GIKyle Blog

Bioshock Infinite's Biggest Mystery

Kyle Hilliard — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:40:00 GMT

I finally finished Bioshock Infinite last night, and can happily return to Internet message boards and walk around the Game Informer offices without my fingers in my ears. I, along with many others, walked away with questions. I dove into assorted summaries of the story and ending, watched our Spoiled video segment on the game, and can happily report that I think I mostly have a decent grasp on what happened. I have still have questions though.

Look out for spoilers below!

Throughout my Internet searches, I haven't seen much discussion about the guy pictured above. If I understand correctly (and please correct me if I don't), these tears that Elizabeth can access are gateways to other dimensions from which she can pull all manner of helpful things. Usually it means there is a box of health packs or salts, or an automated turret hanging around in an alternate dimension, and it makes sense for Elizabeth to pull in these inanimate objects for combat purposes.

Bioshock Infinite spoiler: He bleeds when you shoot him? vine.co/v/bTwTUmjEMZu
— Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) April 6, 2013

For the Booker decoy however, he is not an inanimate or immobile object. He is a person. Does the presence of this decoy mean that there is a Booker hanging out in another dimension who just stands there? And why is it that when he gets pulled into my dimension, does he continue to just stand there? The turrets acknowledge what is going on when they are pulled in and shoot at enemies, but not the decoy Booker. I even did some scientific experimentation that involved shooting him. He bleeds when you shoot him, and it counts as a kill when you shoot him enough. During the experiment above, decoy Booker's death/disappearance registered as a kill on my achievement tally with that particular weapon.

Who is this mysterious stalwart Booker that just stands there waiting to be pulled into another dimension only to be shot and killed with zero reaction? It is Bioshock Infinite's ultimate mystery.

Bioshock Infinite spoiler: who the hell is this guy? vine.co/v/bTwX0EVIwgO
— Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) April 6, 2013

Behind The Scenes Video – Super Replay Showdown 2013

Kyle Hilliard — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

The first round of this year's Super Replay Showdown was a harrowing experience for Kim and I, and if this quick behind the scenes video is any indication, it was also a stressful situation for Dan, as well.

You've seen the gameplay videos, but Hanson and Jason also took two very brief snippets of what it looks like inside the Replay room when hearts are being sung out, and Crash's are being bashed.

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You can check out the full episode of Replay featuring the first round of Super Replay Showdown 2013 right here.

10000000 Is A Near-Perfect Mobile Game

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:38:00 GMT

10000000 is a weird name for a video game, arguably a bad one, but it is easy to find in the App Store, so the decision to call it that was not completely misguided.

Ignoring the maybe great, maybe terrible game name, 10000000 is easily my favorite mobile game of 2012. Almost everything about the game is simple, from its art style to its gameplay, and to a certain degree even its music, but it’s incredibly hard to put down. It’s a match-three puzzle game, with its closest cousin being Puzzle Quest. The tiles that you match correspond to your attacks, your shield, and your collection of loot and experience. It plays differently enough from something like Bejeweled to stand on its own, but the core match three gameplay is easy enough to grasp as long as you have basic understanding of how video games work. As you collect items you slowly build your strength and skills making each return to the combat grid an exciting endeavor.

The music frames the combat, and it will stick to your brain. Only a handful of music tracks are in the game, which are randomly assigned each time you jump in to fight. I would be hard pressed to select a favorite track, because they are all so good. I ripped through the game like a motivated addict a few months ago, and still today I find myself humming each of its tracks with nostalgic bliss every few days.

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One of the best things that 10000000 has going for it, is that for $1.99 you get the whole game. This is a mobile game that you can finish. No extraneous features that can be bought separately like customized characters, or experience doublers are constantly thrown at you. You get the whole game for $2 without any notifications that you can keep spending money on the game if you want. It’s refreshing, and I hope it sets a trend. I don’t mind spending money on a good game. I would rather buy a game and get the whole package than receive a slowed down or ad supported version of a game for free.

