Going Nowhere Rather Slowly

For the first few months of its existence, when I was between jobs, this blog was essentially a weekly project. Now that I've been employed at not-so-enjoyable jobs for almost a year, while struggling to balance multiple hobbies with personal relationships and weighing the possibility of going back to graduate school, I fear it's becoming a monthly one. I'll try to step it up, because I know that writing makes me happy even though I'm often too tired to write, but the schedule of this blog has always been "when I feel like it, when I have time, and when it's done."

This kind of schedule isn't always very kind to time-sensitive subjects like coverage of game-related news and commentary on current events, which is why I've only written two articles for Gather Your Party. In fact, this kind of schedule isn't kind to any of my ideas unless I stop watching TV and commit to working. I have a few things in the works, but I've had to choose carefully which things get written down. I'd like to write a detailed analysis of every game I play, but that wasn't happening even when I had all the time in the world, and it certainly isn't happening now.

I guess this will have to suffice: Torchlight II is fun but like any game in the genre it becomes an endless and slightly grindy search for better gear and you realize rather quickly that the entire game is just a glorified, rather complicated, weighted random number generator; Serious Sam 3: BFE doesn't improve the series with the addition of sprinting and iron sights, and if this is meant as a parody of modern shooters then it's only funny because the iron sights hardly seem to do anything at all; Heretic is a fun game but my decision to do a vanilla run before trying a source port might have damaged my eyes.

Anyway, I'm not dead, and the gradual decline in the frequency of posts on this blog doesn't mean that I've lost interest or that I've run out of things to say. Mostly it just means I'm spending more of my personal downtime actually playing video games. And I guess that's a good thing.

I'm on Twitter.

The frequency of new material here on my lonely blog has decreased considerably since I first began. My continued employment is partly to blame, as is my tendency to write long posts (which, in the absence of abundant free time, are too often started and never finished). Consequently, I've been juggling a backlog of unfinished posts on top of an even larger backlog of unfinished games.

To give myself some room for opining without committing to 3500-word blog posts, as well as to create a dumping ground for opinions that simply aren't worth that many words, I've finally decided to join the rest of the world and make a Twitter account. (Now, finally, my thoughts can be limited to 140 characters!) I can't guarantee that I'll actually use it more than once a year, but it might be cool.

I'm Thankful for Video Games

I've been too busy to write anything interesting for this week because I've started a new job, and this one actually requires me to go to sleep before midnight. Since I do most of my writing between midnight and dawn, this is a small problem. However, it isn't going to change anytime soon unless I get fired, so I hope I can work around it somehow. Of course, I do have a day off tomorrow, but it won't be spent in front of a computer. And on that note, to those of you who live in the United States, have a great Thanksgiving. (To everyone else, have fun getting up for work in the morning.)

But while I'm here, I might as well mention that Steam has begun its Autumn Sale, presumably in honor of Thanksgiving and to coincide with Black Friday. This comes just a few days after the Autumn Seal website stopped giving out free coupons for a short list of games (Alan Wake Collector's Edition, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Trine, Trine 2, Trine 2: Goblin Menace, Trine Complete Collection, Legend of Grimrock, and Rochard).

The Trine series coupons have already expired as of last night, but the Alan Wake series and Legend of Grimrock coupons are still good for the rest of the day, and the Rochard coupon is still good through tomorrow. In addition, all of these games are currently 50% off, as a result of the current sale. So here's the big question: Do the Autumn Seal coupons' discounts stack with the sale's discounts?

As you can see, I have a few of each (unexpired) coupon left, since it took that many spins of the Autumn Seal slot machine to get the Trine coupons I really wanted.

All week, I've felt like an idiot for having so many of these coupons and not using them — I wanted at least to give them away — but it looks as if my coupon hoarding might have paid off.

The Rochard, Legend of Grimrock, and Alan Wake's American Nightmare coupons all work as expected. Only the Alan Wake Collector's Edition coupon doesn't seem to work at first glance, but that's because it's misnamed (and this is a good thing). Despite what the coupon says, it actually applies to the Alan Wake Franchise pack, which includes the Collector's Edition as well as American Nightmare.

