How I Decide Which Games To Play

I own so many console and computer games, not to mention hundreds of mobile games, some from other countries even, and I have a husband and 2 cats and a full-time job. So how do I decide which games are worth my time, and which ones aren’t? This answer is different for everyone.

I created the flow chart here as a window into my thought process. Disclaimer: my thought process is just my opinion. It is not fact. My opinion is probably different from your opinion. If you’re a long-time reader and fan of my blog and like the games I cover here, you may also share some of the same opinions as myself. If you’re new and somehow stumbled into here, well sorry if my opinion is different from yours. Let’s just all go enjoy our games and be happy and not put each others’ opinions down.

Click on the flow chart to enlarge

I am a girl. I am a gamer. I am a gamer girl (or girl gamer). I am turning 41 years old this Sunday. My first ever video game console was NES – but later in my life I picked up an Atari and even a Colecovision. I have a lot of love for Retro Games, but I also love modern games. I own a PS5, and a Switch. I have no desire to own an Xbox (whatever generation they’re on now) because they have no exclusive games. All of their “so-called” exclusives, I can in fact, play on my PC. Now, you could say that about darn near any game console thanks to emulation. But, with Xbox, you don’t even need emulation, because Microsoft wants to sell Windows PCs, they make PC versions of dang near every game they release for their Xbox console. I owned the first 2 or 3 Xboxes. One of my all-time favorite games is even on an Xbox console – and yes, shockingly, it is exclusive, without even a PC version. It is Lost Odyssey – a spectacular emotionally beautiful RPG.

Kotori Cosplay

As you can tell from my flow-chart, I tend to gravitate towards RPG, or story driven games. I especially love if it has a branching plot, multiple endings, hundreds of hours of story, and if I feel like my choices and decisions shape that story. That’s the piece de resistance for me when it comes to gaming. *Chef’s Kiss Emoji*

The opposite is oddly true when I’m enjoying a casual mobile game. There are a metric ton of Otome and Visual novel games on mobile… but for some reason, here in this case, I am drawn to casual gacha games. A gacha game is where you spend in-game (and sometimes real-life) currency to play a “slot machine” style mechanism that gives you an in-game reward… These could be new characters you can play as, items you can equip (sometimes they’re just fashion items without stats, and other times, the stats help the gameplay, either way, I love dressing up my characters), or “cards” representing characters with illustrations, autographs, voice acting, and so on, or maybe an item that lets you decorate a room or house, or some other such little customization.

I play pretty much every Gacha game – under just one condition – Is it cute? If that answer is yes, I’m playing it, and probably maybe spending a little real life money – I’m not whaling, but maybe dolphining… I’m VP level 16 in Shining Nikki…. from spending so much money… I don’t want to think how much… probably enough to buy me a Dollfie Dream (dolls that I collect which cost around 400-500 dollars). And that game hasn’t even been out a year yet. Oh boy. But most the time, I’m a free-to-play user of MOST of my gacha games. I have to REALLY love a game to want to spend real life money on the gacha – because honestly, most of these games are gonna go the way of the dodo soon (become extinct). And I don’t want that money and those items and characters to just go POOF.

idolmaster million live theater days

I do play the Otome and Visual novel games too, but right now, I’d say on mobile my favorite games are: Shining Nikki, Love Live, Bang Dream Girls, Colorful Stage, Utapri, Ensemble Stars (can’t wait to finally get this one in English this summer, been playing the Japanese one since launch), and Idolm@ster – which I doubt we’ll ever get an English version. I am obsessed with Idolm@ster and I can’t read a thing.

But here’s the weird thing… in mobile games, and only in mobile games… I “Skip” the dialogue 98% of the time. Skip, Skip, Skip…. Gimme gems for “reading” your “lovely” story…. keep playing, get gems, pull Gacha again. Rinse and Repeat… I might be addicted to spinning the Gacha, just saying LOL. *crying emoji*

So it doesn’t really matter if it’s in English or not… I guess… but I mean, it’d be nice? LOL. At least a menu translation, please.

All of the limited events and cute dressup items or character cards – and so many events in such a short amount of time. Who has time to read a story? Pssht, not me LOL.

But when I sit down at my PC or Console – it’s time to do some SERIOUS gaming – for me, that means spending hundreds of hours reading story, getting invested and involved in the lives of the characters, and probably crying a lot because I’m so into their story, laughing with them, cheering them on, caring about them, wanting to see what happens next.

Ok but there are times when I’m playing a console game or pc game and NOT playing a story driven game – actually quite a bit now in the past oh 5 years or so since meeting my Husband. Now I play a LOT of multi-player games – and those aren’t story based at all. Some of our favorite games right now include Nintendo Switch Sports (as a plus it has dressup gacha for me yay lol), Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Can’t wait for Mario Strikers, Fall Guys (love that one. My husband hasnt played it yet because up until now it lacked local play options). I was really into Smite about 7 years ago – I wasn’t that good at it but I had fun. I like fighting beatemup games too. I used to kick so much as as Kilik from Soul Calibur. Some of my old school favorites are now on online consoles and pcs and mobile apps too, such as Mappy Land – I love that game. Donkey Kong Country – another game lacking story but fun to play with friends. I have a local geek club that I created and we play a TON of Jackbox Party Pack Games – I WISH they had online play. They are the besssst!!!

But yes, if I am playing solo, then I do value story. But even playing solo, that’s not the “only” game type I will play. In addition to story, I like things like crafting, building, creating things. I like a lot of simulation games because of that. “The Sims” obviously being the most well known basic example of that. But other games like Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, building a city, Sim City, Theme Park, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Theme Hospital, Civilization, Warcraft, etc.

The best games for girls

I like otome games and visual novels, but there’s ways to work romance into a game that doesn’t necessarily make it just a visual novel. Look at some recent tripple A titles such as The Witcher or Dragon Age, it had romance options and dating options, but it still had excellent gameplay, combat, open world environments, etc. Harvest Moon and Story Of Seasons and Stardew Valley while casual games without much hardcore gameplay, also implement romance, and even furthermore let you have children. One of the things I also enjoy about some strategy games is seeing your heirs take over your kingdom and continueing to play as future generations. Other games implement romance in very subtle ways. Persona comes to mind right away as the prime example of this, using the dating elements and after school clubs and jobs to strengthen your characters in the JRPG battles and seeing new story scenes. Phantasy Star 3 Generations Of Doom, had a few romance options which branched the story and gave you a different perspective and playable characters. Some other Phantasy Star games had this too, but none of the recent ones. I haven’t enjoyed the series much in recent years and wish it would go back to an offline true RPG again. Suikoden had you seek out over 100 characters and build a city etc. Some of the Wild Arms, Tales Of, and Breath of Fire games also had small romance options. Even Final Fantasy 7 had a little minigame dating portion.

Stardew Valley

I think if you look at the image here, you will assume and think I’m just “hating” on shooters. That’s not the case, I just don’t enjoy them personally because I’m awful at them to the point that they frustrate me. I’ve played a few over the years, my first being Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein 3D. I also genuinely love Elemental Gearbolt, one of my favorite video games, by my favorite (now sadly defunct) publishers, Working Designs. But I’ve never beaten that game – I suck. I played the first few Halo games. I played the game where you have a flashlight and ride around and monsters come out of the dark – I can’t remember what it was called. I’ve played and enjoyed Point Blank and Duck Hunt. I’ve played some arcade games, ghost busters, mario/luigi, one as a cop, one hunting dinosaurs, some other random gun games. I just lack the hand eye coordination. I don’t want to play something if it’s frustrating for me, because that takes away my enjoyment. I play games to relax and destress, not become more stressed.

But as the diagram shows, if It’s an IP or Franchise I like, I’d play it. If they ever made a Sailor Moon “shooting game” – or any type of “magical girl anime” shooting game, I’d play it. Attacking enemies with cute pink sugar hearts, stars, rainbow beams etc. It could be unique and cute and fun lol.

And lastly if a game is just “inexplicably fun” or has crazy one of a kind unique gameplay – example Katamari Damacy – no storyline there etc, but just so original and unique that there’s nothing else like it. Stat-Raising Simulations are another “Rare” type of game (at least in America). We finally got Princess Maker (except for one of them). I use my phone and translate other Stat-Raising simulation games like Tokimeki Memorial and Angelique. Stat-Raising simulations are probably actually my favorite genre.

That gives you a little insight to how I choose to play and purchase games. What are you playing now?

How I Decide Which Games To Play was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

Here’s Why I Ordered A Steam Deck

Kotaku recently penned an article about how they don’t see who would purchase a Steam Deck. I ordered my Steam Deck yesterday, and here’s why Steam Deck is for me. PS: You can preorder your Steam Deck from Valve here. Steam Deck will launch in December 2021.

What is Steam Deck? It’s kinda a Nintendo Switch “Clone” or “Rip Off” for lack of a better word – sorry, but it is – there’s lots of these clones out there – I have one from China for like $50 with some emulators and roms lol. BUT the one thing that makes Steam Deck different from these other Nintendo Switch like devices – Access to millions of games from the Steam Library – thousands of which I already own. The docking station will be sold separately – which is a bummer given how expensive the base units are.

Reasons Why I Pre-Ordered The Most Expensive $649 512GB Steam Deck:

I’m a gamer without PC or Console Bias – That is to say, I play games from all consoles, handhelds, PCs, mobile devices, whatever. I don’t care. I’m here for the games, thx.

Steam does have some questionable inventions when it comes to hardware which I’ve never purchased any of them myself – but you know who else has had questionable inventions in gaming – literally everyone? Nintendo’s Wii U flopped because people didn’t understand the difference between Wii and Wii U and the touch pad thing never took off. And Nintendo Switch – I love it so much, I bought it twice – the original and the lite – but my controllers are constantly getting sent back to fix drift and leaving me buying new expensive controllers – and Sega? Their consoles were amazing – and I deeply love all of them – even 32X and Dreamcast – and others that were “Flops” – And then there’s poor ill fated Sony Vita – what went wrong for the poor little Vita with a cult following of Otome and Visual Novel fans – for one thing – marketing and price point – and lots of other things – so so what, if Steam’s hardware has a “questionable track record”?

I already have a Steam account and over 1,200 games (1,273 to be exact).

How many Nintendo games do I have? Probably around 60? How many do I see owning within the lifetime of the Switch? Maybe 300? Max?

