Booting up....Again?

The new laptop has been fired up. Games have been downloaded by the scores. Reviews have been gone over. Free games have been looked at, in addition to the ones that I already have. Diablo 3 has been updated for the new expansion.  This gamer is locked and loaded for the journey back into the world of PC games.

I have been spending most of my time on my phone journeying through the content available on it, but so far very few games have continued to keep me interest for more then a few weeks.  Either the game stagnates with very few things to do but wait for more energy or the people who make the game never publish any additional content so that you get stuck doing the same thing over and over.  The thing about online gaming is all about the community too. So few of the mobile game developers realize this.  You have a great mobile platform for games but you force your users to go to the forums or somewhere else to talk about strategize about the games instead of building things inside the game that enable your users to do this?  Or they make the game so that people have to pay to compete with everyone else or you get left far behind.  While I have no problem giving my money to a game developer, I do have a problem with games that give people who pay a significant advantage without giving the free player a way to keep competitive even if it is a lot longer and harder road. *End Short Rant*

As I delve back into my journeys I will be visiting some of the games both online and off that have come out over the past year.  I will also be bring back to life my youtube channel and streaming on Twitch a bit.  I plan on bringing a different perspective to the gaming community and showing that just because I may be an old gamer, doesn't mean that I can't be a good one. 

Once more into the breach....

I have had a wonderful year full of many fun and interesting things.  I proposed to the wonderful girl that I had been dating since the end of 2011 in February and we were married in March.  I found out that Jennifer and I were going to have a little one underfoot sometime in October (which is coming up here shortly and we both are super excited and just can't wait). We have cleaned out the old spare room and turned it into a nursery while also getting rid of years of boxes and various books that we didn't need or want and gave them to Goodwill or people who wanted them.  My wife and I have repainted multiple rooms and have basically enjoyed what has mostly been a blissfully and happy engagement and marriage. To keep a relationship healthy and strong though, I definitely had to change my gaming habits. Gone were the longs nights of ramen and Mountain Dew drinking and getting 2 hours of sleep before working a 10 hour shift. Gone were the naps soon after getting home from work just to be up late at night when all of my friends on the easy coast started up their late night gaming sessions.

You  know what. I don't miss it one bit. I love my beautiful and amazing wife and I couldn't be happier.  While I not get to play games as much I do get to do other things that are just as enjoyable and it does help that my wife is just as an avid reader of great books as I am, though our tastes do differ a bit from time to time.

Yes my gaming habits have changed, but it has allowed me a deeper appreciation of what I do play and brought me back to my roots and allowed me to focus on the types of games that I enjoy the most instead of just playing the flavor of the month to keep up with everyone else and to follow my friend across the vast and expansive gaming universe. But I had noticed that my blog has gathered dust while my desktop has become the habitat of my wife and my 4 year old more then me.  Does that mean I have stopped gaming?

No it doesn't, but the avenue and the things I enjoy about it do.  I still love the sandbox, that open free to play style that allows you to do whatever you can dreams or think of doing. I have also been working through multiple android tablet/phone games enjoying the various communities that they offer and also enjoying the diversity of the different games that start up companies and even big companies are making to jump on the band wagon of what is looking to be a lucrative business model.

I've played the games like Zenonia 1-5 by Gamevil which has a wonderful model for allowing you the freedom of an enjoyable RPG that you can play for free but allowing you to spend your money to buy things from bigger bag space to better gear.

I have played a few of the standalone RPG's like Dungeons of Doom or Pixel Dungeon which were both great and interesting games. They both had interesting play mechanics and were very enjoyable to play.

Playing Rage of Bahamut was fun when it had the whole trading aspects between players and I did play it for almost a year. But when they came out with the bazaar it became more of a pain in the ass then anything fun.  It has even dropped out of the top 10 android games. Which doesn't surprise me as they have not even updated the graphics in the game or allowed it to work with a lot of the newer devices, but it was fun while it lasted.

