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Monday Gaming Diary: Majora’s Mask Countdown

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Majoras-Mask

I almost skipped today’s gaming diary entry because honestly, nothing has changed in what I’ve been playing other than my brief stint with the first episode of Life is Strange. That took 2 hours from my life, which is miniscule compared to what I’ve poured into Dragon Age: Inquisition.

I’m supposed to review two other games in the coming weeks, but the both should be fairly short in terms of what I’ll need to donate, so I don’t foresee much taking me away from the Inquisition until The Order: 1886 comes out. Why write yet another post about how much I am addicted to DAI? (The addiction is REAL, people. And I thought Mass Effect was bad for me…)

Then I remembered that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask releases this Friday. Not next month. Not next Friday. THIS Friday. That means I don’t have much time to pour into DAI as I’ll want, as of Friday or until Gamestop ships it to me. I’m not sure whether to be excited to finally play this niche Zelda game everyone loves so much or sad I’ll have to stop closing rifts and hunting dragons in Thedas for a little bit. I can possibly play them both off and on throughout the day, but when The Order: 1886 drops just a week later, I can forget it.

I need to find a way to pour DAI into my veins, like as much as Chris would with his precious Elite Dangerous.

Then again…maybe it will be good to force me to play something else for a little bit; as long as I don’t take a 3-year hiatus between play times like I did with Dragon Age: Origins. I never want to do that to a game again.

The Corner of Randomness: Travel Essentials

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Maybe it is because I’m buried under several inches of snow and the temp is at stupid cold that I am already planning a crazy summer of travel. Between vacations, conventions, and work travel, the road and various airports will be my best friends. While I was booking hotels and flights the other day, I got to thinking about what is essential for making travel a bit less stressful. Some people read books or watch movies. Me, I listen to music and play lot of video games.

My basic travel survival kit includes my Vita, 3DS XL, and iPod. I pack pretty much every game I have for my Vita and 3DS. You know, because I might get an itch to play a game I haven’t touched in over a year. A few days before I head out, I commence the mad rush to pull updates to my devices. I start to fill every outlet in the house with a charger of some kind. There is a bit of a routine to all of this.

Another interesting effect of traveling with gaming gear are the conversations that happen. I met my wife on a plane after she commented on my DS and how the Gameboy has come a long way. I’ve talked to random people about my Vita as some people have no idea what it is. There have been flights where my single serving friend and I chatted about video games of our childhood. It just goes to show ya, you never know who you will be talking video games with next.

Throughout the years, my travel gaming kit has been through several revisions. Yet, I always have some sort of dedicated gaming device with me when I am on the road. So what do you consider an essential part of your gaming travel kit? Have you made the jump to just using your phone, or do you still pack a portable gaming device? Heck, do you go all Keri and pack your 360? What say you?

Monday Gaming Diary: Here Comes the Guides…

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B108784AbRemember a few months back I posted a poll on which The Legend of Zelda game I should complete first? The big winner was Wind Waker HD, which was next on my list after I got through Dragon Age (mmmmm…Dragon Age…). No really, it honestly was. I knew that Majora’s Mask was going to release in 2015, and I knew there would be a strategy guide for it that I’d have to review, but I assumed it wouldn’t release until the summer or fall.

WRONG.

SO WRONG.

Nintendo doesn’t care if I get anything done, so Majora’s Mask is releasing this month, in about 10 days, actually. I even wrote about Gamestop’s nifty little bundle for the collector’s editions of both the game and the guide. Therefore, that will be both my first strategy guide of 2015 to review and the first Legend of Zelda game that gets played. Technically I already have the game thanks to my Legend of Zelda Collector’s Disc for GameCube, so I could already play it now, and I already have the strategy guide for that collection (thank you, Nintendo Power subscription gifts!). But yeah, I’m going to wait for the new shiny thing.

Hopefully I’ll go longer with the Majora’s Mask 3D remake than I did Ocarina of Time. I still want to give that game a chance, but at the same time, I’m still bitter that I had a game breaking glitch for one particular boss fight. I haven’t restarted it because I get angry all over again. You know how sometimes you don’t want to replay a game again due to one particular region that was a pain or a boss fight that was exceptionally difficult? This is kind of like that; I don’t want to risk that torture all over again, especially when I was having a great time up until that one fight.