Yeah, some of the games I have purchased twice. I go back and forth between if I prefer handheld gaming or if I prefer my laptop (which might as well be a desktop since I haven’t moved it ((aside from actually physically moving to a new address about 2 weeks ago)) in like 6 months. So I did purchase some games twice – especially if they were on sale lol. For example, in the Steam recent summer sale, I splurged and picked up harvest moon mineral town again even though I have it on Switch too – there’s other examples I can think of – in the reverse, I’ve had Clannad on Steam for years, and decided to pick it up on Switch to enjoy it more easily / portably).

Now with Steam Deck, I don’t have to decide if I want to be Portable or if I want to be at a Desk… Or if I want to connect to a TV or other device – I have that freedom with one copy of the game and one client (Steam)

I will still buy Nintendo Switch exclusives and still love my Switch. Switch Lite is lighter weight and easier to carry (I’m guessing, I mean Steam Deck looks huge as heck and heavy and downright uncomfortable.) I mean the whole reason I bought Switch Lite even though I already owned a Switch was because the regular Switch overtime was cramping my little female gamer delicate hands/fingers/wrists. I much prefer the Switch Lite and only turn on original Switch now for multi-player fun – but that’s just me and my family/friends preference – your mileage may vary.

But now with Steam Deck if I want one save file and cloud saves (not all games support that – but most in fact do) – I can go back and forth comfortably from my bed or the couch to the desk to even on the road, outside, wherever I go.

I am unclear on how these games will be accessed outside the home – but with my cellplan or cable internet plan, I can enable hotspots (or use many hotspots provided through my cable plan, or free wifi hotspots (I know security risks). I’ll probably just stick to my phone hotspot). I do worry about lag/slow down from hotspot only wifi when outside the home. Especially in a rural area where I live.

But like I said above, sometimes I honestly do just want to “get up and stretch” or move to a different room, or see a different view for awhile – Steam Deck allows me to do just that.

Imagine if you will for a moment, the practicality of this little machine for LAN Parties – or playing games face to face with friends – like actual PC games – In the 90s – early 2k A LOT of people would lug around their huge-ass gaming rig PCs – Monitors, Keyboards, Tower Units – Heck, even now with gaming laptops – they’re still heavy – my 16 inch Razer (one of the lightest/smallest weight gaming laptops) is still probably about 14 lbs with battery and then there’s the cables and the mouse and other accessories – right? And once you’re at your friends’ house (or they’re at yours) or you’re at an actual convention or party of some kind – you’ll have reliable internet so the question of how will this perform on less desirable internet connections becomes pretty irrelevant. It’s literally a portable little PC Gaming machine – perfect for LAN Parties, or just taking to a friend’s house. And as you know, there’s tons of multiplayer PC games that we just don’t have on Switch or other handhelds.

So I think that’s a big gold star for Steam Deck right there – I know people like to get together to game – especially now with the vaccine and ability to get out and see our friends and families again. Those who game together stay together.

But that’s not all…

It’s speculated that Steam Deck will also allow you to run emulation – I dunno if I will try it – My Steam account did get hacked one time a few years ago – it was a scary experience. I hadn’t logged in in a year or so and so they had done some damage for sure. But Steam’s support was awesome and helped restore my account and now with the 2FA (it wasn’t available back when I was hacked I think) I feel more secure – nothing is ever 100% secure – but hey, it makes me feel more secure even if it’s a false sense of security in some ways lol. – Still I dunno if I’d load it full of roms and emus – so many viruses these days. I have a cheap as hell handheld that I bought on Aliexpress (that I will review some day probably) – that also looks like a Nintendo Switch clone – I legit only bought it for one game that came preloaded on it – one of my ALL TIME favorite games, Azure Dream – it came with hundreds or thousands of other roms and emus preloaded – but I can also add my own if I want to. I also bought a modded DS XL or something (I forgot the exact model) that was modded by someone on Etsy (their shop is no longer in business last I checked). He custom loaded the 3 DS games I really wanted – the trio of Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side games – probably my favorite game series ever – plus thousands of other preloaded DS games – for like under $350 – so no, I didn’t buy Steam Deck for emulation – and pay twice that price LOL. I also hear PSP or Vita modded is an awesome device for emulation – I just don’t really have a need for it? I have other devices for that? At one point, it was tempting to me to pick up a Vita, but now most of the Otome games have made their way over to a new home on Nintendo Switch.

I’m not a “hardcore” gamer? I do know Steam Deck can play hardcore games – but, in MOST cases, those aren’t my cup of tea. No, I’m a casual gamer. A casual gamer, who already owns a Switch and a Switch Lite, and DS, and pretty much every other console/handheld ever since the first 8 bit NES…. What’s one more “console” or device? I bought them all – except the last two Xboxes…. If Xbox would make a sequel or something similar to Lost Odyssey, I would buy the latest console JUST FOR THAT ONE GAME – seriously – one of the best RPGs of all time. That’s the type of gamer I am – the type who will buy a device JUST FOR ONE EXCLUSIVE GAME. Yup that’s me.

You might be like OMG that’s too expensive, that’s a waste of money – but I see people drive $50,000 luxury cars – when a $20,000 car gets better gas mileage (and gas is approaching $4 again (thank you Biden :(). I see people drink expensive alcohol drinks every night – or go out to expensive dinners (I’m guilty of the food thing – I don’t like to cook often lol). Take expensive vacations, play sports that require special expensive equipment and gear – whatever – just for the love of their hobbies.

So what’s $649 at the end of the day?

Plus you know, you don’t NEED the most expensive model – because you can use SD cards or external storage – I just prefer as much on board storage as I can get – but that’s just me personally. My Laptop also only has 512 GB – and it’s not much – I bought an external 8TB hard drive that stays plugged in and run my Steam games from there.

For Nintendo Switch – also not much storage space 32GB in both the original and Switch Lite – but like the Steam Deck it can also use SD cards (thank god). I have a 2TB card in both of them I think. (I buy a lot of digital games lol).

Lets look at the numbers:

Nintendo costs $299 for the original or $199 for the Switch Lite – both come with 32GB of onboard storage – but if you like digital games – which I do – you’re gonna need a memory card – let’s say at LEAST 500GB to get started, and those aren’t cheap! Best Buy and Game Stop are both selling those for $129 – and that’s a “sale price” so let’s add $299 + $129 = $428 – or $328 for the Switch Lite.

To be fair, that amount of money would only get you a 64GB Steam Deck, so yes, Nintendo is still much cheaper and more affordable there. Because 64GB is still not enough space to install many games. So you’d still need some SD cards.

Who has the bigger game library? Clearly, Steam does. Kotaku argues that many people will prefer Switch due to Nintendo’s exclusives. – Yes, Nintendo’s exclusives are fun – I own many myself such as Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Zelda, and on and on (I’m terrible at Smash Brothers so I don’t own that one lol. My friends have it though and I do play it sometimes).

I do like I can get games I can’t get anywhere else on Switch – I mean that’s the whole reason I buy consoles or handhelds is if they have exclusive titles I want.

OK but what are some examples of games I love on Steam that aren’t on Nintendo (or any other devices) Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Princess Maker – Nintendo has 2 of them – Steam has 5 of them (and I own them all already – and on a side note, really wish someone would make an English version of Princess Maker 4 (it’s my favorite.))
• Summer Pockets – a visual novel by Key – the creators of Clannad – might some day land on Switch – some day – because Switch does have Clannad (and I’m pretty sure Switch has Little Busters too – I couldn’t get into that game for some reason).
• Crusader Kings – No switch ports of any of those 3 games
• Mabinogi – haven’t played it in awhile – but it’s cuuute
• Ragnarok Online
• Tree of Savior
• (Lots of MMORPGs actually – so if you like MMORPGs – Steam Deck is for you)
• Wildermyth – recently released on PC – may some day head to Switch – but who knows – enjoying this one
• 100% Orange Juice
• Agarest War series – It’s a little hentai-ish at times – but still an anime RPG series that Switch is missing
• To The Moon and Bird Story
• Sometimes Always Monsters – They do oddly have the other game Always Sometimes Monsters (I forget which game is first lol – I have both on steam and beat the first one and barely touched the 2nd one yet.).
• Battleblock Theater
• Ame No Marginal – Rain Marginal
• Da Capo – Easily one of my favorite series – no lie. I know Steam doesn’t have the whole series – but they have Da Capo 3 R – and I purchased the others from directly from Manga Gamers – beat the first one years ago – and have yet to play the others yet but – easily, very easily – one of the best visual novel series ever – top 5.
• Harmonia – another visual or kinetic novel
• Himawari – another visual novel
• Higurashi – horror visual novel

So as you can see, Steam Deck is good for girl gamers who play a lot of visual novels or Otome games too – although admittedly Switch has a ton of Otome and Visual Novels too 🙂

The list of games I enjoy not available on Switch goes on….

• King’s Quest (all of them – much love!)
• Inherit The Earth
• Willy Beamish – I actually didn’t see this on Steam – but it’s on GOG – it remains to be seen what Steam Deck allows us to install or play. I have heard that we can install other software and even other operating systems – but that could be a rumor?
• Gabrielle Knight
• Sam and Max
• Other old-school “point and click” style games

• Sonicomi – absolutely love that dressup game.
• Littlewitch Romanesque
• Lucky Rabbit Reflex and Edge of Elsewhere – 2 fun Otome Games – quite similar to Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side
• Magical Diary Horse Hall and Wolf Hall – 2 more fun otome games
• Dandelion Wishes Brought To You and Nameless – both Otome games by Cheritz – they are both fantastic

• The Sims – With all of my custom content installed so they won’t be ugly – I just cannot play Sims without CC (custom content) – Man that alone is a huge incentive for Steam Deck casual gamers right there.

• Utawarerumono
• Yakuza (all of them)

Those two are available on steam or playstation (or probably Xbox) but now can be in a handheld console the size of a Switch. – Niiiice.

Literally, thousands of other games.

So for people like me, who already own these games, and prefer buying digital over physical copies of games, Steam Deck is a no brainer – I have my reasons for preferring digital – such as don’t worry about getting scratches on the discs, or breaking the cartridges, or losing the cartridges – don’t worry about (physical) space to store all my games, etc – I know physical has advantage in that a.) it’ll always be there if the game ever gets pulled or the digital service goes belly up – and b.) it looks nice in a collection – if you have (physical) space to display all your games – but for me, I love digital – I do own a fair amount of physical too though. Shrugs.

And when it comes to digital, Steam is already my preferred provider – yes they don’t have everything – some stuff is direct from JAST, MangaGamer or GOG or other providers – but they have A LOT – probably MILLIONS of games.

