Thoughts of a PC Gamer... Turned Console Gamer... Possibly Turning PC Gamer... Again...

I first started off playing PC games back when I was a little 5 year old n00b. Of course I had an NES and a Gameboy, but my true love was the PC. The variety, depth, and the graphical superiority really made it the easy choice for even the most carefree gamer. As time went by, I slowly evolved away from the PC and went more and more into the consoles.

The Rediscovery of Grifball and Other Great Things From Kawaii-Kon

So this past weekend I spent most of my time at Kawaii-Kon. Every year it's the same play games and have some great times. We take one day to set up and have three days of letting hundreds of people play our systems. Like always, we system linked four systems together (There really need to be more LAN enabled games) and ran some 8 player hoonage.

E3 2012: Did This Just Happen?

So E3 has come and gone... and I'm left wondering if this was really worth it. I can honestly say that this was the most disappointing E3 in a long time. There were no "OMG THIS IS SO FUCKING AWESOME!!!!1" game announcements, and what they did announce was a bit ho-hum. The lack of new hardware announcements was absurd.

My E3 2012 Most Wanted

This year’s E3 is right around the corner and I absolutely can’t wait. Everything kicks off this coming Monday with Microsoft’s Press Conference. All the rest of the major dev studios are having Press Conferences throughout the week, and then there are all the booths. I wish I was going to it, but I have to sit at home reading and watching all this awesome info come out of this annual event. While I am excited about the event, we gamers need to admit that it is more or less a hype machine put on by the industry. There are other events that have just as much awesome news coming out of it, but this is still the biggie. There are still so many things to look forward to coming out of this event. Everyone has their own list of things, but here is a list of what I really want to see at E3.

Looks Like I Went AFK for a While...

Well it looks like I couldn't keep the blog going for a long period of time, but never fear! I am back and going to be trying to get at least one blog post up a week. Some previews of what is to come:

DLC and the True Cost of Gaming

As I watched my girlfriend buy my LIVE account another $10 in MS Points, I wondered... Why the hell is she paying for this crap? I mean Dynasty Warriors 7 Costume and Weapon Packs. She spent over $30 on DLC for a game that we bought for $25 used at Gamestop. I wondered the whole time about the real cost of games and how much I have spent on getting content on some of my purchases.

Is the Real Gamer a Dying Breed?

As a gamer, I remember playing every single game that I could get my hands on. I would stay up for the very early hours of the morning playing games to try and finish a game in a single run. It didn’t matter the type of game I played, as long as I was playing games. Even now, I play a fair number of genres of video games. I give as many games I can a try and see if I can find good points with the game. What I find with “gamers” now days, is they play one type of game or even just one game series. Where is the passion for games in general? Where has the true gamer gone? Is the real gamer a dying breed?

New Year Preview

The New Year is upon us and most people have done look backs over the last year. Most of the great gaming experiences from 2011 are carrying over to 2012. I love to put hours into my games and it doesn't stop when the year ends. And while those are great, I want to look to the this year. 2012 has some great game coming out all throughout the year. We know all of this even before this year started. I can't wait for all the new games.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the one day year everyone stops bitching about everything and looks at what is good in their life. This is my list of 10 things I am thankful for this year.

Collector's Editions and Me

Halo: Reach Legendary Edition $149.99

Call me stupid, but I love Collector's and Limited Editions. At $80 - $150 each they are not in the least cheap. I know I'm on a budget, but I really love having these different things. I have most of the collectible display items in a nice case and the huge boxes in a big ass stack in another room. But why do I get them, and why do I spend extravagant amounts of money on them? I think I know why...

Free Player: penSPED

So an introduction is at hand. I go by the name of penSPED, and I am a gamer.

Free Play Rules

Free Play Start will unfortunately not be starting it's podcasts for a while. However I will be blogging twice a week, usually Tuesday and Friday, about my views on video games. I will also be taking user submissions. If you want to get an article posted, send me an email. We will go over the publishing and submission requirements. 

Thank you for your support. Please comment and tell your friends!

Modern Warfare 3 and Why I'm Not Getting it.

As the year winds down, another Call of Duty game comes out. This time it is part of the acclaimed Modern Warfare series. That makes the game very desirable for many people and very tempting for me, even if I can't really dedicate a lot of time or money to it. I would love to get it for just the single player, but that's not going to happen. There are a few reasons why I won't be getting it this year, and I will tell you why.

The Life and Times of a Working Gamer

I work a normal job, 40 hours a week pays the bills. I need to sleep and make sure I can get to work on time. I also live with my girlfriend, which can take up alot of time. So where the hell am I supposed to fit in my games? The whims of a job and personal life removes me from the gaming lifestyle I had grown so accustomed to over the years. Do I wish I had more time or more money for games? Yes... Am I going to get it? That's something completely different.

Forza Motorsports 4 Review

The Forza Motorsports series has always drawn the attention of digital gear heads since it came out for the original Xbox. Forza Motorsports 4 is no different from its forefathers. Forza 3 made great strides bringing the sim racing genre to a more casual crowd. Can they also pull in the casual crowd with Kinect support, or will this forever be a car guy game?

Free Play Delayed!

We have delayed the first episode for a week. There are some technical problems that need to be fixed before we can continue. There will posts during the week with intros to for the hosts. Stay tuned and play games.

New Podcast Project Ahoy!

Welcome to the blog of the Free Play Start podcast! Not only will we be posting up weekly podcasts, but will also have some extra info and normal blog posts. Hopefully we can get some live events up and running later. Hosting for the podcast files will be on free services for now.
The first podcast will probably be up next week Monday. So stay tuned.