After putting Cyanogen on Nexus7 I pulled out all my old roms of my old games systems and have tackled them on there. Everything from Techmo Bowl (NES) to Final Fantasy 10 (PSX) has been tackled on my tablet and it has enjoyed many hours of gentle abuse.

Pulling out my laptop has also brought my much joy as I have tackled a few Facebook's games such as The Last One and Kingsroad.  They were fun and enjoyable and working with other Facebook members to complete tasks and beat bosses was very interesting if a little clunky and awkward at times (Facebook's games run so slow and their graphics are horrible).

The Humble Bumble deals that come through weekly and monthly are a blast. I have gotten so many great games for the price of just one new game that I have games to last me for years before I ever need to continue upgrading my current hardware. Sometimes whats the newest and hottest on the shelf isn't the best game around ya know?

I have dusted off my laptop and have decided to use it for more gaming also.  It's not top of the line of anything so I have been regulated to playing games that are low on the graphic scale or turning the graphics as low as possible. I played a few of the MMO's that are out, like Tera or Ragnarok II.  While they both were fine the whole play style just bores me after the first few levels. Do quest, rinse, and repeat. Oh god please shoot me.

I have just recently found a game that I had heard about but never tried. It has totally got me hooked into its clutches and I am going to tell you more about it, but this current post has gone on long enough. I will post again shortly as I delve into both parenthood with my wife Jennifer and tackle the vastness of the unexplored universe.

Relationships and Gaming

Relationships and gaming, whew isn't this always a hot topic.

For those of us who have been raised on gaming or who took to it like fish to water when it came into our lives, gaming is a real and interesting hobby. Just like reading books, gardening, movie watching, or fixing an old car. Those of us who like gaming like it for many reasons, but the main one that  usually stands out is the ability to take action.  You read a book or see a movie in which a bad ass hero used a gun/sword to defeat the bad guy.    Well you may have only watched it or read it elsewhere, but in a video game you get to be the person that does it and in most games these days, or at least the good ones, you choices effect the people in the game around you and the way the story plays out.  That can be very fun and addictive. Yes I said addictive. Just as those of us who also read can get drawn into a book until we've finished or just got the last piece to a car your working on and only can grab two hours of sleep before work. There are things we love that draw us in to them and bring us enjoyment.

Now these hobbies/addictions can cut into some serious time with our significant others. If you are in a relationship where you value your hobby time over the time that you spend with your s/o then you might want to take another look at it and decide if you really are in the right relationship.  It took me a long time to figure this out. Most of the time I have been dating in my life, my hobbies gaming/reading/knitting exiting underwear  have always been way more important to me then my s/o. This should have told me something and it did, though at the time I didn't realize it.

Now I have a wonderful girlfriend who means the world to me and that I plan on marrying one day if this world gives me the slightest bit of chance at doing it. My gaming time has dropped from 40-50 hours a week down to almost 5-10, sometimes even less.  Many people have commented on it, my real life friends have noticed it, my online friends have made comments about it, and I have noticed it. But I have noticed more the change in the relationship that I have, now that I pay more attention to my s/o. It's a world of difference and I like it. Why in the world would someone want to risk loosing someone that makes them this happy over a hobby?

But I won't quit gaming, because gaming is a much a part of me as breathing, eating, or reading a damn good book. But at the same time I will still keep loving my beautiful girlfriend. She makes me more happier then then even being a first to kill a raid boss, finding a super rare item, or finishing a game that took me over 40  hours to beat could ever do.

So keep on gaming strong, I'll be around, maybe not as much as I used to, but blogs on gaming should be present, and my voice shall be heard in the ears of my friends around the world as we blow something up at least once a week. ;)

And when they can't hear my voice, I'll be looking into the eyes of the one who makes me smile and letting her know that I have my eyes on her.  Can you guess what game song I'm hinting at?

