All right. I can do this. It’s writing, just like I’ve been doing, just without video games.

So I was sitting outside in the yard today, just looking around at the surrounding houses and thinking about who lives there (note: I don’t actually know the people who live in any of those houses). I know everything there is to know about my life and what it entails but I don’t know a single thing about the people who are ten to fifteen feet away from me at any given moment.

I was thinking, the four walls erected next to the ones I occupy encase an entirely different experience, an entirely different life (or lives) being lived. I found it quite astounding the more I thought about it, because I had never really thought about it before.

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Today is a monumental today. As of today, PK Bloggin’! will cease to exist.

Well, kinda. It’s going to cease to exist in its current form.

As of today, July 5th 2010, PK Bloggin’! is no longer a video game blog. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past few days, and honestly, I think it’s a good decision for me and for the blog itself.

To be honest, I am not nearly as into video games as I used to be. Right now I’m 26 years old, planning on getting married in about two months, and I work a full-time job. I just don’t have the TIME to be as into games as I used to. Not even just that, but reading Kotaku and its commenters I find that I’m pretty disconnected from what today’s gaming culture has evolved into. Not that that means that there’s anything wrong with today’s games or even anything wrong with me, I’m just in a different place than I was a few years ago.

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Hey all. You’re in for a nonsense post tonight, because hey, it’s 4th of July weekend (if you’re American, if not, then it’s just The Weekend) and we were out having dinner and general merriment, and I unfortunately have to work at 6am tomorrow morning (but I’m off at 11, so I still count it as a weekend off).

Take care, be safe, and have a happy holiday!

So Square-Enix announced a North American release date for their upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.

Actually, they announced TWO North American release dates.

That’s right, the game will launch on September 30, unless you buy the Collector’s Edition of the game, in which case you get to start playing September 22 and laugh at all the peasants with their noses pressed against the window, wishing with all their tiny little hearts to be inside.

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I’m a World of Warcraft player. I’m not one of those super-hardcore, “Leave me alone because I have a raid” no-life players. I enjoy the game, and I play it quite often, but I mostly play because I enjoy exploring the world and becoming involved in the lore.

One thing that a lot of people don’t know about me, and something I consider one of my more charming character quirks, is that I am completely incapable of playing a bad guy in a video game. When I play BioWare games, I’ve literally reloaded a previous save when I accidentally get Dark Side or Renegade points. I play all games with a morality system as the super-ultra nice guy, because I get really uncomfortable even PRETENDING to be a jerk.

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Hey all. My mom is coming into town for a few days from the distant land of Florida. I haven’t seen my mom for two years so I’m pretty excited. All you teenagers who think it’s not cool to hang out with your parents, enjoy it, because some day you might live in different states!

To keep you entertained in the meantime, I present to you the YouTube sensation Guile’s theme goes with everything.

I love video games. You should know this by now. What you may not know by now, however, is that I also love sitcoms. No matter what you’re looking for in a sitcom, there’s probably a comedic situation on television for you! Except doofy, inattentive fathers. They haven’t done that yet.

ANYWAY. One of my favorite shows on TV right now is The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom about four nerds and their hot blond neighbor. It’s got phenomenal writing and an absolutely stellar cast, but one of the best things about it is their attention to nerd detail.

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Last weekend Christina and I were at the mall a few towns over and decided to check in on the GameStop there. I went in hoping to find a good deal on some old games, and I came out with the humbling realization that even though I may not work for GameStop anymore, I am still just as vulnerable to the horrific experiences that so frequently manifest inside those hallowed walls.

We were picking up a copy of Alan Wake for the Xbox 360 (expect Christina’s impressions soon, since she’s the survival horror fanatic) and suddenly we became bystanders to one of the most astoundingly stupid conversations ever to be spoken north of Arkansas. I mean, this was the kind of stupid that hasn’t existed since man decided walking upright would impress the chicks more than dragging his knuckles on the ground.

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I am going to try, most likely in vain, to use mere mortal words to describe Nintendo’s E3 press conference today.

Ahem.

It was freakin’ awesome.

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Hey all, just a reminder that I’ll be hanging out in the IRC channel tomorrow during Nintendo’s press conference if you want to hang out and discuss what they’re going to be showing off. With the Nintendo 3DS set to be shown tomorrow, it’s going to be an exciting time!

The channel is #pkbloggin and is on the DarkMyst server. If you’re having any trouble connecting, send me an email at joe@pkbloggin.net and I’ll do my best to guide you through it. Once the conference starts, though, I’m going to be focused on that, so be there early!

The conference is scheduled for tomorrow at 9am pacific/12 noon eastern. I’ll be there early and I’ll be hanging out after too. See you there!