August 2016 Update: Blogger Recognition Award

New Business

Thank you to everyone reading this. I am constantly moved by your encouragement and readership. It means a lot to me, especially as I pursue my dreams. I wanted to give a quick update before getting to the meat of this post. First of all, I wanted to extend my sincerest gratitude to Miketendo64 and Darkstation for allowing me to write for their sites. I love being able to write video game reviews and share them with others. Miketendo64 remains an excellent source of news, features, reviews, and interviews, and I recommend checking it out for great Nintendo content. I don’t always post the reviews I write for Darkstation here, but I wanted them and everyone to know that I love being an editor for their site. It has been a great opportunity to write professional reviews for a wide range of games. Anyone interested in seeing the reviews I’ve written for games like Downwell, Drawful 2, and God Eater Resurrection can find them here.

I am happy to announce that I’ve also been writing for an anime news site for some time now and will be for a while. I won’t say much more, but anime fans may be familiar with the site. Regardless, I am very excited about this special opportunity, especially with regards to my passions and dreams. Although this takes up quite a bit of the time I previously allotted to blogging, I will keep writing here. During the busier time, I will probably be writing with a little less frequency than my previous weekly schedule (most likely biweekly). This actually works out better since I prefer quality than quantity, and putting in the time to make great articles for you to read. That said, when I am less busy and can devote more time to gaming reviews, I will do my best to post them with more frequency. Also, I know that there are a number of you who have made specific review requests. I apologize but it will likely take more time than I originally intended because of these new developments. When I do return to requests, I will get to yours first!

The last few months have been nothing short of fantastic! I was able to cover the brand new The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for E3, meet one of childhood heroes Charles Martinet (voice of Super Mario), and write about one of my most unique and special gaming experiences, Pokémon GO. I am far from done and am excited to share more video game reviews starting next week!

Thank you for reading my update! If you would like to further support me, please “like” my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MrPanda2002/ and follow me on Twitter at @MrPanda2002. Any and all support is always appreciated!

Blogger Recognition Award

I’d like to give a huge thank you to The Well-Red Mage, Retr0pia75, Luvva, and TheManCalledScott for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition Award. The Well-Red Mage (and the rest of the mage team) runs an excellent site full of quality gaming news and reviews. Most recently, the team took on the 31-Day Mage Challenge, in which the mages answered questions about video games, generating entertaining discussion. They’re great sources of knowledge, and The Well-Red Mage has been very supportive of me since I started, which means a lot and has gone a long way.

Retr0pia75 runs an excellent site featuring some of the best reviews of obscure games. It’s impressive to see so many forgotten games make a comeback through this site. Some great regular features include Retr0spectives, offering informative timelines of video game companies’ histories, and System Smack-Downs, in which Retr0pia75 compares a game or license among different console iterations. They’re quite entertaining reads!

Luvva of mrluvvaluvva has been an excellent support, promoting and helping me out when I was just starting. His video game-related musings are all honest and entertaining. He also supports those he believes, whether sharing videos of speedrunners or highlighting blog posts in his weekly MrLuvva’s Luv-In posts. Overall, he’s a great guy!

Finally, TheManCalledScott of The Wizard Dojo is an excellent reviewer, covering both the good and the bad of gaming history. It’s admirable how he seeks out some of these bad games, and the reviews always turn out great. Most recently, he has been covering Pixar movies for Pixar Month, including a review of Finding Dory!

Without further ado, here is how the Blogger Recognition Award works.

• Thank the blogger that nominated you.
• Attach the award to the post.
• Give a brief story of how your blog started.
• Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.
• Select 5 other bloggers you want to give the award to.

Blog Beginnings

I actually shared this in my June 2016 Update, but I’d love to share a brief version of it again here. As people who know me very well (and probably anyone who reads this) can attest, I am a huge fan of video games, especially Nintendo titles. The one thing I almost love more than video games is talking about them. I decided that I wanted to write about video games and set up a page to keep a collection of my writing that I could also share to others. Writing video game reviews has been a great way for me to compose my thoughts and inform others about the merits and demerits of games that I’ve been playing. Being able to share information about a game fills me with joy, and engaging in related discussion with you in the comments has been just as rewarding. I have dreams related to the games industry, and everyone’s support and encouragement have consistently made me feel like I am making meaningful steps towards achieving my dreams.

