August 26, 2014 by

Welcome to my blog (again)!

Hello there! Bryce here, also known around these parts as Battlestriker123. This is officially my two hundredth blog post on MyIGN – an important achievement for me personally, although others have most certainly surpassed this milestone long before I did. I have noticed, however, that I have never really given a formal introduction to my blog up until this point, and given the opportunity that I have now, I feel it is as good a time as ever to do it.

Firstly, I write (in case you have not yet noticed), every week, almost exclusively about Nintendo. There have been times here and there when I have experimented with other things, but I have learned that my audience particularly enjoys content about Nintendo, and so I have primarily stuck to that. On occasion, I will write about my feelings towards the gaming industry in general, as well as some more personal matters, but I like to keep my blog focused on the company I love most. That is not to say that I am never critical of them, however.

One thing you should know about me is that I am very conscious of organization. In my honest opinion, presentation matters. If a blog post looks messy, people will not read it, if not actively avoid it entirely. Some of these things are obvious – like how my paragraphs break from idea to idea – while others not so much – like how every picture in my blog 425 by 250 pixels. I organize my blog by tags: features, opinion pieces, reviews, impressions, and personal blogs. You can find these tags on the bottom of my posts, and clicking on them will send you to a page where you can browse all of my posts that contain that particular tag.

Over the years, my success has been varied. I was never the most popular blogger here; the rate at which I gain my followers is much slower than that of many other members on MyIGN. That said, I most certainly appreciate the six hundred that I have accumulated over the three years I have been an active member on this site. I would say that it is much more than I would have ever imagined, but in truth I do not really remember what my expectations were when I first began blogging in 2011.

Here is my first blog post. It has remained completely untouched and an embarrassment to what I have been trying to accomplish since then. Admittedly, things started off very slowly on my blog. It was not until almost a year into my blogging career did I break “mainstream” with my post “E3 2012: Before the Show - Massive Wii U Rumor Round-Up (100 rumors in total!),” which was featured on IGN’s front page by then associate editor Audrey Drake (who, by the way, works at Nintendo of America now!). It was only after that and a full year of blogging did I achieve my first one hundred followers.

Things started picking up afterward. In the year that followed, I gained over three hundred more followers. One of my most popular blog posts ever was published during my second year here: “The Unpopular Opinion: Was There Ever a Game You Hated That Everyone Else Loved?” with over 1700 comments. It was, of course, featured on IGN’s front page alongside another blog post “I Hate Brown Games,” both of which helping me achieve the seventh highest blogger score on IGN in February of 2013.

Since then, things have been slumping a little. In the past twelve months, I have only gained an additional one hundred or so more followers. Not that I am complaining of course, as six hundred strong is a rather hefty amount (and one hundred alone is more than most people on this site), but it does make me wonder sometimes how MyIGN has changed over the years. Perhaps it is also because Nintendo themselves have been slumping for the past year or so as well, so it may just be a natural cause of events.

At some point, I do wonder when this will all end, when I finally give up blogging and let my legacy go. Some people have asked me why I continue to put in so much work in my blogs even after so many years; I do wonder if anyone else here has actively blogged for as long as I have in these past three years. But I do keep writing for several reasons, all of which culminate into an innate desire of mine to share what I love.

Writing, of course, has helped me improve my literacy in the English language. Growing up in an immigrant household, my only access to English was through the classroom, which was already limited by the fact that I was a naturally shy person. I have always enjoyed writing, so blogging became an extension of that passion, and through that I was able to become a better writer, allowing me to excel in my writing courses both in high school and college. My vocabulary still is not as broad as I would have hoped, but I would be lying if I said I did not see a definite improvement.

And so perhaps this is why I continue to write, because I love doing it. But what are some of my most popular pieces? Perhaps you may be stumbling upon my blog for the first time and want to see the gist of what I write about here on MyIGN? Well lucky for you, I have compiled a list of some of my most popular, features, opinion pieces, reviews, impressions, and personal blogs below! Even if you have been following me all this time, it is still pretty fun to go through some of the comment sections to see who used to be active and who have left this site entirely.

Most Popular Features

The Unpopular Opinion: Was There Ever a Game You Hated That Everyone Else Loved?

E3 2012: Before the Show - Massive Wii U Rumor Round-Up (100 rumors in total!)

What’s Your Comfort Game?

Most Popular Opinion Pieces

I Hate Brown Games

How much Mario is too much Mario?

Should Sex Be Allowed in Video Games?

Most Popular Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Skward Sword Review

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Review

Xenoblade Chronicles Review (100% Spoiler-Free!)

Most Popular Impressions

Impressions: Bravely Default

Impressions: Hands-On with Game & Wario – Ski and Arrow

Early Impressions: GBA Ambassador Games

Most Popular Personal Blogs

Personal Blog #8: I'm 18 Now, and Here's My Gamer Story

Personal Blog #13: Hey Now, I’m An All-Star!

Personal Blog #10: I'm Going To College! (Also: 500 Followers!)

I have also had a hand at a few special features on my blog, including weeklong features and community events.

Week of Wii U

The Summer Sucks! Showcase

MyIGN Collaborative Project: Create a Smash Bros. Character

Battlestriker’s Top 25 Games of All Time

Mario Kart Month

INDIES: Impressions (on) Nintendo Downloads In (the) eShop

2014 MyIGN Metacritic Prediction League

I hope you all enjoy my quick trip down memory lane, and thank you all for the thousands of comments and great discussions! Of course, I am not quite done with blogging yet, so stay tuned for more thoughts and articles coming you way soon.

~Bryce

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