It's been a while...

... but LIFE has been HECTIC this past year!

University is finally over and yes, my life is officially beginning.

"What's warranted this sudden blog post after such a prolonged period of silence?" I hear you cry.

I got a first on my dissertation.

"What's that got to do with gaming and/or this blog?" you reply.

Well the title of my dissertation goes a little something like this:

Videogames and the Future of Storytelling: A study of the influence narrative techniques have had on the development of story in the history of videogames.

And I'm going to post it on here... somehow. In small segments I think. Weekly. Possibly.

Let's just see how this goes.

Mass Effect 2

I'm nearly there! 30 hours in and I'm pretty sure I'll have it done in the next couple of days. The reason it's taking me so long is my compulsive need to explore every planet and complete every side mission. I just feel like I'm missing out if I haven't seen every corner of the game and this technique is certainly making this superb game last longer. I don't want it to end!

So why is it so good? The gameplay truly is ace and I place a lot of importance on gameplay. While yes, Mass Effect 2 is kinda an RPG with leveling up, hub homeworlds and a focus on exploration, the combat is excellent, something other RPG games can find difficult. The cover an shoot system works a bloody treat and makes the action heavy sections of the game a pleasure to play through. Not once have I groaned as another wave of enemies have moved in for the kill, which is quite a feat.

I suppose what makes Mass Effect so great is it takes all the best elements of an RPG (character development, exploration) and applies it to a third person action adventure. In essence, it could not be more my type of game!

And I don't care what people say, me and Garrus hold a lot of respect for one another and if we want to vent a little 'frustration' with each other, there's noting wrong with that! Even if he does have insect mandibles...

I have a job! (kinda)...

Well it doesn't pay so I suppose technically it isn't a job, but I do get to write about gaming news and see my hard work published on an actual website! Does this mean I can say I'm officialy a freelance gaming journalist? Kinda I suppose!

LINK!

Check out my outstanding (I'm sure you'll agree) article on the new Skyrim screenshots!

It all counts as work experience which is why I'm doing it and why I got this blog in the first place. So good times then my friends, good times :)

X

AC:Brotherhood, the Trophy Whore and Online Experiences

So I finished it. In fact I finished it about a week ago and only stopped playing it yesterday. Why? Because I'm a great big old trophy whore that's why! I got my first (cough* and only) platinum trophy in Assassin's Creed II, so set myself on the good and righteous path of acquiring another one in the excellent AC franchise.

And yet I find my quest thwarted by the trend toward online multiplayer gaming. Forever shall my trophy completion of AC: Brotherhood be set at 82%. 40 of the 50 (not including the platinum) trophies can be obtained during the story mode. For the other ten the intrepid trophy whore must venture online and I'll confess, I'm just not that intrepid.

I have dabbled in the odd online experience. In fact, a very long time ago on a console known only as the 'PlayStation 2' I actually managed to get up to rank 127 at capture missions in Metal Gear Solid 3. But that was quite a few years back and hey, I was experimenting. Everyone was at it.

But now there is something inside that fills me with dread every time a main menu pops up and the word 'multiplayer' flickers into view. And that something is the fear of failure and the crushing realisation that I've let my team down. For shame! And I simply can't face the thought of some snotty-nosed twelve year-old thinking he's better than me just because he got a x8 kill streak. Try getting a literature degree you little turd!

That said, I do love playing online when it's just me and a couple of mates pissing about. But only if they're worse than me obviously.

So yeah, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (that was what I was talking about originally wasn't it?) Very good game. Certainly worth a play if you're a fan of AC II. However there's nothing new and innovative enough to attract those who aren't. It really is pretty much the same as it's predecessor but with a LOT more to do on the map. There's certainly never a lack of side missions. I found myself playing for hours and never even venturing near a main story mission. In some ways this is a good thing, you're definitely getting a lot of game for your buck, but it can prove frustrating being confronted with so much to do and no clue where to start. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed and Assassins Creed: Brotherhood is another strong addition to a brilliant franchise.

