buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Blogging

Wow.

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Amazing. I am so thoroughly impressed with WordPress right now, I’m at a loss for words to adequately praise it. I just imported nine months of Blogger posts without a hitch. Setting up WordPress has been simple thus far. Now that I’ve got my posts imported, I’m gonna make sure everything looks okay before I move on. We’ll move on from there.

Update 1: Man, it just keeps getting better. Using Bloglines export feature (export to OPML file) I have now imported all my links from Bloglines. I still need to organize them and there doesn’t seem to be an immediately easy way to use Bloglines to update my links, but I’m sure someone out there has solved that problem, too. This is good stuff!

Update 2: Well, the links are organized. Next it categorizing all my old posts. I may put that off until later. Perhaps I’ll try a plug-in or two.

Update 3 (2/24): The process of converting my old Blogger posts continues tonight, I will make sure all of them are all categorized and edited for grammatical errors. Then it’s on to themes and plugins!

Update 3 (2/26): Posts have all be categorized and I’ve been looking at various plugins and themes. This is seriously great stuff, I can’t believe how seamless and easy it’s all been. Kudos to the guys and WordPress.

New and improved!

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After fighting with mySQL for the first time (surprisingly painless after I realized what I was doing) we have a new version of buttonmashing. It’s late, so I’ll be going to bed now, but I’ll be trying all the cool WordPress widgets later, starting with the import of my Blogger posts. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m sleepy.

New blogging software?

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I’ve been thinking about the managment side of my blog recently. I have been mostly happy with Blogger.com. I’ve been a member for a long time, and I really haven’t had a problem with it, but I think I’m ready to move on to new blogging software. Something with a little more flexibility and new challenges. I’ve been looking at WordPress, Moveable Type, and others. Right now I’m leaning toward WordPress. Most of the bloggers I read use it, it’s FREE (definitely the biggest bonus), and it seems well supported.

What advice to you, my fellow bloggers, recommend? Are you satisfied with your current software? Am I biting off more than I can chew? I am technically competent but I’ve never dealt with anything on the web-server side of things, outside of ftp’ing images and other files. I have programming skills, but I don’t have skillz.

Anyway, look for some possible changes in the next couple of days here. If nothing else, I’m gonna mash some buttons and we’ll see what we end up with. Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.

New Kids on my Block, Part #3 (BlogExplosion-style)

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When I first started buttonmashing.com (I still can’t decide if I should capitalize the “B” and “M” in the name) I was looking for ways to attract visitors, so I signed up for an account on BlogExplosion (< -- my referral link, if you're interested in joining). Basically, BlogExplosion is a click exchange - you read my page and I'll read yours (for 30 seconds). I still use it occasionally, but they have a good directory of blogs, broken down by categories. I spent some time going through the list of gaming blogs and came across a few that I was unaware of and I thought I might as well share the game blogging goodness.

SpaceWorld looks like a blog I can relate to — he seems to love Nintendo, is a Conservative, and loves video games. That’s the trifecta for me!

I’ve been meaning to use my Bloglines to do a better job of organizing the blogs I read and one of the categories I want to add is one of “industry people”. I just found one of the first one’s I add: 3rd World Game Designer. Besides my fascination with all things Asian, this blog is a great read. Definitely one I look forward to having on the list!

Another Nintendo-phile, 4 Color Rebellion is heavy on the Nintendo side of gaming but has a great looking site, replete with reviews and great commentary.

I love watching the MMOG community through the eyes of the players. AFK Gamer is definitely my favorite, but Cabbage looks like he also will keep me updated on goings-on in other MMOGs. Great.

(On a side note, I noticed I was recently linked to by roXatopia as a “MMOG” gamer. Since I have played my share of MMOGs, I guess I qualify for that title but I haven’t played one regularly since I quit Neocron. Nevertheless, I appreciate the linkage, and I have been eyeing Guild Wars for a long time, so I may once again join the ranks of the MMOGs.)

We here here at buttonmashing.com are without borders, and yet we don’t have a ton of international flavor here. So with that in mind, we will be reading Geemusentaa for a Aussie point of view. And don’t ask, what the name means, just read the blog.

That raps up another edition of the New Kids. I hope you enjoy!

Back in business!

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Our friendly Time Warner tech came over this afternoon to reconnect us to the virtual world of broadband and cable TV, just in time for Monk. Whatta guy! It’s been strange being disconnected from the internet at home. I still my work access, so I was able to follow my blogroll on Bloglines (I have a convert in Jeff Freeman, my first convert. I’m working on more) but being detached from ButtonMashing was good.

It was good because the move has been a big change for the family and I was able to attend to more important things, like hooking up the washer and dryer, and not have to worry if I’ll miss a big gaming story. I love doing the blogging thing and I love doing the gaming thing, but this past week had presented me with some more valuable ways to spend my time, so I’ve been enjoying my time away.