10000000 does have a few annoyances. Similar to games like Jetpack Joyride, interstitial goals pepper your game each time you jump into to combat which are required to hit the upcoming levels. Many of the them are fun to go after, but many others are only won from the result of random drops, which can be frustrating, but it will never force you to stop playing. Also, some of the interface in the castle where you level yourself up could offer better visual representatives of what is available without having to enter each section of the castle.

To me, 10000000 feels like a perfect mobile game. It has the RPG elements you crave from a traditional game, which gives you a reason to keep returning to the game because the rewards are worthwhile. At the same time though, it’s a game that you can comfortably play for a few seconds and put back in your pocket. You can play it for three hours straight, or three minutes, and you will get a sense of accomplishment either way. I ended up putting nearly eight hours into the game when I finally escaped the dungeon, and it was fantastic.

Here Are Some Animated GIFs Of Ben Reeves Dancing

Kyle Hilliard — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:20:00 GMT

Ben Reeves won the title of best dancer in the office in our Dance Central 3 Test Chamber. Here's an animated GIF to commemorate his victory. If you really want to get into it, you can play this in the background.

Take This Mega Man: A Musical Adventure

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 06:08:00 GMT

Many, many years ago, when you had to call the Internet on the phone to request permission to surf the web, my brother and I discovered a music program called Fruity Loops. This is what happened.

After figuring out the basics of Fruity Loops, my brother and I went to work and we created what can only be referred to as a masterpiece. In truth, I don't remember if it was a team effort. I am not sure if my brother Tristan wants to take any credit for this disaster beautiful piece of artwork.

The liberal use of the digitized voice saying "check this out!"* at around 20 seconds layers perfectly with the repetitive drum-beat and what can only be described as patterned shrieks. Just when you start getting into the groove, the off-key piano kicks in at around 50 seconds to introduce the riotous breakdown. Also, I have to toot my own horn a little bit and declare that the false ending is simply inspired.

After I finished the project, I saved the file with the name "Take This Mega Man!" and walked away. Ten years later, I asked my brother to send it to me in an e-mail, and he obliged. I thought the world was finally ready to hear the greatest piece of digital music ever created. Fair warning, once you listen to this, all other music will sound boring and inadequate.

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Here's a dancing Mega Man to help you get in the mood.

Everyone has been clamoring (and by that, I mean one guy on Twitter casually requested) that I make the mp3 downloadable. Your patience has been rewarded. Right-click here to download the song and share it with all the people you don't like.

*My wife insists that the voice is saying "make this stop!" instead of "check this out!" but, I think she is just hearing what she wants to hear.

The Photoshop photograph above was created taken by my brother, Tristan Hilliard.

I Skipped Every Single Cut Scene In Prototype 2

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:18:00 GMT

I have played hundreds, possibly thousands, of video games throughout my life, but Prototype 2 was the first time I have ever skipped every cut scene in a game. Even the worst video game stories have demanded my attention, but with Prototype 2, it just seemed like the right time to completely ignore the story.

I love jumping in games. I love platformers, but even more than that, I love jumping from absurdly high heights to the ground. I will never forget the first time I played Spider-Man 2, impatiently pushing through the tutorial just so I could do the thing I saw looped on the Game Stop in-store video hundreds of times each working shift: Spider-Man taking a flying leap from a tall building and landing on the ground. It was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be. I experienced similar moments of exhilaration when playing Crackdown, InFamous, and the original Prototype.

The one thing that separated Protoype from the aforementioned games above is that I didn’t play it for more than a few hours. Crackdown doesn’t have a story, so there is very little getting in the way of all the jumping and shooting, and Infamous has a very compelling story to accent the vertical action. With Prototype though, the cut scenes kept me from getting to what I wanted to do, which was jump really freaking high. I got frustrated.

I would see Bryan Vore playing Prototype 2 in the office while he was reviewing it, and I would think, “man, that looks cool, but the first one never really grabbed me.” I decided to take the game home over a weekend and play it, but I had no intention of beating it. I started the game up, controlling the player character (whose name I do not remember) while he ran after the guy from the first game without any special powers. You’re just a regular dude.

