Xero

I've been writing for Midlife Gamer for around 3 weeks now, and it's been a blast so far. If you haven't heard of them check them out here: http://midlifegamer.net/ Now you're back / still here, its worth saying that this won't affect the quality or quantity output of InRetroSpect, thats still my baby, and Balaenidae, Sgt Reynolds, and FrostieD are all still hard at work making awesome content for your unsuspecting eyes and ears. As part of the work on MLG the coming month will be exploring an MMO for the first time, which for me is quite daunting, as I fucking hate PC gaming. PCs act so precious, they refuse to just work, instead opting to require you to have a level of PC maintenance that is beyond my limited knowledge. After wrestling with the setup you have the controls, again, awkward. Theres no finesse of movement because of a digital keyboard, and a pointing device that has a tendency (for me at least) to skip about round the screen. But apart from this, I'm looking forward to it, an experience of an entirely new genre is not something that happens all too often. Dungeon crawling, monster fighting and character levelling, I can't wait to see how far down the rabbit hole I'm going to go...

I know its kind of played out to talk about E3, theres a reason we don't cover it ourselves, but now that everything has died down, I think its time for some thoughts on the matter. Firstly the motion sensing stuff on display was genuinely interesting, and its worth noting that this truly could be the first major leap towards VR since polygons. Second, the sheer number of new titles on offer from the various companies was astounding, a new Final Fantasy, Zelda, 2 new Mario's, Call Of Duty, etc its comforting to know that the coming 365 days are going to be rammed with games. And lastly it was strange to me how several key franchises were mentioned at all. No new Mirror's Edge, no massive new Capcom game, no news on Halo 4. Conspicuous by their absense, I think its fair to say they will probably be at the next TGS, but not even a whiff of gameplay details, or a teaser. Very odd.

When I first heard about Twitter I thought to myself 'I will not get getting involved in that', and put the insane idea to bed for what I thought was forever. You can of course now find me as @xeroxeroxero on the Facebook updates service that is the big T. So why the change of heart? Well I've found that with more interaction comes more interest, people want to get involved with their favourite content, and if that so happens to be InRetroSpect, who am I to argue? But the predominant reason to signing up was to not be left behind, and whilst it seems strange that signing up to something (and therefore maintaining that something's popularity) just to stay concurrent is a little weak, it's essential when considering audience. I'm glad I have, and it seems that a new wave of videogames and consoles have decided this too. Playstation 3 is supposedly going to integrate a well known service into their system, PSP already has Skype, and Xbox 360 has Messenger. Blur, the upcoming racer from Bizarre Creations, wants a piece of the action too, preview material coming out of Edge proclaiming it as the 'Facebook of Arcade Racers'. Edge have been wrong before but that doesn't necessarily mean that Bizarre Creations have the wrong end of the stick, imagine Burnout Paradise's drop in drop out gameplay and camera use for Takedowns amped up to include out of game messaging, with the line between game and reality becoming a little 'blur'-rier. Bad puns are always fun.

So am I a journalist because I write reviews? Probably not, but videogame criticism is currently in this strange place of, on the one hand, wanting to be taken seriously, and on the other, relying on the producer of the art to stay sweet to provide their content. So its really consumer journalism, as opposed to straight up investigative journalism. Or is it? A Life Well Wasted, a fantastic new podcast doing the rounds, doesn't regurgitate the same old press release, it doesn't critique games, it just investigates what people in and around the industry feel about interactive art (games, pinball, art house work etc). Now thats journalism in the truest sense. I feel what a lot of people who write about games are, are critics, and thats not a bad thing, it's just a better description. You wouldn't call someone who writes about theatre, or films, a journalist, so why change for games? Perhaps we're insecure about our art form not being taken seriously, which is a vicious circle really, but treating Interactive Fiction as anything other than on the same level as plays, films, books etc creates a clique-y atmosphere that pushes us away from this ideal.

