Visited: August 6, 2024 Location: 22 South Street, Morristown, NJ I debated when I recently went up for a three day stay at Parsippany, NJ to make the trek over to Morristown to visit a game and pinball place that Jeff Bakalar mentioned on a Bombcast within the past year or so. The opportunity came when my supervisor decided to let me go from the office at around 6 PM. After checking into the n...
I wanted to write and publish this to coincide with my GOTY 2020 list but the constant pressure of working from home has made me postpone writing this blog until now. Here are a few interesting personal side gaming notes I wanted to spill my thoughts out in regarding to my gaming habits last year. Focus on Shorter and Plug and Play Games The shift to working from home oddly had a detrimental ef...
Hello and thank you for taking your time to read this blog entry about my experiences and thoughts of gaming in the 2010 decade. ACCOMPLISHMENTS! Playing and Finishing So Many Games Despite being worked to the bone over the decade, I managed to play and finish so many games. Finishing over 100 games of varying lengths is no small feat though it’s been hard to see that as a major accomplishment...
February 26, 2019, 10 PM Eastern Many fighting game fans probably tuned into EVO’s Twitch stream to see which fighting games would be announced as one of the main showcase games for this year’s EVO tournament. Unlike previous years where they stretched out announcing titles for shenanigans and such, Mr Wizard and Markman played it straight and announced nine games straight through. Much of the...
I rarely played any video games during the stretch where I was overcome with anxiety throughout the day. I briefly played a couple of games here and there during this stretch, but playing video games did not cross my mind as an option to help ease anxiety. The few occasions I did play video games in this stretch did help get my mind be able to escape the constant anxiety barrage that I was cons...
I didn’t know if I was going to find effective anxiety relief advice as I decided to read Dan Ryckert’s novel on his trials living with this condition. While I was a bit disappointed that Dan didn’t go in depth into particular aspects on his anxiety recovery efforts, I still got a lot out of reading his novel. For one, I felt at ease that I wasn’t the only one who experienced anxiety and panic...
Hello and welcome to a new mini-series blog of sorts in regards to my recent spell with anxiety. It may be weird for me to write about my experiences with this condition but there’s multiple reasons why I wanted to write up on it and to share some particular content here on my Giant Bomb profile. My number one reason I wanted to write and share my experiences is that I can always refer back to...
On this date seven years ago, I signed up as a member on this great website about video games. I was looking for a new video game website to lurk around after leaving Gamespot due to a number of reasons. I was made known about Giant Bomb peeking at my brother watching a video at the site. As soon as I found out that Ryan Davis and Jeff Gerstmann were running the site (I wasn’t keeping up with g...
A quick blog highlighting the few video game-related items during my week-long vacation at Los Angeles (29 June to 6 July). Anime Expo 2018 Day 1 Anime Expo was one of the two major ticket items during my week-long trip to Los Angeles and it was more overwhelming than I thought it would be. I knew it was big as in the past few years AX has exceed over 100k attendees, but I never expected to be...
A quick blog I wanted to write up after completing my GOTY 2017 list reflecting my gaming habits in 2017 and what I hope to accomplish in gaming in 2018. Here’s a link to my GOTY 2017 list if anyone’s curious. Looking Back to 2017 GOTY 2017, Listing and Writing on 15 Games Twenty seventeen was an incredible year of video games that I could not ignore my ranked #11 to #15 games when I finalized...
I thought last year was a tough year to go through on a macro and micro level. The combination of a lot of shenanigans and the end result of the presidential election, to a ton of highly regarded artists (particularly in the music field for me) combined with the on-going personal challenges on the constant barrage of constantly working long works just to keep up with the workload at my job and...
Giant Bomb First and foremost, I have to thank the entire staff for providing a lot of entertaining content to occupy my mind in many spurts. I have maintained keeping up with the two podcasts (Bombcast and Beastcast) as each of them provide their own exciting content on a weekly basis. The additions of Ben Pack and Abby Russell definitely added a lot more flavor and mesh in very well with the...
This year has been extraordinary in terms of my two-front battle against the games I want to play and push upon to its end and dealing with whatever work and life throws my way. The working front thus far has proven to be very difficult to deal with as the unexpected frequency of employee turnover at the company’s New York office and shortening windows to complete particular tasks have forced m...
