Don’t you hate it when one simple design choice ruins an entire game?

As a 3DS Ambassador, I got 10 free Game Boy Advance games via download, including Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. I haven’t played much Fire Emblem despite owning both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, but James, editor at Nintendo Life, asked me if I’d review it as my first Nintendo Life assignment. I agreed.

I’m not super into strategy RPGs, but I do love me some Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics, and I’d always wanted to really get into Fire Emblem. I liked the look of it and the “rock-paper-scissors” weapon balance was super fun. The writing was good and I loved the character designs. Things were looking good!

Everything was going fine until I ran into what broke the game for me: when a character dies in battle, they’re gone FOREVER. Okay, that’s fine I guess. If someone dies, I’ll just reset! No big whoop!

That worked until one chapter in particular where the field was covered in fog and I couldn’t see anything that wasn’t directly around my characters. Despite moving them in a tight formation, enemies would always pour out of the fog and gang up on one character until they died.

I restarted that mission no less than ten times before completely giving up on the game.

I’ve gone into it a bit before in other posts, but I have weird anxiety issues with games. The thought of letting a character die and NOT resetting almost gave me a panic attack. No, I can’t do that. Then they’re gone for the whole rest of the game. What if I need them? What if they had something important to say later? No, I can’t let them die.

I had to email James and apologize, but I couldn’t play enough of the game to review it. I felt really guilty and embarrassed, since it was my first assignment and all, but that game was paralyzing me. I tried really hard to work through it, to put my crazy aside and be a professional, but my constitution stat wasn’t high enough, apparently.

So it looks like I’m going to have to admire the Fire Emblem series from afar. Have any of you ever had an otherwise awesome game ruined by one design choice?

I had a post in mind that I wanted to write tonight, but I’m changing it because I just found out that Ben Paddon is ending his GameJournos (AKA GJAIF, or “Game Journalists are Incompetent Fuckwits”) blog after two years, and that saddens me.

I don’t remember when I first heard about GameJournos but I know I’ve been following it loyally since I first discovered it. Despite my desires to enter the field, I’ve felt for a while that the majority of the game journalism universe is fundamentally broken (luckily I’ve made several friends and written for places that buck this trend!), and Ben Paddon has been there pointing out when game journalists screw up.

Whether it’s a writer making an error that a simple Google search would have prevented or Kotaku posting their seven millionth article that has nothing to do with games but is CONTROVERSIAL and will get them hits as people come to complain about it, Ben has been there to hit them with a rolled-up newspaper and say “NO! Bad journalist. Don’t do that anymore!”

As a writer, Ben is what I try to be and what real game journalists SHOULD aspire to be: an honest writer who writes about video games because he CARES.

While I’m sad to see GameJournos shut down, I’m glad that Ben is still staying active, especially since there’s going to be more PortsCenter episodes soon. Seriously, if you guys haven’t watched the pilot yet, do yourself a favor. I went out and bought the PS1 version of Doom because of that episode (long box version, too!) and I couldn’t be happier with the purchase.

See? Ben is providing USEFUL SERVICES to gamers. Someone give this man a medal.

I don’t really know how to end this other than to say thank you, Ben. It’s been a fun ride and we all appreciate your efforts. NOW MAKE MORE PORTSCENTER.

Nintendo has made its name in the games industry by providing tightly focused and highly polished experiences for over 20 years. Its games are always regarded as some of the best in their respective genres, so what to do when it’s conquered all charted territory? Invent new ones, of course.

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ defies any sort of categorisation; the most accurate label that could be applied is a minigame compilation, but even that sells the game short. While most minigame compilations are designed around social experiences for multiple players, WarioWare provides you with non-stop games at a breakneck pace that you can finish in a shorter amount of time than it takes for you to read this sentence.

Read the rest at Nintendo Life

(Note: I originally published this article on Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming on February 8, 2011.)

One of my weird gaming quirks is that I am inexplicably drawn to interesting title screens. Like a moth to a flame, if you show me a cool title screen, I’m more than likely to play your game. That’s part of how I pick which “unknown” games to play on Virtual Console, since all you really get to see are the title screens!

One of the first games I downloaded for the Virtual Console was Neutopia for the Turbografx-16, and I selected it solely based on how amazing the title screen was. Awesome 16-bit graphics, hero in a heroic pose, colorful landscape, it had all I was looking for. I bought it without even knowing what kind of game it was, I just knew I wanted in.

