Announcing a New Column: Worldly Weekend!

Yes, another regular column will be joining the Leave Luck to Heaven family: Worldly Weekend! But what exactly is it?

When I went over the renovation plan for Leave Luck to Heaven a few months ago, I mentioned that reviews will no longer be subject to columns following the end of Ten Years of Kirby. This was decided upon me realizing I kept pushing back review after review in favor of juggling Kirby, and so I chose to instead streamline the process by reviewing games that I either a) replayed during a set schedule or b) new titles that I thoroughly completed and had time to reflect on, which would typically happen after a few months (or after its DLC period has ended).

This practice will still hold true...for reviews of Nintendo games. Readers familiar with the blog's history might remember a little column named Games I've Been Playing, where I provided not so much reviews but vivid impressions of, well, games that crossed my path. It only lasted three entries, but most of them weren't actually Nintendo titles at all! It was a very different experience that kept my writing relevant, and I enjoyed my time with it.

I've had the chance to review non-Nintendo games since then during my time with Gaming Grunts, but a flash of inspiration hit me when I was recently replaying a GameCube game that hadn't aged well in the slightest. I'm not exaggerating when I say I collapsed in tears laughing so hard on two different occasions; in particular, the first time nearly gave me conniptions as I was playing through a level so badly-designed, so full of glitches and lack of direction that I kept wondering to myself "Why aren't I recording this? Why am I not writing about this?".

And then I realized...why shouldn't I be?

If you haven't already guessed, Worldly Weekend will set the focus entirely on non-Nintendo games! Be they series I'm quite familiar with (Katamari Damacy, Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts) or new and unfamiliar territory (Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest), Worldly Weekend will be the venue to voice my opinions on what lies beyond world of Nintendo.

For the past few months, I've created an intricate schedule of games to play through: new and old, familiar or not, Nintendo and non-Nintendo. It's mostly comprised of Nintendo games for for the purposes of reviews on the blog, and I grew to realize that aside from personal enjoyment, there wouldn't be a point to revisiting these non-Nintendo titles unless I shared my thoughts. I don't want to keep them to myself...I want to get them out there! In this way, I believe Leave Luck to Heaven will prosper even more.

For those wondering, Nintendo games will still be the star of the show here at Leave Luck to Heaven. This is where the "weekend" part of the column name comes in: these reviews will be arrive on an irregular schedule only on the weekend. I plan to write Nintendo-based reviews on a weekly basis, so should that goal be fulfilled, this will ensure reviews set to Worldly Weekend won't get in the way. And again, it's irregular, so it won't be every weekend. Given the short timeframe, I'm thinking these reviews might not be as elaborate as my Nintendo works, so they might only be up to 2000 words or so (see my Kirby: Squeak Squad review for an approximate size). But as this is an irregular column, that's only a might, and rest assured, games close to my heart will receive the detailed analysis they deserve.

...but I do plan for the very first entry to arrive this weekend! And what game will have the honor of being the very first Worldy Weekend post? You guessed it: it's that terribly-aged GameCube game I mentioned! I won't share the name, I'll give a hint: not only did this game debut on a different console, but unlike the protagonist, I don't chuckle.

See you soon!