I’m getting out the cobwebs, and returning to my life’s work. I started my professional life as a video games journalist, writing for Ziff-Davis media. My main beat was GameNOW magazine, as previews editor, but I also contributed to EGM, 1up, and Official PlayStation Magazine.

It was the best job I ever had. Being Creative Director at SEGA was more prestigious, and working in tech let me earn a lot more money, but at heart, I’ve always been a games journalist first.

And so, I am going back to that. Independent, focused on topics that are important to me.

Progress will be slow. Blogging will be a secondary priority. I still have a job to do, and that has to come first. But I need to reconnect with the part of my career that truly meant the most to me, and that is gaming journalism.

Back when I started, this was a role that many saw as a first rung to something else. I always saw it as an end in itself. But the problem was that the pay was so low, you couldn’t raise a family on it. So, like many of my peers, I exited when my magazine closed down, just as everyone started to get up-to-the-minute updates on the web. I have missed it ever since.

I won’t put this blog under lock and key, but I won’t be promoting it, either. I just want a corner of the internet that’s dedicated to games that don’t hunt whales.

That’s my thing. My mission. My crusade. My cause. My schtick. Focusing on games that do not hunt whales.

If I am doing a write-up on a game that’s a non-whaler – one that’s not trying to squeeze thousands of dollars out of their top spenders – it will be the kind of review you’re used to, focused on the merits of the gameplay, story, etc.

If I’d writing about a whaler, then the entire piece will focus solely on its monetization shenanigans, and how the game could be improved without being set up for whales.

Biased? Yup. But that’s how I need to present things if I’m going to be honest. And what’s the point of doing independent journalism if you can’t speak your mind openly?

I will occasionally doing opinion editorials here, too. I loved doing that stuff, and it’s literally the thing I would do for free, because it’s intrinsically valuable to me.

Eventually, there will be videos. There may even be a podcast. I just completed a first season run of a podcast called “Games as a Podcast”, and I’m eager to do more, and lean into the topics I find most important.

So if you’re watching this space, thanks. There won’t be much to see for a while, but I will be getting up to speed over time.