To my surprise, Neutopia is a 16-bit Legend of Zelda clone, and a pretty good one at that. I purposefully call it a “clone” rather than an “homage,” because really, who are they trying to kid? You use bombs to blow up secret passageways in walls. There are piglike humanoids who throw spears at you. There’s a monster that pops out of the water to shoot fireballs at you. There’re bats and skeletons. You have to traverse eight dungeons to find medallions and rescue a princess. There’s an item that stops time. There’s a really catchy, endlessly looping overworld theme. The boss of the first dungeon is even a dragon!

(One major difference, though, is that hero Jazeta has a much girlier sounding name than Link.)

Neutopia is perfect for old-school gamers wishing in vain for another top-down Zelda game. Just like Zelda for the NES, you’re plopped into the game with little direction and a massive world to explore. The nice thing the developers of Neutopia did, though, was give you a compass that will point you in the direction of the next dungeon you need to find. As far as getting there, though, you’re on your own.

But be wary, aspiring adventurers; Neutopia is HARD. In fact, some might even call it Nintendo hard. The game does not skimp on enemies to throw at you, and they do A LOT of damage. You upgrade your armor pretty quickly in the game so you can take a little more abuse, but just as soon as that happens, tougher enemies start showing up to take a chunk out of you.

The combat is exactly the same as in The Legend of Zelda (except, sadly, you cannot shoot your sword with power), but there is some pretty dodgy hit detection, especially against flying enemies. You have to hit them RIGHT ON with your sword or else you miss, while they can touch any part of you and you take damage. As a result, I found myself picking and choosing my fights, hoping to conserve health for enemies I couldn’t avoid.

I can’t recommend Neutopia enough to gamers looking to relive the days of old-school adventuring, but if you can’t take a challenge, stay away. Don’t let the bright colors and cheerful music mislead you, this game is going to fight you at every turn.

Neutopia is available for download from the Virtual Console service on Wii for 600 Wii points.

(Note: I originally posted this article on Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming on April 26, 2011.)

The Dreamcast, one of the most well-loved videogame consoles of all time, had a library full of fantastic, underrated titles. One of those games was 2000’s Jet Grind Radio, developed by Smilebit and published by Sega.

The game took place in a semi-futuristic version of Tokyo-to where different gangs of graffiti artists called “rudies” (who all ride around on high-tech magnetic rollerblades) are constantly fighting to protect their turf from their rival gangs while simultaneously dodging the police. The game is narrated by DJ Professor K who runs the pirate radio station Jet Set Radio.

You take control of a gang called the GGs, whose ranks increase as you complete challenges and impress other rudies and convince them to join you. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses which affect their health, skating speed, tricks they perform, and graffiti patterns.

Gameplay consisted of navigating different districts of Tokyo-to (Shibuya-cho, Benten-cho and Kagane-cho) and covering the graffiti of rival gangs with your own while avoiding the police (who don’t arrest you, they actually beat you up… the chief of police actually tries to shoot you!).

The game just oozes style. The first game to make use of cel-shading, Jet Grind Radio’s locales were full of life, color, and personality. Backed with an AMAZING soundtrack of catchy J-Pop, J-Rock, and J-Funk songs (and the American version was also one of the 1,000 games to feature “Dragula” by Rob Zombie, who I’ve come to learn is not ACTUALLY a zombie) and great customization options made it a hit at the time and a game people still speak highly of today.

The cast of characters was pretty large, and each cast member had their own distinctive look, from Beat’s giant sunglasses and headphones to Combo’s giant gold “¥” necklace to Gum’s dress and helmet. The cast fits in well with the stylized backdrop, and as each one plays a bit differently, there’s sure to be one to fit your playing style.

The game was ahead of its time in many ways. Aside from the graphical style it pioneered and the overt Japanese pop culture flair, the game also made use of the Dreamcast’s online functionality, but not in the way you’d think. There was no multiplayer option; instead, you could go online and download any .jpg file into the game to use as a custom graffiti tag.

The game did receive a sequel, Jet Set Radio Future (the original game’s Japanese title was Jet Set Radio) for the original Xbox in 2002 after Sega left the hardware business, but it wasn’t as well received as its predecessor. I played it, and it was fun, but the “future” aspect really threw the whole thing off for me. It wasn’t as colorful, the characters were all redesigned to be futuristic, and the whole game was just missing a lot of the charm of Jet Grind Radio.

