I know. It’s been a year and a half since my last post.  I could bore you with the myriad of excuses I’ve come up with for my own benefit, but, we’ll just sum it up with: life happened.  Before we jump headfirst into video games again, though, I’d first like to thank all of those friends that approached me throughout the hiatus and asked me what happened with this blog. It meant a great deal to me to know that many more people were reading the blog and enjoying the content than I had previously thought.

Changes are afoot with www.chatswithrad.com! Soon, I will be adding additional pages to explain the various features I am planning. You will find these explanations under the conveniently named ‘Features’ section on the top part of the page. There may, perhaps, even be an entire revamp of the site coming (I know- Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves!).

The gaming climate is very exciting right now– tons of games to talk about, write about, and, quite possibly, get hyped out of my mind about.  Let’s take a look:

I just recently got back into playing Blizzard’s take on the MOBA scene.  Blizzard has out done themselves again with this one.  HotS is a great take on the genre, and I’d give it perfect marks if it didn’t put the heroes behind a pay/time sink wall.  Despite my reservations I’m having ablast with this one, I almost feel like a traitor, playing this so much instead of DotA!

Exanima is one of the most unique games I have played in a long time.  It’s an isometric rogue-like RPG with an interesting take on combat.  The combat system is entirely physics based, and, to a novice, seems like a difficult-to-control drunken brawling game. However, with practice and patience, you’ll discover a deep combat system that rewards well-timed strikes and using your momentum to your advantage.  If this sounds interesting to you, a full, in-depth writeup will be featured soon!

Witcher 2 came out in May 2011, and it still looks fantastic and better than most games coming out now!  The story is engaging, the combat animates beautifully-if not a little one-dimensional,and the RPG mechanics are solid. Besides that, the game is a fantastic RPG, I’m also playing it because the much-anticipated Witcher 3 is going to be released this Tuesday!  The Witcher is a vast world full of colorful characters, and my way of preparing for it involves ravenously reading its lore online and reintroducing myself to its characters.

Still playing GTA: V!  It just recently came out on PC and it has been phenomenal!  The PC port was just about everything I had hoped it’d be.  Faster load times, better graphics, better frame rate, better everything!  While I may eventually plow through the single player again, my main focus has been the online portion.  My crew and I have been playing it since it first came out on the PS3, and we continue to have fun with the online component.  With heists out now, the game has become even more interesting.  Look for another feature at a later date where I delve deeper into what makes us continue to come back to this game almost two years after its initial release date.

With the impending shutdown of Club Nintendo, I had some points to spend on some Nintendo swag and/or software.  I spent what little coins I had on some 3DS downloadable games, and claimed two Nintendo classics: Metroid and Punch Out. Now, some may say that Ninja Gaiden or Megaman were the hardest games they ever played on Nintendo (and granted, those games ARE pretty dang difficult), but I’d say trying to beat Mike Tyson (or, Mr. Dream, if you came in late) on Mike Tyson’s Punchout was one of the most difficult yet gratifying experiences I had as a young gamer back in the 90s.  I’m still currently trying to get past Bald Bull–that guy hits hard!