brichibiwritesthings:

*incoherent noises* How sexy are these guys? I commissioned the lovely ladies of Grave Impressions to do art of Lukis and Aaron, the men of my short story, “Press START to Play.” I wanted to have art that really related to the story so I could have post cards for it at conventions and stuff. I’m planning on doing the same thing for my book, the details are getting worked out right now.

I got a sketch preview today and it’s coming together nicely! Have you read the story yet? You can find it on Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online outlets. I can’t wait to see the finished product! 

Here are links to the story:

Dreamspinner Press is here.

Amazon is here.

Barnes and Noble is here.

*explodes into happiness*

brichibiwritesthings:

Hey everyone, check it out!  My short story has received its first 5 star review!  Have you read the story yet?  If you’re into M/M romance and video games, you definitely should!

By the way, I’m close to 100 followers.  Once the writing blog hits 100 followers, I’ll have an awesome giveaway  :)  How about an eBook copy of my book, “Treat Me Kindly,” is that a good prize or what?  Let’s get the blog to 100!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!

brichibiwritesthings:

Press START to Play: Briana Lawrence: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

Thanks to darlingchristie for letting me know, she found my short story on Amazon!  So you can download it here, too  :)  YAY!!!  This means you can also leave reviews if you read it.  Let’s get this story out there, everyone!

Check it out!

brichibiwritesthings:

Good morning, everyone! Today is the big day! I’m going to post the short story first since that’s all ready to go :) My book should be ready for purchase later, there seems to be some kinks with the publisher’s website at the moment for the new releases. 

So the gay romance story for Dreamspinner Press is “Press START to Play,” also known as, “That one story I forgot to let my mom read.” It’s eBook only, but it looks like there are several different electronic formats for it. Keep in mind that this story is NOT WORKSAFE BY ANY MEANS as it involves geekery, gaming, and sexy times between men. 

There are two ways to read the story:

1. Buy the individual story itself for $3. That’s right, only $3 to get all of the wonderful video game references and romance that you want. 

2. Buy the entire anthology to read over 1500 pages from other talented authors. It is the “Make a Play” sports anthology (yes I wrote about video games for a sports anthology guys) 

Since this is release day I thought I would give you something more than that. How about a snippet from the story? And remember, don’t just buy the story, read it, enjoy it, tell me what you think, and tell others about it. Blog about it, review it, spread it around so that it’s EVERYWHERE! 

Take care, everyone, and I’ll post in a couple of hours about the book :)

***

Lukis takes the controller, watching as the game loads and the animated sequence begins. The graphics are impressive—he guesses. The art style is interesting and themusic is catchy. He’s surprised when he realizes he recognizes some of the characters—various superheroes from the huge movie releases over the summer. There’s Spider-Man, who seems to have recovered from losing his uncle and fighting the giant lizard. Then there’s the Avengers, a team of attractive superheroes run by an angry black guy in an eye patch. “They in a fightin’ game?”

“Yep. It’s a combination of heroes and video-game characters. Figured you’d at least know who some of these guys are. Everyone does.”

Lukis frowns. “Where’s Batman?”

“Batman’s not in this. He’s DC, this is Marvel.”

“But Batman is cool. You said heroes, he should be here.”

Aaron laughs. “I ain’t sayin’ he ain’t cool, I’m just lettin’ ya know that he ain’t in this game. Marvel and DC are two different comic book companies. You know, it’d be like if our home football team and the rival team were in a game.”

“They are. It’s called Madden.” 

***

It’s easy to tell how much fun I had with this, huh?  

And just a message in advance, thank you everyone for your support.  I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.  And as I said, don’t just buy it, read it, enjoy it, chat with me about it, tell your friends, talk about it with your friends, I want this story to get big.  Review it, blog about it, tell me places to go where I should have people review it, draw fanart for it, just anything you can think of.  As fun as it was to write it, I do actually have an important message in it that means a lot to me: stop assuming that geeks are just a waste of space.  Just because we like video games, or anime, or whatever it is that we’re into doesn’t mean that we’re these losers with no lives.  Also, and this is a big one, BLACK GEEKS EXIST!  Stop being surprised about it.  I made my characters black on purpose.  I made the geeky gamer black because for some reason, I swear, people are still surprised when we play something other than like football or basketball or warshooter warfare shooter shooting.

So yeah, enjoy this piece by me  :)  $3 worth of entertainment, I promise you ^^ 

All right guys.  Today is the day, as Aqualad says in Young Justice.  This is the short story, the book will be posted later once the link starts working :)  Until then, enjoy this thing I wrote about a gaming skeptic falling for a gaming geek.  And remember: Batman is cool, he’s just not Marvel.  And please, please tell other people about this, encourage them to read it too, and most definitely encourage them to talk to me about it (and you guys, talk to me about the story too!  Tell me what you think ^^)  $3 gets you an entertaining story where I snuck all sorts of geeky nods into a wide publication, from the snippet, to Street Fighter, even Persona 4 Arena makes it in.  I went all out and I had a blast, so I want you all to enjoy it, too  :)

angelfire93:

Alright, if you’re a consumer and you’re considering picking up the new Xbox One console, then please, take a moment to listen to me. Before we begin, no, I am not a fanboy or a hater. I have no console Bias. I have a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and a Gaming PC. Each has their pros and cons but now onto business.

