Random Dialogue

I don’t know if I’m actually going to start writing again here frequently, but just in case you hadn’t already heard:

I’ll soon be moving on from Slashdot.org. I’m going to be officially putting up a shingle as a freelance games writer, and earning my bread by the sweat of my fingers. Right now it’s a (beautiful, thankfully) Saturday afternoon and I’m on duty for my last stint as weekend evening editor. Tomorrow night’s Sunday shift will be my last time doing /. editing on a weekend. I have a full two weeks after that, with my last shift being Thursday afternoon on April 17th.

After that I’m going to be directing most of my attention to Massively.com, the new Weblogs Inc. site all about MMO games. I’m also rededicating myself to freelancing in general: I have a new weekly column at GameSetWatch, have two articles in the editing phase over at Wired, and by the end of June should be in two (count em) print magazines.

Part of my new freelancing nature is going to be daily updating over at my MMO commentary site, MMOG Nation. I hope to spill some of that bloggerly love over here to RD.net, especially since I feel like I’ll have more to talk about. It’s not going to be the same old same old anymore - every day is a new day, you know?

I’ve also got a few things I’d like to blab about in a textual format, something I’ve missed doing quite a bit. I don’t know if anyone still reads RD’s RSS feed, but here’s hoping you see more from it in the near future. :)

Over at work this month we’re celebrating ten years of Slashdot.org. I’ve only been around for three short years (on the nose as of last month), but I’m going to throw a party here in town just the same. If you’re in the upper midwest area and want to come hang out at the Claddagh Irish Pub in Middleton on October 19th … well, you should.

All around the US (and abroad, it looks like) folks are signing up to host parties around the end of this month. If you’re inclined to get out and meet with your fellow nerds, it looks like you’ll have plenty of opportunities.

Friday I approved a story from the WSJ about Twitter, a service that lets you annoy people with those ‘I’m having a sandwich’ mini-blog entries that so many folks find terribly annoying. Apparently in the last few weeks the thing hit a sort of critical mass and kersploded. That’s the danger of getting a bunch of smart people together for stuff like South By Southwest. John Edwards recommends you check out Twittervision … so who’s to say what’s interesting anymore?

update: I went to log into Twitter again today, to add the twitter display thing to the sidebar here. I thought it would be fun to just be able to update a part of the blog sooper-quick. Twitter, for me, is already dead. It took about 20 seconds to load, and then timed out when I tried to log in. So … quick fad.

Yeah, yeah. I know.

I am told that this is useful as a place to track what I’m writing. If I’m still on your RSS reader: thanks for keeping the faith.

Here’s what I’ve been up to since the start of the year -

Star Trek Legacy Review

Elebits/WarioWare Review

Lost Planet Review

Hotel Dusk Review

2006 In Review

It Must be Time To Burn the Crusade

Why eBay is Small Potatoes

The Sony Station Exchange - The Result of One Year of Trading

Straying from the Flock

Damn. When it’s all laid out like that, I appear to have busy. Sheesh.

An entire sentence I wrote down was quoted by Kyle Orland in a response to some questions about gaming stuff we felt like we’d missed out on. He took probably the best part of the email, so … no problem.

If you’re interested, here’s what I said:

Kyle: What video game do you feel most guilty about never having played?

My dirty, well-kept secret, my ‘hole’ in my gaming knowledge … is in the shape of a snake. Specifically, I’ve never played a single chapter of the Metal Gear Solid series. I have seen the ads, watched others play it; heck, I watched a buddy of mine work his way through most of the first quarter of Sons of the Patriots. I personally have never held the controller while a Metal Gear title was in the disc drive of a console.

I feel like my gaming knowledge is pretty broad; I’ve played everything from Eve Online to Viva Pinata, Splinter Cell to Soul Calibur. But this particular hole has always elicited raised eyebrows and grunts of disbelief from other gamers when I have brought it up. Metal Gear’s nature as one of the driving franchises on Sony hardware makes it sacrosanct. Likewise Kojima’s well-known quirky brilliance is something that every games reviewer is just assumed to have in the back of their minds when comparing titles from Japan.