I am a terrible fighting game player, but I am a big fighting game fan (albeit more toward the casual end). I have awarded a couple of fighting games as one of my favorite for the years the past five years and can easily proclaim on number of classic fighting games as one of my favorite games of all-time pantheon. However, it’s been getting harder for me to get in adequate time and effort to pl...
Hello fellow duders. I am sharing my quick impressions on the newly opened Round 1 Arcade franchise at Exton, PA along with a few games included at that location. Round 1 Arcade - Exton Square Mall at Exton, PA Round 1 Arcade continues its expansion and presence in the United States by slowly opening new franchise locations outside of California, where they have six locations around the SF/LA a...
The Last Blade 2 is one of my favorite video games of all-time. It blew me away when I had the game on the Sega Dreamcast back in 2001 and it still blows me away just seeing other players in action through Fightcade’s spectator mode in the past year or so. The game isn’t quite as well-recognized compared to SNK’s other fighting game franchises, but still has a strong following from those who ar...
This is my brief experiences at a few video game-related establishments during my visit into New York City on the 20-21 February 2016. I didn’t take many pictures of the places and my summaries won’t be as detailed compared to my Chicago blog on Round 1 Arcade and Galloping Ghost Arcade, but I hope you enjoy reading my personal thoughts on these places nonetheless. Nintendo World NYC - 10 Rocke...
In 2015 First, I’d like to thank anyone who read, commented, and gave a thumbs up on my GOTY 2015 list. I feel a bit relieved that folks still took the time to read (or at least browse) through my list and the summaries I wrote for the ten games I chose that made the most impact on me in 2015. There was a ton of different circumstances that made writing this year’s list more challenging than la...
Q3 Items Nothing much new to say here. I spent a majority of time this period continuing to work at my current job. It’s been a challenge to continue to muster up interest, motivation, and energy to take care of whatever’s happening there. The company never seems to slow down at all this year, with the office continuing to win a mixture of short-term projects along with larger projects that can...
Sharing my experiences on two arcade establishments outside of the Chicago, Illinois area during my Chicago weekend trip 25 Sept to 27 Sept 2015. Apologies for low-quality/blurry/unclear pictures. Round 1 Arcade in Stratford Square Mall - Bloomingdale, IL Round 1 Arcade is a retail entertainment business that offers services similar to Dave and Busters with video game arcades, games that awards...
Introduction Persona 4 is one of the number of significant video games that was a glaring big black mark on my gaming backlog. I bought the original PS2 version of the game around its NA launch back in December 2008. I only got to play a few hours before a combination of a sudden increased workload at work, more gametime dedicated to the X-Box 360, and my PS2 console stopped working a few month...
The game may not be in the spotlight in today’s ever-growing fighting game community, nor the company that developed the game is the same as it was, but no one can deny the excellence that Garou: Mark of the Wolves brought to the fighting game genre. It is one of SNK’s most revered games outside of the top King of Fighters games where it has garnered respect of fighting game fans from numerous...
Work Nothing much new to report from me over the second quarter of this year. My job continues to keep me really busy with the Philadelphia, PA branch office continuing to win numerous projects, both big and small in and around the city of Philadelphia. My workload increased in April as the office hired a new part-time assistant to myself and my co-worker and it’s been tough to supervise his wo...
I placed the first two sections under a spoiler as they're pertaining to work which some of you know I'm already discussed a lot on, but it's there for anyone who's interested in reading. Work The Same Old Song and Dance with Work The story’s no different for me in the first quarter of this year. A majority of my time continues to be dedicated toward constantly dealing with the never ending swa...
Bravely Default / Castlevania: Symphony of the Night / Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories / Final Fantasy Tactics / Final Fantasy XIV / Guilty Gear Xrd: -SIGN- / Hard Corps / Helldivers / Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII / Persona 4 Arena Ultimax / Resident Evil Revelations 2 / Under Night In-Birth: Exe-Late / Yakuza 4 --- These are some of the games that were frequently discussed lately in the tw...
