Herald of Darkness & Creative Joy (video)
So I just played a video game (Alan Wake 2) about a writer who is stuck in a nightmare-ish alternate dimension. I loved so much about the game (it doesn’t hurt that I’m also a writer who is stuck). BUT… it’s a horror/suspense game that most of my writer friends aren’t going to play. So, in this video, I thought I’d tell you (in a non-horror-y way) about one chapter in this video game that I found particularly fabulous, and how it connects to one of my approaches to creative projects.
Do It in Your Own Awkward Messy Way: Tears of the Kingdom Review (video)
So I got obsessed with yet another video game. 🕹️ This time it’s Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a hell of a game—maybe the best game I’ve ever played—and this video is about how it has affected my creative mindset. (I mean, I needed some excuse to connect video gaming with my novel writing!) Also, you get to see some of the awful failed vehicles that I attempted to create in the game… 🚀💥
a novelist acts like he’s the first person to discover video games (video)
❤️ aka: my fascination with narrative-driven games ❤️️
OK. I know I’ve been talking about video games a lot lately. 🕹️😱 It’s been a point of fascination and obsession the past few years. But I thought I’d take this opportunity while HBO’s The Last of Us is on the air (a great show based on a great video game) to dig into my history with video games (including my secret obsession for Dance Dance Revolution and the time I broke my hand playing VR!). In this video, I talk about why I love video games so damn much and how it inspires me while writing a novel. ✍️👾
where yuvi talks about the video games he played in 2022
(CONTENT WARNING: This post is about video games. And it also involves a lot of parentheticals!) (Like, A LOT!) 🫠🕹️😵💫
So among other activities this year (like publishing a novel and blogging and YouTube and migraines), this was the year where I went more deeply into video games (and ventured outside of the Nintendo Switch). Specifically, I got an Xbox Series S (i.e. the cheapest of the new generation of consoles) and Xbox Game Pass (i.e. sorta like Netflix for gaming). During nights when I was too angst-ridden to sleep or get stuff done (i.e. A LOT), I played games. When looking at the list, it's a little bit alarming how many games I played! (How the hell did I have time for all these damn games when I didn't have time to clean my room!?) 🕹️
Arthur Morgan and the Hero’s Journey (video)
I forget, who was asking me to make a FORTY-MINUTE VIDEO about how the hero's journey storytelling structure works in a 2018 video game called Red Dead Redemption 2? Oh, no one? Well, shit. My bad, because I spent a TON of hours working on this damn video. I've tried to make it accessible to non-gamers who are curious about storytelling in a modern video game (a game that happens to have an amazing narrative).
non-gamer becomes gamer and then tries to explain games to non-gamers (video)
So I've gotten into playing video games. Nothing too hardcore — I mean, I haven't lost my day job and I'm still successfully married and I'm not all that good at the games I play. But I love playing games on my Nintendo Switch. And I want to talk through the delight I've felt from playing some of my favorite games in my favorite genres… This is coming from someone who previously looked down on gaming as a waste of time. Well, to hell with that. Playing a great video game has been an unexpected joy in my life these past few years… at a time when there have been a lot of not-too-damn-joyful things going on. So, yeah, here's the video where I try to explain that in more detail with some game footage. (Sorry about the video footage of me in the shower… At least it's censored!)
Breath of the Wild Game Review (video)
I don't know about you but in the middle of all the heavy stuff going on in the world, I've needed to make a little time and space just to escape. I'm reading and watching more fantasy and sci-fi. But my obsession this month is all about a video game: Breath of the Wild. I haven't been a gamer in about 30 years (!!!) but I got hooked into this world. So much so that I now have trouble telling anecdotes in real life without mentioning my exploration in the land of Hyrule. To rationalize all the time that I've wasted this month, I made a video about my obsession with this game...