The Thanksgiving of a Casual Gamer

For some reason, there is some negative stereotype attached to people who play video games by members of the Church where it's like if you like playing video games, you're a sinner. Well, guess what? Playing video games is not a sin. SHOCKER! Of course, anything in excess, be it alcohol, sugar or time spent in front of the TV could be seen as an addiction or an unhealthy habit, there is absolutely nothing wrong with playing appropriate video games from time to time. Some people like to read books, some people like to sew, some people like going on hikes and some people like gaming. It's not a big deal. Now, this post isn't about religion or addictions or anything like that, but I just thought I'd clarify that my appreciation of a good video game here and there doesn't make me an inherently bad person.

With that being said, I suppose I would call myself a "casual gamer." I would never call myself a "gamer" or an addict. I have played "Halo" twice in my life, I think, and I got destroyed by my friend's nine-year-old brother. It was humiliating. I have never faked an illness to get out of work on the day of a big game release. I once played "Grand Theft Auto" for five minutes and felt like a terrible person after stealing a car and bashing a couple fake characters with a baseball bat. I mainly like sports games, "Rock Band" and family-friendly games that I can play with my siblings and young nephews. Technically, only one of my nephews is currently old enough to play with me - and that basically consists of him holding a controller and looking at the screen. But one day! One day, he will be old enough to actually control his own characters and that will be a glorious day.

With Thanksgiving nigh upon us and in an effort to populate the barren blogspace known as "The Underground," I figured it might be fun to list a couple things that I am grateful for as a casual gamer. These are my thoughts:

With console backwards-compatibility now a thing of the past, I am thankful for backwards-compatible franchises like "Rock Band," "LittleBigPlanet" and "Disney Infinity." I've spent a lot of money on games like that, so I'm grateful that I don't have to go back and re-buy content every year and a half.

Speaking of, I am extremely thankful for the times when I find good deals on "Disney Infinity"... because that game is totally awesome, but, BOY, is it expensive?! Geez.

Remote mines FTW.

Remember the days of "Goldeneye" on Nintendo 64? That was one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time! I remember having "Goldeneye" parties with my brothers and friends and thinking that I could honestly play that game for the rest of my life. Looking back, those once revolutionary graphics now look like someone took a picture of Pierce Brosnan, ran over it with a truck and then slapped it on a couple polygons, but the gameplay was awesome and the parties were legendary. These days, most games only let you play multiplayer online - and I hate that because anytime you go online, you're pitted against some 17-year-old high school dropout who does nothing but sit on his butt and play video games all day long. It's not fair and it's not fun. I am thankful for games that offer local multiplayer on a split-screen so I can play with my family and friends who are right there in the same room with me. That's the good stuff right there.

Finally, I'm thankful that I got a dang good deal on a Playstation Plus membership on Black Friday last year. Twenty-five bucks for a year of free games? Oh heck yeah. Thank you, Playstation Plus, for letting me play cool games like "Tomb Raider," "Bioshock Infinite," "LittleBigPlanet Karting" and more for the very low price of FREE! Beautiful. So beautiful. If nothing else, all I want for Black Friday this weekend is another discounted membership.

It's ok, closet gamers. Embrace your nerdiness. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments section.

Salt Lake Comic Con: Two questions with Grant Imahara

Grant Imahara is best known for his work as a member of the Mythbusters Build Team, which spanned from 2005-2014, but also has an impressive career in many other aspects of entertainment.

As a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering, Imahara has been able to put his skills and vast knowledge to good use on television, big screen and beyond.

When he came to Salt Lake Comic Con 2014 in September, needless to say, Imahara was a pretty busy guy – so busy, in fact, that he only had time for me to ask him two questions. Of course, I had to start off by asking him about his experience on Mythbusters.

“Oh, you know, people ask me if it’s the best job in the world and it certainly is,” Imahara said. “It’s the kind of thing where they pay you to build dangerous robots, crash cars, blow things up – all while teaching science – so it’s a fantastic job.”

When asked what advice he would give to the young demographic of his fan base, with their budding interests in science, technology and electronics, Imahara responded, “The best possible thing to do is, if you’re curious about something, just dive right in. … These days, there are so many resources available. You can go online and look at videos on YouTube on how to build robots, or, if you’re interested in electronics, you can find out about circuits, you can buy kits… Just dive right in.”

Now that Imahara’s time on Mythbusters has come to an end, he makes occasional appearances on other web and TV series, and can most prominently be found portraying Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek Continues.