Frothing Demand

The root of my back pain was discovered moments ago by Charly when she sat on my office chair. It appears that the padding inside has disappeared, and I’ve been sitting on leather covered metal for months. Ouch. A temporary cushion is in place.

Spent far too much time on Oblivion this week, but the deed is done – 1250/1250 GP. While I got the Warp Pipe in on time for the first time in months, my About.com work was not done, so I’ve got today and tomorrow to wrap it up before he announces who moves on to stage 2. I’m trying to get it all done today.

Scored a bunch of cheap PSX games from Charly’s work, including an almost mint condition Metal Gear Solid to complete my collection. Well, technically I don’t have an original Sons of Liberty, but that is easily rectified.

Reviews
Secret Agent Clank (PSP) at Internode Games Network
Beijing 2008: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games (Xbox 360) at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe – Building a Better Sports Game at Internode Games Network

Completely forgot last week’s entry.

Been busy keeping an eye on things for E3. Didn’t actually write anything more than an editorial in the end, but it did help me plan for review coverage. At this stage, I’m looking at over 50 reviews to write before the year is over. In comparison, I did 40 in the first 6 months, though I only started full paced reviewing for Internode in March.

Currently in training with About.com to take over the Nintendo DS guide. It’s tougher than I thought writing for a less informed audience; shorter reviews and simpler, clearer language. Feedback has been positive, so let’s hope it all works out.

Been struggling with an Alone in the Dark review for over two weeks now. I do not know why this is, but I’m doing my best to wrap it up today, come hell or high water.

Going to see The Dark Knight tomorrow, don’t have my hopes up for it.

Reviews
Top Spin 3 (Xbox 360) at Strategy Informer
Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (Xbox Live Arcade) at Internode Games Network
The Incredible Hulk (Xbox 360) at Internode Games Network

Previews
Super Street Fighter II HD Remix (Xbox Live Arcade) at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe – History of Batman Video Games at Internode Games Network
The Warp Pipe – E3 2008: The Aftermath at Internode Games Network

Next week is the E3 show, so it’ll be back to newswriting for a week or so for me. Decent money, but no sleep since everything seems to happen around 2-3am.

Trying to finish Alone in the Dark at the moment for a review early this week. Also coming is a review on Beijing 2008, a game that will cause more injuries/lawsuits than the original Mario Party. Secret Agent Clank also has to be done, woo. Everything needs to be done early in the week so I can take a short breather and bum around for a bit. Haven’t been taking weekends lately.

Spent Thursday running around the Eastern Suburbs like a headless chook trying to find games on sale at Dick Smith. Unfortunately for Charly, some little shit bought up every copy of Harvest Moon DS to trade at JB before we got there (JB don’t take multiples of the one game from the one person, so maybe that story was wrong). We ended up heading back and forth between stores, but eventually got just about everything we were looking for. Some of the games I bought were marked down by as much as 75-95%.

I’m hoping to see more Wii games at this year’s E3. When the system was revealed, there was a lot of hooplah about new game concepts, blah blah, but very few studios delivered. I think that there will need to be an injection of new blood before the Wii’s potential is fully realised in the West – current developers are too set in their “pretty graphics, big worlds and bald space marines” design ways to try and think about developing something smaller and more gameplay-centric. I had a good idea for a small Wii project, though that’ll be shelved alongside every other creative idea I’ve had this year.

Reviews
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Xbox 360) review at Internode Games Network
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) review at Internode Games Network
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360/PS3) review at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe – Games of Q3, 2008 at Internode Games Network

I spent the majority of this week stressing over a rather lengthy Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots review for Internode, to the point where I got virtually no other work done. So that means that today and tomorrow, I’ve got to complete the following:

– Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (360) Review
– Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (XBLA) Review x 2
– The Incredible Hulk (360) Review
– Secret Agent Clank (PSP) Review
– Super Street Fighter 2 HD (XBLA) Preview

A copy of Top Spin 3 I’m meant to be reviewing hasn’t turned up yet.

Once this is all done, I can finally sit down and play something – seems like ages since I’ve done that. I’m planning to take a week off from the 7-14th of July to recouperate before the E3 madness.

In other news, Charly and I celebrate one year together tomorrow, go us.

While struggling with the review for Quake Wars yesterday, my mind started to drift and conceive an action game – nothing new or revolutionary, just a nice straightforward action/maze game with some modern conveniences.

Reviews
NBA Ballers: Chosen One (Xbox 360) at Internode Games Network
Okami (Wii) at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe – Half Year Retrospective at Internode Games Network

This has been a trying week. I had some six reviews to do; I got only four done, and they’re still piling up. There’s a certain level of pressure that comes with that amount of work, and it caught up with me somewhere around Thursday. The boss over at Internode went down with appendicitis, so he’s going to be out of action for a while, which will make things trickier.

Just looking at the whiteboard, I’ve got Metal Gear Solid 4, Quake Wars, The Incredible Hulk and Wolf of the Battlefield to review for Internode, and Wolf of the Battlefield and Top Spin 3 to cover for Strategy Informer. I need to get started on pre-prepared content for Q4 as well.

Reviews
Mario Kart Wii (Wii) at Internode Games Network
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) at Strategy Informer
Aces of the Galaxy (XBLA) at Strategy Informer
Novastrike (PSN) at Strategy Informer

Features
The Warp Pipe at Internode Games Network

Forgot to update last week, but I think the only thing I wrote that was actually posted was the second Metal Gear Warp Pipe.

