Long story short, 2015 has not been the greatest year for me. November was the first month in a very long time where I was both pleased with how things were going and looking hopefully to the future. I'm glad to be able to share with you some of the high points of this past month.
This Blog:
Hey, I wrote some things! I'm most pleased with the final entry—after looking back on a couple years of writing for this blog, I came to realize how constantly negative I've been, even after my one friend's comment about my "general bitterness commentary" caused me to reexamine my writing. I'm making a conscious effort now to be more positive in my writing. I miss being fun and friendly and optimistic, and it's within my power to be like that again. I still reserve the right to complain from time to time, but I'll try to do it with a smile.
- Retrospective: October 2015
- I Think You Overestimate Their Chances
- Lessons From Livestreaming: Deponia
- The Next Trek
Hey, I wrote some things! I'm most pleased with the final entry—after looking back on a couple years of writing for this blog, I came to realize how constantly negative I've been, even after my one friend's comment about my "general bitterness commentary" caused me to reexamine my writing. I'm making a conscious effort now to be more positive in my writing. I miss being fun and friendly and optimistic, and it's within my power to be like that again. I still reserve the right to complain from time to time, but I'll try to do it with a smile.
- Retrospective: October 2015
- I Think You Overestimate Their Chances
- Lessons From Livestreaming: Deponia
- The Next Trek
GameCola:
Things are ramping up behind the scenes at GameCola, and most of my time has been spent updating our staff wiki and drafting up internal e-mail correspondence, despite the five articles below making me look like I did anything of substance on the site itself. I'm also getting back into the habit of writing full reviews, which you'll see in next month's Retrospective; I hadn't realized how much I've needed my writing fix, and churning out fluff posts about archival videos has not been meeting that need. This has been a very productive year for me at GameCola, but I've fled too far from the beefy posts that energize me in an attempt to free up time to work on other projects that energize me in different ways. Time to get things back in balance.
Columns:
- Featured Game Soundtrack: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
- Q&AmeCola: Games or Game Series We Are Most Thankful For
Podcasts:
- GC Podcast #90: A Not-So-Spooky Halloween – Part 1
- GC Podcast #90: A Not-So-Spooky Halloween – Part 2
Videos:
- GC Podcasts #58-60 on YouTube: If You Die in Real Life, You Die in Mike & Jeddy’s Top 10 Bonus Games
Things are ramping up behind the scenes at GameCola, and most of my time has been spent updating our staff wiki and drafting up internal e-mail correspondence, despite the five articles below making me look like I did anything of substance on the site itself. I'm also getting back into the habit of writing full reviews, which you'll see in next month's Retrospective; I hadn't realized how much I've needed my writing fix, and churning out fluff posts about archival videos has not been meeting that need. This has been a very productive year for me at GameCola, but I've fled too far from the beefy posts that energize me in an attempt to free up time to work on other projects that energize me in different ways. Time to get things back in balance.
Columns:
- Featured Game Soundtrack: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
- Q&AmeCola: Games or Game Series We Are Most Thankful For
Podcasts:
- GC Podcast #90: A Not-So-Spooky Halloween – Part 1
- GC Podcast #90: A Not-So-Spooky Halloween – Part 2
Videos:
- GC Podcasts #58-60 on YouTube: If You Die in Real Life, You Die in Mike & Jeddy’s Top 10 Bonus Games
YouTube:
More old podcasts, the conclusion of a livestream series that sparked one of the posts mentioned above, and one of my favorite livestreams to date. I feel like I've finally hit my stride with livestreaming, and I've got a couple ideas for easy-ish prerecorded videos that I may bust out during my December vacation time. We'll see.
Flashman85LIVE:
- Deponia (Blind Live Playthrough) - Part 4: They'll Need a Crane
- Deponia (Blind Live Playthrough) - Part 5: Hungry Like the Whale
- Mega Man Fangame Sampler #5: Rokko Chan, Hard Hat: The Rebellion, Quint's Revenge
GCDotNet:
- Hacks’n'Slash #8: Thanksgiving Special
- Off-Topic Podcast #3: The Thirties
- The GameCola Podcast #85: THE The GameCola Podcast
More old podcasts, the conclusion of a livestream series that sparked one of the posts mentioned above, and one of my favorite livestreams to date. I feel like I've finally hit my stride with livestreaming, and I've got a couple ideas for easy-ish prerecorded videos that I may bust out during my December vacation time. We'll see.