Steam Deck is not “JUST” for hardcore gamers – I think I illustrated plenty of examples of games on Steam that Girl Gamers and Casual Gamers will love that aren’t on Nintendo Switch.

Nothing’s going to take away my love for Nintendo Switch (or any of my other consoles and devices).

But why slam the Steam Deck like that?

Why you gotta hate, bro?

Why not both?

/shrugs 🙂

Tell me, are you getting a Steam Deck? Which model did you buy (or would you buy)? And what are your reasons for wanting a Steam Deck?

Here’s Why I Ordered A Steam Deck was originally published on

Is There A Stigma Around Older Gamers?

I’m turning 40 tomorrow. I will officially be “Over the hill” or about half way through the average life expectancy. Although I know plenty of people in my own family who are well into their 90s and approaching even 100. So I think that hill should not be until you’re 50, but nonetheless, society is about to brand me as an old woman. Not only an old woman, but an old woman who plays video games. But that’s OK, because as I’ve gotten older, I have learned to stop caring what society thinks. I remember clearly, the day I turned 25. I’m pretty sure I had a quarter-life crisis. I cried all day and told my family that it meant that I had to give up everything I loved, my toys, my games, cosplaying, anime, etc. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt shame for my hobbies. Games and anime and cosplay were popular with teenagers and early 20something year olds, but I didn’t know of anyone 25+ who enjoyed those things. Even my closest friends who used to play games with me, had long since moved on to other more adult hobbies.

Gaming isn’t the only geeky hobby that I embrace. Perhaps even more stigmatic is the fact that I will be 40 years old and collecting dolls. I started collecting dolls back in 2006. Even as a 20 something year old it was considered weird. My own family even later in life told me that they thought only “retards” (their word, not mine, no hate please, direct quote), only “retards” would carry a doll around. I carried it to take photographs of it outside, in flowers and trees, at a beach, and so on.

My family said they were wrong and they have met some of my doll meetup group members and organizers and have witnessed that many are/were even older than myself at the time. But now, 15-20 years later, I’m probably (one of) the old hen in the hen house now.

Prior to 2006 – even as a small child, I never once took interest in dolls. I liked animal shaped toys, but not humanoid ones. I was never one for barbie, etc. It was 2004 I think when I saw my first picture of an Asian Balljointed Doll on the internet. It would take me another year and a half to save up money for my first one. I still have her too. Dollzone Demi version 2. They no longer make her, or any other version of Demi. She’s turned yellow (because they are made of resin and it breaks down or oxidizes over time). But I still love her.

Balljointed Dolls are sold blank, no face, you paint your own, or hire an artist to paint it for you, or pay the company an extra fee to have it painted. They are sold bald. There’s no hair. You make or buy wigs. And they are sold nude. No clothes. They are also anatomically correct. They are adult collector dolls and not intended for children.

But yet, it’s such a very small hobby, that the stigma remains. That stigma society believes tells them that dolls are for children. Surely, a 40 year old woman with her doll in a public place is going to get some stares and maybe even hear some bad things behind her back, or more blazingly, right to her face.

But these dolls are not cabinet babies, they are meant to be works of art. And photography is yet another form of art. So naturally people like to take asian balljointed dolls out into public spaces to take photographs.

I don’t think society will ever accept that dolls are for adults too. And I have decided that’s OK. I stopped caring what society thinks – for the most part. Up until Coronavirus, I was actively cosplaying and attending conventions. I was 38 years old.

I’m overweight (Overweight cosplayers get hate too – damn so many stigma) But on the plus, it makes it so I don’t look as old as I really am. When you lose weight, your face loses collagen and loses elasticity, so I actually look about 10 years younger than my friends who are close to my age, some even younger than me. I could pass for about 32-35 easily. But still, even 30 is “old” in society’s negative mindset. 30 year olds shouldn’t be cosplaying or going to conventions or playing with dolls, or have pink, blue, green, rainbow hair, or watch anime, or any number of other “child like things”.

Well I’m sorry society, I don’t agree with you and your “rules”. I won’t follow your narrow mindset. I am turning 40 tomorrow and even when (if god’s willing) I turn 100, I’ll still be a gamer. I’ll be playing retro AND new video games, pc, console, and mobile games, I’ll be watching anime and Kdrama, I’ll be listening to KPOP and JRAP and probably still reviewing games and anime and dolls and toys here on my blog. I’ll still have the latest gaming computer, latest mobile phone, latest gaming console, and my doll collection by time I’m 100 will probably be damn near 100 (different dolls) itself. Sorry, not sorry. I’ll still take my dolls out in public. And probably care even less as I get older. I don’t know if I’ll still cosplay, but I’ll still go to conventions, and host my own meetups, and board game nights, and everything else.

How old is too old, to do what you love? I describe myself as a geek and a gamer. I identify as a geek and a gamer. It’s WHO I AM, AS A PERSON. That’s NEVER going to change. It’s the first thing I tell people about myself when I meet them for the first time. I don’t say Hi, my name is Jen and this is my career, I live in this neighborhood, I make this income, I have pets/kids/this car, like this movie or this book, no… The first thing I say… is Hi, I’m Jen I’m a gamer. I like to play games and watch anime. Since it’s literally my IDENTITY, I don’t forsee it ever changing.

I’ve played games since the first 8 bit NES, or even atarii at friends houses, or even had my stepdad lift me up to reach controls on arcade or pinball machines since before I could walk/barely talk.

I’m a gamer. I am a female. And I’m turning 40 tomorrow. That’s me. If you don’t like it, too bad. HAHA. I’m also a “casual gamer” and we get A LOT of hate, even from other gamers. What is a casual gamer? It means I play different less popular games. I don’t play mainstream stuff like call of duty or fortnite, I don’t care for action games. I play games for a different reason. I want to experience a story, to connect with and identify with the characters, or in some cases, I want to freely express and explore my own creativity, in things such as dressup games, simulation games, building games, so on where there maybe is no story or character progression. But it’s usually one of those two reasons – Story or Creativity – that’s the type of gamer I am, always have been, always will be.

Turning 40 won’t stop me from enjoying my hobbies. I know society will (continue to) judge me and others like me, who have a young at heart mindset… but that’s too bad. It’s their loss, not mine. They’re losing out on making friends with a good person with a good heart, a good friend. I won’t let their judgment stop me from doing what I enjoy. What is life without pleasure, without enjoyment, without ENTHUSIASM. It’s good to have hobbies and passions – and I am and always have been and always will be SUPER PASSIONATE about games, anime, dolls, toys, technology, and Kpop/Kdrama. Those are my passions. Those are my identity. They give my life meaning and purpose. They fill my life and my mind and my heart with love and enjoyment and creativity and wonder and amazement. This will always be true.

It’s a shame society forces people to give up what they love. Age is just a number. A birthday is just a day. You don’t suddenly gain maturity or wisdom by living one more day, or one more year, or one more decade. Wisdom and Maturity are awarded through overcoming struggles and hardships, from hitting rock bottom and climbing to the top, only to be pushed to the bottom again, over and over. And without your passions, your hobbies, the endless climb of life can be too much to bear for some people.

Take enjoyment in whatever makes YOU happy. Don’t stop something you love just because society thinks it’s for children. What is a child? We are all children of God. And god says judge not lest ye too shall be judged. So go with peace and go with grace. And the next time you see an adult enjoying child-like things. reflect fondly on how you were also once a child. I think instead of judging that person, you should admire that person, that they feel confident and comfortable enough to be their true selves and when you look at the happiness that person has enjoying their hobby, instead of mocking them, perhaps you should examine your own life. Are you perhaps the one lacking happiness? Your inner child is screaming, let’s play! But you’ve locked your inner child in a small tiny room. Let your inner child out once in awhile – it’s quite an enjoyable experience. I guarantee you will live more stressfree, happier, and receive more abundance in your life when you follow your heart’s desire, whatever that may be, even if others think it’s just for kids.

I’m turning 40 tomorrow and I feel more confident in who I am as a person, and what I want and desire from life. I’m getting married in 3 months. We just bought a house. We’re openly discussing adoption or perhaps natural birth (but with my age there are some concerns). We are building the life we want together. And no, my fiance does not share my same hobbies or interests, BUT he always respects me and encourages me to continue to enjoy my hobbies and interests, and I love him for that (and many other reasons obviously). So see – there are those who will love and accept you as YOU. Don’t change yourself for others – because in the end, you’ll both be miserable. There’s no greater feeling in the world than to be loved and accepted for the person that you truly are without hiding or holding back or changing yourself for that acceptance.

So this is to give a boost of confidence to all geeks, gamers, doll and toy collectors, cosplayers, whatever out there reading this, whether you’re 20 or 80 or 800, I’ll close with the old saying “Those who matter won’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter” – Stop caring what society thinks. Be brave, be bold, and be 100% Authentic Always. Be You!

PS: I’ll be unboxing my Smart Doll Starlight later today – it’s my birthday present to myself. Stay turned to this blog and my social media for lots of doll photos later. I decided I wanted a doll for my 40th birthday. 40 is a monumentous birthday. A transition from a young woman, into… I dunno what lol. An old woman? A middle aged woman? lol Whatever society chooses to call me, I am still just simply “me” at the end of the day. I’ll have my doll for my lifetime, to look back and reflect “That’s when I turned 40” 20 years from now, 40 years from now… It will be a cherished landmark of my 40 years thus far. All that I’ve been through, but also a window into the past – as the years go by – all of the unforseen, wonderful, sad, terrible, amazing, happy, exciting things that we can’t see until they happen to us. Come what may though, my games and dolls are here to stay.

Is There A Stigma Around Older Gamers? was originally published on

Top 10 MMORPG Games For Girls In 2020

You might be wondering what are the best Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games for girls. What makes an MMO so addictive? That answer can be different for both men and women. Women tend to be more social gamers, they also enjoy more dressup and character customization. Girls don’t necessarily need ultra high definition super realistic graphics and often prefer cuter, cartoon, or anime style graphics that are bright and colorful. Girls are also more likely to read the story and lore within the MMORPG and not just skip through quest and NPC dialog. For a girl, the enjoymemt of an MMORPG is in the journey, not in the endgame. Girls probably want a game with a large variety of pets and mounts to collect. And girls probably are more into crafting, fishing, and other relaxing activities besides just hunting monsters.

Based on all of these factors. Which are the top 10 MMORPGs for girls in 2020? Here’s my picks for the best MMOs for girls.