Preface I was going through a streak of completing a bunch of games in the past couple of months, mostly from the rush to complete 2014 released games to evaluate for my Game of the Year 2014 List, and was looking to knock out an older dated backlog game at the start of this year. I was debating on a number of JRPGs and decided on Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together over Rune Factory 4, SMT Dev...
Nothing Noteworthy – Just Work While nothing significantly terrible happened to me and my family over the year, we did not do anything noteworthy to really mention as a highlight of the year. My parents continue to work at their grocery store business, where they continue to struggle to break even week after week. (There was a terrible incident at their business on 30 October where a group of t...
You Can Have Your Story, I’m Staying Classic The highlighted item with Etrian Odyssey Untold is its new Story Mode, where the developers flesh out the story initially set from the first Etrian Odyssey with animated anime cut-scenes produced by Madhouse (I think) with voice acting dialogue. There’s even set of classes, weapons, armor, and bosses only found in story mode. I played Untold’s Story...
Summer: Working and Not Much Else Yet again, I spent my entire summer this year working. It’s always been this way ever since I started working for my current employer. Summer seems to be a terrible time for me to take days off because I can’t seem to find any time in the months of June, July, August, and September that I feel comfortable enough to be away from the office without having to worr...
Writer’s Note : I am not an expert player in this game and some of the information that I write on this blog may be incorrect. If so, kindly mention it on the comments and I may make the corrections when I have the time in the future. The main intent of this blog is to share my personal experiences and opinions on the game while including in some game information and sprinkling in a funny snipp...
I have been at my current job for over seven years. Each year presents its own set of challenges. One challenge remains the same, is how to make processes shorter and more productive. In short, how can we make the process “efficient?” Efficiency has different meanings to different processes. At my job, I am given the task to evaluation all current responsibilities that I have and see if there a...
Work Goes Into Overdrive I feared once spring came around with more tolerable weather that work was going to go into overdrive. Sure enough, it did. The first sign came when the President/CEO of the company issued a “Back on Track” to all billable employees to work extra hours to get all the projects “back on track” that suffered delays from the harsh winter. Then it hit me when I had a rash of...
The Longest Grind 02 – Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R Click here for a brief summary on my personal blog series. Author’s Note I am not an expert in fighting games, so feel free to comment if I have provided any incorrect information. I have also gathered some information from Dustloop’s wiki to explain some of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R mechanics. Not a Storied Past I know of the Gui...
The Longest Grind 01 - Persona 4 Arena Short introductory post on what my personal blog series is about. More Than Just “Hit and Don’t Get Hit” The biggest epiphany that I had during my time on Persona 4 Arena is that it was much more than just hit the other opponent and not get hit by the opponent to win in a fighting game. Oh no. There was more that Persona 4 Arena, as well as most other figh...
What is The Longest Grind? The Longest Grind is a series of blog entries on my personal experience of mightily struggling to complete JRPGs and competing in fighting games. What inspired you to do The Longest Grind? A combination of how long it’s taken me to complete JRPGs in the past year or so, feeling the pain of realizing of actually going after the true ending on Bravely Default after bare...
Not Much of a Duder It’s been over two years since I joined up as a Giant Bomb member. Back then, I was able to squeeze in watching the content the Giant Bomb staff were producing, mostly with quick looks, live streams, reviews, and articles, while listening to a few Bombcasts here and there. Since then, my workload increased tremendously and my Giant Bomb content consumption has decreased dram...
2013 Work It's been hard to get going each day waking up at five in the morning, constantly feeling terrible and not getting quality sleep, as well as working over 40 hours per week (typically 50 hours, 7 AM to 5 PM each weekday), and coming in a few weekends here and there this year. I never recover as much over the weekends and I've gone stretches where I'm just out of my element emotionally....
With Thanksgiving around the corner in the United States, I wanted to share a couple of things I have much appreciation for this year. Many of the items I'll discuss upon have helped me get through some of the tough times I'm going through this year, particularly my constant battles against myself ( unhappiness/depression? ) and the stress stemming from working longer hours at my job this year....
He won, but he also lost. Rock may have kept Roberta, Garcia, Fabiola, and even Caxton alive. But, they're also dead. The lives they once knew, the nightmares they thought were put behind, has now arisen and now that stench is permanently attached to their souls. Rock thought he won for everyone's best interests. No, he won for his own hide. He thought his intellect, strong will, and high moral...
