I’m not one for the whole “New Year, New Me” stuff, I know it’s not meant literally, but it still feels a little like “if I change myself, everything will get better”. I’m very much of the mindset of work with what you’ve got and try not to repeat any mistakes you may have made […]
Category: Mental Health
Grief and Loss in Yokahama: How Yakuza leads the light on mature games
I’m currently on the fifth chapter of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so I’m not really ready to provide a review just yet. However, I do want to talk about how it’s handling a very specific thing that’s genuinely made me emotional at times because I think it really needs to be […]
How a show about fishing kept me in check with my emotions
Over a six week period, and finishing last weekend, “Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing” aired on Sunday evenings on BBC 2, this was its third season, I’ve watched the previous two and read their book. It doesn’t sound like much: two ageing comedians visit various locations in Britain and fish, but its more than that. […]
Justify your credentials
In the opening column for Wireframe #42 (which is an excellent magazine that you should read if you don’t already, you can download it for free or subscribe to having a print copy delivered), James Moran talks about how a lot of games have RPG mechanics in them now, and how that’s not his thing. […]
That bastard, Cancer
As I sit and write this, I’ve not long read the news that Chadwick Boseman, best known as Black Panther but also played prominent black figures Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown, has passed away at the age of 42 from Colon Cancer. Through his work in the MCU he managed to bring a […]
Multiplayer Anxiety
Today I want to talk about something I consistently struggle with and I’m certain others do too. You’ll see a lot of people online state they “don’t like multiplayer games”, and I’m sure they’re right, but I often wonder “why?”. With so much time and money invested into multiplayer experiences on all formats, and with […]
Content Under Pressure
You may have noticed a bit of chopping and changing here on Bar Harukiya in recent months, as I try and find things to write about whilst we continue to try and see out the COVID-19 pandemic. When I originally created this place, back on WordPress servers, I wanted to do a few things with […]
#UbiToo: The insidious nature of the games industry
Over a year ago I wrote about the toxicity in gaming culture, recent events have brought my feelings towards that to the forefront of my mind again and I feel the need to put something down on Bar Harukiya about it. In recent months this place has mostly become a combination of reviews and playthrough […]
The Super Happy Love Award
It’s not often I get tagged in to join in with the community blog posts, so when I do, I do try and join in, this one was originally started on the Geek Girls Guide by Michelle and I was nominated by Emily at Monster Lady’s Diary, and if you don’t check those blogs out […]
Co-operentine
Hah! Do you like that title? Punnerific, right? Because we’re all in some form of quarantine and, well, we have to do things with our loved ones now, right? Right. Well, this is a post about that and how we’re doing things. Firstly, you’re all aware by now that I’m a family man, I have […]