1.) Temtem

Humble Bundle Presents: Temtem – Gameplay Overview & Early Access Announcement

Temtem is the creature collecting MMO the internet has been begging for. Coming to Early Access on January 21, 2020. Sign up for Stress Tests & Learn More: p…

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Temtem is like a Pokemon or Digimon styled game with tons of cute monsters to collect. Temtem is also great because there’s no monthly fee. It’s the new kid on the block, being released just this year in 2020 which makes it super accessible still for new players. There are no expansions or things to worry about yet, but needless to say, that could change in the future. Fresh new content is constantly being added to Temtem. It has very positive reviews and a large and growing community of active players.

Here’s a quick rundown of Temtem’s features. As you can see it plays almost exactly like a Pokemon game. This info was pulled from the game’s official steam store page.

• Story Campaign: Journey across six vivid islands and embark on the adventure of becoming a Temtem tamer while fighting against the evil Clan Belsoto.
• Online World: The days of traveling solo are over; in Temtem the world is a massively multiplayer one. Tamers from around the world can join and you will be able to see them around you, living the adventure with you and fighting to become the best Temtem tamer.
• Co-Op Adventure: You will be able to join forces with a friend any time and work together towards your next goal. Catch new Temtem, complete a Route, or face off against a Temtem Leader; all while fighting alongside your friend in dual battles!
• Housing: Buy your own house at Atoll Row and decorate it your way. Buy new furniture, color your walls and you’ll be ready to invite your friends over!
• Customize: Customize your character to stand out from the crowd and get new cosmetics while you battle other tamers. Pick a silly hat, a comfy sweatshirt, some pants and you’re ready to go! Or maybe you prefer to wear a full-on cosplay of your favorite Temtem?
• Competitive: Start by choosing 8 Temtem and the pick and ban phase will begin. Take turns with your rival to pick your Temtem and ban theirs. When all the decisions are made and the turns are ended, you will end up with a squad of 5 Temtem and the battle will begin.
• Always Growing: New content is constantly being added to Temtem, new events, new missions, new cosmetics, new Temtem, and new ways to play!

2.) World of Warcraft

A beginners guide to World of Warcraft

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I’m Josh ‘Strife’ Hayes and this is a complete beginners guide to the MMORPG ‘World of Warcraft’. This guide is aimed at brand…

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World of Warcraft has to be doing something right to have lasted for over 15 years. It still remains the largest MMORPG with over 84 Million active players. The next game behind it has a mere 26 Million active players which is old school runescape. And yes, these numbers are from 2020. This means WoW is CRUSHING the competition when it comes to revenue from subscriptions even 15 years after its initial release.

Edit: I can’t find the original source of where I got those numbers – a reader politely informed me WOW’s numbers aren’t that high. And It is true. But it’s still the most highly populated MMORPG by far: https://mmo-population.com/r/wow ranking number 1. And with various sources citing between 5 to 8 million subscribers as of 2021. – It had 7 million according to the link in the source at time of this article’s publication.

What makes WoW so unique that it has both drawn in new players while retaining old players? I think it’s the ease of use of the game. The game is quite simple and easy to play. It is a good gateway game for users who have never played an MMORPG before.

It offers something for everyone from crafting to transmutation of gear allowing you to customize your looks without affecting the stats of the gear. Hardcore gamers can grind their way to the top of the arena and earn rare mounts and titles and earn achievements to show off their accomplishments. More casual gamers can try wow boosting to get a jump start on their adventures. Whatever your play style, even if you just want to read lore and spend all day questing, WoW lets you play the game the way you want to enjoy it.

And with the largest online community, many people stick around just to keep playing the game with their friends. New expansions and fresh content are being released still even 15 years later. In fact, there’s an expansion coming out in just a few more weeks. Some expansions bring back characters or areas from the past and continue to write the story in new and interesting ways.

The story is definitely another highlight in World of Warcraft, one that I think girl gamers will definitely enjoy as it is full of fantasy and whimsy as well as heartfelt moments along the way. There are even numerous roleplaying servers where one can totally immerse into character whilst playing.

3.) Mabinogi

Official Mabinogi: Fantasy Life Trailer

Be anyone you want to be, and live the fantasy life you’ve always dreamed of, in the world’s most expressive MMORPG adventure! Who will you be today? Play fo…

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Mabinogi’s cute anime style graphics and extensive crafting system really stand out. You can do anything in this game, from writing and composing your own music, playing music, fishing, farming, or of course grinding and hunting monsters. The game’s simple but cute anime graphics and the colorful world will draw girl gamers in for sure. Mabinogi is free to play but has some options for paid content, especially when it comes to character customization.

Mabinogi’s features are totally unique with no other MMORPG quite like it on the marketplace. That’s why it has been around since 2004 and continues to draw in new players, much like World of Warcraft.

Mabinogi is more like a life simulation game, allowing you to truly play the game any way you can imagine. Whether you want to just sit back and relax, cook, craft, play music, decorate your home, or go out and slay monsters, the choice is yours.

4.) Ragnarok Online

Ragnarok Transcendence

Welcome to a new Ragnarok adventure, Ragnarok Transcendence! Pre-register today to ready your weapons for a brand new quest in the world of Ragnarok! Pre-Reg…

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One of the oldest and most beloved MMORPGs of all time, Ragnarok Online remains a cult classic to this day and is more accessible than ever with new mobile and steam ports of its popular franchise.

There are many people also setting up private servers with faster EXP rate and increased dropped rates for rare items.

I love the colorful cute pixel graphics and retro feel of this game. The game originally released in 2002 making it almost 20 years old now.

Ragnarok Online is free to play but does have a VIP option for users who want to spend a little extra.

5.) Final Fantasy Online

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online – Begin Your Adventure Today!

Begin your adventure in FINAL FANTASY XIV Online – https://www.finalfantasyxiv.com

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Whether it’s FFXI or FFXIV, both Final Fantasy games are still popular to this day. With the name Final Fantasy already being well known to female gamers, and popular characters and monsters and lore from the gaming series, the attraction of this game is obvious. Whether you want to be a sexy cat girl or cute chubby baby like character, the races and character customizations allow you to look your best.

Like most Asian MMOs, this one can be a little grindy, but it’s definitely worth it. There’s a lot of great story elements as you can expect from any game with Final Fantasy in its title. FFXI still has about 50,000 players. It has lost most of its initial players to the newer FFXIV which boasts 23 million players in 2020.

Really FFXIV has a great single player campaign. But once you reach endgame, things can get dicey, with long queues and wait times for some of the dungeons. But if you’re a casual gamer, you might not mind it as much as you can fish or craft or do something else while waiting.

The story and music in FFXIV is probably the best of any MMORPG on the market right now.

6.) Dragon Raja

龙族海外特色混剪08logo结尾谷歌1

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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I did an in-depth review of Dragon Raja awhile back on my blog. What makes Dragon Raja so great is the character customization options. The graphics and characters are super cute. The story isn’t half bad either. And it’s a very accessible game being free to play and available on IOS and Android. I highly recommend Dragon Raja and think you’ll love it. It is similar in some ways to Mabinogi in that it is part life simulation. It lets you play the game as you like. Check it out.

7.) Perfect World

PWI: Sirens of War – A Free-to-Play Fantasy MMORPG!

Our latest expansion, Sirens of War, includes more incredible PVP action, revamped skills, and new and exciting quests!

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Perfect World is another MMORPG with heavy character customization. The game is also quite old being released in 2005. It is free to play, but there are lots and lots of costumes and mounts and pets that can be purchased with irl money. The game, like others on our list, now has a mobile version, and is more accessible than ever before. For hardcore gamers, there are massive battles with 160 players fighting for dominance. It also allows you to fly. It’s a great game for girls also because it is super easy, mindless in fact, because you can autopath everywhere. Also female characters can be picked up and held by male characters so I used to have a friend who carried me everywhere in the game because I had a tendency to get lost 🙂 lol.

8.) Tree of Savior

[The Arts Full Version] TOS Guild Housing

TOS #GUILD #HOUSING New to Tree Of Savior Guild Housing! For you, For ME Housing for Everyone Coming Soon! [Official Website] https://treeofsavior.com/event…

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Similar in many ways to Ragnarok Online, Tree of Savior was a highly anticipated title but most fans felt it fell short of its lofty aspirations. It received mixed, mostly negative reviews at release. However, it has undergone a transformation called Re:Build and now is receiving mostly positive reviews. However, I hear they did a complete wipe and reset which angered people who had been playing since 2016. So it’s still one of those, love it, or hate it, types of games. It has a lot of charm and cute graphics that girls will love though so still makes our top 10.

9.) Phantasy Star Online 2

Welcome to Phantasy Star Online 2 [NA] | Overview

I waited 8 years to play PSO2, and it still exceeded my expectations. I hope this video gives you the right frame of reference to find answers for your journ…

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Wow American gamers had to wait a long time for this one, didn’t we?! Releasing in Asia in 2012 – and not available in English until May of 2020, Phantasy Star Online 2, could have taken the world by storm, if their timing was right. Phantasy Star has been a cult classic ever since the 90s with its offline RPGs. It is an interesting blend of scifi and fantasy elements. Some may even call it a steampunk MMORPG.

The original Phantasy Star Online was a big hit both internationally and in the US. While it’s still very early days for the sequel in the US, all signs are pointing to it doing very well despite being almost a decade old.

They are already preparing the next stand-alone Phantasy Star Online game for release on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch as early as 2021. Whether that will be an English release, or we’ll have to wait a decade again, remains to be seen…

One thing is for certain, for fans of Phantasy Star Online 2, it was definitely worth the wait. I speculate, that the release may be in part just a marketing ploy to draw players in before the next stand alone game releases next year. We shall see.

Despite potentially being a big marketing ploy for the next game’s installment, a lot of time and care was given to the localization of Phantasy Star 2 Online including English (or your choice of original Japanese) voice overs, and even English singing of the vocal tracks. That’s more love and care than would be given to most free to play MMORPGs.

With its anime graphics, great soundtrack, and unique scifi setting, I highly recommend Phantasy Star Online 2 as one of my top 10 MMORPGs for girls in 2020.

10.) FLYFF Fly For Fun

Who Remembers Flyff? | MMORPG Nostalgia!

Fly For Fun (Flyff) released in the west back in 2005 and was one of the first MMORPGs I ever played. It was the first MMO I ever got to fly in and offered a…

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Securing the last spot on our countdown, we have FLYFF, Fly for fun. This game has been around since 2004. The cute 3D graphics and colorful world make FLYFF a big hit. As the name suggests, you can fly and even participate in airbase combat.

