Birthday Bloggery

Today is my twenty-fourth birthday.

Those of you who've been following my blogs for any length of time should be aware that I'm not a celebratory person when it comes to my own birthday. This year, for reasons I can't really articulate, feels different. It's the first time since my mid-teens where I've actually let my guard down enough to revel in the attention and enjoy the generosity of others in the form of gifts and well-wishing. It's also the first birthday for a very long time where things have felt... different. Like I said, it's difficult to put into words, but I'm not talking about drastic changes here - it's almost like an invisible, almost imperceptible shift has taken place in the world around me and made me feel like I'm travelling on a different road than I was this time last year. It's a comforting feeling, one that sure beats the worry of being stuck in the same place that usually occupies that part of my mind. Perhaps this year is my year.

I got some pretty awesome gifts from family and friends to mark the occasion. My wonderful parents bought me a Kindle, something which I've been considering getting for some time now. For a very long time, I maintained that I would never 'go digital' when it came to books. I'm the kind of man who finds joy in the physicality of his possessions. It's the reason why my video game collection is currently stacked up in console-specific piles on the far side of my bedroom. Unfortunately, it's also the reason my bookshelves are fit to burst, a problem I'm hoping this digital bookshelf will alleviate. I sat down with it on my lunch break and I have to admit I'm really impressed. The interface is a little clunky but it's not too much of a chore to choose a book and get reading, and the display really is just like reading off a page in an actual book. The title I've decided to read first on it is none other than fellow Giant Bomber @mooseymcman's debut novel 'The Telluric Adventures: The Allegiance of Justice', and I've also downloaded Neil Gaiman's 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' and Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief'. I'm hoping its sleekness and portability will encourage me to read more this year, especially on my lunch breaks at work. Also on the topic of e-books, I really think that the book publishing industry needs to start bundling download codes for digital versions with physically published books, like the ones that come with DVDs and Blu-Rays. There will always be titles that I want to read badly enough to buy physical copies, but it would be awesome to have access to those titles on my Kindle too.

My other main gift was from my sister, who got me a copy of Dark Souls for the Xbox 360. I've been a spectator to that game capturing the hearts and minds of more or less all of the Giant Bomb staff over the last few months, and I'm keen to give the game a go myself. I'll probably hold off on starting it until I at least finish Final Fantasy VIII (I believe I'm over half-way through the second disc at this point), but it's definitely a high priority for me to check out. Also worth noting is that my wonderful friend Duncan has invited me to revisit my gaming past by buying me copies of the two movie-licensed Lord of the Rings games, The Two Towers and Return of the King. I remember having an absolute blast with the former when I played it over ten years ago, so it should be very interesting to go back and see how those games hold up.

Sticking with the topic of video games, and more specifically blogging about video games, I'm pleased to announce that the new serial blog I've been teasing for the last couple of months is finally ready to go. Last year I spent a lot of time playing through the Pokémon franchise. One thing I really wanted to attempt in that time was a Nuzlocke run (essentially a 'hard mode' where the player self-imposes some rules to make the game more challenging), but given the "gotta catch 'em all" nature of my playthroughs, it wasn't really conducive to my end goal. Now that everything has at last been migrated into my Pokémon Y cartridge, I'm in a position where I can embark on a Nuzlocke without it harming my end goal. I've chosen Pokémon FireRed Version for my debut Nuzlocke, and I'll be posting episodic updates on this here blog as I work my way through the game. Hopefully the inaugural episode explaining the full rules of the Nuzlocke will be up tomorrow, with the first proper episode following some time next week.

Finally, some apologies are due. I broke my blogging schedule last weekend, mainly because the whole Gaming Agenda/Post-Game Danalysis thing has started to feel a little bit too formulaic and repetitive. I felt like I was saying the same things over and over again without any justification, and for that reason I've decided to abandon that format. I'll still be doing the Letting Off Some Steam posts on the second Saturday of every month, and I'll be running the aforementioned FireRed Nuzlocke serial blog as often as I can, but aside from those two regular sections I'm going to go back to a more free-form approach to blogging from now on. I'll probably write about games as I beat them from here on out. Consequently, the next game you'll probably see me blogging about will be Final Fantasy VIII, which I'm hoping to wrap up within the next few weeks.

Here ends this self-indulgent exercise in birthday bloggery. Thanks for reading guys, take care, and I'll see you around.

Dan

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Currently playing - Final Fantasy VIII (PS3/PSP)