The Nerd Next Door

The Damsel in Distress, a tale as old as time, a beautiful maiden, a ferocious monster, and the dashing knight in shining armor come to save the day, whether due to a sense of duty or emotional reasons (okay, that take is as old as feudal Europe but you get the point). For a while, it was just sort of the default for female characters, particularly in the early days of film, comics, and video games. But recently (if the 80's counts as recent) there's been a push against that being the default for female characters, new characters like Samus Aran, Ellen Ripley, and Spider-Gwen have all made names for themselves kicking ass and taking names and even previous notorious damsels in distress have been either kicking a lot more ass or are just better written in general. But in turn there has been another type of character, the "action girl" who is built up as a fighter and a warrior but turns out to just be a damsel in distress and utterly helpless in spite of the build...

Ask anyone what the best feeling in a video game is and you'll get a wide variety of answers, the thrill of winning and dominating your foes, the chaos you and a friend can create with a large sandbox, the feeling of discovering a world of lore and fighting their way through it, the terror of having to survive against overwhelming odds. For me though the best feeling in a video game is when the world feels like it could go on forever, that this stretch of world your in is just a small part of something bigger and who knows what lies over the next hill (answer: whatever assets the dev was too busy to delete). The first time I felt this was when I was 5 and got my first gaming console, a Nintendo Gamecube, along with a copy of Super Mario Sunshine . My mind was blown by just how big the world of Isle Delfino was, how you could see other islands in the distance and how you could swim in their direction, I wanted to see those places and go there. Well I was a dumb child who kept re...

 On February 21, 2019, Nintendo of America President Reggie-Fils-Aime announced that he would be stepping down and would be replaced by COO Doug Bowser (yes, Bowser, ya dig?). Reggie served Nintendo since 2003 and became President of NoA in 2006 and was not only the first American in the role but saw Nintendo through it's record high's with the Wii and record lows with the Wii U. His departure has hit many fans hard, which may be astounding, when an exec steps down in most other companies it's usually treated as a "same shit, new day" thing. So what makes Reggie special? What is it about his departure that makes it so heartbreaking compared to other execs? In one statement? Enthusiasm and relatability. When Reggie stepped out for his first E3 in 2004 there was an energy about him, even in his first words "I'm Reggie, I'm about kicking ass, I'm about taking names, and we're about making games."  Reggie's following E3 was spent d...