Advice for Bloggers

Remember that the blogosphere is a huge place. As you write up your own wonderful blog posts, don’t forget to check out others’, especially those who are writing about similar topics! You can make new acquaintances, find good gaming buddies, and gain more followers. Reach out to other bloggers, whether old or new. You’d be surprised how many people just want to know that someone has read their posts. Support, encourage, and promote each other because we all go through tough times. We’re all in this together!

Finally, love what you’re doing. Life gets stressful, but if you find that blogging doesn’t help or is actually something you dread, take a break. Use that time to unwind, focus on your life duties, and remember why you write. Hopefully, you will be refreshed upon returning and have the will to keep blogging. Don’t worry. We’ll be here when you return!

Nominations

The following are people who have previously nominated me for the Liebster Award. I responded to their questions but never got a chance to properly thank them on my site. Here is my opportunity to finally do that!

• Cary of Recollections of Play – Great blogger with an excellent Play or Pass series for evaluating video games.
• Chris Hodges of The Chi-Scroller – Excellent video game site with thought-provoking articles, well-crafted quizzes, and fun interactive polls.
• Benez256 of I ❤ Old Games! – Wonderful blogger who not only chronicles old games, but does so in a non-native tongue. Truly admirable!
• Matthew Stuber of Masters of the Fist – Filled with awesome video game news, insights, and articles!
• hungrygoriya of hungrygoriya – Impressive blog with numerous posts about an underrated hobby, retro game hunting. Fun reads for any gaming fan!

Thank you five for your Liebster Award Nominations! I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy your newest award nomination!

The Entertaining Blogger Award

I also wanted to offer a huge thank you to The Shameful Narcissist for nominating me for The Entertaining Blogger Award (I know it’s called The Entertainer Blogger Award, but that confuses me!). She is a terrific writer who recently penned an extensive Final Fantasy VII story entitled Northern Lights. She’s a wonderful person, so check out her writing!

I’ll try to keep the rest of this short, but here are the rules of this award:

The Rules of The Entertainer Blogger Award:

• Write a post including the award picture.
• Nominate 12 other bloggers who are funny, inspiring, and most importantly ENTERTAINING!
• Add these rules to the post.
• Thank the person who nominated you and leave a link to their blog!
• Also, answer the questions down below.

1. Why did you start to blog in the first place?

I answered this earlier, but please feel free to check out my June 2016 Update for a longer explanation.

2. What is your favorite book?

I enjoy the Harry Potter series.

3. What do you dislike the most?

There are things I dislike, and trying to pick something I most dislike would be difficult. At the moment, it makes me sad to see when things are not accessible to people for whatever reason. I won’t go into much detail, but I think that we should be aware of others’ needs.

4. What’s your favorite food item from the mall?

I like cinnamon foods, like Cinnabon or cinnamon pretzels!

5. What is your favorite past time activity?

This one is easy for me: video games and anime! It’s not a coincidence that those are the two subjects I write about!

Nominations

I’ve nominated a bunch of people in this post already, so I’ll try to keep it brief to some bloggers I follow who I don’t think have gotten this award yet. Please feel free to do what you wish with the award nomination and know that I think you’re doing a great job!

• pokeninja90 of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero  – Representing more of my anime fan’s side, pokeninja90 does an excellent job covering visual novel/otome games, as well as providing quality anime-related posts, including tackling the 30-Day Anime Challenge!
• Kuribo of NintendoFigures – It should be no surprise that I love amiibo. Kuribo does a fantastic job providing regular reviews of amiibo, World of Nintendo figurines, and other fun Nintendo collectibles!
• Matt of Nintendobound –  An excellent video game reviewer with a great rating system! He also writes great pieces on his favorite music albums from each month!
• Kris P and Rachel of Double Jump – These sisters are spectacular writers who also regularly update their site with video game features including favorites lists, gaming conversations, and interesting game stories! They’re very entertaining!
• Yvonne/YvoCaro of A Lady and Gaming Plus – I enjoy reading her take on a variety of games, some of which go missed by many gamers. She has quality reviews, features, and a great outlook on life!
• The Gaming Bear of The Gaming Bear – He is not an actual bear, but he plays and writes about video games. He articles are on a wide range of game-related topics, and they’re all entertaining and well-informed! Check out his weekly bites!

Thank You!

Congratulations again to everyone, and a big thanks to everyone who has ever supported me! It means a lot to me, and I’m grateful for people like you!