DO NOT BUY AN XBOX ONE. Why? See the reasons below:

Xbox Requires an internet connection. Here’s how it works: Every 24 hours your Xbox will try to connect to Microsoft’s servers for verification. If it is unable to connect, sucks to be you. You’re blocked from playing even single player games until it can connect.

Source: http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109

Do you like renting games, lending them to a friend, or even borrowing them from a friend? No longer possible. Every Xbox One game you get must be registered to your Xbox live account to be played. After that point it will only work for you. No one else can use it unless they pay a fee. Essentially it works like this. You pick up a used Xbox One game from somewhere or someone, pop it into your console. The system verifies it’s been registered to your account. Uh-oh, it isn’t! In order to play it, you have to pay Microsoft a fee, which is currently slated to be full retail price. Doesn’t matter how scratched up it is or how cheap you got it at gamestop or from a friend. You aren’t just buying the physical copies anymore. You’re paying Microsoft for a LICENSE to be allowed to play that game.

It is worth mentioning Microsoft is exploring ways for you to trade in and resell your used games. This is rumored to mean that you can sell your digital license to play the game (registration) back to microsoft, likely for microsoft points. You can then trade in the game at gamespot for some cash if you like. Either way, as it currently stands, the new owner would still have to pay a fee on top of the price of actually buying the physical copy.

Source: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-fee-for-buying-used-games-full-retail-price/

Is it worth mentioning that Microsoft if shafting Indie Developers as well? Where as on Playstation Network or (whatever the Wii has) Indie Developers can self publish their content easily. Playstation even encourages this. Microsoft however forces these Indie Devs to enter publishing deals with them to be allowed to market their content. You don’t go through them, you don’t get to sell what you developed.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/indie-devs-cant-self-publish-on-xbox-one

I’m not quite done yet! Now, I’m sure you heard a lot about “TV TV TV TV SPORTS TV TV SPORTS SPORTS TV.” Yes, the Xbox is slated to be able to stream live tv, live sports, etc. So let me ask you this. You obviously already have something like cable or DirecTV. Do you really want to shell out hundreds of dollars more and pay a monthly subscription fee to have another television provider? Yes, I said hundreds of dollars, and I don’t mean the cost of the console. To view live TV from the Xbox you are required to purchase ANOTHER separate device for it to work. Why would you even consider shelling out more money for something you already have anyway? Even if you didn’t, DirecTV is cheaper. Or you could even subscribe you Hulu.com and watch live tv on your computer. FOR MUCH CHEAPER. You essentially have to buy another cable box if you don’t have one. And if you do… what do you need the Xbox One for?

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-live-tv-available-in-us-only-at-launch-requires-separate-device/

So far we’ve discovered that the Xbox One is not really a gaming console, at least… not a consumer friendly gaming console. It’s being marketed as an all-in-one home entertainment system. Something to replace all of the other devices in your house. But there are drawbacks even to that. Put on your tin foil hats for this part folks. Take from it what you will, all I’ll say is… possibilities…

The Xbox One’s features will not function unless the Kinect is plugged in and active. This is not an optional piece anymore.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/xbox-one-will-not-function-without-kinect-attached

So imagine your Kinect piece breaks? Tough luck, no more Xbox for you. But you know what’s worse?

Pay attention, because this is important. The Kinect is always watching. Always listening. Even when the system is off.

Yes. One of the ways to turn the system on is to audibly say: “Xbox On” while the system is off. The Kinect, which is always on, hears you and turns it on. Now this might seem like a cool feature, but did you know Microsoft patented a feature that would allow the Kinect’s camera (It’s no longer just a sensor, but a camera) to spy on you for the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America?) While they may not actually do this, it is actually possible for them to do this now. It has a camera, and a microphone. The Kinect is always on. It is ALWAYS listening, ALWAYS watching.

An idea has been tossed around that by using this feature, it will allows game developers and movie produces to set a limited amount of how many people can be allowed to view the entertainment. So as a hypothetical example, you and three friends are watching a movie, which is the maximum allowed. A fourth friend enters the room and the Kinect’s sensor registers the fourth individual. The movie stops and you a prompted to pay a fee so that the extra individual may also view the film. Again, that is NOT currently the case, but these are the ideas currently being tossed around with the system’s current capabilities.

