So, Since I wrote my last post, I have been thinking about how would I write a review. There are lots of people who write reviews for all kinds of things on the Internet. I read lots of reviews on different sites, some do a rating, others just say if they like it or not. I have looked over some of the web sites I read, and I have come to decide that I prefer the non rating reviews over the rated ones. However, I think I do need some kind of classification, to sum up my feelings about a game, book or movie. And I think I have something, a 3 tier system. Since I am a gamer above all else, I will use the game version as my example.
I Fucking Love This Game.
Best of the best, bad ass, no holds barred games here. Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect 2, The Bioshock series, the Dead Space series, The Half-Life games, this is where these games belong. These games have evolved beyond similar games, taken action, story telling, and adventure to the next level. They provide experiences that can be found in no other game, and at the same time elevated the developers to AAA status, if they were not there already. I would consider these must play, unless you hate the subject matter. Buy them on day one if you love the subject matter, or rent them for an awesome gaming weekend.
This Game is Pretty Fucking Good.
If I do this right, this is where most of the games that come out should fall. Good, solid experiences, but have some flaws that keep them from excellence. Examples would include Mafia II, Fallout: New Vegas, Prince of Persia, among others. These games provide a solid gaming experience to anyone who is willing to give them a shot, but they will find issues while playing. Bugs, iffy controls, whatever the case may be, there will be something that the player will complain about, something that will take them out of the action. I would still advise that someone play these games, but perhaps wait on buying them until they have been patched, or are cheaper, so the flaws are easier to forgive. These are prime games to rent and finish in a weekend, if possible.
Fuck This Game.
This category should only be used very rarely, and only in the most extreme circumstances. Game breaking bugs, controls that make it impossible to play, graphics that burn a hole in ones soul, or just bad ideas that all came together to make a bad game. I am hard pressed to think of some examples for this category off the top of my head. My brain screams Dragon Age II, but my heart hurts, and wants it to be a good game. Another one that comes to mind is Duke Nukem Forever, but I have not played it all the way through yet, so I don't want to prejudge it. When this category is used, it means that I ran into a wall while playing, I did not have a good time, have no desire to ever play the game again, and will be bias towards the developer in the future because of my experiences.
So that is how I initially plan on doing reviews. I may change it up a little, or add a 4th category, but I think that might make it too easy on myself. That basically would turn it into a 4 star system, which is what I am trying to avoid. With the gaming season due to launch in a little over a month with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I am going to try to work out some reviews in the next few weeks as practice, try to hone my skills. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think in the comments.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Vacation, and other stuff
So, I posted a few months ago about doing regular posts on the state of the gaming industry. I fully planned on doing regular columns on my views of the gaming industry as a whole, plus talking about specific games, what I thought of them, and any other stuff that came to mind. Then I got promoted at work, and it all went to hell. Getting paid more money is nice, but the level of crap I have to deal with to get that money....eh. It has allowed me to make some upgrades to the ol' computer, extending its life by another 1-2 years. It has also forced me to consider what I want to do with my life. And it is not what I am doing now.
For the past 2 weeks I have been on vacation. I have played a lot of games, read some books, watched a lot of movies, and just hung out, fucked about, and not done much of anything at all. I have also done a lot of thinking. I am now, more than ever, sure that I need to go back to school. But go back to school for what? Well, I have thought about that for a while, long before I went on vacation. When I went back in 2003, for some reason, I chose the school of Management. I soldiered on, and got my degree 4 years later. 4 years after that, I live in a small town, work at a local call center sweat shop, making 15 an hour fixing bullshit problems for people who I am only willing to talk to because I am paid to do so. Clearly, there was a error in judgement somewhere.
Now, in 2011, I am a few months away from turning 30. It is time to ask myself, what do I want to do? Well, I don't really know dammit. So, I asked myself what do I like? Well, I like books. I like games. I like movies. I like computers. I like Economics. I like Finance. Well, I thought, what could I study, and get a degree in, then talk/write about these things, from anywhere, thanks to the interwebs. That's right boys and vagina gate-keepers, I am considering getting a degree in Mass Communication, AKA Journalism.
Now, this is not the first time I have thought about this. I have a long standing fascination with Journalism, and the people who do it, ever since I was young. Particularity how stupid they generally are, or how full of themselves they can be. Did I think I WANT THAT when I was 5 while watching Peter Jennings on ABC news? No. But every once in a while, there is a really smart, funny journalist who knows the subject that they write about, and is able to effectively communicate that information to millions of people effortlessly. At least that is the way it appears.
I honestly think I can do that for one of the subjects, or several, from the ones I mentioned earlier. And I am going to use this blog as a test bed, to see what works and what does not. Lots of movies and games come out in the next six months, so I am going to try my hand at reviewing them. I have no idea how well I am going to do at this endeavor, or how often the posts will make it up here. I think there are like 4 people who are following me now, if you read my posts please message me or post some feedback, so I know what to keep doing, and what I need to fix. If I do actually make something of this blog, and in turn, move on to a career doing something like this, a digital portfolio would not be a bad thing to have.
