Introduction

I suppose for a first post it only makes sense to introduce this blog and explain what its all about.

Basically, as the title suggests, I plan to review handheld games.

Now this sounds like a simple goal, and I suppose it is. However, I'd also like to explain a little about why I am writing this blog.

After searching around the web I found a lot of game review sites and blogs but very few if any have any real focus on handheld games. I feel as though these sites are helpful but a blog that is focused specifically on handheld games would give people a better way to learn more about a sometimes ignored but absolutely vital section of the game industry.  I want to point a spotlight on my favorite part of video games and hopefully share my love of handheld games with others.

Some people might ask "Why handheld games?"

I can't give one reason because I think every person who plays them has different reasons for choosing the games that they play. For me, I simply find handheld games more fun.  When I play a game I am not looking for the same things as a PC gamer, a Facebook gamer, or a console gamer.  I am looking for something I can pick up and put down in 20 minutes and still have fun.  I am looking for something easy to learn and easy to play without feeling like I need to invest real time into it.  I am looking for simplicity and elegance.

That is not to say other game mediums don't offer those things.  I just find that handheld games do it best.


As for the structure of this blog I plan on writing here weekly with around 4 rotating topics.  Now this is all subject to change if I gain a following and people want more of one thing and less of another.  I hope to be adaptable and change to what my audience wants so if you read this please comment, I promise you I'll read them.

The topics I plan on writing about are as follows:

• Game Reviews
• reviews of newer games with a reasonable amount of time to play them and get the full experience of the game
• First Impressions
• reviews of recent and new releases after playing for a short period of time
• Retro Reviews
• reviews of older games at the recommendation of commenters mixed with some of my personal favorites (I'll try not to go too far back with these though)
• Looking Forward
• my thoughts or impressions of yet to be released games, what I expect from them and what I would like to see in new games
• and possibly a bit of Industry Talk
•  (reserved for interesting topics like the PSN craziness that has happened recently)

As I said, I plan on cycling through these topics as much as possible to get a lot of different content on the blog and try to always have something to write about.

Overall I plan on having this be a fairly fun and light hearted space so if you are looking for scathing reviews this is not the place for it.  I also plan to address the issue of video games as art.  It has been a pretty hot topic for years but not many reviews include an opinion on it.  As I see it all games are art to some extent and all games have art within them but not many, I would argue, can compete with the more developed art forms out there... yet.  So I'll throw out my humble opinion on whether or not each game embodies art or stands as a good argument for the idea that games are artistic.  I will try my best to do this without making it I huge focus of the blog, but I think it is important to talk about just as talking about the potential artistic value of music, movies, or books as compared to their entertainment value.

So that about sums up my little introduction.  I hope if you enjoy what I post here you will follow me and check in regularly.  Share this with people you think might enjoy it, and please comment! Feedback is appreciated!  I won't know if I am giving people what they want unless they tell me.

Thanks for reading!