Hi, hello! If you're reading this, you've stumbled into my personal corner of the internet! Welcome!

This is The Byte-Sized Blog, a gaming blog focused on celebrating the games I love and am passionate about. If you're curious about exactly what this place is and what to expect, read on, as I'll try to provide as much information as possible!

Need a quick synopsis? Well, TLDR, The Byte-Sized Blog is a gaming blog that aims to offer a refreshingly enthusiastic and optimistic perspective on the gaming industry, with a desire to maintain focus on what makes video games so fun and exciting. I primarily focus on Nintendo, but I am always willing to branch out and cover anything that interests me.

Wanna learn more? Then continue on below!

Who Am I, and Why Did I Start This Blog?

Online, I go by the name Andromeda. As of the creation of this blog, I am a 23 year old recent college graduate in the field of Computer Science. I wanted to build something from scratch, so I decided to expand upon one of my favorite school projects that has been fermenting in the back of my mind for years: a gaming blog focused on short-form, optimistic and enthusiastic gaming content. I took that idea and built this blog from the ground up, realizing that concept as a real website. And while the whole 'short-form' idea has kinda faded as time has gone on (more on that in the next section), everything else about that original idea has translated to this final product, the site on which you are currently reading this article.

So, that's how The Byte Sized-Blog came to be, but why? What drove me to create a gaming blog of all things as my first major solo project? Well, I've always wanted to do some kind of content creation. I'm the kind of person that regularly talks to myself about gaming topics that interest me as if an audience was listening, but of course, those thoughts have rarely actually left my head. That is what this blog is for, to provide an outlet for me to finally be able to put all those thoughts swirling around in my head out into the world. Gaming is my passion and favorite hobby, so having the means to contribute discussions in my own unique way is pretty much a dream come true.

As for what games I specifically like? I'm primarily a Nintendo guy, having grown up with the DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, and experienced the entire Switch generation into the current Switch 2 era. Switch 2 is my main platform that I spend about 95% of my gaming time on, maybe even more now that it's getting the kinds of games I'd usually play on PlayStation. On that note, I do have a PS5 that I use occasionally, and a laptop that I sometimes play stuff on, even though it was/is primarily for school/work. But, those platforms are more supplemental to my gaming life, as I spend the vast majority of gaming time on Switch 2, and even some older Nintendo platforms (I still keep my old 3DS and Wii U around, for example). So, while I will sometimes cover greater industry stories if they interest me enough, my focus will be primarily on Nintendo.

Of course, as someone who has primarily played on Nintendo hardware their entire life, I'm a big fan of many of their iconic franchises. Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon are probably my favorites, which probably isn't the most unique answer, but that's just how it is. However, I also love the likes of Kirby, Splatoon, Metroid, Animal Crossing, Pikmin and more. Really, the only Nintendo franchise I don't care about is Fire Emblem, and that's simply because I haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

My tastes do go beyond Nintendo, though, as there are a number of franchises I love that don't fall under their umbrella. I'd consider myself a hardcore fan of series like Sonic the Hedgehog and Kingdom Hearts, and greatly enjoy franchises and titles like Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Monkey Ball, Rayman, titles from Platinum Games (Astral Chain, Metal Gear Rising, etc.), Insomniac's Spider-Man, among others. There's also various indie titles and franchises I've fallen in love with, such as Celeste, Undertale/Deltarune, and even the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise of all things (my favorite series I've never played, as I call it).

So, I'd say my tastes are pretty broad. I'm more than willing to give most things a try given the opportunity, but there are certain franchises I always come back to and keep a close eye on, Nintendo or otherwise. I hope to reflect that diversity of interests in my content, while staying true to the things that truly interest and excite me.

What Kind of Content Can You Expect?

While I intend to write about anything that comes to mind or happens to catch my interest, I've divided the content I'll be publishing on this site into 4 distinct categories: News, Ramblings, Reviews, and Play Logs. You can access all articles of a particular category via the navigation bar above. Below, here is some more information on each category and how I will use them:

News

Likely to be the most frequently published category of post, News articles are exactly what they sound like, with my own personal twist. Whether it be new game announcements, updates on upcoming titles, updates for previously released titles, updates to Nintendo Music (which you'll quickly find I'm a big fan of), summaries of the latest presentations, or simply something that caught my eye and/or I feel is worth talking about, News articles on Byte-Sized Blog will not only bring you the latest on the things I care about, but I'll also aim to provide my own takes, reactions, and dialogues relating to the latest news as it happens/happened.

Unless there's a particularly slow news cycle, I expect to likely be doing at least one of these every week day, often times more. There's no particular schedule or formula for how I'll handle News articles other than 'I'll write them whenever I feel its warranted'. I won't be covering absolutely everything that happens in the industry, but I'll try to cover as much ground as I can.

Ramblings

This is the 'grab-bag/anything goes' label meant to encompass most everything that doesn't fall under News, Reviews, or Play Logs. This category can encompass the likes of opinion pieces, lists and rankings, retrospectives, and much more. Essentially, this category can be summed up as 'whatever I feel like talking about that day'. That's why it's called 'Ramblings', as content that falls under this label will more often than not involve me 'rambling' about whatever's on my mind.

