New Direction, Shifting Gears

Ever since 2003, JohnnyBGamer has been all about creating a place where Christianity and video games collide. Starting out as a website designed by my friend Scotto, JBG soon shifted from being a self-hosted site to a WordPress blog. Tried as I might, the site has never really caught on like I wanted it to. This has lead me to recently ask friends and family for both their opinion and advice: Do I continue with JohnnyBGamer?

Looks like a joystick! (2008 Bugatti Veyron)

A few weeks ago, I got into a good IM conversation with a friend. He told me that perhaps I should use JBG as sort of a personal site dedicated to my writing. A one-stop shop for all your Bryan needs, so to speak. So I thought it over. I ended up realizing that there is a lot of pressure and work trying to create/ write for, what is in its essence, a fictional business. So I pulled the trigger and decided that it was time to just write for myself and not JohnnyBGamer.

What does this mean for anyone who has stuck around through the years? Not too much. Instead of some fictional brand you get me, Bryan. I’ve been here the whole time…

Costume Quest: The Demo

This is how blurry the text reads on my TV. Is this normal?

Yesterday, I had the chance to finally sit down and play through the Costume Quest demo (PS3). First off, I loved everything about this game! The storyline was hilarious and the art direction, with the big expressive eyes, reminds me of one of my favorite games, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Overall the demo showcased the imaginative worlds and humor developer Double Fine is known for. If it wasn’t for the blurry text on my TV (I need to upgrade), I would buy the game.

The Library

After reading George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, I found myself wanting to check out other works of modern fantasy. Brandon Sanderson, the author who took over for Robert Jordan on his The Wheel of Time series, wrote a book last year entitled, The Way of Kings. This particular book, priced out at $12.99 (e-book price), was too expensive for me to justify buying as a digital copy–I won’t do it!–. Remembering that there is something called a library, a place where books are free, I quickly made a visit of acquisition. Upon check out, I learned that I hadn’t checked anything out since 2007. One could have called this trip quite overdue.

The Way of Kings is a massive tome clocking in somewhere near a 1000 pages. Hardbound, the book is heavy and hard to situate when reading in bed at night. Now I have to confess that my Nook has made me forget what it is like to have to wrangle a 1000 page book. Weight and size have no meaning in the digital form. I could be reading a 2000 page book on my Nook and never know the difference. This is where the e-reader and the e-book shine. The other thing I had forgotten is how nice it is to have the Nook save my place every night. Bookmarks have always failed me with physical books. Somehow, someway, the bookmark always ends up falling out. Utter frustration ensues.

So how is The Way of Kings so far? At this point, a few hundred pages in, I am enjoying it immensely. Unlike Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series, Sanderson has not seen the need, thus far, to throw-in gratuitous amounts of sex and language. Brandon Sanderson is slowly restoring my faith in modern fantasy.

Web Design

Over the past few weeks I have been slowly working through an XHTML tutorial. A good friend of mine tried to put web design, the bigger picture, into perspective for me:

  • Website = the building
  • HTML = the superstructure, the engineering / structural design
  • CSS = the architectural design, the artistic touch that makes it beautiful
  • Javascript = the fancy stuff that makes the building cool / how you interact with it

Pokémon: The MMO

Pokémon: The MMO was announced by Game Freak and Nintendo today. Set in a world revolving around Ash Ketchum’s journey to greatness, players must protect Ash as he journeys with the one ring to Mount Poké-doom. With over 5,000 new Pokémon to catch, this is sure to be the biggest Pokémon adventure yet!

Bulbasaur returns!

New Features:

  • A complete graphical overhaul that puts Crysis 2 to shame.
  • Video conferencing/ battling provided by a special partnership between Apple and Nintendo.
  • iPhone integration for those on the go!
  • The introduction of Poké-weaponry.
  • And so much more…
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