-and-click adventure, with a sci-fi, horror theme. When I say horror, it's more disturbing imagery than anything else. There is a slight tenseness, but the 'scares' were too obvious to actually be frightening.

The puzzles are simple and logical, so there's little reason to be stuck. The game is also very short, 20-30 minutes if you know what you're doing, so the main reason to play is the 'horror' and story.

The story uses the amnesiac start, but it's interesting. The thing that bugs me is that they don't really explain why we're seeing all this gory imagery. I mean is it a hallucination, or projection or what? I could make some guesses, but an explanation would have been nice. There are a few endings. A couple are dying ones, but they don't just appear out of nowhere, so it's fine. I got the 'good' ending on the first try, it wasn't really that hard. The 'bad' ending is probably more interesting, actually. It sounds like there are a couple more endings I missed, because I used a walkthrough from an earlier version (after first completion, of course).

The graphics were pretty good, the backgrounds had some nice detail, and things were appropriately disturbing when they were supposed to be. Some people might dislike the anime main character, but apart from a couple of cutscenes, there's not much else specifically anime, so it shouldn't be a problem.

There was voice acting, and it was decent for a free game. Could have done a little more with context, like make her sound scared when she examines an object that only appears straight after a disturbing scene, or just putting a bit more emotion to things in general, but that's probably nitpicking. Just to be clear, she does sound scared/surprised for some things. There were some nicely appropriate ambient noises, though.

Additional - Okay, so after checking out the site a bit more, I found some audio files, that gave a bit of a prequel story to the game. The voice actor was pretty good, and the story was decent. It did explain a few things about the game that had bugged me, but not everything.

11/11/08

Back to Lego Star Wars today. Played the special stage, but it's just a chance to collect large amounts of coins....I mean, studs. I also spent sometime getting the collectibles, and earned enough to buy a detector for them, but the detector is very limited, in that all it does is draw an arrow over the location of the collectible. This is fine if it's hidden inside an object I didn't think of destroying before, but if it's on a ledge above me, then it gives me nothing.

I'll probably call it quits with the game now I've got all the characters. Not sure whether to go onto the second one, it'd be a lot nicer with another player, but I'm not sure I'll ever get one.

Also played a little of the XBox version of Battlefield the other day. Can't really say I'm impressed so far.

05/11/08 - CNET top 25 flash games (5)

The continuity returns.

Bloons - Throw a few darts and try to pop as many baloons, I mean, bloons, as you can. Get enough and you go to the next level. The game does mix things up with walls, and a number of special bloons, like one the gives you a boomerang shot, or one that drops a spike-ball, or one that releases a pacman for you to control. Simple, and kind of fun, for a while.

Grow Cube - Ahh, a lovely peice of interactive artwork. There is a cube, and you have several objects to place. Each time you put down a new object, the previous ones will gradually grow and interact with the environment, causing interesting things to happen. The only thing you control, is what order to put things down in. Your goal is to put things down in the right order to complete the cube properly. I will say, you start with the man.
The game, and the others in the series, are very cute, and it's amusing to watch things come to life and interact. It can definately be addicting, tryng to figure out the order, but once you've got it, there isn't much to go back for.

Zuma - Another puzzle game. A line of orbs is circling around you, gradually closing in. Your only defense is to fire more orbs, matching them with 2 others to make a set, which disappears. It's another take on the tetris-puzzle genre, and there doesn't seem anything particularly wrong with it.

Vector Runner - A driving game using vector graphics. You'll automatically accelarate along a straight road, all ytou have to worry about is avoiding the randomly-generated obstacles & flash bombs, while picking up the point cubes.
The game does get hectic quite quickly. The vector graphics are clean, which is more important than being flashy.

Cursor*10 - An interesting puzzle of a game. You take your cursor, and try to find the exit of each room, you can also break other objects for points along the way, but you have limited time. However, at some point, you'll find it impossible to move on, wishing you had another cursor to help. And you end up running out of time. Then, it begins again, but what's this? Another cursor just moved, following the exact path you took last time. And that's how it goes: You go as far as you can, then do whatever you need to to get the next cursor through.
It was a little too frustrating for my liking,and I didn't bother to finish it, but it's definately an intreresting concept.

