Here’s the plan, and we’ll see how far it goes. Apart for this blog being a place people can leave comments or feedback about my artwork, (these posts are sure to come soon!) I also wanted it to be a place where I can talk about video games. I heart them long time. “Playing” them is my favorite form of entertainment. Yes even above punching midgets. When others are winding down from a long hard day with their favorite reality show, or CSI clone; I am enjoying a video game. I love the interaction, the problem solving, and sometimes the competition. I say sometimes, because the competition in Halo over XboxLIVE isn’t very flattering. Often I look at the next game I check out as a puzzle. How does this mechanic work? What makes it fun? Why did the designer choose to do this, or have me go here? What if I go the way they don’t intend me to go? (I thoroughly enjoy exploring virtual environments, assuming it’s allowed and not a game built on rails.) I don’t know how many others look at games this way, but I likely do it because I’m a developer and an artist. I enjoy the hunt for something beautiful that I haven’t seen before, or may be rare to others. I like to see what makes a game tick, and hopefully figure out how to do it myself. I don’t know where this curious drive comes from, but likely from childhood somewhere. It could have flourished from my desire to take broken electronics apart, or possibly the joy I had when I first found the hidden warp pipes in Super Mario Bros. Either way it gets me excited. All that is why I enjoy games want to review games and want to talk about them. I enjoy them immensely, and have since I got my first NES in 198…9? I was young!

For 20 years now I have been playing games quite religiously. Since then my life has changed quite a bit, and has put me into, what I think is, a more “real” demographic. Back then I mostly relied on my parents for new games. I did my chores for a couple months, and I would get a game. As I grew I got my own job, and having no responsibilities, I purchased a lot of games simply because they were new and the box art was pretty. Now, I have 3 kids, a dog, a cat, a new house, and a job. All this works together to determine which games I play, and ultimately what I look for in a game.  I do a bit more research before I make a purchase. I look at things such as re-playability, amount of content, and what might set this game apart from other games that are out there, or ones I have played. In a way, I hope this helps me weed out the games I wouldn’t really enjoy even if I did have unlimited funds, time, and hard drive/shelf space. I hope this viewpoint allows me help others that are a bit more frugal in their game purchases, to extract the good from the not so good.

One thought on “Why review video games, and why you might care.”

  1. Wow. When you’re not mortaring me with genital jokes, or telling me to shut up, you have something fascinating going on in that hamster cage of yours. I’m glad I was able to read something that gave me a deeper insight into the mind that obsesses over video games. It was definitely an obsession I often wrote off as a mind-number, something that could take hours of your life away and leave you with nothing to show for all your mushroom crushing majesty. But alas, from a different perspective (who knew?), it leaves you with all you’d ever need (plus your family, shelter, love, water and pooping). I don’t think that last sentence made much sense, but I’m moving on anyway. All in all, it was enlightening to read a little snippet of why you love video games. Node lollipop.

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