I made it through the opening, and the first cut scene started playing. Maybe it’s because my gaming time has become limited living with a newborn, or maybe it had just been too long since I played a good jumping game, but something in my brain clicked and I realized I didn’t have to wade through the story. I hit the A button, and the cut scene paused and a prompt came on screen that said "hit back to skip, or start to continue." I hit the back button, and another cut scene started. I hit A to pause and the prompt came up again, so I hit the back button again. I had to do this three or four more times before I finally took control of my character. I did some combat training, and another cut scene started. By this time, I had learned to hit the A button and the back button in quick succession, and I kept doing so until I was in the city. I held down the right trigger, ran up the side of a building, and jumped off as soon as I reached the top. As I soared to the street below, I felt confident in my decision.

A very familiar prompt.

From there, the game became less about my character's narrative motivations, and all about my personal motivations to level up my character. A marker on the map was no longer an opportunity to find out more about the story. It was an opportunity that would give me more experience to add to my jumping height and traversal capabilities.

I originally had no expectations of beating Prototype 2, but I ended up playing the entire game this way, skipping every cut scene except for one. After fighting the dude from the first game on top of a roof for some reason (don’t ask me why, I have no idea), I did watch the end cut scene. I felt like I had earned that, even if I didn’t really want it.

After watching the end cut scene and skipping the credits, I jumped right back in, grabbing everything I had missed trying to grab every Achievement. I like Achievements a lot, but the motivation to collect them had nothing to do with my gamer score. I just wanted to play the game more. In the end, I finished the game missing only two achievements, both of which would have required me to replay the game. I have no idea what happened in Prototype 2, but I do know I could jump really high, run really fast, and uppercut helicopters, which is all I really wanted from the game.

This Is How I Remember Chrono Trigger

Kyle Hilliard — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:31:00 GMT

We recently published an article online all about why we love Chrono Trigger. This blog outlines my personal experience with the game, and why it took me nearly 10 years to finally beat it.

I have had an on and off relationship with Chrono Trigger for years. The game received all kinds of accolades when it released in 1995, but I didn’t play it until about four years later. My first experience with the game was through emulation. I couldn’t afford the game in cartridge form, and by then the game had already become a rarity. I played about halfway through Chrono Trigger, but was far too enamored with Ocarina of Time to make it to the end.

It wasn’t until around 2007 that I made a realistic attempt to finish the game again. My girlfriend (now wife) and I were at a local flea market because we heard there were opportunities for video game collectors. We found the vendor we had heard rumors about, and among an impressive collection of games was a glass case of his especially rare titles. He didn’t have the case locked. Instead he simply had the door fastened shut with a screw. To get into the case, he had to pull out a screw driver, and remove the screw. We decided that regardless of the price, we wanted the copy of Chrono Trigger. We bought a few other things that he was happy to negotiate price with us over, but not Chrono Trigger. That price was set, and there was no debating it, which was fine because we were still able to grab the cartridge for under $50.

I took the game home and proudly proclaimed to my longtime Chrono Trigger fan friend that I would finally beat this game. He said I would never get around to beating it, so I bet him five dollars that I would. He re-iterated, “you’re not going to beat it,” but what he meant was, “I don’t care whether you beat it or not,” because he forgot about the bet the next day. I tried my best, squeezing in time between being a full time student and working full time. I was loving the game, letting battles run long just to listen to the battle theme, but then God of War II came out. I was fighting a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex with Ayla, but Kratos’ spat with the Zeus was too exciting to be ignored. I never got back to the game.

The following year, Chrono Trigger released on the DS, and I was determined to finally make it through Crono’s adventure. I excitedly bought Chrono Trigger for the DS the day it came out, and ripped through the game making it to where I had left off the previous year in only a day or two. I was doing great, well on my way to finally demand the $5 that my friend had forgotten he had bet me, when I inexplicably lost my motivation somewhere around the Ocean Palace.

