I don't know that I have anything to say about any of what's happened the last few days. My opinion on this isn't worth anything, no-one's opinion on this is worth anything, I'm just so sad that this has happened and I so so so fucking hope that woman's going to be okay. 

Does anyone want to play a video game? I know I sure do. I've not done that in forever. I've honestly spent more time reading through the exhausting, endless stream of controversies than I have playing games. I want a day, at least a day, where I just say fuck it and play Resident Evil until I'm half dead. I miss that a lot. I'm going to do that tomorrow.

Most of us are lucky enough to be able to ignore this stuff if we so choose. 

Anyone fancy joining me? 

I've bought 3 Steam codes- Sine Mora, System Shock 2, and Tomb Raider 3. You don't have to draw something, or make me laugh or anything- just PM me saying you'd like a copy. The first person to message me asking for a specific game will get that game. You have to have been a community member for a while, although to be devoted enough to be reading the site at this hour you'd bloody have to be. 

This has been ghastly. Absolutely fucking ghastly. 

At the present, there's not much anyone can do.





Christ.


Let's just play some fucking games.


EDIT: Sine Mora and System Shock 2 have been taken. Tomb Raider 3 is still available though. Y'know- Tomb Raider 3! The hot new game everybody's talking about, and you wish they'd shut up about it, for God's sake. Also this is getting long, so have a picture of me being happy. For the sake of pacing. 





So I'm a little ashamed of that post last night. I can get a little pessimistic sometimes, I'm afraid. It's a habit I'm trying to break out of.

Fact is, if you're upset about all of this, there IS stuff you can do.

I'm about to go on a seven hour Resident Evil Remake (or Tomb Raider, haven't quite decided) binge, and I encourage everyone who's tired of all the horrible, horrible bullshit that's clogging up our gaming culture to join me in taking some time out to actually PLAY SOME GAMES. It'll do everyone some good.

But I'm disgusted that I suggested that the only thing we can do right now is bury our heads in the sand, and ignore all of this until it blows over. That's escapism at its ugliest and most indulgent.

I think it would be a great thing for everyone tonight to take a well-earned break from the screaming and shouting, and go back to the video games that led us to gaming culture in the first place. They unite us. They should unite us.

But, if you're upset by what's happened to Ms Sagal, you might like to spend a little time beforehand looking at these websites, and maybe considering donating to their causes:

http://transgenderlawcenter.org/

http://srlp.org/

http://www.samaritans.org/

If you don't have any money at hand, but you think you can offer some emotional help, you might want to write something over at the suicide watch section of reddit. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/

And again, if you want to join me in playing a game tonight, PM me if you fancy diving into some Tomb Raider or System Shock. Happy gaming everyone.

I bought a Bioshock 1+2 bundle yesterday, that came packaged with Spec Ops The Line (which I already own), without realizing that there was a cheaper bundle available that came without Spec Ops. Ah well. It's a nice problem to have though- having so many great PC game sales, that it's impossible to keep track of them all!

I tried activating it on Steam to see if it was a valid code. Because my copy's on Steam it didn't redeem it, but is there a chance it won't work now? I'm relatively new to Steam, not entirely sure how this works. If I've messed up, ignore the text below, and leave a disparaging comment.

So yeah- has anyone here who's wanting to play Spec Ops not already got themselves a copy? Leave a comment, I'll PM you the code. It's tempting to make this a competition, and find out just how much power I'm able to wield over you, but fuck it. First come first served. Please only comment if you REALLY want to play (actually *play*) the game, and not just leave it sitting in your Steam library for the rest of the year.

For reasons I'll save for another blog because it's been a long day and I'm a little too tired to tell you kids a bedtime story, I grew up with games, but I didn't grow up with gaming culture. The idea that there might be magazines devoted to gaming didn't even occur to me.

When I did start to search for a community that shared my love of games, print media was being declared dead, and I just stuck to the news that filtered down through Twitter, and to idly clicking through IGN. It was only last summer that I picked up my first ever magazine - Nintendo Gamer. I was going on holiday, and I picked it up because I knew I couldn't get any internet connection where I was going. To cut a long story short- it was bloody good. It was really bloody good. It was whimsical and passionate and laugh out loud funny. It took games seriously, and it took games journalism seriously, but it didn't take itself seriously at all.

I fell in love, and after twenty odd years of publication, it was killed three issues later.

I really did fall for it, hard, and I'm far more passionate about it than I'm allowed to be. There were people who subscribed from the very beginning, right until the end, and I feel I'm trampling all over their grief.

I started buying back issues from ebay, but the magazine was so resolutely upbeat and optimistic, I couldn't help but be sad when reading with the knowledge of where it was headed.
I'm not going to seek out past issues, but for some sense of closure, I want to share with you some articles from the few I've read that I really liked.

As I said, I'm really tired, so I'm going to stop writing now and just give you the articles. Hope you like them; if you do I'll post more. Don't know where I stand legally with this. Don't sue please thanks.