Beat, the “main” character of the game, has made cameos in Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, but aside from those appearances, Sega seems to have forgotten all about Jet Grind Radio and it’s a real shame. While Smilebit no longer exists (being restructured into Sega Sports Japan) they were still a Sega studio and thus Sega still owns the rights to the game.

Now would be the perfect time to bring the franchise back, with open-world games being more and more common thanks to considerably more powerful gaming hardware. I can only imagine how breathtaking the world of Jet Grind Radio would look in HD with more vibrant colors, increased draw distance and larger locales.

Seeing as how Sega is just now starting to do things I’ve been asking for for years (a game with Sonic’s old design, Phantasy Star Online 2) I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to revisit Tokyo-to soon, if not in a brand-new game then at least in an Xbox Live Arcade re-release. It’s been far too long since I’ve laced up my magnetic skates.

(Note: I originally published this article on Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming on February 7, 2011)

Before the Wii was released to the public, one of the most talked-about features was the Virtual Console. Some people cried foul, claiming Nintendo was simply trying to milk more money out of people who had already bought some of those games several times before. I, however, saw a lot of potential in the service, not just for me to “digitize” my collection of old games or play some old gems I missed, but as a way for a new generation of gamers to experience key points in gaming history.

There are all kinds of people who have either been reintroduced to videogames due to the Wii, or are taking a step into the gaming world for the very first time. These people may think that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is pretty great, but did they ever take notes on how to navigate through the Lost Woods? They might have really enjoyed Metroid Prime 3, but do they know the name Justin Bailey? While a lot of people may have picked up the Wii simply to play Wii Sports, there are plenty who were enticed by what it brought to the table as an entertainment device and began to genuinely like videogames, and will use the Virtual Console service as a way to explore the path that led to the games they are playing today.

Take, for example, my sister-in-law, who is fourteen years old. My wife has been a gamer her whole life, so her sister grew up watching her play videogames and the Virtual Console has allowed her to play a lot of the games that she was too young for at the time. She’s a big fan of Kirby, having played his games on the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS. With the Virtual Console, she’s now able to see Kirby’s console game debut in Kirby’s Adventure for the NES.

More impressive still, she’s been spending time lately playing though Super Mario 64, a game my wife received as a Christmas gift the day before her sister was even born!

Even for someone like me who is a lifelong gamer, has never sold a console, and grew up reading every gaming magazine I could get my hands on, the Virtual Console has been a great way for me to play a lot of the games that I could only read about and never play. I never had a Turbografx-16 as a kid (and to be honest, I never even saw one in any store!), but through the Virtual Console I’ve gotten to play some really fun TG16 games like Bonk’s Adventure and Neutopia that I would have never had the chance to otherwise.

Unfortunately, the Virtual Console hasn’t gotten the attention in North America and Europe that it has in Japan (where new games are still put up weekly), and some of the most wished-for games will never hit the service for legal reasons (EarthBound), it’s still a great service that shouldn’t be easily dismissed. There’s a plethora of great games, some well-known classics and some buried treasures, waiting to be replayed by older fans who may have forgotten them, or discovered by new fans for the very first time.

(Note: I originally published this article on Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming on February 17, 2011.)

Back in my hometown in California, I had a job at GameStop. It was one of the good ones, though, with a helpful staff, a fun manager, and good customers. My good friend Tim and I used to even hang out there when we weren’t working and just talk games. He even introduced a concept to me that I thought was awesome and worth sharing: The “Unicorn Game”.

The Unicorn Game isn’t a game with literal unicorns, mind you. What the Unicorn Game is, according to the wise master Tim, is a game that is so rare and sought after but rarely seen. You know, like a mythical creature.

I was introduced to this concept by Tim who was telling me about his Unicorn Game, Valkyrie Profile for the PlayStation. He had been looking for it for years, but everywhere he looked it was far too expensive and usually incomplete. eBay was even more ridiculous, with most auctions weighing in at over $100.

That’s the thing with Unicorn Games, though. You can always find them on eBay, but usually at inflated prices. To truly hunt your elusive Unicorn Game, you need to scour used game shops, garage sales and the homes of relatives.

One of the great things about working at the store that I did was that our manager was awesome and let us do a few things that she technically wasn’t supposed to. One of those things was when people would bring games in for systems that we no longer sold, we were allowed to buy them for ourselves with money out of our own pocket.

One Sunday Tim and I were working and a guy comes in with a shoebox of games to trade. The guy was obviously a “Madden gamer” and most of the trades that he had were just obsolete versions of various sports games. There were a few PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games mixed in as well.

