It’s been a little while since I’ve put anything up here. Although I have a lot of stuff half-written and loads of stuff to come. Time is the constant inhibitor, but hopefully in the coming weeks things are going to change a little. Of course, priority is family first, but as some changes in work are coming through, I’m hoping to not be quite so restrained.
With that said, this is post 300, and whilst 300 is a weird milestone, it’s a nice opportunity to reflect a little and look at what I’ll be trying to do over the next few months etc.
Games…..
300 posts of reviews, blogs and even a little bit of news….. There’s no sign of any of that stopping, although any new releases seem to be of less and less interest. I’ve found myself buying and re-playing older games, and honestly, it’s great.
Sure, content around older games isn’t exactly going to drive traffic through the site. But it’s fine, I’d rather just do what I want and enjoy it.
I’m starting Horizon Zero Dawn again, I’m looking at getting the Dishonored games again and I’m about 30 hours into a re-play of Monster Hunter World, whilst also playing Monster Hunter Rise.
There’s a full review of Spider-Man Miles Morales to come shortly, too!
There’s little to change here, although hopefully I can get some more pieces up. I’m dipping back into Breath of the Wild, re-playing Titanfall 2 and just having a great time with great games. Trying to break-into the industry in any way has become so far down the list of reasons to do this, I’m just happy to enjoy my time.
Coffee….
I’ve been really lucky with coffee stuff over the past 12 months, and this is something I’m pushing harder on as we go. The coffee reviews take time, and I’m super nervous about each one. I work hard on them, but it’s a constant learning curve and a total opinion/preference-style review.
There’s a lot to do here, and loads of potential/opportunity. Mixing gaming a coffee is starting to be a popular niche, and I want to be in there as much as I can.
I don’t know how it’ll go, but it’s become a really interesting part of the site and the growth of Ninja Refinery. Gotta roll-with it, and honestly, I love what it’s slowly becoming! Hopefully the next 300 posts will be filled with coffee -related content.
Starting with adding mugs to the store.
Hardware/peripherals
Alongside coffee, my favourite reviews are usually around hardware. Namely headsets, audio kit and controllers etc.
Turns out, I have a lot of stuff that I’ve never gotten around to doing, especially after winning a competition for a few bits of Hyper-X kit. I have 4 mice, a headset, a microphone, a Switch Pro Controller and 2 keyboards, without even having to leave this room. Tough life, eh?
So yeah, the next 300 posts will have plenty of hardware content, too. Perhaps even coffee hardware. I have a lot of kit, but we’ll see how that goes.
Videos/Streaming etc….
I really want to try my hand at videos, but it’s something that I don’t want to half-ass. I’m working out how best to get content together, create videos with headings, audio, logos etc. And whilst it’s not hard per se, it’s something that should be at least half-decent to start with.
Sorting out my workflows for that, is the hardest part. Rendering videos, even little ones, takes time.
I have one that just requires voice-over/narration. But then I need to script it out, too. It’s weird, something that one the face of it, is so “easy”, is actually a lot of moving pieces. I have no idea how that will pan-out to be honest. I love the idea, and I want to give it a good try, but trying to be actually knowledgeable and not come across as a clichéd “content creator” is a weird line to toe.
Add to that, the streaming element (easiest way to record and download video stuff , to be fair) which comes with it’s own challenges. Mostly around confidence in speaking to nobody for a little while. It’s a weird thing to do, and whilst I have no aspirations to make that into anything substantial. I love sussing stuff out and getting things going.
This stuff is secondary to everything else, but I’m definitely giving it a go. Even if it’s just to make myself uncomfortable and put myself a little further out-there. I suspect I like the idea of it more than the reality, or that the time required to do it, even as a small aside, is time I simply don’t have when I need to focus on consistency with output for everything else.
300 more
I’m not stuck for things to write-about, in fact I’m often overwhelmed with the stuff I have to hand. I’m ridiculously buying games again on PC so I can play them again at “some point(TM)” and I love it.
I’ve got myself organised, using Notion to help keep track of everything going on. So the next 300 posts will come from a more organised and prepared place, at the very least.
Getting to here is pretty big to me personally, and even if things grow minimally over the next few years, I’m fine with that. I’ve had my expectations and aspirations changed by the circumstances I find myself in, and that’s fine. In fact, it’s great. I’ve dropped some or the less-achievable bits, realised that I have some potential in areas that didn’t exist to me before, and most importantly, I get to just do this for myself, no pressure or expectations. It’s a great place to be!
So, if you’ve read this, or anything on the site, thank you. I genuinely appreciate it. I don’t always knock it out of the park, but the past 300 posts have had some high points for me, and I think my general standard has improved as things have gone on.
Now, it’s a bank holiday weekend, and the population of Titanfall 2 on PC has seen a massive uptick, so I need to get back to it for a while (you should totally play Titanfall 2 if you haven’t yet!). In fact, use the code TITANFALL in the store here, to get 5% off any orders in May 2021.