When it first released, FLYFF had incredible success. However, it soon became plagued by bots and hackers. They made numerous changes over the years to the game, but most dedicated players were already leaving FLYFF for newer MMORPGs. As the population declined, the game continued to fade into obscurity.

Another drawback was the game was quite slow and grindy as most Asian MMORPG are. It took forever to level up especially after about level 60. The game’s level cap is over 150, so as you can see, most players just became frustrated and gave up the grind midway through the game.

FLYFF recently got a new publisher this month. Some users are concerned this could be the doom of their beloved game. But I think to look at it this way, Bora Island paid a lot of money to acquire the rights to publish this game. They aren’t just going to waste money. They see potential in FLYFF and will work hard to continue to publish new and exciting content for the players.

Will Bora Island be able to revive what was once a cult classic? Only time will tell…

Conclusion:

Of course, there are many other noteworthy MMORPGs. Although some say MMORPG is on the way out, I disagree. I think MMORPG will always draw in players who want to obtain loot and/or enjoy crafting or even just want to make new friends. MMORPG is a unique genre that offers a little bit of something to all gamers no matter their playstyle.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Top 10 MMORPGs for Girls in 2020. What MMORPGs are you currently playing? Leave a note below. Maybe I’ll come join you. 🙂

Top 10 MMORPG Games For Girls In 2020 was originally published on

Roku Express vs NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition. Which Streaming Media Player Is Best? The Answer Might Surprise You.

I picked up the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition on sale for $159 at Best Buy on Black Friday, regularly $199. I also had a $100 gift card to bestbuy from previous sponsored posts I’ve done for them. This is not a sponsored post. This is me providing my initial feedback of the device as I’ve now had it for five days. My end cost was $59.99

Earlier this year I purchased a Roku Express for I believe it was $29.99. It is the most basic cheapest Roku device, in hindsight I wish I’d purchased one with voice controls which I believe start around $49.99. I’ve had my Roku for about six months.

I thought I’d be “replacing” my Roku with the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition… but that’s not the case… Roku is superior in almost every single way. NVIDIA Shield is only for very technical people, with very fast internet connections, and the only real reason I will keep and not return the product is because of GeForce Now their cloud gaming Streaming service that lets you play games you already own such as from Steam or Battlenet on your tv and on lightweight non gaming PCs without linking to another PC a direct contrast to solutions such as how steamlink works letting you mirror your screen from your gaming pc, in the case of GeForce Now you do not need an expensive gaming pc or any pc at all.

But the service is not without flaws. Everywhere I’ve read the hype, how there’s no lag, and everything is smooth, yeah sure maybe if you have a good internet connection. I do have cable internet but I live in extremely rural areas where I have no choice who my provider is. I don’t think my internet is terrible. It gets around 15mbps, but let me tell you… GeForce Now is almost unplayable for me… don’t believe the hype! It’s not any different for me than PlayStation Now, another Streaming service I use, in fact, PlayStation Now has far less lag for me than GeForce Now. I had to disable my steam authentication token because it was physically impossible to use the controller and onscreen keyboard to type the code before it refreshed and changed. Games stutter, lag, jerk, and freeze… and I wasn’t even playing super new AAA graphically intense games. The first game I tried was Battle Chef Brigade, a 2d simple indie game.

Ok lag aside, there’s some other flaws:

I thought I could play games from the google play store… I can… sort of… but very very few of my favorites are available for “android tv”. Here’s where being a tech wizard comes in, you can sideload apps from a usb stick. Not included of course. They didn’t even include an HDMI cable. I’m using the HDMI cable from my Roku, cost $250 less and provides me everything I need out of the box.

I’m not tech illiterate but the NVIDIA Shield is ridiculously needlessly overly complicated… every other Streaming Media player on the market just works out of the box in minutes… it took me three hours to set up and troubleshoot my Shield. Mostly due to generic unknown errors and series of reboots and updates…

Games aren’t the only thing missing, several of my favorite tv channel apps are not compatible with android tv, such as TLCGo. Roku has far more apps and a much more intuitive user interface and setup takes only seconds even when needing updating not hours…

Hell google themselves don’t even seem to want to support their crappy Android TV as Google Chrome isn’t even compatible with it!

If you want to spend $200 for hours of updates, then have to find or buy your own hdmi cables and usb sticks, then fart around side loading apps from your pc to the stick to your Shield, and have a laggy choppy gaming streaming experience well that’s up to you…. keep in mind NVIDIA will begin charging for this service soon too and has not released any pricing details. From what I’ve seen, I won’t subscribe.

I would take my Roku any any any day of the week. GeForce Now is an exciting and interesting concept. I became excited and interested reading reviews of how it had no lag and performed perfectly as if you were playing it right on a pc gaming rig, but my experience left much to be desired.

I haven’t tried side loading anything yet. My instincts and speculations tell me that Apple TV has far more compatible apps and a better interface than Android TV.

I tried watching kissanime and TLC on my Shield using Puffin.TV, TLC had audio but no picture, kissanime would play about ten minutes then tell me filetype is unsupportable. I’m now watching the same anime on my Roku using a mirror from my iPad and iWeb TV (to be fair this probably exists on Shield too I didn’t check) and having zero issues, TLCGo and other apps are all at my fingertips the interface looks more pleasing intuitive less cluttered and just works. For a tenth of the cost…

For me, the answer is clear, love my Roku, and shockingly disappointed in my NVIDIA Shield TV.

Roku Express vs NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition. Which Streaming Media Player Is Best? The Answer Might Surprise You. was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Review Get Fit with Walk it Out Konami Wii Game

I recently began revamping my lifestyle to try to be healthier. To that end, as part of this healthier lifestyle, I began to play some of my old wii games that encourage you to get up off the couch and get active while playing the games. My favorite “weight loss” game has always been Konami’s “Walk it Out” for the original Wii. Yes, Wii U can play wii games in case you’re wondering. However, the switch cannot.

It is worth mentioning that while Wii games can be beneficial to help motivate you to want to lose weight, they are probably not as effective or strenuous as other forms of exercise. I make no claims that playing these games will help you lose a significant amount of weight, but if you’re like me (and millions of other Americans) who absolutely hate exercising to the point where you have one of those on the wall and haven’t used it in the 2 years it’s been hanging there, well then it’s one of those “better than nothing” things. Sure, you can go join a gym, or buy expensive exercise machines and equipment, but if you can’t motivate yourself to actually work out, then you’re not any better off. I can motivate myself to play Walk It Out because it’s actually FUN. – Now you may think exercising and going to the gym, or playing sports is fun – and that’s cool – but that’s you, and you have to remember not everyone has the same idea of what “fun” is. So I ask you to please respect that different people look at fitness in different ways.

Here’s how I’m using Walk It Out to help lose the weight.

I don’t have a Wii (or Wii U) (yet) at the Boyfriend’s house where I spend my weekends. So for me, this is only something I do at home, Monday – Friday.

I aim for 10,000 steps. The game calculates this for you if you input your height, weight, gender, age, etc.

I use the balance board, but you don’t have to! You can use the DDR dance pad (wayyyy more challenging lol – Trust me, I’ve tried this), or the nunchuck and wii-mote – kinda “meh” and not as fun to me – but everyone has different preferences. Some people place their treadmill infront of their TV and slip the wii-mote into their pocket. . – You can check out Consumers Advocate for reviews on treadmills.

For me currently, 10,000 steps takes about 45 minutes, burns about 500 calories, and works out to just under or just over 3 miles.

I chose 10,000 because multiple sites I’ve researched have said 10,000 steps a day, every day is enough to lose 1 lb a week.

After about a month of 10,000 steps a day, 5 days a week, I found I was not getting as tired/sweaty/winded etc so I’m now up to about 12,000 steps a day, with ultimate goal to increase to 20,000 steps a day hopefully by end of the summer.

In addition to getting my “steps” each day I also began a low carb diet, currently limiting myself to 25 or fewer carbs a day and trying to ensure the majority of those carbs come from veggies, nuts, berries, and other healthy choices. – I skipped “induction” and included nuts and veggies and berries though from the start.

I began my journey about 6 weeks ago at 232 lbs. My last weigh in 2 weeks ago (about 4 weeks into the program) was 227 lbs. A total of 5 lbs lost within those 4 weeks.  I will probably weigh myself again some time this week and expect to be at 225 or less lbs. I’ve been losing 1-2 lbs a week, just as I anticipated based on my steps and diet.

This is slow, and yes, there are better exercises and activities than this, but the fact is, it’s still “effective” – if you don’t care “how long” it takes to lose the weight – I’m prepared that it’ll take me 2 years for example if I want to get to 120-130. – Which is what I weighed like 12 years ago in college. I didn’t gain this weight overnight, I’m not going to lose it overnight. It’s just the way it is. But the scales are moving down each time I weigh myself – I try not to obsess about the scale, so I only weigh myself every other week. In the next 10-20 weeks I expect to be back under 200 lbs for the first time in several years.

I’m currently not doing any other exercise other than Walk-It-Out for (a minimum of) 10,000 steps, 5 days a week on the wii balance board. I am restricting my carb intake which could also be playing a role in the weight loss so I cannot make a claim as to if Walk it Out would be effective without a healthy diet as well.

All I know for sure is that Walk It Out, plus a low carb diet, has led to 1-2 lbs of weight loss, consistently, every week, for the past month and a half.

And I know that I don’t mind playing Walk It Out, whereas, if I were going to the gym or playing a sport I’d hate it, dread it, and eventually stop doing it, probably sooner than later. Because to me, working out, or playing sports, etc is not fun. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of fun, it might be exaggerating, but it’s kinda like torture to me lol.

And that’s probably because I’m in such bad shape. But Walk It Out has been effective also at helping with that. And I’ll go ahead and claim/assume that this is from Walk It Out and not from the diet, but I’ve already noticed a big change in my stamina.

Prior to 2 months ago, I’d get winded going up 2 flights of stairs at the boyfriend’s apartment to do laundry, and when I first started Walk It Out, I felt like I was dying after 10,000 steps – but I didn’t stop/slow down, I successfully reached 10,000 steps without any kind of rest or break each day, right from the get go. – Not a huge accomplishment if you’re fit and active – but a significant accomplishment if like me, you’re mostly sedentary and in terrible shape.

But now, I can do 12,000, maybe even 15,000 steps before I get tired/winded. I can go up and down the stairs while carrying the laundry without gasping/panting for breath after setting the basket down. I noticed that the other night, as we folded laundry together. I’m like hey, I’m not gasping for breath, I’m able to breathe/talk/etc.

