Resolutions....sort of.

I've had a good amount of time since the new year to think about how I want 2009 to go. Some of the changes that have happened in my life since the start of 2008 have made this particularly interesting. For instance instead of simply saying I want to get into the gym more, like I would every year before this, I can now say that I want to train BJJ a certain number of days a week and more specifically I want to get into other schools to train so I can roll with some new training partners. I also want to add back weight training but not in the traditional sense. I really want to add Kettlebells and Cross Fit types of routines to my week so I can improve my muscular endurance and hopefully my competition results as a function of that. There are other areas of my life that could use goals as well. For instance, get my stupid thesis proposal done by the end of this year and publish papers in particular journals.

The reason all of this is interesting to me is because this is the first year I've been able to set specific goals. Furthermore they are goals not resolutions which is a different thing to me. Goals are more like a checklist of things to do over the course of the year and resolutions always seem to me like empty promises you make yourself. I'm at the point of my life where I want to improve and have things to check off my list instead of promising myself things that I will never deliver. This might mean I am getting wiser...or just older I'm not sure which.

Fatigue

In the last few months I've noticed an interesting change happening in myself. My enthusiasm for playing games seems to be decreasing over time. I'm not sure if this is a function of getting older, having more responsibility in life or a sign that perhaps I am outgrowing this hobby. For years I looked forward to the time at night when all my work for the day was done and I could relax with a controller in my hand. Now it feels more like a chore than something to unwind before going to bed. My enthusiasm seems to be waning and instead of turning on a console at night I opt to watch a movie or TV or even read a book. I'm not really sure what to make of this change. I wish I could pinpoint why it was happening specifically or think of ways to make this hobby new and fresh for myself again. I want to point my finger at the industry for creating a state in which all games are so similar that nothing seems fresh but that doesn't seem quite fair. I can't possibly be without blame in losing my interest for the hobby.

Have any of you folks out there gone through this? What did you do to reinvigorate gaming for yourself?

I'm a dirty dirty slacker

I realize I have spent a great deal of time neglecting my blog. I am going to my best to reset over the Thanksgiving break and start blogging again somewhat more consistently. I think the new goal is going to be as simple as getting mini reviews and thoughts together for games I'm playing right now. Much more from me soon I promise.

Money Money Money Money, Mooonnaaayy

So I just saw the NPD numbers for hardware sales in the month of November. Sweet tap dancing baby these are ridiculous. Let's review:

Nintendo DS (1,530,000)
Wii (981,000)
Xbox 360 (770,000)
PlayStation Portable (567,000)
PlayStation 3 (466,000)
PlayStation 2 (496,000)

So, the DS outsold all of Sony's products combined and Nintendo outsold the combined efforts of Microsoft AND Sony. Essentially everyone is taking baths in their own money and lighting their cigars with $100 bills but on top of that Nintendo has one of those vaults out back filled with gold coins. I mean I'm pretty sure those guys are taking turns jumping in that vault Scrooge McDuck style (lol Duck Tales reference).

It's kind of insane to think that a little tiny system that everyone thought would be a miserable failure has managed to be a juggernaut in almost every territory it sells in. The Wii is starting to show the same promise of continued sales as the DS and it makes you wonder if the sales will ever slow down or if Nintendo will someday be the controlling company of the entire world.

It is no surprise to see MS in the middle of the pack but it is surprising to see all of Sony's hardware offerings in the bottom 3. I really did expect the PS2 to manage to outsell the Xbox 360 in the months right before Christmas. I am 100% curious to see how this whole business shakes out in December and January. It will be interesting to see if the PS2 can manage to pull back ahead of the Xbox 360 or if it is finally reaching the end of it's life cycle.

New Stuffs

This week I jumped back into ebay against my better judgement. In doing this though I found an awesome Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess hat that I decided I had to have.

Hopefully you can tell from the picture that it's a brown hat with a raised, embroidered logo from Twilight Princess. It's a bit big for me but I really don't think I care. It was too badass to pass up. I may try to shrink it a bit by washing it. I have one of these super cool plastic things that you can put in your dishwasher to wash hats without having them lose their shape.


I also recently acquired a new phone. I've been on Verizon Wireless for quite a while and I end up getting a pretty cool deal on a new toy every two years. This time around I opted for the Samsung SCH-i760 which is the upgrade to the i730 I've been using for the last few years. I loved the 730 but it didn't support MMS and didn't have a built in camera which were both kind of bummers. The 760 fixes both of those complaints, has a nicer QWERTY keyboard, is smaller, and has a bit better battery life. The 760 is also running Windows Mobile 6.0 which is a huge upgrade over 5.0. Woo for new gadgets!

New Podcasts of Great Justice

360 Arcadians Live! finally returns. We have been off our game for months due to scheduling and some other issues but we have finally recovered and recorded a new episode. It was a bit rough because we are all a little rusty but it may be one of the best introductions for a podcast we have ever done. You can download the new episode (episode 29) right here or subscribe to us via iTunes.

Additionally I had a guest spot on the Elite Arcadians Review Force (E.A.R.F.) podcast this week. That was a really damn awesome experience and I had a great deal of fun doing that. Those guys are a really good time to talk with about games. That one you can also subscribe to via iTunes or you can download it directly here.

Backlogs and Backblogs

I've managed to update this space with some older blog entries that I've had written but never published. This stuff isn't particularly relevant currently but it gives you an idea of what goes on in my crazy brain.

On an entirely different subject Novembermas has been absolutely insane this year. There is just a phenominal amount of software that has come out this year. It really started with Halo 3 in September and then culminated right before Thanksgiving with Mass Effect and Rock Band dropping on exactly the same way. I'd love to spend some time commenting on all these games but I really prefer to get more than halfway through my titles before giving thoughts about their merits. I'll come back with another post later this week when I've got some more time sunk into Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Mario Galaxy and others so I can give some solid impressions.

In other news I'm hoping to get my grove back when it comes to more consistent podcasting goodness. Look for me as a guest on E.A.R.F. (Elite Arcadians Review Force) this week. In addition you should be seeing a new 360 Arcadians Live! in the coming days. I'll update my links section with RSS feeds for both of those podcasts so you folks can check those out. In the meantime I'm off to boot up my PS3 and try to get a bit further into GearsRaider....I mean Uncharted: Drake's Fortune before it's off to the internet for recording.