A few months later, while battling some insomnia, I grabbed my DS and ripped through what were some of the best moments in the game on my way to the end. Crono’s unexpected death, something I am absolutely amazed was not spoiled for me during the 11 years it took me to play through the game, and the part where Robo is left behind for hundreds of years to restore the forest, which I think is one of the most interesting side stories of the whole game.

It took me far too long to finally make my way through the entire game, but I loved my extended experience. I love the time travel story, Akira Toriyama’s art design, the ability to combine attacks, the surprisingly touching moments experienced by each of the characters in both their personal and group stories, and the music perhaps most of all. It ranks among my favorite video game soundtracks of all time. It’s a timeless game that I think will always be appealing. It’s going to take a long time for Chrono Trigger to become a dated experience, which seems perfect considering the time travel nature of the story.

How Journey Restored My Faith In Gamers

Kyle Hilliard — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:11:00 GMT

Over the last few weeks I have found myself slightly embarrassed to be a video game fan, due more or less entirely to the controversy surrounding Mass Effect 3. First, entitled fans began demanding that the ending of Mass Effect 3 be changed. If Roger Ebert had found out about that, (he didn’t, did he?) he would have had a field day at the expense of our favorite medium of storytelling. I can just imagine his blog explaining why demanding the ending be changed for what is considered to be one of gaming’s most interesting narratives, proves that video games are just a consumer product and not a creative means to tell a story. And I would be compelled to agree with him.

Second, was the poll run by Consumerist, where Electronic Arts won the honor of being considered the worst company in America. The gamers mentioned above rallied to deliver a message to the Internet saying that they think a company that makes video games is worse than a debatably corrupt bank. A company that make those super fun things we’re all obsessed with, is worse than a bank that has the legal right to remove you from your home. Great job guys. You really showed them. We gamers clearly have our priorities in order.

I was feeling disheartened, but then I started playing Journey.

I played through the game in one beautiful sitting, but the thing that restored my faith in gamers, was during the second playthrough that I began immediately after finishing my first.

The following contains Journey spoilers, so tread lightly.

I was re-exploring the tower area that leads into the snowy mountain with another player. I was trying to grab a few of the Trophies I missed on the first run through, one of which was to meditate with another player for 20 seconds. I sat on the ground, they stood next to me for a moment, and then they sat down next to me while we quietly waited for the Trophy to pop. I think they may have known what I was trying to do, and I was appreciative of their silent help.

We continued moving up the tower, activating the magical sand that allows you to swim through the air. We made it all the way to the top, when my mysterious partner started sending out their alert to grab my attention. He waited until I walked up to him, and he jumped into the floating sand. I decided to join him. We dropped for what felt like two or three minutes when they started to head towards a seemingly random section of the tower. I followed, and contained inside was one of the creatures from thatgamecompany’s previous title, Flow. I got the sense that this stranger just wanted show me something cool, which is exactly what they did. There was no benefit for them. There is a Trophy for uncovering the, “mysterious creature,” as it is coined in the game, but they didn’t need me there to get it. And if they knew exactly where it was, I would guess that they already had the Trophy.

The whole experience, in an odd way, restored my faith in fans of video games. I’m still embarrassed by the gamers out there fighting the wrong fight against the psychosomatic tyranny of Electronic Arts and Bioware and their awesome game, but my experience in Journey reminded me that the Mass Effect 3 ending fighters make up a small percentage of the gaming culture, and that the majority of gamers are just awesome people who want to show me cool hidden stuff in games like Journey.

Random Albums That Remind Me Of Random Games

Kyle Hilliard — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:40:00 GMT

It's rare that I do it these days, but there have been a few specific occasions where I completely ignored a game's soundtrack in favor of a single album. It was never for games whose music was highly regarded, but more for games whose soundtracks were not particular groundbreaking or interesting. Because of this, there are a few albums that instantly remind me of very specific video games.