15/03/09: I haven't posted for a while. Thats not good is it? I've been busy working on the new InRetroSpect (available now) and the new Freeplay (available very soon). Also I have been playing Portal. And thats what I thought I would very quickly write about. Everyone knows its good. But why does everyone focus on the cake being a lie? Theres so much more to that title than a catchphrase, and whilst it's easy to quote 'The Cake Is A Lie' as a substitute to talking intelligently about it kind of underplays how excellent the whole thing is. The writing is witty, the pacing is superb, and the underlying themes are dark, genuinely affecting, and in places very moving. Its also one of those games that lingers with you after you turn it off, for about a week I've been looking at walls around me and thinking, 'Now if I just put a portal there I can use my own momentum to launch myself across the room, and be at the fridge in a matter of moments.... that cheese selection will be mine in a shorter amount of time'. Its the same as Tony Hawks (making you look for grind rails) Rez (making you find hidden beats in music) and GTA that.... well.... So look out for the new shows, and join the Facebook group too! Go on you deserve it.

02/02/09: So it's snowing and I am at work! Which seems like a situation I don't want to be in, after all, it's best to be out there making snowmen and the like. But its warm and toasty and they just published an article of mine so i'm totally happy. I just wanted to say that, in addition to the InRetroSpect every month, a new show that may be monthly, may not be monthly, but will definitely be a recurring thing, is in the works and has just been recorded. Its called Freeplay and I think its quite exciting. I will let you know when its up, but it should be soon. The new InRetroSpect is up soon of course, probably next week, and the review after that is well on its way, as, you know, I like to be punctual.

24/01/09: Its coming up to spring, with everything changing and beginning anew but at the same time, the same. Because of this the InRetroSpect site has a whole new image, designed beautifully by Balaenidae, and feels so much better for it. Not only that, a great pal of mine Luke Durham has a new site showcasing his, frankly stunning, animation and other sequential art. I seriously suggest you check it out, you can do so at http://dukemdoodles.blogspot.com/ and subscribe to the RSS feed there too! What else is new? Well I decided to get a nice new haircut, which is a lot shorter than i'm used to. Oh and the new InRetroSpect is ready and raring to go this February. Man thats a lot of new.

21/01/09: Hey just something real quick, because it's late and I have work in the morning, but it is a great day today. President Obama has gone into office today, good news, and more importantly on a global scale InRetroSpect just hit 100 downloads. I'm so happy that it has, and I'd like to say thank you to everyone whos downloaded it so far. You guys are awesome.

11/01/09: My sympathies go out to the guys at 1up. Turns out they just had a big merger with UGO and because of this they've fired a whole load of journalists. Some of the best videogame critics the net has to offer. I was really disappointed by this, as the 1up Show is something i've listened to for ages now, and my favourite show, Retronauts, was the reason I started doing a podcast in the first place. Its good to hear Jeremy Parrish isn't leaving, as he's definitely key to that show, and long may he continue his great work there. I'm gonna wrap this up now, I'm not in the mood to comment further.

03/01/09: Housekeeping first. I am currently providing film previews and reviews for a popular entertainment website, and I thought you might wish to see them. They're only short, roughly a hundred words each, so theres nothing of any real depth, but nevertheless its something i'm putting out on a regular basis. Next up, there is a new InRetroSpect doing the rounds, please check it out. Finally I have finished a poster for a local community pantomime, and thought it would be cool to add it to the gallery section. Inbetween all of this, my liver seems to have recovered from the infectious disease that is "making merry". Seriously, I was drinking quite heavily for about a fortnight, and it totally took it's toll on me.

Just finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune too! And my word what a game it was. Probably the best thing I can say about it is that you will have some real fun with it. Remember what that is? Fun. Its not too long, not too hard and not too serious, which seems to be the perfect mix for me at the moment. For those of you who haven't played it, don't bother checking the demo, it's useless and actually put me off buying it for the longest time, just imagine a cross between Gears Of War and Tomb Raider Legend, thats so solidly put together and is wildly entertaining. I checked out the screens for the new one, and whilst I'm a little disappointed to hear it won't be staring Drake's lady pal, I am at least glad that it looks incredible, and is featuring the story of Marco Polo, which sounds awesome. Honestly honestly honestly, Naughty Dog is just exceptional, I'd love to write a feature on them... you know what I might just do that.

Next up from my pile of shame is The Orange Box. Which I shall be playing chronologically. Probably forever. And Motorstorm, which is somewhat of a wildcard for me. I've heard that it's Wipeout with mud. No bad thing, I love Wipeout. Also, as I reviewed Sonic 3 this month I thought I would download the demo of the new Sonic Unleashed game. I'm going to play it now. Hold on.....

Yeah its not very good. Again.

