Hey, A Free Star Wars Book On Your Kindle!

 Today is the last day you can get Collect All 21! Memoirs of  a Star Wars Geek-Expanded Edition by John Booth on your Kindle for free. That's right, it's FREE. Who doesn't love a free book? If you're a Star Wars fan like myself, a free Star Wars book is a delightful win win. I have just started reading the book myself and I'm enjoying it because it is a fun read and brings back my own fond childhood memories of that love of Star Wars. So if you love Star Wars, you should definitely check out this book and again, it's free! Free is always a nice perk especially for a great book such as this one. You can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GN83ES?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B008GN83ES&linkCode=xm2&tag=fiesedg-20

Assassin's Creed III Naval Battles Trailer

 October can't get here fast enough. I can't wait to play and try out everything, especially the naval battles. I've watched the trailer twice now, and it looks fantastic! You can take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gw73Y0CqKU

Video Game Voters Network Annual Research Report Article

This is a very interesting read and a positive one. The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) released their annual research report showing key demographic facts about who is playing video games and what they are playing. It's refreshing to see an article that shows the positives of video games rather than the negatives. You can take a look at the article and the report here: http://videogamevoters.org/blog/entry/who_is_playing_and_what_are_they_playing/?source=2012814esareport&utm_medium=email&utm_source=VGVN&utm_campaign=20120814esareport

Gaming Is Gaming

 I've noticed that there are gamers who actually look down on others for playing casual games like Bejeweled, Farmville, Sims Social, and numerous others in that category. They feel that people who play casual games aren't gamers, that they're not really into video games because they only play casual games. I've even had a couple of friends tease me about it saying it doesn't really count as gaming because there's no console, pc, or handheld involved. I've seen and heard these gamers mock or belittle casual game players, simply for liking and playing casual games.
 Honestly, it annoys me. It shouldn't matter to anyone that someone likes to play casual games. I personally love Bejeweled because for me it is fun and I like challenging myself to get a better score than the last time I played before the timer runs out. I like playing the Marvel Avengers game also because again it's fun for me and it actually has pretty decent game play for a casual game. There's also the factor that it appeals to my love of comics. Casual games for me are a nice distraction when I have a few minutes waiting for a cake to bake or a load of laundry to be done.
 The other side of that is I also love games such as  Persona , Final Fantasy, Diablo, Tekken, Metal Gear, God Of War, Okami, Suikoden, Assassin's Creed, and many others that are on the computer, console, or handheld. I genuinely enjoy those games and have a good time playing them. I love the various stories, characters, art work, and music. I have personal favorites in certain genres because of playing them as a kid or because I felt the story was great.
 Have I ever thought I was less of a gamer for having fun in the world of casual gaming? Of course not. To me, if you truly enjoy a game be it a story about being dragon born or matching colored gems as fast as possible in one minute, then you're a gamer. There's no hardcore or weak for me. Gaming is gaming. It doesn't matter what you play or how long you've played. What does matter is that you have fun playing any game you like. It also matters how we treat each other. If you're looking down your nose at someone for having the best little virtual farm in Farmville and they're happy about it, please kindly get over yourself. If you're lecturing someone on how they're not "REALLY A GAMER" because they play casual games, do everyone a favor. Just stop. Walk away if you have to, but stop doing that to people.
 For one thing, it's not nice and for another if this is what you waste your time on instead of playing an awesome video game, that's pretty sad. The person that does this comes across as an elitist jerk and let's be honest, a lot of people don't like the elitist jerks in the world. They're just not any fun. What is fun is playing whatever you like and not worrying about who's really a gamer and who's not. Besides, if you really think about it Tetris could be considered one of the first casual games and I know quite a few of you who love a good round of Tetris. Just a thought. 

Hawken - War Is A Machine Trailer

As many know, I am a big nerd about mechs and giant robots. I love them. Hawken appeals to that love of all things shiny and giant robot/mech oriented. After watching the trailer twice, I am excited about this game. I can't wait to play because it looks amazing. It looks like Hawken will be free to play and you can sign up for the closed beta on the website. You can check out the live action trailer here: http://www.playhawken.com/index.php?ref=6A5B15B0

Gaymer Con Point Of View Article

A lot of people have been discussing Gaymer Con, some of it positive some of it not so positive. I for one can understand the desire to hang out with people of similar interests and tastes, so it's really not a big deal to me that people want to have this. What I can't understand is some of the blatant hatred going on towards people for proposing to have Gaymer Con.  It's one thing to agree to disagree, but it's the execution of the disagreeing I have a problem with. You can disagree with a person on something without resorting to name calling and inflammatory bigotry. Maybe it's me, but my take on Gaymer Con is if they want to have it go for it, it's not a big deal. It's not going to hurt anyone by setting this up and everyone is welcome.
 I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jim Sterling wrote what I felt was an insightful article that raised some very good and valid points about why it is important to some people to have Gaymer Con on the Destructoid website which you can check out here: http://www.destructoid.com/the-importance-of-a-gay-gamer-convention-232467.phtml

Persona 4: Arena Doing Really Well

 Looks like Persona 4: Arena did surprisingly well in Japan. I love the Persona series and I was delighted to see this, personally. You can read all about it on the Crunchyroll website here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/08/01-1/persona-4-arena-outsells-street-fighter-iv-tekken-6-and-blazblue-in-opening-week

 I can't wait for the U.S. release so I can try the game out for myself. It looks great and I'm looking forward to playing it.