The forces of nature around the Melbourne area seem determined to make my last two weeks in the city absolute hell. Five consecutive days of 36C+ weather this week. Trying to pack boxes and such in the middle of that is going a little too much for Charly and I.
That also means that I have to get the week’s work done today, as I won’t be able to concentrate with said heat. I’ve been putting the Skate 2 review off, but everything else should be remarkably straight forward. The flood of releases starts up again about a week after we get to Queensland, which is pretty good timing.
Reviews
Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – Gaming Book Club at Games On Net
Coming Attractions – 21/01/2009 at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 8:17 am
Only about 2-3 weeks left in Melbourne, depending on which day we decide to leave. Work is starting to ramp up – there’s at least two games worth reviewing this week. Last week’s Lord of the Rings: Conquest was abysmal, but fortunately very short and basic, so it only took two days to finish it and write the review.
I’ve been starting a lot of PC games but not sticking to them (Stalker and Medieval II), mainly due to distractions from achievement clean up. I’m trying not to fall back into bad habits (I’m still in the top 50 for Australia, though), but it is annoying seeing 50/1000 scores on my profile. I managed to beat Banjo-Kazooie – albeit the seemingly easier Xbox Live Arcade version – which I’d been trying to beat since 1999. I think the scale of the game and the tasks required have easily been superceded in the 10 years since it came out, which probably made it seem easier.
I started the original Diablo again last night, hoping to beat it without external assistance or hacked online loot. People warned me that it looks like crap now, but I think it holds up okay.
Reviews
Tomb Raider: Underworld (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – A Look into the Future at Games On Net
Coming Attractions – 14/01/2009 at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 8:01 am
I’m officially starting work up again today. Apparently I had 24 days off. Feels like maybe 7. I’ve spent the last few days dashing through LucasArts’ various adventure games. You know, back when they didn’t just make Star Wars games.
I’ll be debuting a new column starting this Wednesday calling ‘Coming Attractions’, which is just a fancy way of addressing this week’s new releases. Nothing imaginative really, just taking those quarterly predictions I did in the Warp Pipe last week and doing them weekly. I’ll also be handling updates of Games On Net’s release schedule, so it should be nice, neat and up to date.
The Warp Pipe resumes next Sunday with a bunch of predictions about what will happen in 2009. Just a bit of fun – I always like looking back at the end of the year to see if these things are right. After that I think I might take the column in a more serious direction; I felt like I relied far too much on retro stuff to fill the gaps on the weeks where I had no ideas. The column is going to be a little leaner, but I hope it will be better for it.
Getting all ready to move to Queensland in just under a month. The SO is handing in her resignation today, and we’re going to start packing and posting stuff shortly. I would have liked to be up there sooner – Tuesday is apparently going to be 38C here. Once we’re up there I’m hoping I can find something to compliment my writing work, though that might just be the development of my planned video series or perhaps a simple XNA project or continued writing on the book that’ll probably never be published.
Reviews
Tom Clancy’s EndWar (PS3) at Games On Net
Far Cry 2 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo DS) at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 12:45 pm
Being in other places of the country and a lack of Warp Pipe to solidify my routines resulted in a lack of blog entries in the last few weeks. Some work did appear on the Internode site, but I was happy to not think about work at all while I was away. There are a couple more to come yet.
Reviews
Wii Music (Wii) at Games On Net
FIFA Manager 09 (PC) at Games On Net
Call of Duty: World at War (PS3) at Games On Net
Mirror’s Edge (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Crash: Mind Over Mutant (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Naruto: Broken Bond (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) at Games On Net
Banjo-Kazooie (Xbox Live Arcade) at Games On Net
Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Left 4 Dead (PC) at Games On Net
Prince of Persia (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 12:11 pm
Was meant to start my holidays today, but this week was a mess. Not a whole lot of work done; a lot of time spend introducing cats, taxiing people, consoling my dearest one about her treatment at the hands of the evil multinational games retailer and celebrating her awesome university results.
Work is now extended til Thursday night at the latest. The current count is seven, with EndWar currently being worked on. Two a day would seal it by Wednesday.
The last Warp Pipe bombed hard, proving nobody gives a damn about Midway.
Reviews
Rock Band (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe’s 2008 Report Card at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 3:05 pm
I’m still buried under a pile of reviews, mostly ones that I decided to pick up just to make sure the site has covered all the important bits. At this stage, I’m set to wrap the year up on Sunday with a total of 99 reviews and 47 features, which is pretty damn good. Would have liked to have cracked the century mark, but that gives me something to work towards next year.
Speaking of 2009, I’ve got a few ideas flying around in my head for better coverage. Wanted to look into doing some sort of Internet video production – I’ve got the idea and a place to put it, but I need talent and equipment to work with to bring it to fruition.
Reviews
Quantum of Solace (PS3) at Games On Net
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (Wii) at Games On Net
Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – The Battle of Midway at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 11:13 am
Seven reviews written in the last 6 days, four need to be done by midnight tonight. There’s no rest for the wicked as a similar number of reviews is already planned for December to clean up the remainder. I can’t deny that it isn’t awesomely profitable, because what I make in these busy months makes the job seem all the more worth it.
Normally there’s a bit of a lull in January and February, but in recent years, the industry has recovered for mid February. 2009 is different. I’ve had to cut my planned two month break down to one, since everything fires back up again starting January 15th. My big goal for the year is to enhance my time management skills so that I can make the most of my work days so I don’t have to sacrifice time with the missus.
Reviews
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – The Tin Anniversaries Part V at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 9:01 am
Struggled through the week on the writing front, but had a lot of success on the playing front. Ultimately that just means even more writing this week.
My dearly beloved completed her final university assignment this week, but we were denied the opportunity for a proper celebration by her having to work Thursday and Friday. Today is her first day as assistant manager at her job.
Flights for Christmas are booked. I am looking forward to being done with my work for the year – the self-imposed deadline for all articles is December 15, so I can have a week off down here before going north.
Reviews
Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – The Tin Anniversaries Part Four at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 10:22 am
Forgot to post this up on Sunday, I think the sleeping in threw me off course. I went to eGames on Saturday, which was somewhat less interesting than it was last year, due mostly to the fact that the games on show were already available in stores, and had been so for many days. I only ended up spending about two hours at the show catching up with people before going off to the Crown arcade to play Rambo and Street Fighter IV.
More than a review a day to complete before the end of the month, so I’m going to put my head down and disappear for a while.
Reviews
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS) at Games On Net
NHL 09 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
NBA Live 09 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
NBA 2K9 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
LEGO Batman: The Videogame (PS3) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe: The Tin Anniversaries Part Three at Games On Net
posted by Matthew Keller at 8:05 am
The clean slate was short-lived, as I now have eight reviews on the run. eGames is this coming weekend too, so I need to have most of them done by then so I can be free to socialise. The release season basically ends on the 27th, and I’ll basically be taking the two months off after that to enjoy the remainder of my time in Melbourne by generally relaxing, doing touristy things and wiping out some DVD/Game backlog.
Reviews
Wario Land: The Shake Dimension (Wii) at Games On Net
Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (PS3) at Games On Net
Fracture (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Fable 2 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Dead Space (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) at Games On Net
Features
The Warp Pipe – The Tin Anniversaries Part Two
posted by Matthew Keller at 8:51 am