I couldn't tell you why, but for some reason I never gave Crackdown's soundtrack a chance. I had recently ripped Radiohead's Hail to the Thief to my Xbox 360 hard drive, and every single time I booted up the game, including the first time, I started up Hail to the Thief before the game had even completed loading. The disc scratching effect sound of guitar feedback that sets Hail to the Thief in motion will forever summon images of Crackdown's loading screen. Listening to the rest of the album conjures images of homing rockets and throwing cars at thugs. The two couldn't be more dissimilar, but for some reason I will always relate them to one another, and I frequently forget that Crackdown's soundtrack wasn't by Radiohead.

Electronic Arts is pretty good at feeding a plethora of popular and lesser-known bands and music into its racing and sports games, but when it came to Burnout Paradise, all I ever wanted to listen to was Colors by Between the Buried and Me. Colors had released about five months prior to Paradise's release, but it didn't matter. It was still all I was listening to, and it continues to be one of my favorite albums to this day. I would drive around Paradise City looping the album, usually paying more attention to it than the game. I have no idea what sort of music Paradise had, but for me it was Colors, and nothing else.

I was working my way through Golden Sun during a trip to visit family and friends, when Fugazi and End Hits was introduced to me. I was embarrassingly late when it came to discovering their music, but I was totally absorbed when I found them. I remember exploring the world and collecting Djinn, all while my portable CD player's batteries drained away looping End Hits over and over and over. Every time the song five corporations shuffles through on my iPod, I can't help but remember my time in Golden Sun.

Dead Space 2 and Arcade Fire are a little bit different than my previous entries. I didn't actually listen to The Suburbs while I was playing the game. Instead, it served as my soundtrack between my hours on the Sprawl. I would play Dead Space 2, go to sleep, head to work listening to The Suburbs on the way there, sit down at work promptly inserting my earbuds, and look over the assorted achievements and message boards discussing the game. Oh yeah, I guess I would do work, too. Then I would head home, and play some more Dead Space 2. The other reason the two got oddly linked is there are two tracks on The Suburbs called Sprawl I and Sprawl II. For no reason other than my own amusement, I like to think the two songs are about the Sprawl featured in Dead Space 2, the space station where the majority of the game takes place.

To get an idea of the kind of things that make me laugh, listen to the song in the video below, but think about stomping around as Isaac violently killing every monster in sight. It's hilarious. You could also click here if you have no imagination.

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There are others albums and video games that will be forever linked in my brain, but I will have to wait until they show up on the shuffle queue on my iPod to open the floodgates of nostalgia.

The Best Podcasts According To My Brain

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:48:00 GMT

Before coming to Game Informer, I was a content manager for the websites of five different local newspaper in South Carolina. My job was to take online content, and manage it. It was a lot of copy/pasting without a whole lot of thought. One thing it did allow me to do though, was listen to lots and lots of podcasts. I became a connoisseur of the medium.

Working at Game Informer means less time for podcast listening (a non-complaint I am more than happy to make), but these are the special ones. These are the ones I make time to listen to as much as possible. And then there are a few that are still great, but I simply don’t have time for any more.

10. The Indoor Kids – Host/comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon get together with other comedians and talk about video games. In a weird way, I like to hear people whose lives do not revolve around video games talk about the medium so passionately. They also make funny jokes, which is always great. It also seems like Kumail and his wife Emily have a similar relationship to my wife and me. We should all go out to dinner and talk about video games sometime.

Suggested episode: Dan Harmon is the man behind the show Community, he loves video games, and he’s super smart. Hearing him talk about Skyrim is a treat.

9. The Nerdist – Host/comedian Chris Hardwick and his co-hosts Jonah Ray and Matt Mira bring on guests from television, movies, and the world of comedy and they talk about nerdy stuff. Or in lieu of that, they talk about things that guests are nerds about.

Suggested episode: Robert Kirkman writes The Walking Dead comic book, is involved with the show, and is a funny dude. There is also a special guest appearance from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, and it's all very entertaining.

8. How Did This Get Made? – Paul Scheer (of Human Giant fame), June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas and a guest watch bad movies and talk about how terrible they are while wondering, "how did this get made?" Mantzoukas in particular shines as he gets audibly angry about movies like Battlefield Earth and Mac & Me.

