Video versus the 32 Years

A couple years ago I started this blog as a way to share my experiences as a slightly older gamer, one who grew up watching the generations of gaming go by.  It slowly evolved into a review site, and a way for me to keep track of what was coming out so I would have an idea of how I was going to pace my time. 

A few months ago, I became a dad with the birth of my daughter.  Have no fear, I fully intend on raising her as a diverse gamer.  Somebody who can appreciate excellent design even with sub-par graphics.  Somebody who can pick up a designer board game and teach others that there's better things out there than Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.  I don't know if she'll ever grow into that, or what she'll end up liking, but I want to show her the world and communities that I've discovered with the best people possible.

Because I want the best for her

There's a bit of a problem, though.  If I thought my gaming time was limited before, and I was behind the curve of where the "professional reviewers" were in reviewing their games, well, these last three months have shown me that I am not going to be able to keep up with the latest.  Keeping up with the blog has been very difficult, as proof in the updates becoming further and further apart from each other. New games?  Well, fortunately there's not a whole lot coming out right now that demands my attention, but I've got quite a back log to get to.

And there's where I got my idea.  A lot of my posts don't happen because I think that nobody would be interested in what I thought of a game that was three years old.  But then I noticed my page view history, and I'm getting hits on things like You Don't Know Jack from over a year ago, and Tales of the Arabian Nights which came out in 2009.  There is a want to know about older games and what people think of them still.  This is something that I can do.  There's a ton of games that I've just never gotten around to and have wondered myself how they are.  This is where I will live.  Not at the cutting edge of gaming, but in the days of past. 

I looked at my back log, and thought to myself... "I'm going to review these games." 

What have I gotten myself into?  Seriously, this is just part of  my Steam list, and I've finished exactly two games on it.

So, effective immediately, Video, Gaming at 30 will be about the games that I'm playing right now, no matter how old they are, no matter how long they take me.  There needs to be an appreciation for what's already here, and the ability to find lost gems and take another look at how they're holding up in a modern day arena.  How much can a new dad actually game?  How much can I teach my new daughter about what makes something great?  And we're not just video gaming, oh no.  This is a board game and Magic: The Gathering house, too.  We're going to game.  We're going to teach our baby girl, and we're going to share our experiences. 

What's this mean for the articles?  The Ones to Watch will still be around.  I don't intend to fully abandon the latest.  I have some ideas for What's Wrong in Gaming that I plan on putting up soon.  VG30 will be at Gencon 2012 (much thanks to my beautiful wife for helping that happen), so the Road to Gencon will be starting up very shortly.  I have some ideas surrounding my addiction with Kickstarter that I'd like to get on paper.  And I have a massive backlog of games that we need to talk about.  I'm going to commit myself to one article a week for the blog.  At the end of each article will be a short update about what I'm playing and how it's going, even if that's the entire article.  I love the people that come to the site, and while the page views certainly inspire me, I love to write about a hobby that I'm so passionate about.

So to kick things off, here's what I'm playing right now (I'll probably improve this presentation in the future):

PC: Dead Space - Enjoying it so far, it's less jump out and scare you than I had expected so far, but I had just finished the first chapter.

PC: Dungeon Fighter Online - I've been playing this since it came out on Steam.  I wish I could play some of Capcom's D&D arcade games, but this is an awesome alternative.

PC: Diablo 3 (waning) - I'm level 59 with a Witchdoctor and stuck in Act 3 of Hell.  It's losing its charm pretty quickly, if only that I have never really understood Auction Houses as well as other players, and if I want good gear I have to either farm for it or buy it through the AH, and clearly I don't have time to farm for items or gold, so this is a losing proposition.  I started a Hardcore Demon Hunter, but the arcane enhanced minions are starting to catch me with my guard down, so I've come a bit too close to dying more than once now.

Xbox 360:  Unplugged.  I'm a little tired of the 360 right now, if only because of what Sony's doing with the PS3 these days.  I don't think I have reason to turn it back on until Halo 4 hits, either.

PS3:  Infamous 2 - I went ahead and subscribed to Playstation Plus for their Instant Game Collection deal.  The idea of being able to download a library of slightly older (but still awesome) games to play for free is an amazing concept.  I'm almost completely converted to the PS3 platform.

Wii:  Unplugged.  Still unimpressed with any offering on the Wii.

Tabletop:  Citadels - I picked this up because it supports 7 players and I have a 7 player play group, but we've been enjoying it with 5.  I'd like to do a quick review of this one in the near future.

Tabletop: Pandemic - Had 5 players, so we broke out the On the Brink expansion.  Still difficult.  Still fun.

Tabletop:  MTG.  It's the release of M13, so it's limited format time.  I did pretty well at the pre-release by taking 5th place in sealed and 1st in draft, but I'm not real impressed with the set.  Some other things are going on right now that are making me question dropping out of Standard, but we'll get into that in the future.

So there you have it.  What's on my gaming plate at the moment.  I want to focus a bit more on Dead Space and Infamous 2, so I'll check back in in a week to let everyone know how that's going.   Until then, thanks for reading!