wreckreation.org

Kicking ass and making games.

2013: Eh?

This past year wasn’t much of a year for gaming. Not for me anyway. I mean, I actually didn’t do too bad, but looking back it really feels like I barely touched a game.

In fact, I did a lot of some gaming.

Before I try to remember what that actually entailed, however, I’m going to think on some of the reasons behind the seemingly lack of gaming.

First, and maybe foremost, I started my EMT training in January. This ran for nearly six months straight, with up to 16 hours of classes a week, and another 8 or so hours reading, studying, and completing homework. On top of a full time job.

Speaking of which, in 2013 I shipped half a dozen titles across just as many platforms, and about 20 updates and in-app purchase releases. And I played a support role to usher out most of our other releases for the year. Oh yeah, and I had the opportunity to take the stage with William Shatner and present our app to a panel of judges.

I celebrated my first wedding anniversary with the joy of the knowledge that I have a baby girl on the way. I had the opportunity and pleasure to fulfill one of my “dad dreams” by teaching my amazing step daughter to drive.

I made it out into the woods a few times and now have a freezer full of venison. And goat’s milk. Towards the holidays I was able to take a bigger part in the business end of our budding dairy farm by aiding my awesome wife with her soap making and sales.

We made improvements on the house, got a stellar new grill (another “dad dream”), refinanced the mortgage, and made some big strides towards financial stability.

And all told, I was able to spend some great quality time with my family.

So, what did that leave me time to play?

I played through Alan Wake for a third time, this time on PC (looks great + plays great + more immersive = win). Revisited Skyrim, on PC, with a number of mods that brought new life to the game. Spent some time in Shadowrun Returns, and was able to finally try out The Secret World. Alongside those titles I also spent some time with FTL, Sins, StarCraft II, Wargame: AirLand Battle, Sleeping Dogs, and Anno 2070, Torchlight 2, as well as some good oldies I tend to return to each year. There’s also LOTRO, but I’ll go into that in another post.

I actually didn’t spend too much time on my consoles this year, partly because I had finally fixed (and upgraded) my PC but also because it’s tough to get time on the TV these days. I did play all the way through Tomb Raider, which was impossible to put down, as well as a few others for the achievements. I got into Borderlands 2, Diablo 3 (which feels like a new game on 360), Heavy Rain, Ni No Kuni, The Last of Us, Dust 514, Dragon Age 2, Resident Evil 6, XCOM, Alice: Madness Returns, Catherine, Pikmin 3, WindWaker HD, and Super Mario 3D World.

And, of course, I got back into Eve and have been loving the Odyssey and Rubicon expansion content.

There are some others, but very few of the games listed here did I really get the opportunity to spend enough time with. Not a bad year, really, but I sure am looking forward to 2014.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments are currently closed.

One Response to “2013: Eh?”