Introduction – Digi-Dive!

Blog Review – DigiFish Game Reviews

For my first blog review assignment, I decided to go local with my blog of choice, so let’s dive into DigiFish Game Reviews!

Run by fellow Texas State student Cole Nguyen, DigiFish is a blog idea that caught my eye under the class #FDOM20 hashtag on twitter. DigiFish prides itself on being the best blog around for video games reviews, but they are certainly not your typical pieces of criticism. They solely focus on one simple concept: fishing mechanics in different types of game! From Stardew Valley to NieR: Automata (which I didn’t even know had a fishing mechanic), this blog analyzes the intricate fishing mechanics on a set of criteria set by Nguyen himself, and then is given an overall score out of 10. However, now it’s time for the reviewer to be the reviewed.

DigiFish’s overall aesthetic is adorably and rather appropriately fish-themed, and while there are not many blog posts at the moment to read, they’re still super engaging and wholesome as far as reviews go. They’ve already done one over one of my personal favorite games, Stardew Valley, and even gave it a pretty sizable score! I admire how much effort he seems to have put in with the graphics in his articles, and in the Stardew one in particular. There are small gifs showing the fishing process in the game from start to finish, and it’s very well put together. Now granted I’ve already played Stardew Valley for many, many hours, but I’m sure if someone hadn’t played this before and came across this article, the mechanics would still be easy to understand in Nguyen’s writing.

In his intro blog post, Nguyen explains his choice to make a blog solely about video game fishing mechanics:

“I decided to start a blog about these two things because I personally have not seen anything like this. These two hobbies seem vastly different and some people may say that any fishing mini-game is boring, but for some reason I love them!”
Cole Nguyen of DigiFish Game Reviews

Overall, the only criticism I would have of this blog is the lack of content! Although I do understand how this quarantine has thrown everyone (including myself) for an odd and horrifying loop as we all try to find normalcy in our current circumstances. However, I do know he has a copy of the latest Animal Crossing game, so I can only hope he does a review on its fishing mechanics soon.

For now you can keep up with his blog and himself on twitter @ColeDNguyen below, and keep an eye out for a possible blog review from him of yours truly. Feel free to send him game recommendations with fishing mechanics to review as well!

https://twitter.com/ColeDNguyen

Welcome to your Video Game Journey!

Hello there! My name is Harper Kenny, I’m 20 years old, a junior at Texas State University, and of course, I love video games! This blog is a part of my Digital Media class (along with my other social media, which I’ll link here and here), and I’ll be managing and posting to it for the rest of the semester. I’m going to make this blog about the wonderful world that video games have to offer, since it’s always been a life-long interest of mine.

As a little ice-breaker, here are some cool gaming facts about me:

My favorite genre of video games are probably life sim games (like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing) or RPGs (aka role playing games, like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon or Earthbound)!
I proudly have over 200+ hours of gameplay in Stardew Valley.
I mainly play on Nintendo consoles, since I don’t have a TV or a console like an X-Box or Playstation (broke college kids, am I right?).
My guilty pleasure for gaming would be that I like to play the occasional dating sim, even if the concept is silly like Dream Daddy (where you date hot single dads) or Hatoful Boyfriend (where you…date birds), both of which are great sims with amazing stories, by the way.

I’ve been really passionate about video games ever since I watched my siblings play Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask on our family’s old Nintendo 64. I like to keep up with the latest gaming news and trends, even if I don’t even own the hardware or software to play on. I’ve also watched a good amount of super goofy video game related videos to know there’s so much creativity in the world of video game blogging and news coverage to be tapped into.

So, what kind of stuff will I post to this blog? Well…

I would love to have some fun Top 10 articles pertaining to games, such as the best Nintendo franchises, video game soundtracks, or even the cutest female video game characters!
Definitely some recommendations and heart felt reviews on how games have shaped me with the important lessons I’ve learned from them. Video games aren’t all just hot anime girls and blowing stuff up with big guns.
Indie game highlights!!! Indie games are just as important to me as big hit titles, and I would argue a good bunch that I’ve played in the past have a lot more heart and story behind most mainstream games. Plus, I’ve always had a soft spot for smaller creators in any field, and the video game world is no exception.
Tips and tricks with certain game modes or challenges, like Pokemon Nuzlockes or Master Mode in Legend of Zelda.
And many more!

I’m really excited to be starting this blog for my class, as it finally gives me an outlet to be my big nerdy self, be passionate about video games, and even help with my grades. As far as an audience, I’d hope that other video game lovers, mainly those around my age range, can come together on my blog and just show an appreciation for this fantastic industry and how it’s changed our lives. And as far as what can come from this, who knows? Maybe this could land me a job at companies like IGN or Polygon as a writer someday, but until then, I hope you enjoy the content to come!

Now let go forth, and let the adventure begin!