I’m Moving to San Francisco
Ask anybody privileged enough to know me in my youth and they'll tell you I talked a mean game about San Francisco. When I was growing up, I loved the 49ers (big Joe Montana fan) and I always told people I'd live in that town one day. As I grew, the idea I'd ever get there took a backseat to life -- circumstances just never lined up to make my dream come true. For the second time in my life, I feel so damned lucky -- the first, obviously, that I get to do what I do for a living -- and, honestly, I'm just waiting to get hit by a bus or have a piano fall on my head. I feel like the universe will discover that I'm this happy and correct it somehow.
Regardless, on Wednesday, I fly out, leaving the east coast and my current stomping grounds, York, PA, in the dust. While the myriad things I need to do seems to grow larger by the day, no matter how much I've accomplished by then, I'm flying out. It's, like, set in stone and stuff.
So some people on Twitter have asked me (among others) just why I decided to move across the country. Hopefully this helps to explain it.
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My Usual E3 Wrap-Up Post
It's been pretty quiet here. Excuse me while I clear out some of the cobwebs.
...
Ah, much better. Now, onto the business of content!
I've been pretty busy for the last couple weeks. Following a pre-E3 camping trip up to Wellsboro, PA, I had to deal with the hell that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and a subsequent weekend vaykay in the wonderful San Francisco. The before- and after-show were fun, but I kinda have a love/hate relationship with E3 -- it's incredibly exhausting but, uh, helps keep the bills paid.
My Trip to Chicago
A little over a week ago, I went to Chicago to visit my sister and see the city. She lives in one of the close outlying burbs, so it was easy to get into the city and sample its unique flavors of fun. I ate tasty food, saw some cool sights and enjoyed many of the town's watering holes. Suffice to say, I had a blast. Here's a rundown of the fun (and a gallery of images at the bottom of the post).
I’ll Be A Guest On The Incredible Podcast Of Amazing Awesomeness This Sunday
I'm pretty new to this whole podcasting thing, but I think I've been very clear about my love for it. Even though it's a fresh medium for me to express myself, others have been rocking the mic and doing a great job at it. One such duo consists of Mike Schramm and The Turpster -- I was told that trying to find out the legal name of the latter would only result in physical pain, so I let sleeping dogs lie -- who produce The Incredible Podcast of Amazing Awesomeness.
It's a great show and I'm really pumped to go all Chatty Cathy on it. I'll be on their show this Sunday, 1pm PST (4pm ET) for the live chatting -- a first for me in podcasting. I'm pretty scared about that part, but I'm doing it anyway!
For all of the pertinent details (get down on this, guys!), you only need hit up this convenient link right here.
PAX East 2010: The Link Dump
So I went to Boston for PAX East as part of my gig at Joystiq and, man, it was super fun. Getting to meet some fans of the site (I'm floored anytime somebody knows who the hell I am) and, even better, fans of the X3F podcast and JPAG-ers (all super nice dudes, believe me) -- it's just crazy to me. Hugging strangers after the live Joystiq Podcast panel was one of the most pleasant experiences of my life. It's an affirmation that humanity may not be so doomed after all.
Of course, I can't neglect my Joystiq coworkers. To give you an idea of how close we all are, you can't escape seeing anyone from staff without a hug. This is the first job I've ever had like that, where I was not some number on a piece of paper but an actual person. God bless those dudes!
Anyway, I just wanted to put up this post as a thanks and also use it to dump links to Joystiq stuff I wrote and participated in over the last week. That's pretty much the underlying tone of this site 'O mine, after all.
- Breach expected to launch this summer on XBLA for $15
- Hands-on: Battleblock Theater (XBLA)
- Hands-on: Raskulls (XBLA)
- Hands-on: Skate 3 and its new difficulty levels
- Hands-on: Breach (XBLA)
- Skate 3 demo on Xbox Live and PSN April 15
- Panel: Podcasting (f)or PR
- Interview: Skate 3's Chris "Cuz" Perry
The One Book a Month Project: What Do I Start With?
Given that my job requires I write a ton, I've always felt like I should be reading more. In my spare time (when not playing video games, which is pretty much always), I've been working on a few ideas for books. This has only compounded by desire to be reading more. So, I've decided to do something about it: The One Book a Month Project. One book, one month, that's it.
The only thing is I need a suggestion where to start. Every book I own, I've already read (used to thrift store it up a lot when I lived in FL, which is where most of my collection hails from). So, give me a good idea for a book. It can be almost anything -- no romance novels, please. I get enough of that being friends with countless attractive individuals with love lives far more interesting than mine.
So, yeah. Thanks! I'll start the 1st of February.
2009: A Year in Reviews
Wow, I wrote a lot of reviews this year. Since it's the first week of 2010, I figured I'd gather all of the links and house them in one convenient place. Aside from the abundance of Joystiq reviews, I also started my own Quick 'n Dirty Reviews here. Head past the break for the linkage and I hope you find the reviews helpful/informative/not completely boring!
My Skate 2 highlight reel
With the dearth of gaming news going on this week, I took an hour to slap together this quick highlight reel of my Skate 2 replays. Nothing amazing, but I'm pretty proud of that sick manual line across the lily pads, thank you very much!
Oh, and sorry for the crummy quality, but that's how EA's site spits 'em out. Oh, and stay tuned for my Halo 3 replays, if you care about that kind of thing. Oh!
Quick bio:Hi! I'm David Hinkle, Contributing Editor for Joystiq, former Lead of DS Fanboy and Wii Fanboy (now known as Joystiq [Nintendo]) and co-host on the Xbox 360 Fancast. Basically, I write about games, talk about games and play games -- all of the time.
This place is mainly a dumping ground for random thoughts, but you can also find links to all of my reviews and my contact info. Email me by clicking on this link.
Paying the Bills
twitter.com/DaveHinkle
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