02/11/08

Played a little more Lego Star Wars. Collecting enough bits to get the last level item was a bit of a pain, because of enemies that never stopped respawning. but with enough patience, I got through it. So now the '?' door is open, though I didn't have time to go through then.

Seem to have gone off TF2 for a while, but that's fine.

26/10/08 - CNET top 25 flash games (4)

Maintaining continuity this time.

N - Run fast, jump off walls, and get to the door. That is the way of the 2D ninja. Though for some reason, these ninja have very short lives, but their lust for gold drives them onward, so be sure to get plenty on your way, to keep them alive that little bit longer. Of course, all the gold in the world won't stop a sudden death at the hands, or should I say euthanizers, of the various security drones.

I've played this game a while ago, and it was quite enthralling, trying over and over to get through a room alive.

Dino Run - Here we have a little dinosaur, and an oncoming cataclysm. You control the dinosaur. Guess what you'll be doing? Yep, lots of running. Unfortunately, the terrain isn't very flat, so you'll also have to do lots of jumping too. You're bigger than a few other dinos, so you can eat them, survival of the fittest and all that, but with the cataclysm, it is fast food, so it's best to do a [s]drive[/s] run-through. Eating enough dinos and eggs, and your dino can be upgraded.
It was kind of interesting, but the terrain got a bit too annoying for me.

Crimson Room - This is what's referred to as a 'room escape' game. It's basically an old adventure game, with a single location. Your goal being to get out of the room. I haven't seen these before, but the idea is easy enough to understand. I played through a few games in the series, and they seem to be quality, though there were some things that seemed a little too much, such as going to a website the game gives you for a code, and something else I won't mention, but it basically requires real-world information, but doesn't really prompt you into thinking of it. Still, as long as you know proper walkthrough conduct, these games can be interesting puzzles.

24/10/08

The series will continue later.

Well, after that blog where I said I'd ease up on TF2, I didn't play it at all until 2 nights ago, so that's about a week without TF2. Not too bad.

Also played a bit of SSB Brawl yesterday, got through Classic with the other Pokemon, so now I have all the character trophies, the only 'challenge' left that I can really TRY for is beating Boss battles on intense, and I got disrupted before I could go far with that yesterday.
I think it's either going to be Toon Link, or Charizard that I put through that, but it's probably going to take a few tries.

21/10/08 - CNET top 25 flash games (3)

Again, I continue from the blog prior.

The Last Stand - Zombies are coming to get you. All that lies between them and you is a makeshift wall, and all the bullets you can fire. The game comes in two parts. First, there's the action sequence, where zombies come towards your defenses, and you have to keep them at bay until dawn. You're guy can move around a little behind his wall, but mostly you'll be using the mouse to aim and shoot. The zombies come in a few different types, and they have location damage, with death animations to match.
The other part of the game is simply deciding what to spend your time during the day doing. You can divide hours between repairing your wall, searching for weapons, or searching for survivors. Repairing the wall is self-explanitory. Finding more weapons is important, as the weapons you get will gradually be stronger, and you can carry two at once, switching when you want. you may lose people when you look though. Extra people will help with everything, they will accompany you in defense of the wall, help repair the wall faster, and aid in your searches.
The different weapons added variety, but I found myself falling on specific ones. And once you have the final weapon, you need nothing else.
I played this game once, and completed it. There weren't any difficulty options, which is unfortunate, and I realised too late that there was a diary to read each day, so I missed out on anything interesting that might have been in that. Still, despite doing the same thing over and over, I never really felt bored playing this game, and I might just see if there was a newer version, and try playing that.

Portal: The falsh game - Based on the Valve game of the same name, you get control of a guy and a portal gun that can create 2 portals for you to warp between. And you have to use this mechanic to solve puzzles, and get to the end of each area. This version, though, is 2d.
Played this one a while back, before playing the original, actually, which was a bit unfortunate, because I went into Portal already knowing the techniques.
If you've played Portal, this a great continuation. If you haven't played Portal, well, it depends on whether you're going to or not, because if you are, I'd recommend going with the original first. On the other hand, if you can't be bothered getting the original, this a good free alternative.

