Mashing buttons since 1984
“Nintendo fans say Wii will rule, despite facts”
We will rule. In fact, we already rule! Screw the facts!
There are so many things wrong with this article that I won’t even waste your time with the details. This is what happens when you ask a non-gamer what the next generation will look like and his research involves his “son and his game playing teenaged friends.”
Nothing to see. Move along.
In lieu of new content, I’m going to post my to-do list here, so each time I see this post I’ll be motivated to actually produce something more than three word sentences about zombies. I actually have a lot of “stubs” for posts, in draft form, that I will be finishing. They’re little snippets and ideas about things that are interesting me at the moment. I wish I had more time to work on them, but I have been busy with Real Life©, my new 360 and other blogging endeavors that require a lot of my Buttonmashing time. But I don’t want to neglect my readers, so this is a little teaser of things to come.
So yeah, that’s a lot of stuff. I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’ll be pounding away at this list for a few weeks but if I can pull myself away from the 360 for a bit this weekend (after the amazing OSU/Texas game Saturday night and the Cleveland Browns opener) I’ll get some of it done.
Thanks for sticking around and hopefully the new stuff will be worth the wait!
I’m not lazy, I swear!
This is a bit old, but if you happen to be a gamer and an English major (or enjoyed the Cantebury Tales in high school) you’ll get a kick out of Chaucer’s blog entry on his experience with the ‘Exboxe CCCLX.’ (via kottke)
I’ve seen this in a few places (most recently at Troy’s new blog, Flash of Steel) and wanted to comment on it. There is an article at GameDailyBIZ about starting and maintaining a successful blog. It zeroes in on gaming blogs, but it’s applicable to blogs in general. As blogging is a phenomenon I’m interested in, I was interested to see what new tips I could glean. While there’s nothing really new here, it’s a decent read if you’re interested in blogging. The article lists three steps to a good blog (gaming or otherwise):
Step 1: Create a blog that’s worthy to be read
Readers already choose between a massive number of quality enthusiast press publications. As a result, a fledgling blog has virtually no chance of making it big if it doesn’t provide readers an experience that can’t be found somewhere else.
This is the real trick. This is like making a list on how to be a good golfer and starting the list with “have an excellent golf swing.” It’s the simple fact that no one will read your blog if you’re not providing them with something fresh. There are a ton of gaming blogs you can read out there, and while most are worth a read in their own right, there are a lot more blogs worth skipping. Providing an experience not found elsewhere is tough to do. Regurgitating all the news that comes across the wire won’t do it. There’s other places where people are doing for that already. Casting a wide net and trying to post about everything is also going to be hard to maintain. Find your voice and go with that.
Step 2: Get People to Read Your Blog
This can actually be the easy part of starting a blog, but go about it the wrong way and you will alienate readers much faster than you can garner them. Places like Digg and Slashdot abhor “blog-whoring” and I pretty much avoid submitting my blog to them at all costs (save for links to the monthly Carnival). I have been linked by Slashdot, which is quite a “nerd high,” but each time I’ve been linked there it has been by Zonk, not from my personal submissions. (It is a huge honor to be linked by them, but it has always been a surprise to have Slashdot show up in the referrer logs.) There are other ways to drive people to your site. Using your URL in forum sigs, your email sig, submitting to the Carnival and the Roundtable are all ways to get readers to your blog without blatantly blog whoring. Getting your site URL out there with subtlety is a talent, but persitence will be rewarded here. Make friends with other bloggers, link to their sites, use trackback judiciously and don’t appear desperate and you’ll do just fine.
Step 3: Get People to Bookmark Your Blog
Post Often
If you want to become one of the big time bloggers, you’ve got to consider this a full time
jobhobby. The best blogs post often, post consistently, and even post on weekends. It is difficult to do this, especially since you will likely not see a sustainable income from your blog for quite some time.
While this advice is by far the most important, I’ve modified it a bit. I think the moment you treat blogging as a full-time job (unless it is your job, natch), you’ve lost sight of why you’re blogging in the first place. Your motivation for blogging should be that your topic of choice is something you’re passionate about. Nevertheless, you’ve got to provide new content on a consistent basis. I’ve found both in reading and writing a blog that consistent posting is the most important aspect of a blog. I’ve tried to get a post a day here on buttonmashing.com, but some times that just not possible. Even still, you’ve got to work hard and produce good stuff. Getting quality stuff out regularly will keep people coming back.
This will actually become easier as you develop your voice and you earn a regular readership. You’ll get feedback from your regulars and that will spur you on to create more content. Is a postive feedback loop that you’ll come to love. Nothing is more exciting than getting your first comments and first subscriptions to your feed. It’s fun and will definitely motivate you to blog even more. The hitch is to maintain that motivation over a long period of time. It’s not easy but it pays off in the long run.
So have a read, start a blog, and have fun doing it. That’s what it’s all about anyway.
Who says games can’t be educational?
I posted a while ago about how I was introduced to the ultimate siege weapon, the trebuchet, by the most excellent Age of Empires 2, Age of Kings. So not only was AoK a blast to play, it was actually teaching me, rather subversively, the nuances of siege weaponry, with historical accuracy. So let the engineering nerd within me tray and subversively teach you the nuances of physics by presenting to you “The Treb Challenge,” from GlobalSpec.com, an engineering search engine I use quite a bit at work.
It’s nothing exciting, a simple trebuchet simulator, but it does a great job of demonstrating Newtonian Physics in a visual and easy-to-understand manner. You’re presented with a basic trebuchet with parameters like projectile mass, counterweight mass, and wind speed, which can be adjusted. With your trebuchet ready to launch, you’re presented with challenges like distance, accuracy, and power. Balancing things like mass, trajectory, and counter-weight is can be challenging but easy to get the hang of.
It’s everything a flash game should be — fun, quick, and mindless. Okay, maybe not that last part. I don’t usually link to flash-based online games because there are better sites for that, but this one piqued the engineer in me and just struck me as something that’s not only a fun little diversion, but can actually be used as a teaching tool.
Imagine that!
It’s not to early to think about getting your Carnival submissions ready, as the August Carnival is just around the corner! Carnival #17 is being held at CheapyD’s place. So get your submissions in for the Carnival and check out CAG for all your latest gaming deals. My library is full of games waiting to be played thanks to CheapyD’s smack-ton of good deals.
Because, apparently, if you bought EA’s NCAA 2007 for the PSP that’s exactly what you’re getting. (Via Breaking Windows)
How on earth can IGN give this game a “passable” rating?! The game is completely broken. There is no way this can be redeemed. EA should just give everyone their money back and bury all the discs out in the desert. Terrible.
I thought I mentioned this earlier, but it seems to have slipped through the cracks. Jason has re-launched his gaming blog, Flicker Gaming, with lots of game blogging goodness. Make sure you add it to your feed reader, if you haven’t already.
I also meant to link Corvus’ fun little piece in the Escapist, something I thoroughly enjoyed.
He’s been blogging for a couple weeks now, but another one of my buddies has taken the blog-plunge on account of my encouragement (pressure? insistence?). He’s a fellow Buckeye fan, video gamer, and all-around good guy. He also has excellent photoshop skills and he’s crafted me a mighty fine looking banner that I plan to get on the site soon. He prefers to keep his identity private, only to be known as the “Monkey.” I present to you: MonkeyPi.net.
Stop on over and say hey.
