Hey Interwebs! It has been a long time since I've posted (seems to be a pattern). I have two main reasons for checking in. First, I'm sorry to have neglected the blog for so long. Between Real Life (ick), Work (double ick), my new hobbies of Warmachine and Twitch (more on this later), moving, and all sorts of other stuff, I haven't really had the time to update things.

Second and more importantly, I'd like to discuss a little thing a friend of mine got me into a little thing called Twitch. For the 5 of you still living under the rock, Twitch is a way to broadcast your games in a fashion similar to (and exportable to!) Youtube. With the proper equipment, you can send yourself playing games over the web, and interact with people as they watch you. I know I'm over simplifying things, but I'm sure you know most of it by now...or could just take a look for yourself (twitch.tv).

So right now, all of my game systems are hooked up into a video capture device and whenever I feel the need to play a game, I hit a little broadcast button on my PC and send my game over the series of tubes to your homes. It is really quite simple once everything is setup, but knowing how to set things up can be a little daunting. Fortunately, the Intertubes are full of info on how to do it!

I've been doing this for around 6 weeks now, and figured it would be time to write something about the experience. First off, let me say that i am not the social media butterfly. I JUST started on Twitter (mainly to support Twitch), and I barely keep up with message boards (because they are generally blocked at work). That said, I think I have been doing pretty well for myself. So far, I have 19 total followers, many of which are friends in RL. A few are not, however, and that is the truly interesting part! People have randomly stumbled onto my streams of KOF '95, Mister Mosquito, and Dark Souls, and said "Wow, this guy doesn't totally suck!" Even more odd...people keep coming back.

With the large amount of entertainment available everywhere else, there are still people in this world who think I am interesting enough to hang out with for a bit while I try and beat Eggs of Steel. Just as mindbogglingly crazy, I've made friends...not just viewers.

Most importantly, (at least I think so anyway) is the fact that I get to spend some quality time with parts of my collection that I otherwise would not have grabbed, and with friends and family members who I usually wouldn't sit down to games with. I beat Dark souls on my stream, a game I figured I'd never have even come close to finishing. I played Nintendo with my special needs brother and cousin. I kicked ass on the bug toss in Lion King. My family piles into my room to play Quiplash with family in another state over the channel Monday nights! I got attacked by a Wasp in the basement....and all of it is recorded!

I now have a catalog of glitches and special moments that I can look back on like a gaming scrapbook. It's been pretty cool to see myself evolve in skill (presentation and games) even just over the course of the the month. Even more special is the fact that I probably wouldn't be playing half as much if I didn't start streaming my games, both with and without the family.

I hope to keep it up and see what the next few months can bring along. Hopefully, I'll also be streaming more of our Community Playthrough games too (Dark Souls 3 may push Y's off the gaming shelf though....). I highly encourage anyone interested to just take the plunge and go for it. It's a blast, even if it seems slow at first. Just find a game you want to play and eventually people will come watch.

Speaking of which, if you ever want to hang out and see what I mean, you can find me at Twitch.tv/neomagicwarrior every Monday through Wednsday and most Thursdays from at least 7 till 9pm EST. Come hang out, as I always enjoy the company! Till next time (which I hope to be sooner than this)!

Edit: having trouble embedding the videos in the post right now....hang tight! or check out youtube.com/moustacheman90 to see them now!

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