Helicopter game - This is one of those, 'click to go up, let go to drop', games, where you traverse a cave, being careful not to hit the top, bottom, or obstacles.
It's simple, but not really boring, as the cave slowly shrinks. The rise and drop speed is fast, so it's a bit difficult to control, but I'm going to put this one in the 'skill' category, as opposed to the 'unfair' category.

Yetisports - This requires registration, so I skipped it.

Dolphin Olympics 2 - You get a dolphin, an ocean, and 2 minutes to rack up as many points as you can by doing tricks. This feels sort of reminiscent of the classic, California Games. Jumping out of the water, you can do flips and corkscrews, and try to make the best reentry you can. With every successful jump, you'll start to go faster, and can eventually leave the atmosphere. If you'd rather stay close to the water, you can just tail-slide across the surface.
The game was a bit of fun, though there were some problems with the controls sticking, probably when I tried to use too many arrow keys at once, and sometimes I felt that I should have had a good reentry, but failed somehow.

Winterbells - The game is simple. Get the bunny as high as you can, by jumping from one bell to the next. All you do is use the mouse to control the horizontal motion of the rabbit. When you touch a bell, the rabbit automatically bounces higher, you just need to get to the next bell. Simple, in an addictive way, and the graphics are definately cute.

20/10/08 - CNET top 25 flash games (2)

Continuing from where I left off yesterday.

Bow Man - A simple artillery game. Click and drag a line to choose angle and power, then release to fire an arrow. Your goal being to hit your opponent, a random distance away. Unlike most games of the sort, you won't actually be able to see your opponent while you line up your shot, so the first shot is completely blind. The area is completely flat, though you can turn on a random-sized wall and wind to mix things up. It's a nice distraction, but there really isn't much to keep me coming back.

Desktop Tower Defense - As with all tower defense games, you have a small square area with several entrances, and a place that must be protected from waves of incoming monsters. To do this, you spend money placing towers within your area. Different towers have different attacks, and costs, so strategic spending is the key. You can also upgrade existing towers.

Now, in this particular one, you have to stop the enemies getting from one side to the other, though you can survive a few. They don't attack your towers, so you can basically herd the monsters in the direction you want, though you're not allowed to block them.

Using this, I formulated a strategy to tunnel them towards the end, then placed a tower in the way, causing them to turn around, then removing it before the next wave. This worked for a while, but one group of tough enemies took too long to die, then the next wave spawned, bypassed my blockade, and pranced past my weak outer defenses. The final swarm had me madly switching between 3 gaps. It took a while to finish, but none of them got through.

In this game, there aren't many tower types (6), and some of them don't seem to make much difference. Some of the enemies seem to take an unreasonable amount of damage before dying, so you need to have a good strategy ready from the start. Oh, and I'm saying that, even though I only played this game on easy.

Neopets Hasee Bounce - You get two little creatures, one on a see saw, one on a branch above. You can manouver either a little via the mouse, and when you click, one goes down, then the other goes up. The point is to move them with the right timing to get weird fruits that float across the screen. Kinda interesting as an idea, but for me, it's just too fiddly moving the mouse back and forth to get each creature into position, and it takes too long to go through the jumps.

Linerider - Ah, I had a look at this a while back. Draw a bunch of lines, then push start and watch as the little sledder tries to traverse them. There's a bit more to it than that, but I didn't go into it much, I found myself drawn, instead, to the videos of other people's works. There are some big, impressive courses to see, all of which would have taken ages to design, I'm sure. Quite amusing, and probably addictive if you get into making courses.

*To be continued*

19/10/08 - CNET top 25 flash games (1)

So, today I came accross a list of what CNET reckons are the 10 most addictive/best (Now up to 25) flash games that exist on the net. The list IS about a year old, but it's new to me.