Suggested episode: Pick a movie you have seen and think is terrible and listen to that.

7. The Pod F. Tompkast – I have a confession, actually. I think Paul F. Tompkins one of the funniest men alive. He is also a frequent guest on all of the other comedy podcasts on this list. His podcast is a little bit different than others, being a much more structured, less conversational affair. He does, however, start every episode with bizarre stream of conscious ramblings that are consistently hilarious.

Suggested episode: There is a narrative that stretches between the episodes, so starting from the beginning is a good idea. Tim meadows reading a Google Voice translated version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s I have a Dream speech is hilarious.

6. The Moth Podcast – The Moth Podcast is interesting stories by interesting people. There will be the stray celebrity or comedian that shows up to tell a story, but many of the best ones are just from regular people. The stories are always well-honed, interesting, and never too long.

Suggested episode: The Moth only keeps a few episodes up at a time, so the best I can suggest is to just start listening.

5. Doug Loves Movies – Doug Benson is known as a comedian who makes jokes about his love for smoking pot, but his other obsession is film. His show is recorded live every week and he always has three guests, usually from the world of comedy, but often from the world of film. Edgar Wright, director of Scott Pilgrim and Shaun of the Dead is a frequent guest. Every week they play the Leonard Maltin game (a game Doug created) and it’s always hilarious and exciting.

Suggested episode: Whenever Paul F. Tompkins or T.J. Miller comes on, you’re in for a treat.

4. WTF with Marc Maron – Marc Maron has been a comedian for decades, and despite rubbing shoulders and even being good friends with folks like Louis C.K. and Zach Galifianakis, he never really hit the mainstream. He shines brilliantly in his podcast, however, with genuine conversations with comedians and actors about their lives and often their hardships. There are always jokes to be had, but the podcast often hits touching notes, too.

Suggested episode: Look up one of your favorite comedian or actors and listen to their episode. I can almost guarantee that you will be surprised by what you hear.

The Adam Biessener VVVVVV Profanity Tracker

Kyle Hilliard — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:56:00 GMT

In the layout of desks here at Game Informer, I am about one underhand softball toss by a small child's distance from Adam's desk. He likes to shout when he plays games much to my entertainment, and today he is reviewing VVVVVV for the Nintendo 3DS. If you're unfamiliar with VVVVVV (which I believe is pronounced VVVVVV), it is a brutal gravity flipping platformer. Adam has been vocal about just how brutal the game is, and I have been keeping track. Here's the round-up after about 45 minutes of VVVVVV by Adam Biessener.

19 counts of "F***!"
1 count of "a** mobile!"
3 counts of "sh**!"
1 count of an angry "Ahhh!"
4 counts of "Jesus Christ!"
4 counts of "God d***it!"
1 count of a very perturbed "what?!"
3 counts of an incredibly annoyed "come on!"
1 count of "oh god!"
1 echoing "Nooooo!"
2 counts of exasperated "hmmmm"

Adam has taken a break from VVVVVV, but I will be sure to update the stats once he returns to the game.

Game Informer Offices: The Family Tour

Kyle Hilliard — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:39:00 GMT

My family came to visit the new baby (and my wife and I) during the Thanksgiving holiday, but only under the condition that I show them where I work. So, late Friday night, while everyone was else was enjoying time off from the office, I snuck my whole family in to take a look. My brother, freelance photographer extraordinaire, takes pictures of everything everywhere he goes, and the Game Informer offices were no exception.

Up above you can see where we record the Game Informer Show podcast, Replays, and Super Replays. That's where it all happens. Below you can see that we have a spiral staircase. This is what it looks like from up top.

This is what it looks like from below.

Matt Miller's desk below is probably second only to Dan Ryckert's as far as amount of stuff goes.

This is the vault where we keep all of the video games from all of history.

Nathan Drake: A Leader In Women's Fashion

Kyle Hilliard — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:51:00 GMT

Apparently, Nathan Drake is providing inspiration for the latest trends in women's fashion. These are the sort of things you learn when your normal TV watching hours suddenly occur much earlier in the day, which happens when you're hanging out at home with a new baby.