31/12/08: Just returned from a great trip back to my home town, which was good because I got to see family I hardly see, and I got to remember why I left the place that brought me up. But it was good to be in my family home once again (it not really being my family home, my family just having moved, it's complicated) as it's warm, full of food, and easy going. It got me thinking about another type of Home. A Home not as good as that one. Sony's Home.

"Oh no!" I hear you cry, not another rant about Home, please god no. Well no. Not here, because you've read about it already elsewhere. What I will say though, is that for free, its pretty decent, and it has the seeds of something very interesting, even though it certainly isn't fully formed yet. The thing in the news that REALLY interested me recently though, was that the PS3 Singstars are going to include the ability to play the games (not just the songs) of the previous PS2 Singstar titles. In other words, emulation of PS2 on every PS3 system. Software emulation. If it can be done for that game, there is hope it can be done for others. And if thats true, we may see the PS3 get a fully fledged emulator for PS2. Which would be great news.

Oh yes and its New Years Eve. So party time.

20/12/08: Oh yes it is. And there are a plethora of excellent, AAA games coming out and of course critics are responding in the usual, rational method. They complain. "What is this?" they cry, "why must I play ALL these games?" they wail, "why do they all come out at the same time?". I have the answers to these questions.

1. What is it? It's your job.
2. Why all of them? Don't complain about playing quality when the rest of the year is often full of shit.
3. Why not space it out? Because you (and I) aren't the average consumer. We buy, and play, games all year, most people buy most of their games now.

Now people may disagree with me on this subject, and companies releasing games now could do more to help, like send out advance copies of games earlier, but really, this is the nature of the job. When you boil it all down, your selling opinion on retail products. When does retail make it's money? Autumn / Winter. Heavy deadlines come with the territory. So whilst I sympathise with critics, and let's be honest, no one wants to work too hard this time of year, like any other art form, you should take the good with the bad, and luckily the good this year is very, very good!

Rant over. InRetroSpect now has a MySpace page because it's all fancy like that. If your interested in becoming a friend please do. We currently have four. Including Tom. And he's a fairweather friend. It's findable here.

08/12/08: I don't understand this big furore about the second hand market. Especially not in the UK. It just does not apply. You know how it works, companies make massive profits re-selling titles, but developers don't see a penny of it. Videogame critics argue that consumers should always buy new to support the industry. Well in the United states I can totally see what you mean. But here in the British Isles, that argument falls completely flat. The difference is that in the UK games are £40.00, sometimes more. In US money, thats $80.00. And game stores tend not to drop their prices on titles wheras places like Best Buy or Walmart, do. I walked into a Game store the other day and they were looking at charging £25.00 for old PS2 shooter "Black". £25.00!!! On eBay however, under a tenner, shipped. On a bad day. So if the industry wants us to buy new, surely the price HAS to drop especially for titles that have been out for a while. One of the alternatives of course is digital download, which I personally detest as there is no physical transaction, nothing to add to the shelf, nothing to say you "own". Atlus seem to have a good solution, probably the best so far. Just buy straight from them. You can get all sorts of excellent titles for not much money, and "ethically" you can sleep sound. But do other publishers or developers do this? No. And why not? Well probably because for as much as they bitch and moan about places like Gamestop and Gamestation not sharing the wealth, they are always quite happy to deal with them, they are always happy to take their money in the first place. So, bottom line, USA get games first, for cheaper, plus older games are cheap as chips, UK gets expensive games, late, and get slammed by game critics not in our country. Awesome.

29/11/08: I have totally been playing LittleBigPlanet two player recently and I have to say I'm really enjoying the experience. I always thought I would tire of the game quite quickly, but I've found it to be a slow-burning experience that worms its way into your mind and, if you don't blast away at it, provides a pretty long lasting and fun, collaborative experience. I haven't tried the level building yet (partly through fear of losing it, partly through fear of losing hours to it) and I don't think I'm getting the most out of it as I don't have an eye toy or a headset, but still I think it's a console seller. Thats two for the Playstation now, a few more and I think Sony can be happy, but none of the titles on the horizon (with the possible exception of Killzone 2) are looking that way. But with Media Molecule signed up I think they may have a chance.
    The next review is in the works, and its strange because I wasn't going to do a new one until January. But it's a monthly podcast and so it has come to pass that December will definitely be getting a review too! Oddly January's is already written and waiting to go, but that will wait. Oh yes. That will wait.
    The thing I have found so far is just how organized reviewers have to be. I can imagine being a full time critic is damned hard. I have a list on my laptop of games stretching way out into '94 and the task that lies ahead is pretty daunting. There's games I can see playing for 40 hours, and there's games I can see playing for 14 hours. Couple that with any additional features that may be coming up, and thats a heck of a work load. Hell its a fun work load but still, full time job + podcasts + theatre directing + girfriend = not a lot of free time.
    And another thing that will be eating said free time is the "new project" I was throwing about a few months ago. The game I was making. Well for some reason (which I am not questioning) our home PC decided to grace us with use for a spell. Not knowing how long this will last I have taken everything I can off of it, and the title is once again (hopefully) able to be worked on. I am really happy that I got this stuff again, because once this title is done I can start work on the next two project's script and storyboards, which will hopefully be developed simultaneously. I have a few days off in a fortnight or so, which I plan to use to break the back of most of the stuff on my ever increasing list. Wow, I sound like a broken record.