Reviews

Whenever I feel like diving deep into a game I played recently, whether new or old, I'll do what many other gaming creators do and write a review. These are intended to be long-form deep dives into specific games, allowing me to dispel my thoughts on the package as a whole, what I liked about it, what I didn't like and how it could be better, and ultimately giving an overall recommendation based on my experiences with the game.

Worth noting is that I don't intend to use an X/10 rating scale, as those just feel super arbitrary to me, on top of me being the kind of person to rarely ever use ratings below a 7 unless I really had glaring issues with a game. I plan to write a post that explains in greater detail how I intend to handle reviews on Byte-Sized Blog, so I'll link that here once it's finished.

Play Logs

Finally, I enjoy looking back and reflecting on what I've been playing lately, which is why I'll be creating Play Logs every Monday going over what I played over the past week. I'll spotlight the games that held my attention the most, and any standout experiences I may have had, whether it be a particularly memorable story beat, an accomplishment I'm proud of, or simply a fond memory. Plus, I just think it'll be fun to create a weekly chronicle of my experiences that I can look back on and reminisce about later in life, as well as keeping you guys in the loop regarding what I've been up to.

That should cover the primary categories of content I hope to create on this blog. Depending on necessity, I may expand the lineup in the future, but for now, these are the kinds of content you can expect from me here!

Why 'Byte-Sized'? What Makes This Blog Unique?

I wanted to specifically call this out as my answer has changed over the course of this blog's creation. The moniker 'The Byte-Sized Blog' was born from the project's original vision of creating 'bite-sized', digestible gaming coverage with a focus on a positive vibe and celebrating the great things about gaming. I intended that to be at the core of the blog's DNA from its inception as a school project, all the way up until I was building the site for real over the past handful of months.

And then I started writing the articles. That's when I realized just how much I love to yap about the things I'm passionate about.

Suddenly, I had two goals for the site that felt at odds. I wanted to write my articles in a way where I could shape my voice to be uniquely and authentically me. And I also wanted to keep articles short and concise for 'bite-sized' consumption. With the way I talk about games and my interests, my tendency to yap about the littlest things that catch my interest, that simply wasn't going to work without feeling restrictive, which would've sucked a lot of the fun out of the whole project for me. So, I decided to de-prioritize the 'bite-sized' aspect of the blog... despite that being its namesake.

So you may ask, why don't I just rename it? I considered that idea, but 'The Byte-Sized Blog' name has existed for over 3 years, since that original school project, and it's grown on me to the point where it has just stuck. That, and I simply don't have any better names in mind. To me, Byte-Sized Blog as a name has become more than just a descriptor: it's intertwined with the project's DNA as a whole. Changing it at the 11th hour simply doesn't feel right. But I also don't want to feel like I've boxed myself into an idea that simply isn't compatible with the way I write and talk about games.

So, how about this. The name 'Byte-Sized Blog' will from here on refer to this blog being my little 'bite-sized' corner of the much larger internet, while also containing a cute tech pun to tie it to gaming, cause games are tech. I don't know if that works as well as I think it does, but that's what I'm going with.

Regardless, there was another part of Byte-Sized Blog's initial vision that very much remains intact, that being my desire to provide gaming content that is optimistic, positive, and genuinely passionate and enthusiastic about gaming and aims to celebrate everything that is great about games, past, present, and future. This doesn't mean it will be all sunshine and rainbows all the time (ask me my opinion on Mario Tennis Fever), but even when I have things to complain about, I'll aim to present those opinions in a way that is constructive, rather than joining the ever-growing cascade of mindless online screaming and whining.

I think this is especially important in today's gaming landscape, where I feel like doom and gloom is being proclaimed everywhere I look. That's not to say there aren't legitimate pressing issues in the industry, and I don't want to act like there aren't some incredibly concerning things happening, because there are. However, there's already so many people covering these topics, and honestly, I don't know what I could add to the conversation.

So, instead, I want to create content that focuses on celebrating the things that are great about gaming, because, as much crap as admittedly is in the industry, I do believe there's still so much good that can be found in it. That's what I want to highlight here, the things about games that still bring me immense joy as I continue to get older and life keeps getting harder.

I'm hoping that through this blog, I'm able to communicate my genuine passion and enthusiasm for games simply by being my authentic self and saying exactly how I feel about the things I love. That's just who I am, I'm a positive and optimistic person by nature, and that plays a big part in how I experience, view, and discuss video games. I hope I can add a refreshing voice to a discourse that seems clouded by cynicism more than ever.

If all that sounds appealing to you, then please, I invite you to stick around! I don't have a set schedule for posts outside of the weekly Play Logs, I basically post whenever I see news that interests me and have something to say about, whenever there's something I want to get off my chest, or I just feel like yapping about a recent interest or obsession. It could be anything, really. My hope for this blog is to offer an outlet for me to be true to myself and get my thoughts, opinions, and takes that have swirled in my head for years out to whomever may be interested in listening.

That should just about do it, then. Hope to see you around!