...and I will be joining a motley crew of gamers, bloggers and tweeters at the Eurogamer Expo in London.
My nostrils will be full with the smells of videogamesness and I'll do my best to tweet what I find interesting(everything!) and follow it up with a roundup post, upon my return.
You can follow my #eurogamerexpo tweets here.
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Monday 26 October 2009
A history of writing
While I was contemplating moving my blogging activity from Wordpress to Blogger, old thoughts began to spiral back from the mid '80's. These years were not always the most fun for a shy, withdrawn teenage such as I. But it was in these solo moments, that some firm foundations were laid towards the emphasis writing has over my life today.
Looking back over my writing history, I have fond memories of a time when all I owned was a manual typewriter, producing home-made fanzines after school. The very first of these was my The Marvel Update back in December 1985 - I attempted a round-up of the current X-Men, Dare Devil, Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spiderman and Web of Spiderman comic book titles. I still remember picking up my comic books, at a local store, every friday and I had a cunning plan to produce my monthly marvel update fanzine for the store to sell. Being 15 years old at the time, this seemed a fool-proof plan and I planned world domination! Of course, the 15 years olds of today may not be such wild dreamers as I.
My other great love of the late '80s, early '90s was the new wave of hardcore punk music(see Ian Glasper's book, Trapped in a Scene) and again fanzines were my writing outlet. So SLAM was born, lasting all of two issues. Interviewing bands, writing gig reviews and very sloppy cut 'n' paste design, were the order of the day. By this time the writing bug had bitten hard and there was no escape - I was DOOM(ed).
Thinking back to the mid '90s, you can blame my first home PC and MMO gaming for the lack of anything similar to the DIY fanzines of the '80s. Of course I did write in note books, on scraps of paper but for reasons unknown, I was never a desktop publisher. I can only believe that the distracting power of PC gaming(and those naughty MMO time-sinks) got the better of me.
Blogging, and subsequently freelance writing, have only been a very recent activities for me. With gaming in the MMO, World of Warcraft prompting me to start my first blog, The Liber. This was probably back in 2005/6 and over those handful of years, my writing has become something which is part of my daily life and not something that I'd give up easily. But I do question how long blogging can survive in this fast-paced and ever-changing world? And where will my writing lead me over the next decade?
Looking back over my writing history, I have fond memories of a time when all I owned was a manual typewriter, producing home-made fanzines after school. The very first of these was my The Marvel Update back in December 1985 - I attempted a round-up of the current X-Men, Dare Devil, Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spiderman and Web of Spiderman comic book titles. I still remember picking up my comic books, at a local store, every friday and I had a cunning plan to produce my monthly marvel update fanzine for the store to sell. Being 15 years old at the time, this seemed a fool-proof plan and I planned world domination! Of course, the 15 years olds of today may not be such wild dreamers as I.
My other great love of the late '80s, early '90s was the new wave of hardcore punk music(see Ian Glasper's book, Trapped in a Scene) and again fanzines were my writing outlet. So SLAM was born, lasting all of two issues. Interviewing bands, writing gig reviews and very sloppy cut 'n' paste design, were the order of the day. By this time the writing bug had bitten hard and there was no escape - I was DOOM(ed).
Thinking back to the mid '90s, you can blame my first home PC and MMO gaming for the lack of anything similar to the DIY fanzines of the '80s. Of course I did write in note books, on scraps of paper but for reasons unknown, I was never a desktop publisher. I can only believe that the distracting power of PC gaming(and those naughty MMO time-sinks) got the better of me.
Blogging, and subsequently freelance writing, have only been a very recent activities for me. With gaming in the MMO, World of Warcraft prompting me to start my first blog, The Liber. This was probably back in 2005/6 and over those handful of years, my writing has become something which is part of my daily life and not something that I'd give up easily. But I do question how long blogging can survive in this fast-paced and ever-changing world? And where will my writing lead me over the next decade?
Saturday 24 October 2009
Uncharted 2 saves my PS3 from indifference
Wakey, Wakey!
I feel a secret slumber has slowly been lifted from my vision. I have new eyes for my PS3, no longer is it just a Blu-ray player with a gaming system tagged on. Instead, this second impression is of a good if not great, videogaming console that can compete with my 360, for gaming time.
And that is thanks solely to one videogaming title, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Don't get me wrong, I have tried other PS3 exclusive titles; Killzone, Little Big Planet, Resistance 1 & 2 but these didn't impress upon me anything other than a feeling of meh.
So why Uncharted 2: Among Thieves? What makes the PS3 gaming experience so much different this time? Maybe it's the combination of timing, uniqueness, refined fun and polish that made me go out and track down Uncharted: Drake's Fortune at a local Argos store, for £9.99. I'm now running through both games storylines simultaneously and it has been nothing but fun and adventure since.
I worry that this maybe the only exclusive IP that I ever enjoy on the PS3 platform(what with Metal Gear heading to the 360) but I can only hope it isn't. If nothing else, discovering how good videogaming can be(thanks Naughty Dog) on the PS3 has given me the patience to try out more titles in the future - even if they're not exclusive to the platform.
And who said first impressions last?
I feel a secret slumber has slowly been lifted from my vision. I have new eyes for my PS3, no longer is it just a Blu-ray player with a gaming system tagged on. Instead, this second impression is of a good if not great, videogaming console that can compete with my 360, for gaming time.
And that is thanks solely to one videogaming title, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Don't get me wrong, I have tried other PS3 exclusive titles; Killzone, Little Big Planet, Resistance 1 & 2 but these didn't impress upon me anything other than a feeling of meh.
So why Uncharted 2: Among Thieves? What makes the PS3 gaming experience so much different this time? Maybe it's the combination of timing, uniqueness, refined fun and polish that made me go out and track down Uncharted: Drake's Fortune at a local Argos store, for £9.99. I'm now running through both games storylines simultaneously and it has been nothing but fun and adventure since.
I worry that this maybe the only exclusive IP that I ever enjoy on the PS3 platform(what with Metal Gear heading to the 360) but I can only hope it isn't. If nothing else, discovering how good videogaming can be(thanks Naughty Dog) on the PS3 has given me the patience to try out more titles in the future - even if they're not exclusive to the platform.
And who said first impressions last?
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