So in as little as a month, making 2 small changes:

1.) Playing Walk It Out 5 days a week for a minimum of 10,000 steps, using the balance board

2.) Restricting Carbs to 25 or less per day

I’ve lost 5 lbs, and become more “fit” and able to do normal chores/walking etc without getting shortness of breath or rapid heart beat like before.

I also suffer from PCOS which makes it more difficult to lose weight due to insulin resistance and other factors. So if you’re relatively healthy, you might lose even more weight than this while playing Walk It Out. But as someone with PCOS, it has a number of side effects, from infertility to weight gain, to fatigue, pain in the sides/ovaries, and skin/hair problems, just to name a few. Probably the most concerning of these side effects is fertility. It’s also well documented that being obese also impacts a women’s fertility. in fact, that’s why I began this work out and diet plan. I am 37 years old and I want to have kids some day. And for me at this age, that time is running out. I know it will take me a year to lost 50 lbs (guessing because 52 weeks in a year, with a lb of weight loss a week). That will drop me down to about 170-180… Still overweight for my height/age. I should be around 130-140 from what I’ve read – which is why it’ll probably take about 2 years to reach that goal. 52 weeks x 1 b per week = 50 lbs a year, so in 2 years I’d be about 127. In 2 years I’ll also be 39….

Losing weight will do 2 things for me – 1.) help relieve some of the PCOS symptoms, 2.) help increase my fertility – even in women who do not have PCOS – they say losing as little as 10-15% of your body weight can help increase fertility. For me, 15% would mean I’d only need to lost 34 lbs… which would take about 8 and a half months. (At a rate of 1 lb a week).

So although my end goal may be getting back down to 120 – 130, which is going to take about 24 months, there are many smaller goals I can aim for along the way. The first goal will be to drop below 200. With an estimated 25 lbs to go, that goal will take about 6 months. The next goal is a combined total of 34 lbs of weight loss, which I should achieve 2-3 months after my first goal. From there, it’s all about setting different attainable goals for myself. For example, I might decide I want to reach 160 lbs next, another 6 months after the 2nd goal, and then only need to lose another 30 lbs to reach the 4th and final goal.

Since it will take me a relatively long time to achieve my goals, it’s important to me to have an activity I can enjoy and one I can stick with throughout the process. For me, that activity is Walk It Out.

But enough about me and my goals, let’s dive into actually talking about the game and I’ll tell you just why I love Walk It Out more than any other fitness game.

Title: Walk It Out

Platform: Wii (will work also on Wii U)

Genre: Music Game / Fitness Game / Walking Simulator / City Building Game

Publisher: Konami

Price and Where to Get:

Why Do I Love Walk It Out So Much / How is Walk it Out Different from Other Fitness Games:

I think Walk It Out is different for the following reasons:

1.) It’s actually a game – I would not say the same of Wii Fit for example which is just a series of exercises and “mini games” – Wii Fit fails at taking your mind off the fact that you’re exercising. Walk It Out makes it so exercising is secondary to the gameplay.

2.) It is a persistent world – You can see your world developing and evolving each day. You can interact with objects in your world. The world changes and evolves based on your actions.

3.) If you like pop music and 80s/90s/very early 2k music, you’ll love the music in Walk It Out. – I tried looking to see if there’s a Japanese Import version of the game with Japanese music tracks but I couldn’t find one – does anyone know anything about this? I think it’d be fun/interesting especially since I enjoy JPop music. I find it hard to believe Konami would only make a game for the European / North American market – because they don’t seem to give a damn about this market. But all I’ve ever seen is the North American version “Walk it Out” (the version I have) – and another version for Europe called “Walk to the Beat” I think there’s only 2-3 songs that are different/unique for each of those versions, not worth importing the Euro version just for those songs. – But Is suspect if a version of this game does exist in Japan it probably has all Jpop music.

4.) It’s a city building simulation – Do you like city building games? This game lets you build a city while you work out – pretty much the only game I can think of that does this.

5.) It has gradual progression – there are over 300 songs to unlock, and there are numerous things to unlock for your city – thousands of things in fact – and there are different areas/paths to unlock. It also has mini games, although a month in and I haven’t discovered any yet. It takes awhile to earn enough points to unlock everything. – To me, this is a GOOD thing – once everything is unlocked it probably isn’t as fun/exciting. But you can always start a new save file and start over unlocking everything again. If you unlocked things too fast the game wouldn’t feel as “rewarding” – it strikes a good balance of rewarding you, plus giving you new things to strive for.

6.) It’s easy/comfortable even for someone obese and in very bad physical condition. This is not true of other fitness games such as Dance Dance Revolution which is significantly more challenging/tiring for beginners. Walk It Out is low impact and simple and does not require great speed, dexterity, skill, coordination, flexibility, etc, making it a perfect game for anyone of any age to just pick up and play.

But What Is Walk It Out, exactly?

Gameplay: 10/10 Walk it Out is a fitness music/rhythm game from Konami, the creators of Dance Dance Revolution. The gameplay is simple! In the top left of the screen you see a beat meter, just walk in time with the beat. If you are rhythmically challenged, don’t worry, don’t focus too much on listening to the music, instead use this beat meter in the top left as a visual guide to time your footsteps. If you’re still having trouble you can adjust the speed and difficulty settings as needed.

As you’re walking, music will begin playing. There are new tracks to unlock – over 300 of them to be exact, and if you like pop music from the 80s, 90s, and early 2ks, you should enjoy most of these tracks.

The object is to time your steps perfectly for the best score. Points can be used to unlock new music tracks or to build your city by opening capsules around the island. Things that you can find might include trees, street lights, cars, buildings, and more. As you build up your city, you’ll see the changes in the town and in the people. It becomes much more lively.

The game can be played with a number of different controller options including the wii balance board, DDR dance pad, or wii-mote and nunchuck.

There’s even a multi-player mode where 2 people can Walk it Out together!

Is Walk It Out An Effective Workout?

Yes, I feel Walk It Out is effective at helping with weight loss, especially in addition to a healthy diet. Using Walk It Out every Monday through Friday for the past 6 weeks has led to me losing 5 lbs and becoming more active, fit, and healthy. I feel like I have more energy and stamina, even if it’s a little improvement, it’s still a welcome improvement, that overtime will continue to provide growing benefits.

It’s simple, effective, and fun – I don’t feel like I’m working out.

The game also tracks many stats for you, such as calories burned, steps taken, miles walked, playtime, etc for each play session. As well as showing you how much of the island you have left to discover.

It has a lot of various settings you can configure such as selecting or restricting certain songs, setting goals in terms of steps, miles, or play time, and allowing you to adjust the speed or points to fine tune your difficulty settings.

The uniqueness of the game, the fun factor, multiplayer, and peripheral support, as well as ease of use and low entry barriers, make this game my favorite for helping to drop the pounds.

However, there are some areas where gameplay could be improved…

If there is ever a “Walk It Out 2” here are a list of features I’d love to see:

1.) More advanced avatar creation – or at least importing our mii’s. The avatars in walk it out are pretty fugly. And although you can choose between a male or female avatar, and male or female personal trainer, and pick some colors from a limited small pallet, that’s where customization ends. In the future they could add hairs, clothes, and other avatar dress up items to the unlockable capsules which would add an additional element to the game.

2.) More Islands – once you complete an island, it’d be nice to have a whole new island to play in, with different styles of buildings, backgrounds, and environments to explore, to keep things exciting

3.) A more “vibrant” world – either through online play, or the internal clock, it’d be nice to have a more “lively” world, like in Animal Crossing how different things happen on different days, weather patterns, holidays, events, etc.

4.) Ability to use your own music – or at least buy new tracks, similar to most other dancing games that release songs via DLC (downloadable content).

5.) Online Play – to walk with friends online in addition to the great local multiplayer support – perhaps also for the switch, seeing support for up to 4 or even 6 people to walk on one screen together in local play.

6.) Built in scale – I use wii fit to measure myself, but I don’t use Wii fit for the games and exercises very often – it’d be nice to just be able to weigh myself right in Walk It Out.

I think just these few little additions would really add to the immersion and fun of an already super fun game.

Story: 0/10 – Nope no story at all – not that it needs one.

Characters: 2/10 – there are characters if you count selecting your trainer and “customizing” (although extremely limitedly) your avatar, but without a story, the characters are empty shells. The characters that move into your city / walk around on your screen are also just empty shells – they could have done something similar to animal crossing or harvest moon here, which is why it’s so disappointing.

Graphics: 7/10 – I’m not sure what to score this honestly… the characters are fugly, the interface is average at best, but the actual world/environment are pretty good given that this is a retro game now.

Music: 10/10 – If you like pop music from the past 3 decades, you’ll enjoy the music.

Voice Acting:5/10 – The male trainer isn’t too bad – the female trainer sounds like she’s about 8 years old and has way too much enthusiasm and that weird “chipmunk” sound that a lot of early 90s anime female voice actresses seemed to have back in the day. – Which I assume is supposed to sound cute, but really just grates on the nerves. I’ve never played with the female trainer because her voice is so annoying honestly.

Replay Value: 10/10 – The gradual progression of the game will keep you coming back to unlock new things on the island.

Overall: 44/70 63%

Note: if you don’t count the story and characters, you have a score of 42/50 or 84 percent which is much closer to how much I “enjoy” this game 😊

Update: My weigh in today was 222 lbs, a loss of 4.9 lbs since last weigh in (15 days ago) . I continue to consistently lose 1 to 2 lbs per week using nothing but walk it out with the balance board for exercise while eating a low carb diet of 25 or fewer carbs a day. I’ve lost a total of 10 lbs over the course of about 6 weeks.

Review Get Fit with Walk it Out Konami Wii Game was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Are the Relationships in Scum’s Wish Really So Bad?

I recently discovered Scum’s Wish from an article describing the relationship between Mugi and Hanabi as abusive. While the anime begins with Mugi and Hanabi both in love with other people and only using each other to satisfy their physical desires, is there really anything inherently wrong with this? People have casual relationships all the time. Not all relationships are built around love.

Not only that, but, I think that love is a feeling that can grow over time. Hanabi and Mugi may not be in love just yet; but that doesn’t mean they won’t fall in love by the end of the anime or manga. There has been much foreshadowing already hinting at this possibility.

Could Hanabi and Mugi ever fall in love or have a happy ending?

Here are some clues that hint that they may be falling for eachother:

In Episode 1: Hanabi tells Mugi not to fall in love with her. Mugi tells her don’t worry, you’re not my type. And she tells him “Me Either” (you’re not my type either). This just seems to be setting a stage for them to fall in love by the end.