Flashman85LIVE:
- Deponia (Blind Live Playthrough) - Part 4: They'll Need a Crane
- Deponia (Blind Live Playthrough) - Part 5: Hungry Like the Whale
- Mega Man Fangame Sampler #5: Rokko Chan, Hard Hat: The Rebellion, Quint's Revenge
GCDotNet:
- Hacks’n'Slash #8: Thanksgiving Special
- Off-Topic Podcast #3: The Thirties
- The GameCola Podcast #85: THE The GameCola Podcast
The Backloggery:
I've reached a point in my gaming career that looks an awful lot like where I started. When I first got into gaming, it was all about having fun. If I liked a game, I kept playing it; If I didn't like a game, I stopped playing it. Around the time I signed up for The Backloggery some six years ago, gaming was only partially about having fun; it was also about the cultural experience of these games that other people enjoyed, and about finally getting around to all the games I had bought or been given that were collecting dust on a shelf.
A couple years ago, I began to move past my compulsion to play every game, even the bad ones, to 100% completion. Over the last couple months, I've moved past my compulsion to play the bad ones to any kind of completion. Life's short, and there are things I'd rather do with it than subject myself to completely avoidable tedium and frustration. I'm also acknowledging that there are some genres and series I might enjoy if I gave them a chance, but require too much of a time investment to determine whether they're worthwhile for me. From now on, I'm watching playthroughs on YouTube of anything that seems worth experiencing but not worth however many weeks or months of my life to conquer on my own.
Don't be offended if a game you got me or a game you love ends up on my "Removed" list. All that means is that I gave it a chance and I'm not eager to go back to it, same as any movie or restaurant or anything I take a chance on. Unless we're talking about Cruis'n USA, in which case I wouldn't mind keeping it on my backlog if the game cartridge weren't only useful as a paperweight [glares in the direction of the PAX East 2010 vendor who assured him every game was tested to work].
New:
- System Shock 2 (PC)
Started:
- Nintendo Land (WiiU)
- Rise of the Robots (SNES)
Beat:
- Deponia (PC)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
Removed:
- Cruis'n USA (N64)
- Hexen II (PC)
- Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (VGA) (PC)
- Rise of the Robots (SNES)
- Rome: Total War (PC)
I've reached a point in my gaming career that looks an awful lot like where I started. When I first got into gaming, it was all about having fun. If I liked a game, I kept playing it; If I didn't like a game, I stopped playing it. Around the time I signed up for The Backloggery some six years ago, gaming was only partially about having fun; it was also about the cultural experience of these games that other people enjoyed, and about finally getting around to all the games I had bought or been given that were collecting dust on a shelf.
A couple years ago, I began to move past my compulsion to play every game, even the bad ones, to 100% completion. Over the last couple months, I've moved past my compulsion to play the bad ones to any kind of completion. Life's short, and there are things I'd rather do with it than subject myself to completely avoidable tedium and frustration. I'm also acknowledging that there are some genres and series I might enjoy if I gave them a chance, but require too much of a time investment to determine whether they're worthwhile for me. From now on, I'm watching playthroughs on YouTube of anything that seems worth experiencing but not worth however many weeks or months of my life to conquer on my own.
Don't be offended if a game you got me or a game you love ends up on my "Removed" list. All that means is that I gave it a chance and I'm not eager to go back to it, same as any movie or restaurant or anything I take a chance on. Unless we're talking about Cruis'n USA, in which case I wouldn't mind keeping it on my backlog if the game cartridge weren't only useful as a paperweight [glares in the direction of the PAX East 2010 vendor who assured him every game was tested to work].
New:
- System Shock 2 (PC)
Started:
- Nintendo Land (WiiU)
- Rise of the Robots (SNES)
Beat:
- Deponia (PC)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
Removed:
- Cruis'n USA (N64)
- Hexen II (PC)
- Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (VGA) (PC)
- Rise of the Robots (SNES)
- Rome: Total War (PC)
Great month! Looking forward to December being even better.
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