My wife doesn't typically make a habit out of watching Today with Kathie Lee & Hoda, and technically she wasn't on the day this episode aired. It was playing in the background while she solved the mysteries of Professor Layton and the Last Spector. She had to glance up though, when she overheard that Nathan Drake inspired a modern trend that helps women fight the muffin top look. I didn't believe her when she told me, but she found the clip, and now I share it with you.

Check out the video below to see how Nathan Drake is changing the way women wear their shirts.

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Who Am I? How Did I Get Here? Part Two

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:02:00 GMT

This blog has nothing to do with video games, and it might be clear as to why after reading it. Aside from the few games I have had the opportunity to play while at work for review, I have had no time for personal gaming. No quick games of mobile solitaire, or even an attempt at beating Dan Ryckert or Ben Hanson’s Jetpack Joyride high scores. This is instead about my move to come work for Game Informer.

After securing the job here at Game Informer, there was the deceptively simple task of moving to Minnesota from South Carolina. It’s something I can describe in three words -- move to Minnesota -- but a process that took two separate 22 hour drives across the United States, and a huge amount of stress.

I began working here on September 12, so the weekend leading up to that day was me on the road with my copilot Yoda and a car full of priorities including things like two TVs, all my video game consoles, and a handful of Shadow of the Colossus figurines. Otherwise known as the important stuff. I also brought an inflatable mattress and a few articles of clothing.

I left my eight month pregnant wife behind in my home state, but only for two weeks. She had help from family, and companionship from our two cats. I flew back to South Carolina the weekend of September 23 to begin the real trip.

We had a moving truck take care of all the large furniture, but for many other items my wife and I rented an RV and a Uhaul trailer to take the rest. We figured taking an RV would make moving a pregnant lady and two cats who hate being in any kind of moving vehicle at least a little bearable. We were slightly correct.

Here is something I learned about traveling with an RV, specifically RV parks: they don’t work like hotels. My wife and I assumed we could drive until the caffeine wore off, find an RV park, and set up for the night. We had also heard that Walmarts welcomes RV travelers with open arms, which isn't entirely true.

We found a Walmart near the interstate around 2 a.m., ready to get some sleep. In large bold letters by the parking lot it read, “No Overnight Parking”. We decided to google some RV parks with our phones, and I began making calls. The first park to pick up answered groggily with a simple, “hello”. No announcement of what RV park I had called, or a "how may I help you," just a confused tired, “hello”. The kind of hello you hear when you call your friend in the middle of the night not realizing what time it is.

I hadn’t called a wrong number, just an RV park that closed at 10 p.m.. The woman was very helpful, despite being confused as to why someone would be trying to park an RV at 2 a.m., and she suggested some other parks. Eventually, I did find a location nearby with a man who happened to have a spot available. All he had to do was throw on some clothes and meet me in the office.

I walked into the building a few minutes later to a sign that read, “Cash or Check Only”. All my wife and I had were debit and credit cards. I walked back to the RV to talk to my wife about what we should do. She opened her wallet to reveal no cash, and as I opened my wallet to show off my lack of bills, a small miracle occurred. Right before leaving for Minnesota, my wife signed a blank check for me to have in case I needed to pay an odd rent or deposit amount to our new home. I never ended up using it, and I excitedly ran back into the office to tell the man of our luck. As I wrote out the check, he asked, “So, you’re staying tomorrow night?” I replied no, that we just needed a place to set up tonight. He was a bit confused and simply said, “but, tonight is already over.” Eventually he just accepted our money, and showed us where to set up, and then I assume he went back to bed. My wife and I plugged in the RV and went to sleep.

Two hours later my wife woke me up. Something was wrong and we needed to go to the hospital. I threw on pants, ran outside, used the light on my phone to clumsily unhook the RV, and ran back inside to google the word hospital. We found one a few minutes away, and sped off as quickly as an RV with a packed Uhaul trailer could possibly go.