22/11/08: Ok, so first up apologies once more for not updating the site as often as I should. I do however have an excuse or rather two excuses. First, the death of my computer has put it back, because facing editing the site on my laptop is not a thought I relish, but here I am anyway on old faithful, letting you know whats going on. Second is the fact I have been hard at work on my new project. And as you may have seen by now, I have added a page for it. InRetroSpect is a new podcast that takes a look at videogames from 15 years ago, and judges them by todays standards to see if they hold up and if they are still relevant, fun, interesting and everything inbetween. The decision to do podcasts rather than a review site is simple, I've been into podcasts for a while now, and I think that the best way to reach an audience is by an audio or visual means. I decided some time ago that currently I don't have the ability to produce a video review to the kind of quality that I would like, so a podcast seemed the perfect choice. The first review is Mortal Kombat, and I am currently hard at work on the next one, which is due to drop in January. It is a monthly endeavour, but I launched this one early to see if a. it was feasible, and b. if it was something I wanted to do. And it is. So please check it out, and let me know if you like it.

22/10/08: Aaargh, computer crashed. Totally and utterly died and so yeah sorry I haven't updated the site for a fortnight or so. The big news will have to wait as it is now locked up inside of my PC. Waiting. Like a ninja. But I feel it's time to say, yeah, it's a game of sorts and a statement as well and, well you will see it when it's done. Its close to being finished and i'm excited as it's my first attempt at anything like this.

However, thats not the only thing that will be gracing this site. I am currently writing a podcast which will go out late november / early december. Its a retro review podcast with a twist, every game reviewed came out the same month the podcast comes out, only 15 years earlier. The first is 'Mortal Kombat' which went on home release, December 1993. Its shaping up quite nicely I think, and I hope you will download it when it's available. There probably isn't going to be another site specifically dedicated to it, probably a Myspace or something as, if there is one thing my job has taught me, Myspace is invaluable if you want anyone to see your stuff, so whenever a new one goes up I will link to it here on my personal site. The following month's review looks like it will be sweet too, as it's Sonic 3, and the next month is... undecided as of yet. Theres a few options open and as it's scheduled for February 2009, or "the far future" as it's also known, I don't think i'll commit any time soon. So there we are, cool things I hope. I will try and update as regularly as I can using my "vintage" laptop.

27/09/08: So, saturday night, chilling out, couple of drinks, watching some anime (gundam, if you must know), I have decided to say that there is going to be an interesting announcement quite soon in regards to a project I have been working on for a not insignificant amount of time. It is in regards to a game that I have been toying with recently. There is nothing to show right now, because I want to hold stuff back till its really near to completion, but needless to say, its getting there. So stay tuned.
          In other news, I got offered another job this week, which I decided not to go with. It seems to me as soon as you are out of work no one wants to give you a job, but get one, and everyone is interested in you. This weeks job offer was Game LTD for the deputy manager of a new Bristol store at Cabot Circus. To tell you the truth, I didn't think much of the management that interviewed me and when he referred to videogames as "just kids toys" I knew it wasn't for me. It was enough to hold back from throwing myself across the desk to crack him one. I don't think that it would have been the best working environment.