In Episode 2: Mugi tells Hanabi “Not all happy things have a happy ending, but you still wouldn’t want to erase them from your memory, and that how should I say, makes you even more unhappy.” — Perhaps Mugi and Hanabi will not have their happy ending, but they will look back not with hatred for eachother, but fondness instead.

In Episode 3, Hanabi starts crying and says that she wants to try to love Mugi

In Episode 2, she gets very aggressive and possessive of Mugi when Moca tries to get close to him.

In Episode 2, Mugi encourages Hanabi to go make friends and gently strokes her hair. Hanabi thinks this is strange and comments that it’s almost like he’s her boyfriend.

In Episode 3, when being naughty together, she thinks Mugi and the act of pleasing Mugi is cute. Mugi also reluctantly here gives in to Hanabi. He feels guilty for thinking (dreaming in this case) of the other girls. He tries to avoid Hanabi’s advances at first. In the end he laments that he is just “destined to be used as a plaything for adolescents”. He doesn’t sound very happy about this. He is hurting too and wants a more affectionate and loving relationship – Granted at this point he still wants it with Akane. He even says he can’t believe he’s satisfied by Hanabi and wishes Akane would “punish” him for it.

In all of the episodes, Hanabi is concerned not only with her own pleasure, but also worried if she’s good enough for Mugi and concerned with pleasing him as well.

The lyrics to the opening song seem to be more about Hanabi X Mugi than Hanabi X Oniichan.

“If Fate existed, I’d like to say, “You’re the one I’m destined to be with”, But I feel those words will destroy what we have right now… so I can’t say them. Even when you’re near you seem so distant. This feeling goes in and out like the tide. I’ll give up. I’ll never give up. An endless game of flower fortune telling. If I’ve lost the key to my treasure box, I’ll embrace my brightest emotions, Hiding their faintly colored remains behind my sighs. When our eyes meet, don’t look away! See through this lie hidden within them. I’m a young playgirl, completely confused, so don’t say anything now. I’m in so much pain. I love you so much it’s frightening.”

If we analyze those lyrics…

“I feel those words will destroy what we have right now so I can’t say them.” This could refer to either Mugi or Oniichan. With Oniichan and Hanabi they’ve been such good friends for so long that she’s afraid of ruining their friendship. With Mugi and Hanabi, she’s afraid of losing their relationship, even if it is purely physical.

“Even when you’re near you seem so distant” – Once again this line could apply to either Mugi or Oniichan. But I think it applies more to Mugi. Oniichan still comes over to have dinner and hang out as a friend with Hanabi, and they’re close, perhaps even inappropriately so, having to remind each other that he is now her teacher and she’s his student, so they don’t really seem distant at all. Mugi on the other hand keeps his emotions and thoughts hidden away from Hanabi, and they are close physically, but he always imagines Hanabi to be Mei or Akane. He doesn’t embrace Hanabi as Hanabi. He therefore in my opinion is always distant, even when they’re intimately close.

But the most telling is the line at the end: “When our eyes meet, don’t look away!” (Don’t think about Akane or Mei) See through this lie. (Her lie that she doesn’t love Mugi). “I’m a young playgirl, completely confused, so don’t say anything now” (Don’t tell me you love me, because I don’t know who I love / I love both of them, hence being a “playgirl” or “confused.) (Also “playgirl” would apply directly to how naughty she is with Mugi. With Oniichan she doesn’t have that type of physical relationship).  And “I’m in so much pain. I love you so much it’s frightening.” This could apply to both Mugi or Oniichan, but when you watch the anime, who or what always makes Hanabi cry… It’s Mugi most of the time. Her relationship with Mugi is painful to her… in the beginning, it’s painful to her because she feels like she’s “cheating” on Oniichan… but as time goes on, and at the end of the most recent episode, she’s crying and says she wants to try to love Mugi.

For Hanabi, the chances of ever having a relationship with Oniichan are small because he is her teacher now, and it would create a scandal. For Mugi, although Akane does fool around secretly with her students, this would not be much better already than his relationship with Hanabi or his past with Mei. Akane isn’t ready to be serious about anyone, and yes, she does inappropriate things with the other students, but this is not love either.

At what point (if any) should you give up on someone that you love, knowing that it just can never work out? What if you began seeking comfort from someone else to help fill that loneliness? In the 2nd Episode of Scum’s Wish it’s hinted at what exactly will happen. Hanabi goes out with some girls from her class. One of the girls is dating 2 boys at once. Now she can’t choose because she loves both of them. Hanabi tells her if she doesn’t choose, she will end up alone. This very likely will be in parallel to what will happen to Hanabi. If she can’t give up her crush on Oniichan, but continues to keep dating Mugi, at some point, she will be in love with both of them. She will become stuck and unable to choose either of them, so she will be left alone.

So what do you think? Can Mugi and Hanabi ever fall in love? Will Hanabi or Mugi let go of their crush and find happiness with one another? Is their relationship really that wrong? I don’t feel that they will regret their relationship either way even if they don’t end up together in the end. I think that they will build enough fond memories together that the overall experience of the relationship will have more happy memories than sad ones despite how it may end.

The other article that I read points out that they could find comfort in other things/people. Which may be true, but I still don’t think that comforting each other through their hard time is really that bad. The original article that I read made it sound as if Hanabi and Mugi turn their backs on their friends and family and only turn to each other. This is not true. Mugi has Moca, Hanabi has Oniichan, her mom, and Ecchan. You also see both of them with other classmates, and it’s even stated in the description of the anime that they are both “Popular” and “well liked” at school. So I don’t think that if the relationship were to end that either of them would fall into a hopeless depression.

Are the Relationships in Scum’s Wish Really So Bad? was originally published on

Porter Robinson’s Shelter Is an Anime – and Here’s Why

I just watched a short film – or more precisely, a music video by Porter Robinson. Although he is an American artist, he contracted with A-1 Pictures a famous Japanese anime studio — It’s being marketed by crunchyroll (who most people associate with “anime”) — and the film first debuted in Tokyo, Japan, to an audience of Japanese people. Although it is marketed for worldwide release and distribution, it was developed, drawn, animated, and premiered first in Japan and made by a famous anime studio consisting of largely Japanese staff. It is a Japanese animation, or anime for those facts alone.

It’s true that similar “Big Eye, Small Mouth, Brightly colored” animated films are NOT anime – I fully agree. RWBY and Avatar and Kora for example are not anime – because they are not made by Japanese anime studios, they are made by westerners.

So what if someone is “paying” or “contracting” the studio – Is anime, and the animation studios not allowed to be paid for their work? How does that fact alone disqualify Shelter from being an anime?

Also bear in mind, anime is gaining global attention and branching out to a global market. Long gone are the days where anime was a niche hobby back in the 90s. It is becoming increasingly more mainstream. Perhaps some fans feel threatened by this, that their hobby will become too “mainstream” and not “cool” anymore – but going “mainstream” is a good thing – when studios can make money and increase their audience share, this means more anime will get made!

The lines of what defines “anime” are quickly beginning to blur.

One example of this is a Studio Ghibli series coming to Amazon Prime in the near future. It’s been contracted by Americans, but being developed by a famous Japanese anime studio.

Other examples of anime contracted by an American company but produced by a Japanese anime studio include 7 Deadly Sins and Perfect Bones.

My take is – if it comes from a Japanese anime studio – and has all the markings of an anime (similar animation style, writing techniques, etc) – then it’s an anime.

Shelter takes it a step further and even has original audio in Japanese by a talented Japanese voice actress. This further proves it was originally intended for Japanese audiences.

The debate on if Shelter is an anime or not has been a hot button issue this week according to Kotaku

But you can watch the anime for yourself below and decide if Shelter is an anime, or just a cartoon. It’s a beautiful short film about a lonely girl who finds escapism in a game very similar to Minecraft. After watching this film, I really want to play Minecraft, or similar voxel games such as Peria Chronicles or Islet.

There is also now a new Behind the Scenes video that shows how Shelter was made, which further proves it should be considered as an Anime:

 

Porter Robinson’s Shelter Is an Anime – and Here’s Why was originally published on

The Benefits of Playing Pokemon Go Outweigh the Risks

I was not into Pokemon Go when it first launched. It wasn’t until my mom began playing that I took interest. For a few reasons, first, when the game first came out, there were numerous game crippling bugs which made it almost impossible to play. It’s also a rather difficult game to learn at first, it gives absolutely no guidance, direction, tutorial, etc. This combined with the bugs in early days made the game frustrating and a lot less fun than it is now.

Second, I’m not one to enjoy exercise. It’s not that I’m “Lazy”, but well… exercise is “painful” and “tiring” and “annoying”.  When I started playing Pokemon Go, I thought how annoying or stupid it was to have to go outside. This was when I was playing it alone in the first few days of the launch. This began to change when I found someone (my mom) to play the game with. It’s much like the thought of having an exercise buddy.

When I was in college (10 years ago now, wow.) I went to the same school as my best friend. We’d spend our breaks swimming, playing badminton, and even (cringe) running laps. I was also doing atkins diet at the same time, and I ended up going from 200+ lbs to 127 lbs and a size 6/7 in jeans. After college, and my best friend moving to the other side of the state, now a 5 to 6 hour drive away, and going back off the atkins diet, I gained all of that weight back slowly over the years, due to lack of motivation to get out there and exercise.

I did have an xbox 360 with Kinect, and a Wii with some games which tried to add gamification elements the work out experience. I’d play them for a time, but always ultimately get bored and go back to other less “demanding” and more “rewarding” games. I will say out of the “work out” games I own, my favorite has always been “Walk It Out”, a very obscure Wii game that blasts 90s/2k pop music as you walk around a rather empty world at first; and as you walk you unlock new songs as well as begin to see the world come to life. I also enjoy DDR (although I suck at it really badly.) and Just Dance (slightly less challenging than DDR). I even had Wii Fit, and I did love the charting/tracking aspects of that game and even being able to weigh my cats lol.

But ultimately, none of those games held my interest. Was it because I didn’t have anyone to play them with? Perhaps. Was it because I still wasn’t “getting out”? I was still “at home playing videogames” something I’ve done for almost 30 years of my life.

It’s still too soon to tell how long it will be before I get “bored” with Pokemon Go. But it has some elements that are so unique and different from the other work out games I own. When I try to describe Pokemon Go to people who don’t already play, I tell them “It’s basically geocaching with pokemon”. I’d never gone geocaching before but the idea of it had always appealed to me in theory. It encourages you to get out and explore some new and sometimes remote or far away locations and you’re rewarded with small treasures (usually coins) (but in this case, it’s pokemon instead of coins).