Source for listening: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352596/the-xbox-one-is-always-listening

Source of spying: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/139706-microsofts-new-kinect-patent-goes-big-brother-will-spy-on-you-for-the-mpaa

Now, just two more things and I’ll be done here!

This isn’t really a good or bad thing, but it’s annoying. It also explains how they can prevent you from playing a used game if you didn’t pay their fee. Xbox one no longer plays games off the discs, you HAVE to install them to the hard-drive in order to play them. I believe PS3 also has you do this (on a number of games but not always it seems), except that PS3 isn’t trying to Nickle and Dime you at every corner. It also seems according to this article there is something related to the Online portion at the beginning of this post. The option is there for Developers to require the Xbox to always be online to play their particular game. Well, it seems PC gamers and console gamers have one thing in common now… DRM.

(At least pirates on PC can bypass DRM easily. Not an option for Consoles.)

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352314/xbox-one-hard-drive-game-installs

And last but not least, another annoyance… Xbox One will not be compatible with any and all current headsets. Nope, companies will either have to make new headsets altogether specifically for the Xbox One, and they have to adhere to what Microsoft wants. Look forward to price gouging.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/xbox-one-incompatible-with-current-gaming-headsets

Oh, one more thing… If you have an Xbox 360, don’t get rid of it. Why? Well if you want to keep playing your old 360 games you’ll need it. The Xbox One isn’t backwards compatible. At all. Not only that, but President of Microsoft’s Xbox Division Don Mattrick insults the very notion of backwards compatibility! He calls it: “Backwards thinking.”

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350662/new-xbox-has-no-backwards-compatibilty

Source of insult: http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/22/4355984/xbox-one-backward-compatibility-backwards-thinking-don-mattrick


That is all I have to say currently folks, and I hope you took the time to read this far. I’ll conclude with the following… please… PLEASE do not buy this console. Paying for this supports greedy and anti-consumer business practices. Speak with your wallet, and pass up the Xbox One. No matter what games it might have that you want, even if they are exclusive. Do the right thing and make a statement. Refuse to be nickle and dimed like this. Refuse to be seen as a mindless consumer who will buy anything tossed to them.

We won’t know much else until after E3, but as it stands now, the PS4 or a decent gaming PC is the best way to go.

If you are willing to do so, please spread this post around. Liking is not even remotely necessary, but do please share it if you agree with and acknowledge what you’ve read here. The more people know, the fewer of them waste their money.

Thank you, kindly.

~Dylan Jordan

(Originally posted on Facebook by one of my friends. He brings up many valid points. Mind you, I haven’t been a fan of Xbox in a long time and I will most likely get a PS4. But this confirms further for me that I won’t be getting an Xbox one any time in the foreseeable future.) 

All of this from one conference before a single game was even mentioned… besides Call of Duty.  Remember when game console conferences talked about… um… GAMES!  I have all of the systems too currently and they have their good sides and bad sides, but this?  This just… there’s no reason to even be excited, even if they did start announcing games I want.  There’s too many “what if” factors that make me hesitant.  What if my internet goes out?  What if my Kinect stops working?  What if I just want to try a game so I borrow it from a friend?  So like, what, that means I have to go to their house and play or they bring their system over to my place or… what?  What if I don’t want XBOX Live?  I don’t have it right now, because I don’t play online much, so… does that mean I can’t even play my XBOX?  

This is kinda hypocritical to me.  I mean, the Kinect is for what… family friendly casual gamers, right?  Would they really care about online?  Well now I guess they have to?  And wow, I can use it like a T.V…. but I have to buy a separate device for that?  Or I could, you know, keep the Hulu and Netflix I have already.  Hulu is what… $7 a month?  I’m really going to get rid of that for the XBOX One.  Even Amazon has streaming video!  

And let’s talk about backwards compatibility.  You might think it’s “backwards thinking,” but do you know how easy it is to get a new system if I know my old games will work?  It takes a long time for new systems to get a good game library.  You know why it was easy for me to get the 3DS even if it took like a year for it to take off?  Because my old DS games worked on it!  So I could get rid of my old DS, put it towards the new one, and wait patiently for it to get a good library.  Same with the Wii.  It played my GameCube games so, hell, why not get the better system?  You can say the same about the Wii U, which even has the decency to use your old accessories.  

You think they’d know that since the 360 does play XBOX games.  You think they’d know that from the number of people who complained about the PS3 not being backwards.  If for nothing else, we’ll at least be entertained until the games take off.  

We don’t want an “entertainment system” to provide us with cable T.V.  We want a game system.  GAME.  SYSTEM.  I wouldn’t even try to compete with Netflix and Hulu at this rate, I’d just have the apps on the system.  That’s it.  You’re not going to beat $7 a month.  You’re just… not.  Just stick with what you are: a game system.  Try doing what PS3 did, which is release old classics in better graphics (God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Ratchet and Clank) AND release new games (Uncharted, Little Big Planet, Infamous).  Hell, Nintendo hasn’t made a new character in ages, and as much as we complain you know as soon as they say “Legend of Zelda in HD” we’re all going to throw our money at them.  Because.  It’s.  A.  Good.  Game.  