Hello. This is my second blog this month detailing my experience on going to an event for the first time. (I hope my writing is better this entry, my Otakon blog ended up being really messy.) This weekend, I attended my first fighting game tournament, Summer Jam 7, held at the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, August 17. Summer Jam was a two-day affair, but after a few circ...
Hello. This is my first blog/thread posted onto the Giant Bomb forums. I apologize in advance for any typos or grammatical errors written in this blog, which I'll summarize my experience in attending this year's Otakon (Otaku Convention) held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland on August 10 & 11. I thought it might be interesting to share since there's a group of anime fan...
I apologize for the rush of blog activity as of late, hope you guys do not mind. I'm venting out my frustrations. This year sucks so far from my own vantage point. I was hoping for some breaks at work that would translate into getting more enjoyment from my hobbies. Instead, my job has been more chaotic and stressful. It has gone so bad that I am forcing myself to go to work on the weekends, wh...
I'm late to the party with the Ryan Davis tributes, I've been meaning to write my own tribute to him since the news of his passing broke last week. Many Giant Bomb users have already written wonderful tributes to Ryan, along with numerous users reminiscing favorite Ryan moments and organizing meetups to celebrate what Ryan has provided not only to Giant Bomb, but to the entire video game indust...
Working and Paying and Living and Dying “To work on something – even on a video game – for 12 to 15 hours a day for a year is not enjoyable or fulfilling. I have no doubt that to make this game, hair was grayed, health was ravaged, friendships were tested, and marriages were strained. What I’m saying is that these glorious games are, in real and measurable ways, born of human misery.” I took th...
Sorry for the recent blogging. (I know it's only once a month so far in the last four months, but I didn't intend to blog this much.) Here's my Q1 2013 blog, rounding up some things that's been happening to me so far in the first quarter of this year. I was doing this roundup blogging back in Gamespot and had the urge to run it here on Giant Bomb. Instead of overwhelming you of paragraphs of te...
[I'm writing this blog to not only pour some thoughts off from my head, but to see how the blog works under the new Giant Bomb site.] Working and Sleeping Blues It’s only February and I feel like my body’s already been through more than a year’s worth of work. It hasn’t been easy for me as I force myself to go to the office on some Saturday afternoons and even do some work from home. My company...
[This entry is a follow-up to my 8 October 2012 entry regarding my personal experiences regarding Persona 4 Arena, where I’ll pick up my personal thoughts from that date to now.] My personal ride with Persona 4 Arena has its share of ups and downs. I’ve had my share of highs and more than my share of lows. I tend to take things from a glass half-empty perspective and do not always recognize the...
In a week from now, we will enter into a new year. With the new year, people write down resolutions on what they hope to accomplish to enhance their lives. For me, one of my minor yearly resolutions is to complete more games from my increasing gaming backlog. Unfortunately, ever since my workload at work has increased significantly year after year, I’m having a tougher time not only to carve pe...
My first blog post attached to a Giant Bomb wiki page. Persona 4 Arena has been my most played game since it's release back in early August. I was going to pass it over on the sole reason that I have not played Persona 4 at all (I own the game, but did not have a functional Playstation 2 to play it) and heard that the game was going to serve as the game's aftermath to the events from the origin...
First off... I want to thank all the fellow bombers whom I versed against during my time with Persona 4 Arena so far. (Apologizes to those whom I missed!) Brodehouse Davidwritten22 ESREVER FluxWaveZ Gravitypenguin Hadoken101 IrrevelantJohn Keystone_Yinzer MDYu Pepsiman Phatmac Servantey _Soki_ TheFakePsychic TheOtherBelmont Vashyron YI-Orange A very special thanks goes out to Keystone_Yinzer, S...
I've been meaning to get this blog post down for some time. Here are my thoughts on my personal experiences of playing various games in the fighting game genre and how I hope to retain the re-energized fighting spark with Persona 4 Arena. --- I have been a long time fan of fighting games, though I'm having a hard time enjoying the new renaissance the genre has experienced this gaming generation...