18/09/08: I first got a Dreamcast literally about 2 or 3 years after it died a horrible death at the hands of Microsoft and Sony. I thought to myself, a cheap console, an easy way to get hold of Street Fighter and King of Fighters games on the go, and you know the fact I can say I owned a Dreamcast. I never looked back. It is a beautiful little machine it really is, and I can see why so many people rate it as the best console of all time. This isn't the place, and I don't have the energy, to talk about the console in any depth. And all I would be doing is repeating what has been said elsewhere. Needless to say, these are cheap at the moment on eBay, as they always are, and if you haven't checked it out before, now is the time. It was so ahead of its time, I can't begin to comment on how much I love this thing. Anyway so it is its 9th anniversary now, I think? And I just wanted to celebrate by encouraging those out there without one to go get one and play Sega's definitive and best moment.

Strong words. Strong words, but justified

15/09/08: This week I headed back to my hometown to see my new Nephew, and see my family for the first time in a while. I also got the chance to see Stevie Wonder in concert at the O2 Arena in London, which was incredible. I have to say that I thought it really was just amazing. The man is a living legend and I was really lucky to see him. The only gripe I really had, and it wasn't really a gripe so much as an observation is that I think he might have forgotten the meaning of his song "Living for the City". Its one of my personal favourites, but whenever he sings it now he is smiling, and I don't know if its right to or not. I mean its his song so he can do as pleases, but i've always seen it as really really deep and quite sad. I don't know, maybe its not relevant anymore. Anyway great gig.

I wanted to talk a little about videogames and their perception by the "mainstream" audience. I am a huge fan of videogames, lets get this clear from the start, so I am going to be quite biased when writing this, but please remember that I am not the archetypal "gamer" at all. I don't play a specific genre over any other, I don't have preference to one company over another, and I don't play games for the sake of playing games, I play games because I feel they are the most important media of our generation.

On that then, I come to the main topic. Why are games perceived, at worst, as little more than toys or unhealthy distractions, and at best, supplementary to films? The reason I ask this is because I have often been criticized for not watching enough movies but playing too many games. It seems there is a preference for non-interactive over interactive fiction. But why is this? Why are we scared to utilize such a new art form to tell our stories? Here's an example; Fahrenheit, one of the most well executed "worlds" I have been interested in. Very little actual gameplay, but such an incredible experience that it ranks as one of my all time favourite titles. The use in certain sections of a different control scheme to represent disorientation and fear is a stroke of genius, and it engaged me on a level no film or tv show or comic ever has. Videogames can be akin to going halfway to becoming the character in the story, an experience you cannot easily disconnect from.

Why then is it OK to have a massive collection of DVDs and be cool and interesting and arty, wheras a big pile of games will lumber you as a bit of a nerd? Do we have an inherent dislike of this media? Or is it that the world still views modern games as better looking versions of Space Invaders? I think the answer maybe a bit of both, and thats upsetting. Hopefully this current generation of consoles will go some way to change that, what with Heavy Rain coming out soon enough, and Mirror's Edge looking quite promising. Till then I suppose we will have to continue to suffer the glut of shovelware that fills our Game Store shelves and try to look through the social stigma of being branded a "gamer".

03/09/08: Part of the reason I created this website is because I watch Family Guy. In this particular episode of that excellent show, Stewie said something about this douchebag character displaying his individuality by uploading songs by bands he likes onto myspace. What I took this to mean was that expressing yourself through another persons work is like getting dressed in your friends clothes. Yeah you might look good but its never going to be you.

So I decided that I would move away from the internet norm of individuality and actually put some new... stuff... out there. I didn't really know what that would be. Then I found photography and decided that was as good as any. I really enjoyed it and I wanted to share it and this seems the perfect forum for doing so. And it doesn't really matter if 1 person, or 1 million people visit this website, in the same way that a kid imagining he's a superhero doesn't care if his parents are in the same room. Let me say from the off that it is not my intention to make money out of this venture of mine, but if people like what I do then thats great, and the best payment is just by saying so.

Anyway this individuality / art creation thing has led me to expand my horizons recently, picking up books, CDs, games and videos I normally wouldn't even think about. And you know what? I'm fucking glad I did. I have discovered so much in the last year. More so probably than when I was at university. This has influenced my creative process no end, my series of non-natural silhouettes for example are my way of saying (among other things) that in someone elses art you are no one. High brow stuff, huh? Sometimes I catch myself saying these things out loud and hear exactly how pretentious it all sounds. LOL!

In conclusion, maybe what i'm saying is take a chance on something new, explore the edges of whatever society it is your a part of, but, most importantly, create something new, and share it. Then show me. I'd love to see what you come up with!