Now that Brotherhood's done and dusted what am I playing now I hear you ask? Mass Effect 2 of course! As always, I'll provide my views on anything I find striking or interesting.

Peace out peeps x

Black Ops and Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

So I finished Black Ops. I know I'm a bit behind the times but I'm not a huge FPS fan. In the interest of gaming journalism however, I thought it appropriate to pick up the controller and play one of the most highly anticipated games of all time.

Ofcourse it was brilliant. Story was bit mental, but who's playing the campaign anyway? Well me... because I'm shit at online gaming. Like I said, I just don't do FPSs. When I see the enemy charging at me, I just panic and end up shooting at the sky. So the solo campaign then was fantastic. To keep me interested it had to be. But I don't want to focus on that.

I've been thinking (yes, again!) about how to judge a sequeal or continuation of a franchise. Black Ops is tipped for game of the year, but does it deserve it? There are a couple of things a sequeal should do. It should take what the original did well and make it better, while scrapping or tweaking what wasn't so great. It should also push the series further with say, a new gameplay feature or mode. Developing the story ofcourse is important too, but specific to gaming is all the above. Does Black Ops do all these things? No, no it doesn't. I played Modern Warfare 2 (and I'm not interested in 'who developed what'. If it's called Call of Duty, it's a Call of Duty game!) and Black Ops feels like just another Call of Duty game.

Consistantly a high standard yes, but a development of the series? No. It seems to me Infinity Ward / Treyarch have found a formula that works and are complacent with it. I'd like to see something a little different for the next game please.

Which leads me nicely onto Assassins Creed (yeah, not done yet). I love Assassins Creed. What a bloody good series of games! I'll admit the first one was a little underwhelming. It had potential but repeatative gameplay prevented it from being truely great. Then along came Assassins Creed II, everything a good sequel should be. It did everything I metioned in the previous paragraph (I won't repeat myself, I've waffled on enough already). And just resently, along came Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, not a proper sequeal I must mention, but more like a massive DLC. I'm playing it at the moment and am quietly impressed.

There. I'm done.

Video-Game Journalism: A Joke

I found this interesting little article: Video-Game Journalism: A Joke

What particularly interested me was the snide comment 'published literature about games about games surely you jest'.

Firmly at the core of my passion for gaming is a deep rooted belief in the emotion games can evoke. I can not see why games are regarded as second rate media. Plots in games can be as involving and evocative as any cinema release or book published. Characters are deep and there is a genuine capacity to care for these computer generated images. Landscapes are breathless and limitless. What is the difference say, between Avatar and Gears of War? The interactive element? Surely that makes the medium more involving and adds interesting dimensions? Can it be said then, that video games are in fact a higher medium of entertainment?

One day, I will write a book about this sort of thing. Now that would be published literature about games.

I'M BACK!

Yes yes yes, I know it's been a bloody long time, but internet over the summer has been pretty limited. Even now I'm tapping away on Aarons laptop. Hopefully they'll be a new laptop in Satas sack for me :)

So what's prompted this dramatic return to blogging? I've just watch Panorama and the title of this weeks addition? Addicted to Videogames. Yeah, you heard right, more bad press for video games. Suprisingly however, video games weren't presented as being the most depremental thing to the youth generation since rock and roll. The focus was much more on the individuals who are 'addicted' (although the application of this term is debateable) to gaming and less of an attack on videogames themselves. All in all, fasinating stuff.

My thoughts? I think with everything the problem lies not in the medium but the individual. Show someone with an addictive personality cocain, and I imagine they'll become addicted. Show them a copy of World of Warcraft, I'm sure they'll become addicted to that too.

So there you go. What else... I'm currently playing Fallout: New Vegas, so once thats done, I'll post my thoughts on that. And I'll be starting my dissertaion proposal in the new year, which I fully intend on gearing toward gaming. Videogames as Valid Media or perhaps The Medias Portrayal of Videogames Through the Years... something along those lines. So you can look forward to a five thousand word essay sometime in the future.

Much love :)