Loading the Next Checkpoint: Digital Version

Well, I finally did it. After years of desire and ambition and more than a bit of laziness, I've finally put a video on YouTube. How crazy is that? It's pretty damn crazy, that's how crazy.

That's it up there. It's not great -- hell, let's face it: the video is downright boring. I spend the entire time rambling on about who I am and what I'd like to do in the future, all the while fanboying about Bioware and games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It's the equivalent of a wall of text without the academic value. But, content aside, it's what it represents that matters to me.

I've been wanting to record gameplay footage and put it on YouTube for what seems like years. Ask Kait and she'll probably tell you that I've been talking about doing this, in some fashion, since she met me. I've talked about it for so long that, more than once, I've had people physically express their incredulity that I would ever record something and upload it for public viewing. And they were right: I was lazy about it. I'm lazy about a lot of things. And it never got done. And when I actually started to try, I kept double-guessing myself and didn't get any usable material. Oh, sure, there were excuses: the commentary was lame and I stuttered a bunch; the world I generated wasn't cool enough; after a recording session, beginning to end, I discover that the footage didn't actually record. (Okay, that last one might be a bit more legitimate than the rest.)

But in the last week I buckled down and decided, to hell with it: if I really want to do this then I just need to do it. I don't need to worry about it being perfect! I just need to show everyone, including myself, that this was something I was going to do. And last week, after announcing I had usable material to put on YouTube, I got an outpouring of support from all of my friends, new and old. They all told me that, if it was something I felt strongly about, I should pursue it as much as possible.

And so we have the video above. As I say more than once in the video, I don't want to give this whole thing too much sentimentality but, honestly, I feel like it marks a big accomplishment for me, almost a turning point. I'm excited to see where this journey will lead me and I'm eager to get more footage out there. I already have some new footage of another game lined up -- this one has actual editing, I swear! -- and I'm excited to get my hands on Titanfall which is actually released tonight.

There's lots of exciting things on the horizon and I'm eager to share them with you all. Thanks again to all of my friends for all of their support into the beginning of this journey. It's been a rough start but I think things will only get better from here. (And, I promise: for as boring as the video above seems to be, the stuff on the horizon will be infinitely more entertaining.)

Cheers, everyone!