GAME!

brichibiwritesthings:

So I’ve been trying to get something in a Dreamspinner Anthology for a while.  Last year, nothing made it, but this year I saw that they were doing a sports anthology.  I thought, “I’m gonna write about video games,” because… I’m a geek.

And holy shit it worked.

So I’m reposting this because it comes out in a month and my video game short story will be in it!  It’s a tale of gay romance, video game stereotypes and the people who happily turn them upside down.  It’s got all sorts of fun video game references, because video gaming is a sport, right?  You can either get the entire anthology, or buy the stories individually in June.  Mine is called “Press START to Play.”

Below is a story description and a small snippet where I make mention of my obsession a game series I like  ^^

Description:  Lukis Singleton’s once-popular sports column is fading fast, thanks to the terrible track record of the local football team.  In an attempt to save the column, Lukis’s editor, John, decides that he needs to go in a different direction.  Video games are all the rage these days, so John insists that sending Lukis to a huge video-game tournament in Los Angeles will shake up his current readers and bring in new ones.  Lukis isn’t thrilled about reporting of games with impossible powers or gamers who still live in Mon’s basement, but then he meets a tempting flaw in the game stereotypes of unwashed man-children.  Aaron Sanders is a gorgeous breath of fresh air at the tournament who takes Lukis’s less-than-stellar view of gamers and turns it on its head, leaving Lukis to wonder if if might be worth being Aaron’s player two.

Snippet:

Lukis wonders, as he watches the intro video, why high school students are even allowed to fight with swords and strange monsters that they can summon. Don’t they have parents? And since when can bears talk, fight, and smoke cigars? Was that a robot just now? With an axe?

“Told ya it was completely different,” Aaron says, picking some kid who uses a gun and has some sort of fly as a monster friend.

It’s still exciting to watch, he thinks. Aaron’s character is fighting against some tall, buff guy who uses a folding chair as a weapon, it makes no sense at all; who brings a chair to a gunfight?

***

Yes I made a kannao reference in something I’m getting published.  I realize I have a problem.  No I do not wish to seek help thanks though.

In which my OTP makes an appearance in my original writing.  Yeah.  

simongannoncollection:

whoa

Here we have an ancient artifact…

So I finally got to play Injustice after Detour, and man, what a fun game that is.  But I want to ramble about the story mode for various reasons, mostly good, a few bad.  

Behind the cut for spoilers.

Keep reading

brichibiwritesthings:

Hey everyone, check it out!  This is for the short story I wrote in Dreamspinner Press’ upcoming sports anthology.  It’ll go on pre-sale next week, so I’ve been given permission to share the cover image and the story blurb.

Lukis Singleton’s once-popular sports column is fading fast, thanks to the terrible track record of the local football team. In an attempt to save the column, Lukis’s editor, John, decides he needs to go in a different direction. Video games are all the rage these days, so John insists that sending Lukis to a huge video-game tournament in Los Angeles will shake up his current readers and bring in new ones. Lukis isn’t thrilled about reporting on games with impossible powers or gamers who still live in Mom’s basement, but then he meets a tempting flaw in the gaming stereotypes of unwashed man-children. Aaron Sanders is a gorgeous breath of fresh air at the tournament who takes Lukis’s less-than-stellar view of gamers and turns it on its head, leaving Lukis to wonder if it might be worth being Aaron’s player two.

It was a ton of fun writing this.  There are quite a few geeky nods all throughout the story, from Marvel vs. Capcom, to Street Fighter, and even some Persona 4 Arena.  Fighting games are one of my favorite video game genres, so as soon as I saw “sports theme” I thought “fighting game tournament.”  

Lukis is the naysayer, the “games are stupid” character.  But Aaron is all “games are awesome” and breaks all of Lukis’ stereotypes since he’s attractive and social.  The main point of this story is to show that us gamers aren’t just a bunch of anti-social children who can’t function, who still live with mom, and who waste their lives with a controller in their hand.  There’s so much more to video games, especially in this day and age, and on top of the gay romance is the theme of, “Don’t make assumptions about people because of what they do.  Don’t make assumptions about something until you try it yourself.”

I’ll post a link when the pre-sales start.  Until then, enjoy this snippet  :)

On top of my book “Treat Me Kindly,” there’s a short story coming soon! Remember to follow my writing blog for up-to-date information  :)  And yeah, Persona 4 fans you read that write, there’s a nod to the game in the story along with a bunch of other fighting games  ^^  I just couldn’t hep myself!

dorkly:

Gaming, Then & Now (Part 2)

The Pokemon one though!