Pokemon Go is a social game. Recently, a new dating website opened up and had such overwhelming response that they had to shut down their servers temporarily. This dating service aims to connect Pokemon Go players in their area both for playing Pokemon Go, but also for finding true love (or friendship). I’m also single right now, I’m kinda taking a break at the moment, seeing a few people but nothing serious, and find I’ve kinda backed off a bit on the dating or seeking of a mate at the moment, but when I’m ready again, in a few weeks, or months, or whatever the case may be, I have a feeling I’ll be using this Poke Date service. You can check it out here: https://www.projectfixup.com/pokedates/  – There’s also another site here: https://t.co/7sOATzdApr and probably numerous meetup.com Pokemon Go groups as well (though there weren’t any close by in my area last time I checked.).

Even if you’re not using such a site to interact with the Pokemon Go community, chances are you’re going to run into other players out in the real world, whether it’s at poke stops, gyms, or just walking around your parks or college campus, etc trying to catch pokemon. If you’re like me, you’re probably a shy introvert, who avoids other people (remember that part about sitting at home playing videogames?). I still haven’t started a conversation with anyone while playing Pokemon Go, but I have had people come up and start conversation with me, and I find it’s easy to talk to people when you have a shared interest, common goal, hobby, passion, etc. Pokemon Go can make you more comfortable in social interactions, help to break the ice, and put you in the “right place, at the right time” to meet new friends or potential romantic partners.

Pokemon Go does just that, it makes you GO places. You might find new places nearby that you’ve never visited, or it may encourage you to take a road trip, day trip, weekend trip, etc to go discover new pokemon. While playing the game, you might stumble upon new restaurants, museums, nature trails, parks, or other exciting places. Travel is fun! And Pokemon Go gives you another excuse to get away, take a vacation, take the scenic route, relax, and reconnect with nature while exploring new places and trying new things.

Pokemon Go is fun, relaxing, and addicting. Ignoring the social, psychological, and health benefits of playing the game, the game is just plain fun. The obsession to “catch them all” and to find “rare” Pokemon is a huge draw that keeps you wanting to play more and more. Just imagine if Shiny Pokemon get introduced sometime in the future, or special limited time events with special exclusive Pokemon to catch. This obsession to keep playing, keep seeking out new places with new pokemon, and “catch them all” is what keeps you motivated and interested in the game and continues to reinforce the “good habits” (exercise, social interaction, etc) that come from playing the game each day.

Pokemon Go is free. Yes, there is a cash shop, but you definitely don’t need to spend any money to enjoy this app. You can just visit your closest pokestop, and sit there for an hour or two collecting the items you need. Once again this just encourages you to keep getting out there. It’s win/win.

Pokemon Go is good exercise. It’s even being used in nursing homes to help the elderly. Gamers are not known for a love of working out or healthy habits. I’m no exception. But Pokemon Go makes me want to exercise in order to play the game. I went from being sedentary, to now walking 5 to 7 miles almost every day. I couldn’t tell you the last time I walked even a mile, let alone 5+ miles. Almost daily. Two days ago we walked ten and a half miles which so far is the farthest/longest I’ve walked while playing Pokemon Go. Of course, I am hoping to lose weight. Who doesn’t want to be more fit and healthy right? But even if that never happens simply from walking a few extra miles, I’ll tell you, this exercise has already had several benefits. The main benefit it has had is curing me of my insomnia.

Pokemon Go will help you sleep better! If you’re not used to physical activity (like me), and going through a “hard time” where your mind is just turning non-stop most nights, Pokemon Go will make you fall asleep from the physical exertion and exhaustion that comes when you increase your activity levels. The last 2 weeks I’ve been sleeping like a charm, when most of June was spent in angst and anger and disappointment and hurt feelings, I no longer have TIME to think about that. Pokemon Go keeps me busy! Keeping busy keeps me happy!

Pokemon Go will improve your mood! Exercise creates endorphins which are scientifically proven to create feelings of happiness and euphoria. It also as I mentioned helps “clear” (or otherwise occupy at least) your mind which makes you forget about your worries and troubles. It gets you out into the sunlight and sunlight is also scientifically proven to boost your mood. It helps you connect “spiritually” with nature, or helps you connect “emotionally” to other people. It reminds you you’re not alone. Pokemon Go is a comforting experience for anyone dealing with loss, death, grief, heartbreak, or other traumas.

Yes, there have been some scary stories in the news recently about Pokemon Go, either from neglect and a lack of paying attention to one’s surroundings, such as walking into traffic, falling off a cliff, or criminals using Pokemon Go to identify Poke Stops and wait for passer by to mug/rape/attack/whatever. There are also cases of people playing Pokemon Go at inappropriate times such as while working or driving. – but these incidents are few and far between when compared to the millions of players who are benefiting in some way from playing this game.

Pokemon Go means different things for different people, but for me, it has given me that little boost of motivation that I need to be more active and get out in my community.

The Benefits of Playing Pokemon Go Outweigh the Risks was originally published on

8 Ways The Big Bang Theory Made Nerds Cool Again

Editor’s Note: Today’s Guestpost comes from Jeremy at http://www.stylinonline.com/ who shares how he believes the Big Bang Theory helped make nerds “cool again”.  If you’re a nerd too, check out Jeremy’s shop for awesome pop-culture tshirts and more.

Eight Ways The Big Bang Theory Made Nerds Cool Again

Eight Ways The Big Bang Theory Made Nerds Cool Again

 

 

Geeks have taken over prime time television with their own show, and have lovers of all things nerdy and scientific tuning in. Ever since the first series premiered in September 2007, The Big Bang Theory has captivated and entertained audiences with its clever yet wholesome comedy. Centered on the social lives and work of a young group of scientists, the show revolutionized the way we see comedy and made being a nerd cool again. So, hold on to your pocket protectors, because, as avid fans of the hit television series, we have a comprised a list of 8 ways The Big Bang Theory Made Nerds Cool Again.

 

1. It Makes Science Relatable

 

Let’s be honest. Most people only paid attention to science when we were still making volcanoes out of baking soda and vinegar. Very few can honestly say they genuinely enjoy sitting through a two-hour lecture on the “The History of the Periodic Table.” The Big Bang Theory, however, offers the audience a far more compelling and entertaining view of science and the world around us. In the first episode of season seven, when Janine was dealing with infidelity, Raj compares her marital issues to that of penguins who in the wild also have “commitment issues.” Humorous and oddly relevant, we learn an interesting fact while still enjoying this awkward moment of small talk.

 

2. It Shows Nerds Can Find Love Too

 

We all know the universal stereotypes that most nerds will become forty-year-old virgins or live alone with their action figures or comic book collection, but The Big Bang Theory helps smash that concept. The plot thickens when Leonard, the experimental physicist at Caltech, ends up falling for and eventually marrying the hot girl next door. Even Sheldon, the socially awkward king of all things scientific and nerdy lands himself a girlfriend while still living life as a full-blown geek.

 

3. It Makes Having a Big Vocabulary Cool

 

Despite the down to earth style comedy of the show, the audience find themselves coming across new words and important scientific terminology daily. Who would have thought that a show can successfully use words like “render” and “catatonic” in a joke, and it is still funny?

 

“Raj: I don’t like bugs, okay? They freak me out.

 

Sheldon: Interesting. You’re afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.” (Episode: The Jiminy Conjecture)

 

4. It Makes Graphic Tees Trendy

 

Although one would not typically look at a modern TV sitcom for fashion tips, The Big Bang Theory does a lot to influence today’s style. With millions of viewers watching at home, the wardrobe we find the cast appearing in mimics the very own fashion tastes of today’s population. Sheldon, who is almost always sporting a graphic tee, not only expresses who he is as a character through his clothing, but also serves as a prime role model for casual, carefree clothing trends.

 

Novelty tees and other apparel are a growing trend in today’s fashion industry that even the producers of the Big Bang Theory are hip to.

 

 

5. We Learn the Truth About Robots

 

Whether you are a self-declared nerd or not, one cannot deny the fact the idea of robots is kind of cool. With a bucket load of apocalyptic-style robot movies out, we cannot help but wonder “what if.” Fortunately enough, thanks to The Big Bang Theory we learn that although mankind has the power to create robots, they do not have the power to make them truly human. We are taught that the brain uses quantum mechanics to create consciousness, and robots are unable to do so, and therefore we can thankfully put to rest the fear of a machine-induced apocalypse.

6. It Shows Pretty Girls Can Be Nerds Too

The Big Bang Theory is breaking down gender roles, one episode at a time. We tend to picture the average computer nerd as a skinny, acne-prone young man, but, contrary to popular belief, no one is safe from catching a cold case of “the nerd.”

During the second season’s third episode, Penny is introduced to the world of internet gaming and transforms into a full-blown, video game addict. She becomes consumed by online gaming, neglecting her job, hygiene, and health completely, submerging herself in the world of a computer geek. Eventually she finds release when she sees the errors of her ways, but, for a while, she was a complete nerd,  reinforcing the idea that such roles are not solely limited to men.

7. It Makes Fantasy Obsessions Cool

Let’s face it. Part of what goes into being a nerd besides extreme wit and high academic performance is the innate obsession with fantasy. The Big Bang Theory does an excellent job of making comic books and fantasy seem cool. So much so, that a lot of the action takes place at the local comic book store. Sheldon himself prides himself on his own personal collection of comic novelties and action figures.

Even during the first season’s sixth episode, when the authors showed off their Halloween outfits, we find the group of friends dressed as Frodo from Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood, Thor, and even The Doppler Effect, making eccentricity less bizarre and more expected when it comes to this group of nerds.

8. It Makes Great Accomplishments Seem Normal

Usually a trip to outer space would seem like an opportunity of a lifetime and, in most cases, it is. During one episode of The Big Bang Theory, however, Howard returns home from space and, instead of being greeted with love and admiration, most of his peers are too busy dealing with things going on in their own lives. Because every character is used to dealing with each other’s greatness, what the audience may view as a major accomplishment is to the characters just another part of ordinary life.

In the end, The Big Bang Theory is more than just your average television sitcom. Its  unique and intelligent humor sets it apart from any other comedy in its category, and brings its characters to life with its brilliant yet comedic dialogue and composition. Not only does the hit TV series bring validation to all those nerdy enough to identify with the main characters, but also transforms the way we ultimately view the world and one another.

8 Ways The Big Bang Theory Made Nerds Cool Again was originally published on