As Tim processed his trade, I sifted through what we didn’t take to see if there was anything that struck my fancy. Underneath a copy of Madden 97 that wasn’t even in its original case, I found something very notable. I swear the “get item” noise from Zelda played out loud.

Valkyrie Profile. Complete.

It was time for me to be the gamer equivalent of a wingman.

I kicked Tim behind the counter to get his attention. “Hey man, I’ll give you $5 for this,” I said, testing to see if he even knew how much it was worth.

“Sure,” he said, not really paying attention.

We had him on the line. Time to reel it in.

“I’ll give you $10,” Tim piped in.

“Okay, he gets it,” he said, handing the game to Tim and happily pocketing his bounty.

After he left the store, I could swear that I almost saw tears form in the corner of Tim’s eyes. “I have it. I finally have it. For $10. I don’t have to look anymore.”

You see, searching for a Unicorn Game takes a certain mental toughness. You have to be willing to endure disappointments for years as your prey eludes you time and time again. When you get lucky, though, and that long search comes to an end, it makes it all worth it.

We’re all gamers, but some of us are collectors. We hang on to games that we probably won’t ever play again because they remind us of things in our past, or because we like to own all games made by a certain developer, or simply because we want to have a bigger collection than everyone else.

I’ve spent years looking at every hole-in-the-wall used game shop for my two Unicorn Games, Little Samson for the NES and Project Justice for the Sega Dreamcast. The funny thing is, I haven’t played either of them in so long I don’t even remember if they’re any good. That’s not what it’s about, though. I know I’ve been looking for them for a long time, and I won’t stop looking until I have them.

For those of you that are collectors, what’s your Unicorn Game? What is that one magnificent, elusive game that you yearn to own?

One thing I can safely assume about anyone who reads my blog is that they like video games. That’s rad, I like video games too. Common ground!

Over on the forum we’ve gotten together to play games from time to time, but right now two games are really at the forefront of our minds: Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 for PlayStation 3 and Mario Kart 7 for Nintendo 3DS. Because we’re enjoying them so much, I decided to add some structure to the fun and introduce Thursday Night Throwdown and Fast & Furious Friday Nights.

Starting this week we’ll be getting together to play once a week (well, twice a week if you want to play both games) and have a good time. This won’t be a super-hardcore tournament atmosphere, just dudes playing games for fun.

If you’re interested we already have threads on the forums started by Megafan and Eric for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Mario Kart 7 that I’ve turned into official threads for both themed nights. We’d love to have you! (Just remember before registering for the forums to read this splash page!)

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a rad game. You all know how much I was looking forward to it because of the fifty other articles I’ve written about it. It absolutely delivers in every way and is even better than I’d hoped. I’m not going to bore you with more talk about the game today, though. No, I’ve been taking screenshots since I started playing on December 13th (Early Access what whaaat) and I wanted to share them with you. My character is a Mirialan Jedi Knight named Zetharis.

There won’t be any plot spoilers or anything for the Jedi Knight class story, but there will be location spoilers (spoiler alert: You go to Tatooine like in every other Star Wars game!). These are all shrunk down, so click to see them full size. Enjoy!

The Jedi Temple on Tython, where the two Jedi classes start. It’s a super dramatic approach on your way there, and of course the music crescendos appropriately.

Tython is gorgeous. So’s the whole game, really.

Jedi “armor.” Just me, being awesome.

I forget the name of this animal but I thought he was pretty rad.

I just took this shot to commemorate my first group with other players. On each planet there are “heroic” quests that require you to team up with others to beat them. Luckily, my server (Darth Bandon) has a good community on the Republic side and it’s easy to find people to group with.

Finally graduated from the dumb training blade and got my lightsaber. The reason it’s gold with a black core is because if you pre-ordered the game you got a special color crystal for your lightsaber or blaster.

I chose the Jedi Sentinel advanced class, so I get TWO lightsabers. Two is more than one, which by definition makes me a better Jedi than everyone else.

I’m ready for my close up, Mr. Lucas.

The Galactic Senate building on Coruscant, where all the movers and shakers of Galactic politics move and shake.

I made a quick stop at the Republic Fleet and had to inquire who their decorator was, because it looked like they had a lot of wisdom. And courage. And power.

Starting to look more like a Jedi.

