There haven’t been many showers lately here in California (April or otherwise), but I know I’ve been involved in a torrent of content from the beginning of the month, and it ain’t over yet. I’m not complaining, I’m thoroughly enjoying writing the stuff, but it HAS kept me away from the blog and the book for some time, and that’s a little disappointing. But in case anyone was wondering, no this blog hasn’t been abandoned, I’ve just been… busy.
That’s my common statement when I can’t get to updating The Taller Eight on my own time, business. And lately, having to think up and write two articles a week has scratched the itch of “typing faster than my brain can think, then editing the crap out of what I just wrote to try to keep it coherent”. I’m nowhere near the fastest typist in the world, but I once did clock in at about word per minute (my resume says 65+), and that would beg the question: does your brain EVER just shut the hell hell up?
No. No, it doesn’t. And thankfully for me, otherwise I’d be screwed in thinking up and writing eight articles so far this month – six features and two reviews – or else I’d be in some mental anguish.
But now that I’ve found a little time between pieces, I thought I’d share with you just what I’ve been up to lately. Yay, it’s a catch-up post! Everybody likes those (I hope)!
First, it was a few reviews of (thankfully) fun titles:
- Etrian Mystery Dungeon for 3DS is a top-down roguelike with cute characters, just enough story to keep characters involves, and a lot of really fun dungeon-crawling. I had more time than normal to play this for review, and I’m still firing it up from time to time to put in more time. I don’t think it’s my next Disgaea 2, which helped keep me sane during some difficult times, but I bet it could if I find myself on skid row again (but let’s not let that happen, yeah?).
- Toukiden Kiwami for PS Vita is part Dynasty Warriors and part Monster Hunter: create your character and start slaying the shit out of some demons all hack-and-slash-y style. It’s not terribly original, and the dialog between characters is more than a little like watching a snail crawl toward drying paint, but damn this game is pretty, and it scratches that itch of “I want to play something, but I don’t really know what”. It’s supposed to be even prettier for PS4 (it’s a cross-over title I played on the Vita since I HAVE no PS4), but it sure does the trick for mindless violence and distraction.
And then, late last month, I was invited to take on a challenge: two or three articles each week for the month of April, all of them retro-themed. We called it Retro Redux, and over the past three weeks of it I’ve taken Gamestop, parenting, Mighty No. 9 and Megaman, and even Mario’s history of not actually plumbing. Here’s the list of so-far-published pieces:
Seven Classics We Should Let Die
Megaman vs. Mighty No. 9
Mario’s Many Odd Jobs
Pinball Wizardry
10 Games To Introduce To Your Parents
Classic Gaming(Stop)
I still have a few pieces to go to fill up the month, but those first couple while I was still working on two games at the same time for review… those messed with me a little bit.
Other than that, I haven’t had much of a social life. Working during the day, writing mostly at night, playing more simply for fun that I have in some time (the big perk of the Redux series has been doing the research, which got me inspired to buy Disgaea 4 for my Vita and I’ve plugged in some good time), writing and telling some jokes a few times a month at the comedy club, my creativity isn’t tapped but I’ll be glad to look back on this month with a sigh. Of course, I’ll dive right back into something else as I usually do, but that’s something to worry about in May, not the last few days of April.
More blog-specific content will be coming soon, I promise. I’ve got a few deeper pieces in various states of completion/denial to wrap up and post for you, but I hope for now, that should be enough to read in the meantime.
Until next time, stand tall and write well!