yes, you may

Yesterday was my birthday, and as a present to myself I decided not to spend the last hour or so of the day trying to write something profound about turning 33. Instead, I played Bayonetta* for about an hour and had fun. Honestly, it's been over a week since I played any game simply for the fun of it so I deserved that break. And so far, Bayonetta is lot of fun.

Oh yeah, check out the lovely birthday present I received from my lovely wife:



Speaking of games and fun, I made another appearance on The Dofuss Show, Alex's homemade gaming podcast. Last time we talked about TGS for a couple hours weeks after the show had ended, but this time we are a bit more topical. Here's an overview of what we discussed:

• My recent article on Wired Game|Life concerning crane games filled with desserts


• My fondness for Kongregate.com


• Alex's experience (and general distaste with) Sony's PlayFace campaign


• He has finished Bayonetta and Uncharted 2 but is still plodding through Wii shovelware like Ultimate Band


• I like Burnout Paradise even though I hate racing games


• My Left 4 Dead 2 thoughts segue into the news concerning its censorship in Australia


• Neither of us wants to play Modern Warfare 2 but we have some words over its infamous "F.A.G.S." viral video


• Remember my Bitmob piece on grinding? Alex disagrees with me


• Speculation about the future of the DSiLL, with anecdote from Gwyn's blog


• Darren's Old Games: Cybernator is better than you

I'm rather proud of how this show turned out (although my mic noise bugs the hell out of me). I felt like my first appearance was marred by my own anxiety mixed with sleepiness but this time I was a lot more lively. Blame/thank the evening of White Russians that preceded the recording session.

In other news, I am in the process of submitting stories to Wired Game|Life concerning my trip to Games Japan Festa last weekend. I will share any posts once they are approved. In the meantime you might be happy to hear that another one of my English stories was translated into Japanese (check it out). This doesn't mean any extra money for me or anything, but I do get a real kick out of seeing my name (and a photo I took) on Japanese websites. Once WiredVision carries a story, other Japanese sites tend to rehash that story elsewhere, so my name does get around.

I'm really looking forward to this three-day weekend. Mako's parents are going to watch Go for us so we can spend Saturday together as a couple. There's also a gaming party on Monday that sounds like a blast. Alas, I'd trade it all for a trip home for Thanksgiving. Turkey is so hard to find in this country!

*Read that Wikipedia article very carefully by the way...particularly the Pre-Release section! OMG

Labels: Alex, Bayonetta, family, friends, podcast, The DoFuss Show, video games, Wired, writing