And that my friends, is a better ending then any game might give me. :)

Indie Games Vs Big Games and Pirating

I was speaking to my girlfriend about this topic the other day when I spent less then 15 bucks on a collection of some of the best indie games that I have played in awhile: Bastion, Botonicula, Machinarium, Samorost 2, and Windosill.  Amanita Design ran a bundle pack in which you bought Botonicula for above the average price and received all the games plus a host of other things for free. You could decide how much of the profits from the games went to the developer and how much of it went to a non profit donation. Its an example of one of the great things that the indie publishers bring to the table.

Pirating games will always be a big issue for a lot of people. Especially people who are on a limited income. I myself feel perfectly justified in telling people that it is okay to pirate big company games. But I will always bash anyone who pirates an indie game and I will always no matter what buy any indie game that I come across.

The reason I will buy them is twofold.  Indie games tend to be cheap and be just as good as a big budget game when it comes to story and game play value. Sure it might not have as spiffy graphics or CGI but it still rocks in the enjoyment factor. The second factor is that they brings tons of ideas and innovations to the table. Look at Minecraft for example, when I bought the game it was still only 5 bucks.  Now it's earned over a million dollars and costs somewhere in the range of 20-30 dollars and the guy that made it has now started his own company, has a crew working for him, and even has a huge event dedicated to Minecraft. Now all kinds of games are taking the innovative things that he did in the game and are bringing them into their own games.  

The supporting of indie developers, especially those that have a vision and listen to the feedback of their players is crucial in the development of the direction that we want gaming to go in  the future. Do we want shelves stocked with FPS shooters or do we want a wide variety of games from 5-50 dollars with every genre mixed into it? Do we want developers that only care about the big buck and constantly rehash the same formula for the games they make the money on? Or do we want developers that aren't scared to always take a chance and try something new and innovative. Do we want developers that ignore the people that want to play their game or do we want developers that actually listen to the input that their players give them?  I don't know about you, but I know exactly what I want to see the gaming community growning into. Freedom of expression with tons of people making video games both big and small and listening to their player base and trying out new ideas to make a better gaming experience.

If you have read this then you gained 36/200 experience towards level 2. Congratulations. 

You Have A Quest!

I've been gaming all of my life. Started in on an old commodore 64 and have never looked back. Though having to load a game with either commands or a disk or cartridge has not changed. The society that games live and thrive in has. A lot of people these days picture the gaming community as large fat doughy white boys living in their parents basement or hulking frat boys get drunk and playing call of duty.

I remember a time when logging on even as a kid, I could always find someone helpful and knowledge to hold out their hand and lead me down the path to a great and glorious BBS or MUD (if you don't know what these terms are its okay, they mostly aren't around anymore).

My first experience in a game called Ultima Online I was fighting alone in a graveyard against some skeletons and a PC named Spawn game along and showed me some things. Next thing I was meeting his other friend, then his guild, then guild runs to show they could trust me, then a member, then a council member, then a leader. Three years of my life I spent in this game. Talking, laughing, crying, basically going through life with the friends I had made their.  Now there is where somewhere starts in about the guy in the basement theory. Sorry that just wasn't the case. I was doing the same stuff all other college kids do. Basically, drinking, partying, hanging with friends, dating, and a little classwork here and there.  I had friend here in my town and friends all over the world. One of my closest friends now didn't even live within a thousand miles of me, but he does now.

Gaming friendships, in person friendships, and pen pals all have a place in this world. The bonds can be just as strong as a friend you see everyday. As you get older and responsibilities/significant others prevent you from hanging out as often as you used to, gaming can be a way to bond and stay close friends. You can BS a friend just as well while your slicing his character with a sword as you can drinking a beer on your back porch. Hell you can drink a beer while slicing his character with a sword and it could be the funniest thing in your life.

I plan to write here my thoughts on gaming and the way the culture is changing. Some of the changes are good and some of the changes are bad. This will be my thoughts on it. Even with work and life and love you have to keep your game strong. Be brave and face that dark tunnel. Follow me on this quest together. I'll be the brawler, you can be the swarthy rogue, the witty mage, the quirky mage, or if you a true gamer, all of them in due time.

Kenneth Williams