And I still hold that the targeting in that game was atrocious.

Now I have zero hope for completing Majora’s Mask, as it was technically a sequel and released on the same console as Ocarina of Time. I am so screwed, aren’t I?

The Corner of Randomness: The Joy of Just Being a Gamer

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Happy FaceEvery day it seems video game fans are subjected to some sort of drama. People are constantly getting called out as XBots, PS Fanboys, Console Peasants, or PC Master Race just to name a few. While I try to steer clear of the comment section in various gaming related articles, sometimes curiosity gets to me and I venture into that unholy land. I am then quickly reminded why it is a bad idea as the hate and vile quickly hits within a few posts. It’s pretty sad when you think about it.

When did we turn into our politicians and become so divided amongst ourselves? Why can’t we just enjoy games of all kinds? Even better, why can’t we recognize that we all have different tastes in video games, gaming platforms, and so on? It is such a waste of energy to be so angry all the time, and it destroys the fun and excitement that are video games. It also makes this industry look like a bunch of whiny kids fighting over a sandwich.

I am a gamer. I am not an XBot. I am not a Fanboy of this or that console. I’ll be damned if I ever label myself as a Master Race of anything. I am a gamer, and it is glorious! I experience the vast expanses of space while playing Elite: Dangerous on my PC. When I need a break from my Steam library, I jump into some Destiny, or The Crew, or Dying Light, or whatever the new hotness on my consoles is that week. When I travel, I capture Pokémon or attempt to conquer my ever expanding stack of shame on the Vita. I’m having fun, and isn’t that what video games are all about?

It’s time we as a gaming collective realize that there are good and bad points to everything. How someone decides to dine on the buffet of virtual worlds is their choice. Instead of fighting about what makes this console inferior to this console, or running to the hills to shout how glorious it is to play games on a PC, maybe we could talk about the games themselves. You know, have a discussion about why Sunset Overdrive was so great, or terrible.

I really hope that someday, the keyboard warriors will become a thing we only read about in history books. I look forward to the day that we can celebrate all things video games, and just respect one another. Maybe one day, we can all just be gamers! Trust me, this is a time when the grass is truly greener on the other side of the fence. I know, I have to mow the lawn every week!

Monday Gaming Diary: Best Laid Plans…

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PAX-SouthLaugh at me all you want, but I had plans to play Dragon Age Inquisition while at PAX South this weekend. I had a hard time forcing myself to stop playing that game all last week, so I packed up the Xbox One in vain hopes that I would be playing it at night after writing. I should have known it wouldn’t happen after I didn’t play it Thursday night.

We got into horrendous traffic Thursday night. Massive construction going on in one of the small towns on I-35, which took us nearly an hour and a half to get through 7 miles. We reached our hotel 2 hours later than we expected as a result, so we headed down to the hotel bar to drink our frustration away and then crawled into bed.

After that, well, we were waylaid by alcohol most nights. Friday night we drank too many free margaritas at the Saints Row IV launch party. Then we drank too many margaritas on Saturday night just because we’re in San Antonio, which means you must consume margaritas. I didn’t even get any writing done, which I do feel rather guilty about.

PAX South sadly didn’t have a lot of publisher representation, but the indie devs were out there in full force, so it was nice to play several games I wouldn’t normally do. Plenty of them were big surprises for me, such as a 2D platformer! I’d go into more details, but I should probably save more for the podcast.

I did get yet another Mass Effect tattoo before we went. My friend got the Elder Scrolls dragon tattoo, and I got the Renegade logo on my right ankle. I thought about getting it on my right shoulder, across from the Paragon logo, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. I like that they’re in different spots. Plus, now I can yell, “Paragon Punch! Renegade kick!” My friend said we needed to go back to get Dragon Age tattoos, but man, if I get a third BioWare tat, I might as well stamp “Property of BioWare” on my forehead.

That said, I am honestly thinking about it. Because I have a serious, serious problem.

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