Two years, bitches!

Yep, it’s December 31, that magical day when we celebrate another year since I decided to start writing things about video games and posting them on the interwebs. This year hasn’t been as content-filled as last year, but that’s okay. I prefer quality over quantity.

I mentioned it a few days ago on Twitter and Google+, but I’m going to be an honest-to-goodness game reviewer for KINECTaku!

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even heard of KINECTaku until I saw their call for reviewers pop up in my Twitter feed as a retweet from Nintendo Life. What immediately got my attention is that it’s run by the same team as Nintendo Life, which is one of my favorite gaming sites for a long list of reasons.

One of my favorite things about Nintendo Life is that they review every single Virtual Console, WiiWare, DSiWare and 3DSWare game released. It seems like an odd choice, but the vast majority of these games fly right under the radar of the gaming press; in addition to providing excellent coverage of all news pertaining to Nintendo, they’re the only site you can go to check out any of those games and know that they’ve reviewed it.

They have two other sites, KINECTaku and MOVEmodo, focusing on the motion control efforts of Microsoft and Sony respectively. Again, it’s a small focus, but it really sets them apart. If you’re a Kinect or Move owner who doesn’t buy into all the “casual vs hardcore” garbage and just want to know what games are good, where else can you go?

There’s been a few requests for a chatroom for a while now, so I’m glad to finally provide to you the PK Bloggin’! IRC channel!

This channel will be open 24/7 for whoever wants to join in and will supplement our Google+ hangouts. If you’re sitting on your computer with nothing to do, why not see who’s on IRC?

All you need to do is download an IRC client (I recommend mIRC) and connect to the DarkMyst server. From there, all you need to do is join #pkbloggin and you’re in!

Basic IRC commands are easy to find through Google, but one thing you’ll for sure want to do is register your nickname with the server to make sure no one can pretend to be you.

I also have it set to play a noise every time someone says my name, so keep that in mind!

So yeah. It’s all set and ready to go! See you there!

I got down on one knee and asked Christina to make podcasts with me. She said yes.

Okay it didn’t happen QUITE like that, but we are going to start making them again. We listened to the beginning of the last episode we recorded (which was last August for those of you keeping score at home) and listening to the comical bickering we were tossing back and forth made us realize that it was as good a time as any to start doing these again.

We fell out of the habit of doing the podcast for a variety of reasons, mostly changing work schedules and the fact that on our old laptop, oftentimes closing Audacity after a recording session would break the file into a million pieces and Christina would have to go back through and piece it all together (I didn’t make her do it, she was just good at Audacity and preferred to edit it herself rather than teach me how to do it).

I’ve made a few references here and there to a project Christina’s been working on, and I’m happy to announce she’s finally finished! Introducing Otakuholic!, the brand-new website for anime and manga fans featuring articles, features and a community for those looking to talk shop.

(If you’re wondering why I haven’t written much over the past week, a lot of it has to do with Christina monopolizing the computer to get it done!)

We both apparently enjoy website titles ending with exclamation points.

ANYWAY. You should definitely check it out, as I’ve seen what she’s got coming down the pike and it’s awesome. She’s got a message board too, but you guys don’t post on mine very often so why would I expect you to break your bad habits for her?

Make sure you like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter as well!

If you follow me on Twitter or are a member of the forums, you’ve probably figured out by now that I am no longer a writer for Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming. I left a couple of weeks ago for a variety of reasons, but it wasn’t a decision I came to easily.

I liked being part of the BnB staff but it just got to be too much. I’m a married guy who works full-time, so when I’d come home each day and have extra responsibilities, it just got to be a bit much for me to handle. My phone was always going off with email alerts and there was always something to do. That’s not inherently bad in and of itself (in fact, were I a few years younger, I would have relished it), but it got to the point where I didn’t even have time to play the games I was writing about and I wasn’t spending nearly enough time with my wife.

Another aspect of it was I realized just how apathetic I am towards the “industry” side of video gaming. I don’t care what this company’s financials are, I don’t care what this CEO said, I just don’t care. I like playing video games, and even then there’s a specific group of video games that I like, and I just didn’t have the interest to keep going into things that were just irrelevant to me. I thought I wanted to be a games writer, and I don’t think that’s true anymore. I certainly enjoy writing about video games, but only the way I do on this blog… typically tongue-in-cheek, informal articles written by a guy who just likes video games.

So for a long time now I’ve been wanting to get a group of people together to play Pokémon. I’ve missed having a group of people to swap strategies with, discuss different movesets and lineups, and battle with. An informal Facebook and Twitter poll later, and I introduce to you, the PK-Mon League.

(C’mon. You know that title is awesome.)

Taking place on the forums, it’s going to be a way for Pokémon fans to enjoy the finer points of the game with other people who are just as into it. With Black and White a little over a week from release, now is as good a time as any to jump back in!

So as you guys know, my goal, ever since I was a little kid, was to be a video games writer. Now, I will realize that goal, as I am now the North American Nintendo writer for Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming.

It’s not a paid position or anything, but I’ve been following their Editor-in-Chief Martin for a while and he’s put together a very impressive news blog with a very talented staff in a short amount of time. They’re not as big as Kotaku or Joystiq, but I feel like they definitely have a shot at it, and I’m very honored to be a part of the team.

However, despite me writing for another blog, PK Bloggin’! is NOT going anywhere.

PK Bloggin’! always was, and will continue to be, my personal blog. I’m not going to abandon it because I have a position at a news blog. I won’t be able to write the same things there that I do here, and I don’t want to give that up.

I’m very proud of this blog and very thankful for the people I’ve met through it. I’m still going to post stupid crap here frequently. How am I supposed to become an internet personality without this place as an outlet?

So yeah. Things will be different, but not too different. Make sure you bookmark Bits ‘n’ Bytes to keep up with what me and the rest of the staff have to say!

You’ll notice things look different around here. You may also notice that your eyes no longer bleed when you type my URL into your address bar!

The color scheme before was my attempt to make the entire site look like the “What’s Your Name?” screen from EarthBound, and it did look like that. Unfortunately I didn’t take into consideration that you look at that screen for all of sixty seconds, whereas I’m hoping people come here EVERY DAY. I was asking too much of you, dear friends, and for that I am truly sorry.

But seriously, Christina is working on a new layout for me (since she’s the artistic one, I’m just good with words) but it’s a ways off since she has her own projects she’s working on, so I wanted to just change the color scheme in the interim. Honestly though… I like it. It made more of a difference than I thought it would. Maybe I’ll keep it this way?

Anyway, let me know what you think, although I don’t imagine many of you will be clamoring for me to bring back the internet equivalent of staring directly into a solar eclipse.