I found some interesting stuff in the list, but I also found some really dull stuff. I'm wondering how much research these guys actually did. First there's Chimgam, which is just a simple shoot-the-moving-target with a rude joke theme. Practically nothing to it, almost definately shouldn't be in a top 10 list. Then there's clones of Space Invaders, Frogger and Snake. Classics, sure, but are they really that addictive these days?

On the other hand, as I said, there are some gems in here. Like Park. More an interactive work of art than a game, it is quite a beautiful distraction, however it doesn't take long to see all that's on offer. Unless I missed something. Still, I don't plan to go back, so 'addictive' really isn't the right word.

There's also Bejeweled, but personally I'd prefer Tetris. Besides, I own Puzzle Quest. Oh, do I need to explain Bejeweled? Okay, you get a full grid of gems, and swap pairs around to try and match a set of 3 or more, then more gems drop into the grid, filling the gaps. You have to make a set every move, though.

I tried a lot more, but that's all I'm writing for today, I'll continue muddling through the list another day.

16/10/08

I think I'm going to be limiting my Team Fortress 2 time from now on. After all, they won't be finished with class updates for another year or so at this rate, and I think it'll be even more interesting with more class updates, so I'll try for a 'less now, more later' approach.

Since the last blog, I've played a bit more Lego Star Wars, and TF2, and that's about it. Nothing to report.

06/10/08

So, after some technical difficulties, I'm back to playing hand-me-down XBox games. Yesterday I played a bit of Lego Star Wars 1. Finished all the episodes, but now there's this '?' door that I've got to find a way into. I reckon getting the special lego piece from each level might be the trick, so that's the next task there.

28/09/08

So, I was working on getting another challenge done, specifically, getting all the final smash trophies, the last of which Was ZS Samus. So I needed to get through All-Star mode (consecutive battles with everyone) with Samus, hoping to encounter a smash ball and use it to change. It was only afterwards that I remembered reading a way to automatically get ZS, but anyway.

So my main strategy was to avoid the enemy long enough for a smash ball to come along, which is actually quite a while. and to my consternation, a couple of times, the ball appears just as I'm finishing off my opponent. Then there was the time I got a smash ball, but decided to actually use it on my opponent. Opponent dies, round ends, I haven't changed. Darn.

In avoiding the enemy, I also noticed a slight limitation on the part of the AI. I was playing on normal difficulty, though.
Firstly, these guys just don't know how to jump koopas.

Vs. Pit, all I did was stand on the top platform while he was on the bottom, but it took him more than a minute to figure out how to get to me. He seemed to think ramming his head against the platform was the best way for a while. It got even stranger though, as I picked up invincibility, then stood off to the side. Of course, this caused him to retreat to the other side, but just as the invincibility wore off, he jumped off the stage, and after a platform moving out of the stage. And so, he, as icarus before him, flew too close to something, and died. Either that, or my avoidance made him suicidal.

After a while though, I got what I wanted, and completed it with ZS Samus, earning the last smash trophy, and the challenge. Still haven't gotten all the character trophies though, so I'll have to figure out what I'm missing. I'm hoping I don't have to do each of the Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon seperately, but if I do, I do. Oh well, I like Charizard, at least.

19/09/08

So, since the last blog, I'd say it's mostly been Team Fortress 2.

I considered stopping myself from playing for a while to get more time for other things, like sleep, but that idea got hit with a headshot.

Actually started making occasional use of the microphone. It's a bit annoying, because it's a hand-held one, but it seems to pick up my voice fine sitting on the desk. Still don't seem to be comfortable using it yet though.

Also, today I finished my little logo. Yay.

12/09/08

Dragonball Z: BT3 was today's game.
Managed to finish off the story mode. Not much happened. One of the battles I dealt with had, probably, my biggest failure rate so far, but I think I gained a bit more combat knowledge.
Noticed one strange thing. I finally gathered the dragonballs, and summoned the dragon to unlock something. I chose a stage, the stage unlocked, then the dragon said, "I cannot grant that wish." in voice, AND text. Odd.

Darn it Team Fortress 2 blog, update!

