A Mom’s Day Blog

(EDIT: I added Twitter to the sidebar. I figure I can use it for little updates about the show.)

Happy Mother’s Day! I assume you guys have remembered to wish your mothers well today and give them some sort of gift. My Mother’s Day plans have already ended, so now I have a little bit of time to blog.

Keep in mind that this is all just random thoughts in my head and in no way is it a coherent post. So, try and keep an open mind.

One thing I’ve noticed lately is that a lot of people really like to use Twitter. I never really understood why people love Twitter so much. I guess it’s easy to write little quips about what you’re doing than it is to take the time to sit and write out a lengthy blog. And considering how difficult some blogging tools can be, as well as seeing what’s “post-worthy” or not, I can grasp the concept a little bit. But at the same time, I can’t help but wonder why people would even start a Twitter microblog. The whole thing confuses me.

And by the way: I’m done using browser-based blogging tools. I’ve experimented in the past with different blog hosts (Blogger, LiveJournal, etc.), and finally came to a rest on WordPress because it was clean, tidy, and easy to blog with. Lately they received a little…redesign to their editor, and I can’t stand the thing. It seems clunky and unmanageable to me. So now I’m using a neat little Windows app called Windows Live Writer. It lets me see what the post will actually look like as I write it out, it keeps all the little tools out of the way, and lets me work offline on posts. It even lets me rename the links as I see fit. It’s handy, and I recommend it to all bloggers.

Is anybody else getting sick of hearing about Bioshock? Now, over the last month I’ve played through a little over 1.5 times, and I fell in love with the game. Not because it’s a shooter and there’s violence, but rather because of the amazingly captivating storyline. The whole inner workings of Bioshock with a utopian-like society gone wrong, objectivism, and the look at a player’s natural obedience to “To-Do Lists” really made me think about game design, and it was an experience like no other. Bioshock is easily one of my favorite games.

But for god’s sake, it seems like it can’t stay out of the news lately. What with discussions about game mechanics, Ken Levine talking about narratives, GamesRadar’s 15 Best Game Stories, and now a movie in the works, I think we all just need to shut up about Bioshock for a little while, because all this talk is just ruining it for me. I said on TER 1 that I was excited for GTA IV, and one of the reasons I was is so that we could all talk about something else.

My Wii hasn’t been getting enough attention as of late. Yes, I turn it on every other day or so to get a quick Brawl fix, but otherwise, it’s left in full-on “standby”. It’s a little disappointing, but I’m looking forward to turning it on more soon. I have wanted to give Mario Kart Wii a shot, even though I’ve heard a couple complaints about the Wii Wheel and the “tricks” system, as well as the overall “dumbed-down” feel that I’ve heard so much about.

I’ve never been really “into” Mario Kart. Mario Kart 64 will always be one of my favorite memories, and I’ll pop Mario Kart DS in from time to time. But I haven’t been a die-hard fan of the series, and I don’t expect MKWii to change that.

I’ve tried out the Nintendo Channel as well, but I’ll talk about that some other time. Actually, I have a couple more things I could talk about, so I think I’ll save them for tomorrow. Here’s a little hint to one of them:

First Banjo 3 Screens (British Gaming)