(There’s actually a huge outcry in the community against armor for Jedi Knights… there are very few options for us without hoods. There are types of armor without inherent stats that you can modify how you like, however. I went this route, ditching the hooded robe after I quickly became tired of not seeing my character’s hair.)

2 Fast 2 Furious: Coruscant.

The ruins of the Jedi Temple, which was destroyed by the Sith Empire during the Sacking of Coruscant. A moment of silence, please.

Yeah, that’s my ship. It can barrel roll.

Taris sure looks different from the last time I saw it in Knights of the Old Republic. Of course, that took place 300 years prior to this game BEFORE the Sith destroyed it, but whatevs.

I guess Master Kiwiiks never taught Kira to turn her lightsaber OFF before putting it back on her belt.

The traffic on Nar Shaddaa is MURDER at this time of day.

Cheese it, the cops!

It looks like Vegas, but in space.

Wookiee: “C’mon man, my girlfriend’s in there!” Bouncer: “Hey, a LOT of people’s girlfriends are in there.”

It’s not a Star Wars game without Tatooine!

Sure looks like Tatooine.

Yep, definitely Tatooine.

Family Guy fans will know why I love this guy’s guild name so much.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

I make the Jedi Order look GOOD.

There’s this weird graphical glitch that’s happening to pretty much everyone regardless of what video card they have. I just wanted to document it.

This one requires a little backstory. Hidden throughout the game are datacrons, which bestow a permanent stat boost on your character. Usually they’re tucked away somewhere, but on Tatooine there’s one (which of course is the one relevant to my character’s stats) which requires you to climb on top of a Jawa sandcrawler and ride a balloon for thirty minutes to a different, inaccessible sandcrawler. This guy and I waited about fifteen minutes for the balloon to even make it to us in the first place.

Someone else joined us, who also apparently missed his lightsaber safety class.

On the balloon! Nothing to do now but wait.

Binary sunset.

Then something weird happened: after being on the balloon for twenty minutes (we could see the other sandcrawler!) the balloon just DISAPPEARED and we were teleported to the ground with low health. We didn’t fall, there was no animation, it was just… gone. We were understandably pissed. Even the most disciplined Jedi Knight would have said a bad word.

So I tried again and had a nice conversation with this nice Sith Inquisitor who was also waiting. That’s the nice thing about being on a PVE server; I’m sure on PVP servers this is a popular gank spot for griefers.

HEROISM.

Pleasedon’tglitch pleasedon’tglitch pleasedon’tglitch pleasedon’tglitch

Made it! The odds of successfully acquiring this datacron are approximately 3,720 to one.

Some pervert on the Republic Fleet dressed his Kira up in the dancer’s outfit. I don’t know whether I should shake  my head or high five him.

Alderaan is GORGEOUS, and is my new favorite area in any MMO ever. Sorry, Ranfaure from Final Fantasy XI. You’ve been usurped.

I found out you can take screenshots during cutscenes as well, so here’s me all awesome and detailed.

And this is my companion Kira Carsen. We made out on my ship. (Sshh don’t tell the Jedi Council)

“Darth Vader is Luke’s father? OMG!”

It’s a nerf. I herded it. I’m a nerf herder, albeit not scruffy-looking. Stuck up and half-witted, quite possibly.

This picture would have been awesome if it weren’t for the damn mission text popping up.

Oof. Breathtaking. It’s a damn shame it gets blown up in 3000 years.

I’m riding a flying winged dolphin thing! STAR WARS.

Trying to decide what my next heroic move is.

DAMN MISSION TEXT. Kira looks good though.

So yeah! That’s it so far. How many of those Star Wars references did you get? There were a lot.

This will be a recurring feature considering how much I LOVE THIS GAME, so I hoped you liked the first installment. If not, too bad, there’s more coming!

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.

This year I’ve written 96 blog posts (down from 157 last year, holy crap) which you guys have commented on 431 times. I need to step my game back up in 2012!

I started PK Bloggin’! as a way to start writing again and hopefully become a real, honest-to-goodness game journalist, and this past year I’ve gotten that started. First I wrote for Bits ‘n’ Bytes for a while, and that was fun. Then I started writing for KINECTaku and became a REAL GAME REVIEWER. Companies were sending me games! It’s so rad. Now I’ll get to realize one of my goals in the coming months as I start writing for Nintendo Life. Even though my foot is now in the door, I’m not going to stop working hard and constantly trying to improve.