The early part of my week was uneventful. The latter half saw us finally take the opportunity to visit Game On. Through means beyond our control (train carpark being full), we ended up having to drive into the city. Like any other major city, certain Melbourne roads are pedestrian only, which makes crossing from one side to another rather interesting. Also amusing is when someone fucks with the traffic lights, and your green arrow doesn’t appear to earn you right of way.

The exhibition was pretty good – I think the best part about it was their classic arcade section, where they had managed to cobble up several original cabinets for classic arcade machines, including the original Space War and Pong machines. The more recent gaming things had a lot of information, but I think the game demonstration choices were a little dubious – I’d have shown off the games that the machine was noted for, but their game selections seemed a little random. The other unfortunate thing was that there was also two school groups touring – we’d aimed to go mid week to avoid the place being packed but it was not to be.

Metal Gear Solid 4 took up the remainder of my week. It’s the best game of the new generation, but I don’t think anyone that hasn’t played the previous four games will be able to fully appreciate both the story and just how far the gameplay has come. I’m honestly surprised that the bigger outlets are dishing out 10s for it. This week, I’ve got to review that, The Bourne Conspiracy, The Incredible Hulk, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Aces of the Galaxy and Novastrike – there’s also the possibility of a Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 review.

Reviews

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict (Nintendo DS) at Internode Games Network

Features

The Warp Pipe – Metal Gear Retrospective Part 2 at Internode Games Network
The Warp Pipe (15/06/2008) at Internode Games Network

It has been a long road, plagued with many awful, awful games, but tonight, I finally cracked the Australian Top 50 on MyGamerCard.net. I had previously given up hope, but a discovery of some easy achievements on games I had already played pushed me over the line.

The reason I pushed myself with the GamerScore system was because it shows my dedication to my hobby and craft. That when I recommend a game or tear it to shreds, I know what I’m talking about. That I have integrity, by not reviewing games after only 30 minutes of play. That I will play any game, good or bad, just to gain a better perspective of what makes separates a good game from a great one.

I had two objectives for the system: 1) Crack 50,000 and 2) Make it into the top 50. Now that I have achieved both, the chase for achievement points can end, and I can move on.

A relatively quiet week in Melbourne, though much work was early in the piece. Seems as though the gaps between submission and posting are being extended everywhere I work for, which would indicate the review flow is picking up again. I’m using this quiet time to plug a few gaps in my achievement record – I said I would not be pursuing raw GamerScore, and though I am dangerously close to that #50 position, this is a chase for efficiency. That said, it ultimately still resulted in me playing crappy licensed games, so I still fail. The foot long scratch the cat left down my forearm on Friday morning was less painful than Transformers: The Game.

I have many an excellent title still sitting on the backburner during these quiet times, and I am gradually pushing the pile down. This week’s victim was Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, a somewhat disappointing entry in an otherwise good series. I’m hoping to hit either Super Mario Galaxy or Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops this week.

Reviews
SpellForce Universe (PC) at Strategy Informer

Features
The Warp Pipe’s Metal Gear Retrospective – Part One at Internode Games Network

I spent the majority of my Sunday editing the GTAIV review that will hit Internode sometime this week, the reason being that neither the copy editor nor content editor had played the game.

As a critic/review in this industry, I make an effort to play the vast majority of releases in the industry, regardless of their quality. I can accept that the two editors had not played it, as their roles do not require them to have insight on the majority of releases, but I was shocked to find that many big name reviewers and bloggers had little to no experience with the Grand Theft Auto series prior to the release of the fourth game.

There are certain big name games that I have missed over the years, due to not being behind a particular piece of hardware or perhaps not even owning said piece of hardware, but I’ve made it my duty to try and track these games down and play them to enhance my perspective. It’s a time consuming exercise, but I think it adds to the work that I do churn out, and will hopefully benefit those who read my articles.

This week’s entry is a little rushed as I’m likely to be playing catch up all week. There are certain parts of the Warp Pipe I’m now preparing in advance, I’ve got reviews to write for Okami and NBA Ballers, and the first part of the Warp Pipe’s Metal Gear Retrospective to plan and write.

Reviews
Iron Man (Xbox 360) at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe at Internode Games Network

After struggling with a belated Mario Kart Wii review all week, it struck me that there are no major releases for another four weeks. Typically there would be a “drought” of games until early September, but I think the industry is finally getting their act together. They may have realised that it would be better to position some of their software outside of the holiday season, where it’s bound to be eclipsed by superior first party efforts. June, July and August, traditionally quiet months for me, will be pretty busy – July more so with the rescheduled E3 in its second year.

Playing through Heavenly Sword this weekend – I like a condensed, action-packed experience like this, i.e. “the perfect rental”. Should I manage to beat it later today, it will be the 34th game I’ve knocked over so far this year. I’ve decided to try turning my attention away from going after a large achievement score on Xbox Live, after I couldn’t crack the #50 barrier without lowering myself to playing childrens games and hunting sims like the rest of the community, so my scoring rate will slow down to reflect the type of releases coming out.

My hoarding tendencies and backlog have changed quite a bit with my financial situation. I’ve spent roughly half of what I normally would have on games by this point in the year, and have made an effort to rent a lot of titles I want to play, or get Charly to bring them home from work for a brief period. The backlog of games to beat is in the 70-80 range, I’d like to knock over 30-40. My goal for finished titles this year is 100, and with games needing to be reviewed, I should exceed that in the end.

Reviews
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS) at Internode Games Network

Features
The Warp Pipe at Internode Games Network