For the past 2 weeks I have been on vacation. I have played a lot of games, read some books, watched a lot of movies, and just hung out, fucked about, and not done much of anything at all. I have also done a lot of thinking. I am now, more than ever, sure that I need to go back to school. But go back to school for what? Well, I have thought about that for a while, long before I went on vacation. When I went back in 2003, for some reason, I chose the school of Management. I soldiered on, and got my degree 4 years later. 4 years after that, I live in a small town, work at a local call center sweat shop, making 15 an hour fixing bullshit problems for people who I am only willing to talk to because I am paid to do so. Clearly, there was a error in judgement somewhere.
Now, in 2011, I am a few months away from turning 30. It is time to ask myself, what do I want to do? Well, I don't really know dammit. So, I asked myself what do I like? Well, I like books. I like games. I like movies. I like computers. I like Economics. I like Finance. Well, I thought, what could I study, and get a degree in, then talk/write about these things, from anywhere, thanks to the interwebs. That's right boys and vagina gate-keepers, I am considering getting a degree in Mass Communication, AKA Journalism.
Now, this is not the first time I have thought about this. I have a long standing fascination with Journalism, and the people who do it, ever since I was young. Particularity how stupid they generally are, or how full of themselves they can be. Did I think I WANT THAT when I was 5 while watching Peter Jennings on ABC news? No. But every once in a while, there is a really smart, funny journalist who knows the subject that they write about, and is able to effectively communicate that information to millions of people effortlessly. At least that is the way it appears.
I honestly think I can do that for one of the subjects, or several, from the ones I mentioned earlier. And I am going to use this blog as a test bed, to see what works and what does not. Lots of movies and games come out in the next six months, so I am going to try my hand at reviewing them. I have no idea how well I am going to do at this endeavor, or how often the posts will make it up here. I think there are like 4 people who are following me now, if you read my posts please message me or post some feedback, so I know what to keep doing, and what I need to fix. If I do actually make something of this blog, and in turn, move on to a career doing something like this, a digital portfolio would not be a bad thing to have.
Friday, April 22, 2011
I'm Back Bitches!
It has been a while since I have posted to my backwater blog. Things went off the hook at work, lots of games to play, and I am just generally lazy. I also found that while I was pretty good at the whole writing thing, or so I was told, posting about random things seemed kinda aimless. I could do movie, game or TV show reviews, but you can get that kind of shit anywhere. However, in the last few months several games have come out that have made me take a hard look at the industry as a whole, while at the same time look around to see what is missing in the daily gaming news and commentary. I found something to be lacking, a State of the Union for gaming, from a gamers perspective.
Several times some of the larger websites have done a State of the Union for gaming, usually during one of the big conferences. However these articles usually ask the VP of marketing for one of the big companies what they think is missing from the gaming industry, or some bullshit like that. Who Cares? Seriously, does anyone care what some suit at a company thinks that the gaming industry needs? Besides they say the same shit every time. Innovation, appealing to a wider selection of gamers, whatever they think is wrong with gaming. These responses always contain a slant on how their company is trying to fix whatever problems they say exist.
Some of the gaming blogs do a news roundup every week, and then the readers of said blog provide commentary on events, and that is all fine. But there still seems to be something missing. So, my semi-amateur gaming ass is going to attempt to find what is missing, and root it out for the gaming public to point and laugh at. I will probably fail, as someone else has tried this, and failed, because if they had succeeded then Google would have found them. So expect a new post soon, followed by a new post at least once a month. Lots of shit has gone down in the gaming industry in the last few months, and as we all know, shit rolls downhill. Us gamers are covered in it.
Several times some of the larger websites have done a State of the Union for gaming, usually during one of the big conferences. However these articles usually ask the VP of marketing for one of the big companies what they think is missing from the gaming industry, or some bullshit like that. Who Cares? Seriously, does anyone care what some suit at a company thinks that the gaming industry needs? Besides they say the same shit every time. Innovation, appealing to a wider selection of gamers, whatever they think is wrong with gaming. These responses always contain a slant on how their company is trying to fix whatever problems they say exist.
Some of the gaming blogs do a news roundup every week, and then the readers of said blog provide commentary on events, and that is all fine. But there still seems to be something missing. So, my semi-amateur gaming ass is going to attempt to find what is missing, and root it out for the gaming public to point and laugh at. I will probably fail, as someone else has tried this, and failed, because if they had succeeded then Google would have found them. So expect a new post soon, followed by a new post at least once a month. Lots of shit has gone down in the gaming industry in the last few months, and as we all know, shit rolls downhill. Us gamers are covered in it.
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