I will never give up on this blog, though. I’m lucky enough to have made some good friends through PK Bloggin’! and I’m not going to give up on that. I still love writing for this blog because, well, it’s mine. As much as I absolutely love the deadlines and challenges of writing for a professional video game site, it’s nice to be able to write what I want and how I want.

So again, a sincere thank you to Andrew, Yonathin, Megafan, Syphon, Alt, Eric, Hirushi, Nall, Noofer and Hexen. I love sharing the forums with you guys and getting your feedback on what I write. It sounds corny, but you guys are just as much a part of this as I am.

Oh yeah! The blog looks different now. HUGE thanks to Michael Enger for designing the new layout for me. I love how it looks and it really makes things so much easier for me. The last layout was a pain in the ass to work with, and it’s going to take me some time to get everything looking right again (my old layout required me to use < small > tags on all text, which looks really bad with this layout, so I need to go back through all 200 something posts and manually delete them) but it’s absolutely worth it. I wish I could do more to thank Michael, but apparently writing code is what he does for fun on his vacations. Still, I appreciate it!

Anyway, now to recap my favorite posts of the year. Again, I just wanted to re-post this little paragraph from my very first post, something which still makes me laugh when I read it again two years later: “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Joe. I am 25 years old. I live in Boston with my fiancee who I think is pretty rad. I am an advocate of video games, anime, hilarity, and other things that I think are awesome. These things include, but are not limited to, ninjas, zombies, zombie ninjas, catapults, guitar solos, Han Solos, Rolos, not acting my age, the soundtrack to EarthBound, writing, overthrowing dictators, Dragon Punches, Falcon Punches, Hawaiian Punches, and the Nintendo 64 controller.”

Hanging from a Telephone Wire is funny. You should read it again.

New Look, Same Great Taste was kind of a riot for me. All I did was change the colors of the blog from the eye-bleeding blue and green to something less hostile and I just about had a mutiny on my hands. I know most of you will hate this new layout, but I don’t care. I love it, and Michael worked hard on it. That’s enough for me!

Is it Game Over? I had a trend of emo posts this year, which was odd considering I write stupid humor articles about video games, but whatever. You all seemed to like it, so here it is again.

Gotta Catch ‘em All… Oh Wait, I Already Did! I’m still proud of my Living Pokédex. I need to finish getting all the Black and White ‘mons.

What else can I say about Udderly Ridiculous?

I really enjoyed my Interview with Nerd Trivia Creator Laura Massey. Laura is one of my favorite nerd icons (and I have a crush on her sssshhh) so doing an interview with her, even over email, was awesome.

My smackdown of analyst Michael Pachter was pretty awesome. I don’t know what goes into being an analyst, but I bet I could do it.

Aim for Their Feet: How the Gears of War 3 Beta Taught Me About Myself was interesting to write, and surprisingly personal for a post about Gears of War.

I’m just posting On Tweets again because I like bragging that JG Quintel thought something I said was funny.

Fan is Short for Fanatic I keep having to look at again because I think it’s a post about Megafan. Then I remember that it’s a badass video of me with a lightsaber. No offense, Mega, but I like it better this way.

Hahaha, Con Artists. I thought that was funny when I wrote it, but go back and read the latest comment it just got a couple of weeks ago.

I’m just putting up Regarding Mines (and Also Crafts) because I like the headline.

The Internet Makes Me Sad Sometimes is still funny. I love the alt text I put on the picture of “Darth Malis”. Also the joke about Darth Mom at the end. Okay, I just like everything I wrote there. That’s not illegal.

PK Blogimations! I had big hopes for but everyone just seemed to point out what I did wrong with them, and they’re a ton of work so I don’t know if I’ll do more. Here’s episode one and episode two (not of Star Wars).

Dude. Skylanders. Seriously. still gets me so much traffic it’s not even funny. A lot of my referrals are from people with technical problems with the game, which is weird. I did, however, spend a morning at work doing email correspondence with a mom who wanted to get the game for her sons for Christmas and had lots of questions. I gave her all the info she needed and she was very grateful. I felt good about it, and I hope her sons had a great Christmas morning with their awesome new game.

Broken Links and Skrimming the Rim was fun to write, because I still call the game “Skrim” whenever I refer to it. When I announce to my wife I’m going to play it I still say “I’m gonna Skrim the Rim.”  We have an interesting home.

So yeah! 2011 was a good year if you ask me. I’m really looking forward to 2012 and I hope you all stick around to share the journey with me. Thank you again for all your support!

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