But I did miss it, all the same, and it feels good to be back. I’ve still got non-gaming things to take up my time (like making mortgage payments) but I can also have some gaming time, too. All in moderation. So the Button Masher has made a return to the video game blogging world, and he’s all the better for it.

What prevents me from playing video games.

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(What follows is a little more detail to my “Gaming Pedigree” that I wrote when I first started this page. It needs updating, but you’ll get my drift)

I played video games, pretty much non-stop, from when I was eight or nine until I was nineteen. The first video game I remember playing was Space Invaders and the last was Doom. I then took a three and a half year hiatus from pretty much all video games. I lived in Spain as a Mormon Missionary for two years with next-to-no access to a PC or console and then I worked as an apprentice mason for a year and a half when I returned. I did buy an N64 when it was released in 1996 but I didn’t play it much for two reasons. One: there was this cute girl (okay, she was a total betty) I was courting and I couldn’t be bothered by video games when I could be with her. I married her so I could be with her a lot more often. Two: As I mentioned before, I was an apprentice mason.

What does that have to do with anything? There are many construction trades out there, and it’s all hard, back-breaking work, but besides roofing and concrete finishing, masonry is one of the most labor intensive jobs out there. If you work for a company like Roof Top Services of Central Florida, Inc, I retract my statement, the Florida sun will make it really intense too. I would work 50-60 hour weeks and I would come home everyday tired. Down-right beat. I would hang out with my friends for a bit when we had the chance but I had next to no energy to play video games. So for almost two years I didn’t Mash very many Buttons. After I was married, I came to my senses and released I didn’t want to break my back for the next thirty years so I decided to go back to college. Don’t get me wrong, I loved working with my hands and I respect those who make a living (a very GOOD living, at that) doing manual labor. They are the people that make this world go round. But it wasn’t for me. So we moved to Columbus so I could attend the College of Engineering at THE Ohio State University and suddenly I had all kinds of time to play video games. So I broke out the N64, upgraded the computer, and have been gaming ever since. My wife has been mostly supportive (she prefers console games, since she can at least have her turn at Animal Crossing or Mario Party, etc). Many Buttons have been Mashed since.

What does that have to do with anything? Well, the past few days have thrust me back into the world of manual labor as we prepare to move out of our condo into our new house. We’ve been packing and cleaning here, painting and cleaning at the new house, and just running around like crazy people, thinking on the next time we better get a maid service to do it, we just have to book now. In other words, I’ve been too tired lately to play many video games. It’s a shame, but family always comes first, and moving them into the new house is my current project.

So this was basically a big post to reminesce and say blogging activities will probably become scarce as I’ll be packing up the PC soon (probably Thursday night) and move things to the new house. Hopefully Time Warner will seamlessly move our broadband connection over there and we can be up and running by Sunday night, but I’m not holding my breath. Either way, I hope to be back in business soon. In the meantime, I hope you get some gaming in, because it’s not happening here. I’m too tired.

I’m going to bed now. Good night.

Week in Review, Vol. 2, #2

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Well, I’ll have to do this while the new Iron Chef America is on, because I won’t be able to pull myself away from RE 4 after it’s over. So here are some notable going-ons for the past week. (Great, Blogger just lost my post. I suddenly lost interest to finish this post, but I’ll carry on.)

So we had Gatmog from Tales of Schorched Earth giving his top ten for 2004, with Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines as his top pick. I’ve heard alot of good things about this game, I’ll have to give it a try.

Kyle at VGO wonders who he would run a video game TV station. He’s been talking a lot about G4/TechTV (I guess just G4 now) and I think he’s got some good ideas.

I started working on a translation cheat sheet for all the Spanish phrases you’ll here while playing Resident Evil 4. That games is absolutely amazing. You can find the guide here.

I’m thinking about maybe making the “Week in Review” into a biweekly or monthly thing. I also am working on my list of “new” gaming blogs I come across. Things are always evolving here at ButtonMashing.

Week in Review, Vol. 2, #1

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Here we are for the first Week in Review for 2005. Let’s get right to it.

First, from Kotaku is a link to a story about a professional Halo 2 player. We all dream about making money playing video games. It’s crossed my mind before. In fact, I can say I have made a little scratch playing Diablo 2. I’ve sold a handful of charactes and items on eBay, pulling in about 300 bucks. While it pales in comparison to this guy, it’s better than nothing. But working out how much time I put getting those items works out to about 15 cents an hour certainly not earth shattering.

Age of Empires, I love thee. Let me count the ways. One, Ages of Empires. Two, Age of Empires, Rise of Rome. Three, Age of Empires 2, Age of Kings. Four Age of Kings, The Conquerors. And now five (and probably six), Age of Empires III.

