Choosing the Best Path

Back in my much younger days, which was predominantly lived during the 90s, video games were expanding their reach and influence. That decade was full of corporate competition between two developing heavyweights, Sega and Nintendo. It would be known as the Great Console War, and out of it came the fruits of competitive engineering. By…Read more Choosing the Best Path

Going Deeper

For those of you who know me, you know that I enjoy a good retro gaming experience. I love breaking out some of the old systems, or at least the ones I still have, and playing through some pixelated magic. If the truth were to be told, however, I would say that those experiences only…Read more Going Deeper

Acting With Certainty

Man, to say that the last 365 days have been crazy is truly an understatement. With COVID-19 changing the landscape of everything that we thought we knew as "normal," many people have come to the conclusion that the life they knew before the pandemic is not one in which they can return to. The use…Read more Acting With Certainty

Remade in Glory

1997 was a very odd year for me. I remember transitioning from living in sunny California to the rather temporate Illinois environment because my father had recieved a job transfer. It was right around that time that the ultimate video game was releases; Final Fantasy VII. I played the predessor to that game till my…Read more Remade in Glory

Being Tethered to the Console

All retro gamers will agree that there are limitations to what older systems will allow the player to do. Graphics and software aside, it's the hardware, particularly the controllers that create the biggest barriers to a truly pleasurable gaming experience. I think about the Super Nintendo, for example. The system is considered to be just…Read more Being Tethered to the Console

Sleep A Little, Miss Alot

Ah, the sleep spell. Such a wonderful and overused video game trope. Most RPGs, and few other genres, have sleep spells that pretty much cripple any player who is unfortunate enough to have it cast upon them. Every Final Fantasy game has it, as well Pokemon, Warcraft, Skyrim, and even Smash Bros.; just to name…Read more Sleep A Little, Miss Alot

Embracing the New While Remembering the Path

It's easy for me to look back at the last 30 years or so and see how far video games have come. Some of the earliest gaming memories that I have are with my father's old Atari 2600. Man, talk about one of the best retro systems ever made. For its time, the 2600 was…Read more Embracing the New While Remembering the Path

Coming Back to the Kingdom

Japanese RPGs really know how to make a player home sick. I feel like every single one of them starts off the same way; there is a hometown boy who wakes up in the morning and goes on a quest that will separate him from his family. It happened in Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana,…Read more Coming Back to the Kingdom

Through the Reign of Terror

As a writer, I am always surprised to see how similar the stories are that people compose. From the plots of books to television shows and even video games, storylines have the tendency to show similarities between each other. I do not think that this is done on purpose, but rather comes about through subconsciously…Read more Through the Reign of Terror

When Our Reputation Is At Stake

I have actively played World of Warcraft for 13 years and counting. My wife and I got married in 2006 and moved into a small apartment in a tiny town that had very little to offer as far as entertainment. Both of us were raised on Blizzard titles, Warcraft and Diablo being the two that…Read more When Our Reputation Is At Stake