11/09/08 - Puzzle Quest

Over the weekend, I spotted, for the first time, a copy of Puzzle Quest. Now I've heard of this game in a few internet locations, and the price was only AU$20, so it was an easy purchase.

For those who don't know, Puzzle Quest is a mix of several things. A simple, competetive puzzle game similar to Tetris Attack (Aka Panel de Pon or Pokemon Puzzle League), with strategy elements, wrapped up in a fantasy storyline with much of the customisation expected of any RPG.

On the first day, I spent around 9-10 hours playing the game. with a large number of hours the following day also. I soon realised that playing the game left me with no sense of time, something I am far too vulnerable to. Since then, I believe my 'new purchase' interest in playing the game has subsided, but I'm still wary of the times I play. For one thing, I remind myself that I can spend the same time late at night playing Team Fortress 2 online.

As for the game itself, the gameplay is reasonably solid. However I do sometimes wonder if the AI can see gems that are still off the board, and the hint icon that comes up after a 10 seconds seems to think setting up damage blocks for the next turn, which happens to be the computer's, is a good idea.

The production values are extremely low, but it is, I believe, meant to be a budget game anyway, though there are times I wish the game had more informative indicators, particulary for things like the exact amount of damage you dealt an opponent, rather than just how much damage an attack could have inflicted. And it would have been nice to know what difference the choice of class made before I selected it. Sure, they give you a vague idea, but that's not the same as knowing.

Given that there is a story, there is also writing. So far, I have found the writing to be low-quality. There IS a glint of humour, in character interactions, that seems to be nice, but the dialogue is blandly generic fantasy fodder otherwise.

The single looped song, that for some reason has to restart every time you enter most screens, does get tiresome after a while, and the fact that sound effects don't always decide to exist, leaves the sound side of things a bit lacking. I'll have to try turning sound off and putting on a decent playlist in the background.

Today I played F.E.A.R. and I would just like to say, it seems highly unreasonable for a shotgun, even at close range, to turn a man into cloud of blood. Chunks with a large blood splatter, yes. But completely disintegrating the body into a cloud of blood, no. Should blood even be able to form a cload that hangs around for a good few seconds? I'm doubtful. Not that I should be surprised that a horror FPS uses over-the-top violence.

29/08/08 - Warning Forever

Okay, work made my gaming time a little limited over the last week, but I'm back now.

Today, I've been spending a little time with a freeware game, Warning Forever. Basically, it's a simple arcade shoot 'em up, with nothing but increasingly difficult boss battles. But then, why bother running through a level of boring minor ships when you can cut straight to the boss?


Your ship only has one weapon, a powerful vulcan cannon/spreadshot, which has two firing modes. Normal, which fires straight forwards, and variable, which alters the direction and amount of spread, when you move without firing. The variable can be tricky to work, but considering the enemy is in front of you less and less as levels progress, it's invaluable.

The boss itself is made out of simple pieces and turrets put together to form a ship, your goal being to destroy all the pieces until you expose the core, then blow that up. It starts rather basic, with a few peices and one type of turret, but each time you shoot it down, it comes back evan bigger, and more well equipped. But it's not just a pre-set sequence, it actually grows depending on how you beat it last time. By the time the stages reach double digits, you'll be in constant fear of your life. The range of weapons the boss employs are well designed and each introduces a new challenge. The boss will even try to ram you, which can be a big problem if you haven't created a path past it's screen-filling wings.


The game allows you to play by time or lives, with extra being rewarded for stage completion or destruction.

It's a fun game, and intense once it gets going. The graphics are simple, but clean, which is important. I just wish their was a better way of doing the variable vulcan. Definately something to try if you're a fan of arcade shooters. Oh, and you'll probably want to start some music going, as the game, while having a bgm volume, seems to lack any music.

23/08/08: Up to speed

Okay, so an idea of my current situation. Well, the last console I got, was technically an Xbox. My brother threw it away, I caught it. Before that, however, was a Nintendo Wii.

