PixlBit

Hey now, some new questions. Alright, I'll tackle these one by one.

1. I started PixlBit for a number of reasons, mostly selfish. I used to write for Nintendo World Report along with my wife Chessa. It had gotten to the point where we were unbelievably invested, spending a good bit of time working on things for them. Knowing that I had learned everything I needed to know, I figured I'd go and start my own web site where I could not only express and execute my own ideas, but cover games across all systems.

When I started the site, I was in a shit, dead end job that I hated. I hoped it would pull me out of that and make me and my wife totally self reliant. Well, that never really materialized as the site makes a negligible amount of money, so it became more of a fun hobby for a while. These days with all of the growth, I'd say I'm back on the warpath. I'd love to monetize the site and do it full time. It's my love and my passion and if you haven't noticed from the staff (seems you have), they have a love and passion for it too. It would be amazing to make PixlBit a gaming institution and I don't think there's much that can stop me from trying to make it such.

Balancing a family certainly makes it tough, but I'm hoping that things take off and I'm able to dedicate more time to it.

2. We've been tossing around a few ideas for swag - we're probably going to be making some shirts, but a bumper sticker sounds like a great idea too. I'll look into it and let you know - I'd rock one on my car as well :)

3. I enjoy pretty much everything about gaming. It started when I was a kid just enjoying the games, but it didn't take long to realize that I could really connect with other people talking about games and discussing strategy. As the internet came into play, it really opened up the world. It allowed me to learn the culture that was developing, learn the developers that make the game, and get a nice handle on the big picture. Joining the media only pushed all of the further along. I now personally know tons of people in the industry and have even been within arms length of Miyamoto at E3.

I think gaming is one of the most miraculous inventions because it's a completely different medium than any other. It's interactive, so it lends for wildly varying experiences. I think we've finally reached the point where people are beginning to challenge what a game can be and the results are some extremely unique titles that would never exist if the question wasn't asked. I can't wait to see where it goes in the future and I know I'll be there every step of the way. I hope my son is into games, because it would be amazing to share all of this with him (including the more than 1500 games I have amassed).

4. Yeah, we definitely carry some higher standards. Bottom line, I regular member will have a better chance of winning because they actually care about the site. Passer-bys will be considered for sure, but they don't earn the same respect from the staff. We care greatly about all of our readers and I'm of the mindset that building an army of dedicated readers is worth far more than thousands of infrequent one-offs.

As for the staff - I absolutely agree, they do rock. It's hard to find people willing to contribute their time and effort FOR FREE, but even harder to find people of the caliber we have hear. They do so much more than contribute their time, they invest their heart and souls. It literally warms my heart to know that PixlBit makes a real difference in people's lives and has had such an impact on a select few that they are willing to contribute in the capacity they do. It's remarkable to say the least.

Solid list, too bad I own all of these games already. I guess it'll be nice to have them easily accessible on my 3DS?

We each voted for our top 3 in the genre and Dark Souls only placed on 2 people's lists and that was in the 3rd place position. As such, it wasn't really enough to get a mention. I think it's one of those cases where it's been a year rich in RPGs and it's a game easily overlooked when considering your 3 favorites of the year. Disgaea 4 was also omitted for similar reasons.

Truth be told, I was pretty surprised it didn't get a bunch more votes.

I'm pretty sure we don't need a gravity sensor in anything. Do things still fall downward? OK - gravity sensed.

Bioshock 2 and Mario Kart 7. Bioshock 2 is not a great game - not even a good game either. It's a game - a game you can play. Completely devoid of everything that made the first one a great game. It seems to exist because it could, not because it should. That being said, I'll be glad to be done with it in the coming days.

I'm a hardcore Wii owner and I AM starved for quality titles. I've already played anything of note and at this point the release schedule is completely devoid of anything, really. I don't think I'm the only one in this boat and speaking on Jesse's behalf, I'm sure he's right there with me.

I think it's shortsighted to say that Operation Rainfall didn't raise awareness of these titles. It mobilized the entire media and had everyone talking about all of this for weeks. Whether or not Nintendo capitalized on that is debatable, but there's no question that people who didn't know about these now do. RPG fanatics WILL buy these games, because they come from some of the most respected companies in the genre. Monolith is responsible for the rest of Xenosaga and The Last Story is from the FF creator. People want these games, regardless of the consoles they own because they are quality titles from notable folks.

I would say the only gamers who had these on their radar were die hard Nintendo fans, everyone else has been more than busy playing games on their other systems, so these aren't quite as notable because they haven't been picking at scraps for a solid year.

This seems like a mistake. Nintendo should be packing this shit in with something important. Not sure what that is just yet (maybe Kid Icarus), but sending it out to die in one retail outlet shows Nintendo's lack of foresight of what this product could be in the grand scheme of the 3DS lifetime. I'm guessing we have another MotionPlus on our hands.

Oh man, is that what I'm in store for, lots of Bob the Builder? My son is turning 1 next week and right now we've got Qubo on infinite loop. Not that the TV is always on, it rarely is, but when it is, it's Qubo. Alfred the Hedgehog has permeated my brain, as has Jane and the Dragon. Nothing is as heinously bad as Pearlie or Willa's Wild Life though. I digress...

In any event, I kind of want to check out Dark Souls, but I just hated Demon's Souls so much, I don't see it happening. Skyrim will probably come first - if I can ever find the time. Doubtful these days.

I'll be following along with this blog though as I love hearing about this game despite my general lack of desire to really play it!

Wow, two years - that's insane. Pretty cool that they managed to do this without skipping a beat though. As I said before, The Last of Us isn't particularly high on my interest list, but there's no way I'm going to skip it. Naughty Dog has earned that level of respect from me after the stellar Uncharted series.

Aww, what a shame. This one looked pretty cool.