At the hospital, I drove our giant vehicle up the emergency room ramp, and parked taking up no less than four spots. We went inside leaving the cats to fend for themselves inside the RV, and got taken care of fairly quickly. My wife was having contractions and we began to think that maybe the baby was going to be born in Hendersonville, NC in the middle of our trip.

After a few hours, and some pain medication for my wife, the doctors informed us that she was not showing signs of labor, and that the contractions were likely a result of stress, and possible dehydration. They let us go, but not before both mine and my wife’s parents made a drive to meet us in the NC hospital. They arrived there just in time to discover that everything was okay, and my wife was feeling well enough to travel.

We went back to the RV still taking up multiple spots in the emergency room parking lot to thankfully discover that the cats were okay. They had each found their own hiding spots somewhere in the RV, and even though they refused to show themselves when called (something they usually do surprisingly), they were okay. We got back on the road to finish our trip with two hours of solid RV sleep, and about three hours of hospital sleep. My wife had a real bed in the hospital, but my hospital bed was a chair pulled up beside her. Our minds were more than ready to get back on the road after losing most of our Saturday, even if our bodies were not.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. I didn’t wake up any RV park owners at 2 a.m., and we were able to find a Walmart that had no qualms with us sleeping in their parking lot. The next day we pulled our RV and Uhaul through the crowded toll roads of Chicago, IL. Attempting to pay the automated toll booths in a giant RV was about the most interesting thing that happened that day.

We made it to our new home late Sunday night and one of our cats found a hole and jumped in the wall. It was the perfect end to a far from perfect trip. He came out when he got hungry, and the hole is now closed.

I like to think about that man I woke up at the RV park on Friday night, when reflecting on the trip. I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought the appearance of my wife and I was all a dream. He woke up at 2 a.m., welcomed a pair of visitors who clearly didn’t understand how RV parks worked, and well before he woke up, they had disappeared. They paid for a night they didn’t even use.

We’re happy to be here now in our new home, officially confident that whenever our baby does come she will be a Minnesota resident. She won’t have to take a 20-something hour car trip during her first days on Earth, which is incredibly relieving. It feels good to be home.

Who Am I? How Did I Get Here?

Kyle Hilliard — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:35:00 GMT

When Andy McNamara called me to set up an interview with Game Informer, I was surprised for a million reasons. The biggest reason though, was that I didn’t even remember applying. Looking back through my emails now, I can see that Andy put out a call on twitter for writers, and I responded. I sent him an email with such low hopes for a response that I had completely forgotten about applying at all by the time he called.

Here I am though, in the Game Informer offices writing up a blog. I must have done something right to get here. Whatever it was, I am glad I did it. I think it was the suit I wore during the interview.

I knew early on that I wanted to write about video games, and took every opportunity to do so. My high school and college newspapers did not feature video game editorial, so I made sure they did. When I interned in college at a local arts newspaper, I pointed out that they needed video game writing, and they allowed me to do so as long as it stayed out of the printed newspaper and solely on the website.

Once I had some words with my name next to them on a professional website, I went to metacritic.com and literally visited every website that contributed review scores and sent them a message. If the contact section of their website had an email address, they received a link to my work and a friendly demand that they allow me to write for them. I wrote for bylines, free video games, possible credibility, and every once in awhile a little bit of money, all of which was quickly turned around right back into video games.

I wanted to write about video games, and I wanted it to be my full time job. I did other things besides obsessively pursue my career goals, like get married.

I tied the knot in the tail end of 2009 to the coolest, nerdiest, most beautiful, brilliant woman on the planet, who I am fairly certain will be reading this blog as soon as it appears online. Our wedding was Zelda themed. We had a triforce cake, Koji Kondo music, and subtle triangles everywhere. The groomsmen and maids of honor even wore miniature Zelda video game cartridge necklaces and cuff links. It was classy and nerdy, and it was all my wife’s idea. All I had to do was excitedly agree to all of her plans and proposals.

Basically, video games are a huge part of my life, and I couldn’t be more excited about them becoming a huge part of my career. I still can’t believe I'm here, and I don’t think I will for at least another three months.