As for games, most recent purchases, were Smash Bros. Brawl(Wii), Dragon Ball Z: BT3(Wii), and F.E.A.R (PC). Up until last week, I was playing Brawl 95% of the time, trying to finish the majority of achievements challenges, and of the remaining, most are simply a matter of time, with only one or two that haven't been done due to their difficulty. I have yet to try online, as I'm not sure my setup would work well enough.

In the last week though, my time has shifted to Team Fortress 2. A game I've owned for a while, but only started playing recently. I'm finding it quite enthralling, but every game is time-consuming, as I mostly play offense/defense maps, where each team's turn to attack/defend can take from 10 to 45 minutes, depending on each team's skill & luck, and the length of the map. I really should get a proper mic, so I can talk. I do have a hand-held one hooked up, but I'm never sure about using it. As for classes, my mains are Pyro, Soldier and Medic (if there aren't enough, which is most of the time, so I'm a little tired of it), though I fill in most roles when I see a need.

Now, make regular posts.

11/08/08

When I said 'next up', I meant, 'The blog after the next up'.

Between last blog and now, I had the opportunity to once again introduce someone to the Nintendo Wii, and specifically, Wii Sports. He's a not-young guy, but he's had a bit of experience with games thanks to his own offspring.
I started him off playing tennis alongside my mother, who has a bit of experience with it. The atmosphere created was one of merriment, with every point won or lost punctuated by amused comments and bursts of laughter. It took a while for him notice my calls of, "Stop pushing the buttons." But eventually he learned, and the incessant tapping no longer danced across my eardrums. Eventually, mother had to leave to perform the prerequisite housework, and I took the gentleman to the fighting ring.

That is to say, Boxing. The atmosphere was a little more subdued, but the laughter was still there. I demonstrated as best I could how it worked, then started the game, intent on simply blocking till he had gotten used to it. He then proceeded to pummel Mii, until I went down. Apparently my blocking could use work. After a little more look at how to control the character, we went onto another round.
For the next few rounds, I had no intention of being passive, and KO'd him each time, even with a single knockdown once. By the end, I had come to the conclusion that he had simply been flailing his arms too much, and had never really blocked properly. We'll have to work on that next time.

After that was a bit of bowling. Here, difficulty was mostly found in the combination of motion and button presses. After a bit of repeated instruction, he was able to play effectively, and outdid my score in one of the alternate play modes.

At this point it was getting late, and alas, an end was needed, however, the gentleman has, on several occasions since then, professed that he thoroughly enjoyed playing, so I am hopeful he will come back for more, and perhaps eventually I'll to see how he goes with something more complicated.

09/08/08: First Entry

Let's see, a little history first, I guess. And the reason I'm making this blog.

I have been playing video games of one type or another for as long as I can remember. Seriously, I can't remember a time when I haven't had video games.
The first platform I remember playing was the Commodore 64, though there was also an Atari 2600. For many years I have been an avid video game player, getting a new console each generation, and moving through several iterations of PC over the years.

These days, I don't spend anywhere near as much time playing games, and no, that's not because I have more of a social life =P I'm not sure of the exact reasons, but things like my recent addiction to anime, getting a job, and getting heavily into online communities, were probably important factors.
Of those things, currently, the first is flourishing, the second is only part-time now, and the last takes 85% less effort than it used to.

This means I'm finding a bit of extra time on my hands, so I'm playing games more again, but I'm also trying to get myself to use my passion for the creative, mostly through writing.
I remember hearing that keeping a journal was a good way of getting yourself to write, but there's rarely enough in my day I'd consider worthy of a journal entry. Then I had an idea, perhaps I could write a journal about the day's gaming. So, I thought it would be worth a try. I might also do gameplay videos, write about gaming news, and other, random things. Mention of anime, is also likely.
I do have another blog, exclusively for creative things, like poetry/stories/videos, so you won't find them around here.

That's about it. It probably won't be the most exciting read, at least, for the time being, but perhaps there will be something of interest. I'm also open to questions/suggestions if there's a particular game you want an opinion/video of. Of course, I'd have to own the game, so once I get around to it, there'll be a link on the side to my Gamespot account, which has a list of all the games I own, though some may not be in my possession anymore.

Next up, my current gaming situation.