Here's my outlook for must plays for the rest of the year...

8/21 – Bioshock
8/27 – Metroid Prime 3
8/28 – Blue Dragon
9/17 – Eternal Sonata
9/18 – MySims
9/30 – Hellgate: London
10/1 – Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
10/16 – GTA IV
11/5 – Fire Emblem Wii
11/6 – Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
11/12 – Super Mario Galaxy
11/20 – Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
12/3 – Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Most dates should be fairly accurate except for Hellgate which is an approximation based on their current 'done by end of summer' outlook. It could fall a month or two though.

Basically the deal is though that I'm screwed. #1, I don't think I can afford all these games without feeling the wrath of Mrs. Artadius. I mean, I CAN afford them, but we've got a baby on the way and we're looking to buy a new house... so the justification is hard.

If I HAD to cut it down to one game per month (which is about par for me), it'd be Bioshock, Hellgate, GTA IV, SMG, and SSBB.

Shit. I need to outsource my gaming.

Something has been bothering me for quite a long time and I figured this would be a good place to ask some of you how you feel about this.

Why are the WASD keys the default method for controlling movement in (predominantly) first person oriented games?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept fully that it is most efficient to have your movement keys on your left hand thus freeing up your right hand to control the mouse (well, at least for righties... I have no idea what you southpaws do).

Here's my whole argument though. On EVERY SINGLE first person oriented game, I end up changing the movement keys to ESDF. If you look at your keyboard, just imagine each key is as normal on a WASD setup...except each key is mapped to the key on its right. i.e. E is used to move foward, S is used to strafe left, etc...

There are two main benefits to this over the WASD method that I can immediately point to:

1. Your index finger rests on the F key which most keyboards provide a small 'nub' as a physical indicator that your fingers are in the correct position. This provides an easy reference for accurate hand re-placement in the case of beverage consumption without having to glance down at your keyboard thus giving your competition ample time to commence ass-rapage. Now, perhaps you WASD'ers also keep your index finger on your F key and instead of using your middle finger for moving forward...you instead use your ring finger on the W key. This boggles my mind because, at least for me, that feels infinitely more uncomfortable than using your middle finger for moving forward (which tends to be the button that is pressed most often).

2. Again, assuming your left hand in proper typing position with pointer finger on F and middle finger on D... this gives you more real estate for key bindings of the typical letter keys around your left hand that you would if your hand is shifted over one key to use the WASD setup. When I place my left hand on a WASD setup, my pinky finger is resting on the Caps Lock key. There is no button immediately to the left of the Caps Lock key (or upper/lower left) thus removing three potential keys from keybinding.

WASD just seems so wrong. If that's what you've used for gaming... give ESDF a shot and let me know what you think. I think it's more comfortable, easier to execute quick re-placement thanks to the 'nub', and provides more keybinding real estate.

So.. for last couple of months... I've been blogging my way through Dragon Quest at http://bloggingdq.wordpress.com. I was inspired by the guy doing the same for Ultima that made its way around the intertubes a few months back. Since then, not only did my site pop up..but there's a Zelda blog and Final Fantasy blog out there (linked on my site as well).

I get a decent amount of hits and have a few loyal readers there... but some folks have been asking me why I don't go out for more exposure instead of pretty much relying on word of mouth.

So, I'm asking you destructoid readers who just happen to be unfortunate enough to click on my paltry space here if you'd be interested in seeing me re-publish my blog here on the 'toid or not.