Since the discounts are applied one at a time, a 50% coupon used on a 50%-off game totals to 75% off, as is the case with Legend of Grimrock and the Alan Wake games. Rochard, on the other hand, ends up being around 87.5% off, which would be a fantastic deal if the game weren't so recently included in a pay-what-you-want Humble Bundle. Overall, though, this is pretty good. While a Steam coupon is typically useless because it almost never offers as good a discount as one might find during a seasonal sale, the fact that these coupons can be used during this event makes them worth having.

Of course, the coupons are only good for the very beginning of this sale, and some of these games will surely be featured as daily deals after the coupons expire, in which case they will end up being around 75% off anyway.

At least now we know that it is possible for coupons to stack with existing discounts. Since it so rarely happens, a lot of people tend to think either that coupons are deactivated during sales or that they're timed perfectly to expire before any sale begins. (During the last Winter sale, coupons were given out, but they weren't activated until after the sale was over, and there wasn't another sale until the coupons were dead.)

Anyhow, I'm planning on trading away (or giving away) as many of these coupons as I can, and perhaps even using a few of them myself to buy gifts for friends. I could just wait until a daily deal gives me the equivalent discount, but this way, I actually get to make use of my Steam inventory instead of just letting stuff sit there until it vanishes.

I Really Need a New Computer

The PC on which I play most of my games is becoming dangerously outdated. For its age, it works surprisingly well, but it's getting to the point where it has some trouble running the newest games at a nice-looking frame rate. Unfortunately, with only a part-time job and student loans to pay off, I don't feel comfortable spending several hundred dollars right now.

Maybe my computer-building experience, when I can afford it, will make an informative blog post.

For now, though, I'm too lazy to write any more than 100 words. One long-winded post per week is enough.

Real Life

Do you ever come home from work, sit down to play video games, look at the clock, realize that you have to go to bed in three hours, wonder if this really gives you enough time to make significant progress after installing your new game and configuring all of the options to your liking and watching the opening cutscene and going through the usual tutorial nonsense, decide to go for it anyway, get five minutes into the game, and quit because you can't stop thinking about real life and it's ruining the experience?

Me too.

I've been kind of busy this week, which is why I'm not actually writing anything except this short complaint. In fact, I'll probably be posting less often from now on, since my current work situation is slightly unpredictable and the job I'm taking when this one ends is likely to suck what's left of my soul right out of my body. But I'll find time, somehow.

Until then, put this on repeat.

Too Lazy to Write, Have a Funny Video

Since I already posted something this week, I don't feel obligated to write up the usual Wednesday post. Once per week is enough. Anyway, here's something that made me laugh.

Hello World

I never liked blogs. In fact, ever since I looked to the internet as an outlet for my creative energy, I've tried to avoid making one. The word "blog" is just so unbelievably stupid, I can't stand it. However, fully maintaining my own self-designed website was too much of a nuisance last time I attempted it, so I might as well try doing things the easy way, at least once.

So, here it goes.

This is going to be a gaming-related blog. Haters gonna hate, but the unoriginality of the idea doesn't bother me; since I've given up on a life in academia, there's currently nothing in my life which is so esoteric that no blog on the subject currently exists, so whether I blog about video games or funny cats, I won't be breaking any new ground. Besides, I like video games. If no one thinks this is important enough to read, so be it.

In any case, it's not just that I like video games. I honestly think they're worth writing about. They're important. As much as our grandparents wish they would go away, they've left an indelible mark on our culture. Some would even argue that games have graduated from time-waster to art form.

Over the past decade, video games have been moving ever closer into mainstream territory, although the self-proclaimed "hardcore gamers" will tell you that what's actually becoming mainstream today is a mockery of what video games used to be. Some are even predicting a collapse of the video game industry, although I think that's unlikely, even in a recession. (And even if it does happen, my backlog is extensive enough to keep me entertained for as long as it takes for the industry to rebuild itself. New games are too expensive anyway.)

So here's my blog. I'll come back later to write some neat things.