Iwata Asks...Nick Clegg

Iwata Asks...The Higgs Boson Particle

Iwata Asks...Kazuo Hirai

Iwara Asks...The Corporate Overlords (this is from the final issue)

Skyward Sword retrospective, part 1

Skyward Sword retrospective, part 2

Skyward Sword retrospective, part 3

The Future of Mario, part 1

The Future of Mario, part 2

The Future of Mario, part 3

The Future of Zelda, part 1

The Future of Zelda, part 2

The Future of Zelda, part 3

Loved you Nintendo Gamer. It was too brief.

oh! hello there. you just caught me being good looking and normal

i’m looking back over my life, reminiscing over all the times i’ve been happy

loads, by the way. i've been happy loads







i've got tons of friends here's some more of them







this isn’t even a percentage of all the times I’ve been happy God there have been so many






wow so many good times

so much fun



so much fun





so much..







um





No no no shut up there you are there you are smile smile smile



NO NO NO NO NO NO NO HAPPY HAPPY



I AM HAPPY I AM I AM LOOK AT ALL THOSE FRIENDS YOU HAVE YOU HAVE THEM THEY DO EXIST

SMILE





SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMI

One day, I couldn't stop smiling.



I had forgotten to sleep for a couple of days. I could tell, because my nightmares usually stay in my dreams, and don't come out into real life.



Something about Jonathan Holmes, blah blah blah



Something threatening and unpleasant, yada yada. I’m just going to stop there. You get the fucking picture.

Ugh.


































So then.

Hello Destuctoid! I, uh, think we got off on the wrong foot.

My name’s Callum. I was a little reluctant to give my name, but once you’ve posted numerous close-up shots of your face and accompanying greasy pimples, withholding your name so as not to be discovered seems a little redundant.

I’ve been told for a very long time that I have an ‘odd’ sense of humour- that seems to be the consensus, who am I to disagree with it. It’s frustrating for me though, because although I’m able to make my friends laugh, they’re not able to return the favour. Which is fair; I can’t expect them to strip for me and scream about how lonely they are I suppose. Anyway, I thought a potential solution to my stony face was to try and amuse myself in my spare time, by making the sort of stuff I'd want to see.


I took to regularly reading Destructoid a few months back, after the only quality gaming magazine in Britain closed down (Nintendo Gamer, formerly known as NGamer- there are back issues on ebay, get them quick). Nintendo Gamer was extremely well written, but it was light hearted and whimsical and laugh-out-loud funny, and knew that when it came to videogame writing, passion and honesty win out over navel-gazing intellectual punch ups every time.

Well, in theory anyway. The former publisher of Nintendo Gamer also puts out ‘Edge Magazine’, a magazine that’s equally well-written, far more respected, and deathly, deathly dull. The magazine with the bloody tagline ‘the future of interactive entertainment’ lives on, while Nintendo Gamer, died last August.


For me, Destructoid is its spiritual successor. It’s perhaps a little lighter on the British whimsy, and more heavy on the dick jokes, but the unabashed passion for videogames and the people who love them that I saw in NGamer is definitely alive and well here. It’s also the only site I've come across where the new, refreshingly progressive attitude that’s been sweeping across games writing as of late, has successfully taken over with sincerity, without pomposity, and without sacrificing a sense of fun.

I also see Dtoid as one of the only places liberal enough with common sense to let me post the sort of tat I like, so I’ll be sticking around for a while. A very, very sincere thanks for having me- I love the site and all it stands for.

I play videogames sometimes, as it happens, and I’m aiming to take more time to read the community's thoughts about them, and write down some of my own. I think I’ve got a weirder history with the medium than most. My first console was the Sega Megadrive, in 2003, and it was my only console for nearly five years- until I bought a PS1 for the original Silent Hill, and the original Silent Hill alone. My favourite game is Silent Hill Shattered Memories, which, at over 50 playthroughs, is the game I’ve sunk the most time into. Don’t regret a second.



I'm hoping to keep posting stuff where my face is a pie and I give a running commentary on how it feels to travel down a child's digestive system etc etc, but do tell me if I step out of line and actually upset you. Again, I really am grateful for you having me here, and I'm hoping to become part of the community- not just exist as the red-headed step child you take pity on, but still shove in the corner at parties. Thanks again, and I'll see you around.




































..Somehow, me trying to be normal is creepier isn't it?

We all need role-models. It’s hard to be a person with their own thoughts and ideas, so many of us choose to think the thoughts and ideas of other people.

Common sources of inspiration include family members, religious figureheads, and personalities from popular culture.

My personal role-model growing up was Bob, the demonic rapist and serial killer from early ‘90’s television series Twin Peaks.



Bob raped his teenage daughter repeatedly from early adolescence, and then killed her in an abandoned railway car in the woods.



I really like Bob, and I have a 30x20 inch canvas print of his face. I hang it above my bed, to remind myself as I doze off to sleep that death is unavoidable, only the cruel and merciless can survive in this world, and humankind was not put on this earth to feel joy.



Who are your role models? Do you have a similarly funny story? Leave a comment below! Make sure to like, subscribe, and link this article on facebook, reddit and twitter.