PixlBit

I've been through the ringer on jobs myself. The job that moved me to Maryland turned out to be a bust, so I got a new one. That job came with its own problems, and I was not a happy camper. 

Eventually, given the soft job market in Maryland combined with the insane cost of living in Maryland, I started looking elsewhere and ended up back in Arizona, which I like much better. It was crazy that Arizona employers are calling me right and left where Maryland employers moved at the pace of a tired snail. I'd get e-mails from prospective MD employers three months later saying that I had been declined for a position (my unsent response: "No shit, Sherlock.") I'll miss the fun places on the East Coast... but on the other hand, I now have the West Coast in my backyard. And as a bonus, I'm getting more involved in gaming again. I'm actually finishing games again, and Arizona is home to some of the best video game stores I've ever seen.

Zelda for sure (No Twitter for me, that place is scummier than any porn site hosting legal porn). It's my favorite video game series period. Love the enemies, weapons, swordfighting, the exploration, pretty much everything.

Also love Metroid, Mario, and Fire Emblem. I'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo series I didn't like.

I got a N64 with Super Mario 64 in Christmas of 1996, and of course I was looking forward to what was then called Zelda 64. I also really enjoyed Mario Kart 64 and Star Fox 64.

For me, though, the N64's undoing was the almost complete lack of RPGs. Earthbound 64 (Mother 3) and Tales of Phantasia 2 (which later became Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube) were the only ones announced early on and both of those got re-routed to other systems. Games like Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Harvest Moon 64, and Ogre Battle 64 did eventually come out, but I couldn't resist the siren's song that was Final Fantasy VII and ended up buying a PlayStation a couple years later.

 I don't put too much stock in professional critics anymore. It seems like most of the old guard critics went on to other things or left the industry altogether, and I'm not impressed with the new crop of Youtube "stars". I will say that a lot of the games I loved were 70-80 range on Metacritic, and I didn't like a lot of 90+ games on MC (my feelings on MC itself are another topic for another day). Unless a game is obviously broken (which sadly, quite a few Kickstarter games ended up being broken, which makes me worry about the only KS game I'm really hyped for, Shenmue III), whether it's good or not is a subjective opinion dependent on each gamer's tastes. I haven't heard about Y-L being in the "obviously broken" category, so I imagine that if you liked Banjo, you'll probably enjoy Yooka-Laylee.

I kind of hate the super experts in fighting game lobbies, but I really pissed people off in MKX with my Kitana. She is my main in every Mortal Kombat game. In MKX, I actually managed to clear out an entire room by playing cheap and dirty with Kitana (a lot of spamming midair fans like a machine gun, things like that.) People were bitching about it, but I was rather enjoying myself. :)

I'll probably pick Tekken 7 as my go to fighter this year, but I really wish Sega would make Virtua Fighter 6. That's a long shot, but then again, Sega's been pretty damn good over the past year and showing encouraging signs of listening to fans (keep in mind they also own Atlus and the Persona franchise).

I remember Bulletstorm during its initial release, but never really played it.

Persona 5 is awesome.

Damn, that's a lotta codes.

So far, this year is shaping up to be one of the best years in gaming in my entire life, right up there with such years as 2013, 2008, 2006, and the peak years of the PS1. The past three months alone have had more treasure than some entire two-year periods.

I miss the old arcades. Even then, I was a huge Nintendo fan: Donkey Kong was my favorite arcade game of all time, I also liked Mario Bros, Popeye, DK Jr, DK3, and Punch-Out!!. I even played Vs. Super Mario Bros a few times.

I love 1943. Great music. I even have it on my phone and listen to it on my car radio. I play it when I'm battling freeway traffic.