Bad reporting and pirated games – a poor little ground playing a Disney-based game on her GBA. See Video Game Ombudsman for the full story.

Of course, this past week also ushered in the new year (sort of), so here’s a run-down of some of the blogosphere’s Top Ten/Year in Review lists.

At Render, there isn’t a top ten list, but this sounds like a Game of the Year to me.

Half-Life 2: Simply put, this was the most compelling gaming experience I’ve ever had. Plus, Counter-Strike: Source. Worth the wait, and the sixty bucks.

Mike at the-inbtween has more than just the run-of-the-mill awards. I really like this one in particular:

The “It Has Vin Diesel In It And I Don’t Absolutely Hate It, How Did That Happen?” Award:

Chronicles of Riddick

Mike at Pixel du Jour had a “Top Two” of popular culture, including games. #1 on his list (on many others, I’m sure) is WoW.

World of WarCraft, in particular, has devoured my soul. I’m usually the first to criticize the MMORPG genre for requiring little to no skill to play, but I cannot help but trounce around Azeroth for hours at a time, alone or with friends. I don’t even fully understand the game’s appeal. All I know is that I feel an undying desire to make it to the next level and improve my characters.

Of course many of us look toward Penny Arcade for the thoughts. I was surprised that Halo 2 didn’t make the cut but I was proud that Metroid Prime 2 did. Penny Arcade crowns World of Warcraft, as well.

It’s called World of Warcraft, but the addiction profile is really more along the lines of Diablo.

That’s all I need to hear to know I must avoid it like the black death.

Update (1/9/2005) – Posts on Sunday always fall into the ether when I do my week in review, but I just read this on the-inbetween, which looks at different pictures posted of Flickr with tags like “Videogames”, “Nintendo” and others. There’s a lot of pictures to wade through, but there are some interesting pics there.

New Year’s Resolution

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I’m a few days late on my resolutions, but I do have some. I wanted to share them here.

  • First, lets get these out of the way: lose weight, exercise more regularly, eat healthier, get to bed early and get up earlier, you know the regulars.
  • Post here at ButtonMashing at least once a day
  • Spend less time playing games when I could be with my family
  • Make the time I do have to play games more enjoyable
  • Add more humor to my posts. I’m a funny guy, really, I am. I think of funny things all the time! I just struggle to articulate them.
  • Kick some serious butt all year long

There you have ’em. Will I keep ’em? You better believe it. There will also be some changes around here. Nothing major, but I’ll keep everyone updated. Here’s to a great 2005. Thanks to all my regular readers, I appreciate your patronage and hope you enjoy your visits here. To any new readers, I hope you come back often. You never know what you’ll find.

Week in review (Part 5)

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A day late on the review of the past week, but here it is, nonetheless.

A lot has been said about the Video Game Awards on Spike TV, you can read my live comments here and some of my comments about what others said here. I will sum up my thoughts on the VGAs with a haiku:

Spike TV, so wrong
Video games are more than
Babes and Rap. Puhleeze.

I haven’t commented much lately on Electronic Arts, but things are starting to look scary. First they score an exclusive agreement with the NFL and the Players Association for the next 5 years. After that, they start buying Ubisoft stock. And now they’re going after DICE. Scary. There has been some severe backlash against EA. I can’t link everything, but you can look here, here, and here. Of course, the best comment is definitely this one. This isn’t good press for EA, already reeling from the EA Spouse (which is still going strong) revelations and their impending lawsuits. It must be hard making crappy football games and having the prospect of no one wanting them. Of course Midway, in true Midway-rip-out-a-spine fashion has given a big, fat middle finger to the NFL and EA and are going to make a mature, drug-ridden football game complete with babes and booze. Great.

To further thin the sports gamer herd, Microsoft has closed shop on their sports games division, too. I would wager a guess that 90% of the sports gaming public don’t really care. They want to be spoon fed EA titles year after year, and I think EA has done a huge disservice to sports gamers by charging full price on each seasons “updates”. They hook you with a new feature, a-la playmaker controls, or the match-up stick, or the juke-jive-and-wail or whatever to get you to buy, at full price, a moderately updated, mostly rehashed, version of last years game. If EA would price their sports games between thirty and forty bucks they would make even more piles of money than they already have (and don’t share).

I like reading AFK Gamer, I like reading the current goings-on over at World of Warcraft. I like reading because ever since I swore of MMOGs (Neocron being my last foray) I’ve been pining to return to the fold and WoW seems so appropriate for me since I love Blizzard games (I logged countless Diablo 2 hours). I still can’t do it, but when he posts funny stuff like this, it makes me want to go back.

Finally, before I wax eloquent on the Top Ten lists of 2004, here’s the Gaming Gaffes of 2004.