I do have to say I feel kind of guilty about it. Almost everything I know about the series is one sort of over-the-top accolade or another. The fourth chapter in the saga is going to be a money hat fountain for everyone associated with it.

Kyle: Do you find yourself actively pursuing games outside your usual comfort zone just so you’ll be conversant about them?

All the time. While my appreciation for titles in the RPG, MMOG, RTS, and FPS genres is high, pretty much everything outside those areas just doesn’t do anything for me. I like the odd adventure game once in a while, and I’ve played every title in the Splinter Cell series because I like Sam Fisher, but otherwise I’d normally never play, say, Dead or Alive. That said, I’ve played games in the Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive, Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat franchises in recent years to stay on top of things. When Madden was released on the 360, I even Gamefly’d that to see if I could wrap my head around the hype that game carries. I’ll be honest: I don’t get why that thing sells so many copies. It’s … football. And you have to work at it. : /

Kyle: Do you think that breadth or depth of knowledge is more important in a video game journalist (or both)?

I would say it depends. As a single reviewer, I think depth is much more important. Being able to speak with a voice of authority on a given genre is (to my mind) crucial to the relationship between reviewer and reader. If you’re reviewing an RPG the reader wants to know that you’ve played every RPG ever made, so that you can tell the reader (who has not) how this stacks up against the body of work out there. On the other hand, I think news editors and EICs are better served by breadth. Knowing at least a little bit about everything ensures that when news comes in your direction, you at least recognize it coming. You may not understand the full import of a press release or studio buyout, but you’ll at least have some idea where it is coming from.

Kyle: Do you open up every game in that pile of press review copies sitting on your desk just so you’ll be able to say “I played it”?

Not really. If I know that I’m not going to be able to play a game for review, for time or readership interest reasons, I send it back. Why would I want to play “Dragonball Z Budokai Senwhatever 2″?

Kyle: How do you make sure you’re well-versed in all the major games of the day without completely devoting every waking hour to gaming (or perhaps you do devote every waking hour to gaming)?

Not … every hour. I personally go about it in two ways:
1.) Experiential. Even if I’m not reviewing something for Slashdot, if it is a big enough title I will be sure to play it so that I can get a feel for it. GameFly is a wonderful, wonderful service.
2.) Vicarious. RSS feeds filed under ‘Gaming News’ is currently hovering somewhere around 50 strong in Bloglines. I have a whole separate folder for reviews, which has about a dozen or so outlets pouring opinions into my ears every day. While I don’t spend every hour of every day gaming, it definitely feels like I spend almost every hour of the day reading. Once you’ve read the opinions of Greg Kasavin, Chris Grant, Chris Kohler, Sam Kennedy, Brian Crecente, Allen Rausch, *and* Steve Butts, you have a pretty good idea of what a game is like even if you never pick up a controller.

I’ve played Sam and Max, Final Fantasy XII, Gears of War, a lot of Wii, Twilight Princess, and Neverwinter Nights 2.

I’ve talked about Ryzom, Tobold, Firefly, and Warhammer.

Otherwise, not much.

With MMOG Nation and Random Dialogue moved to new servers, I can do a little bit of catching up here before I run off to my Shadowrun session.

• My review of Sam and Max: Culture Shock went up a while back, and I never had the chance to link to it. Kind of a ‘meh’ from the readers, but (of course) it could have been worse.
• Last week I had another GameSetWatch column go up, about the Legitimacy of Massive Games. I’m sure you’re all dying to read that.
• More accessible (and more attractive) to those of you who may not follow the gaming so closely, I edited a piece that showed up in The Escapist today. Some game journo associates were kind enough to let me bug them about their jobs, and the resulting interview is not only thoughtful, but pretty funny as well.
• I’m still playing FFXII and Gears. Other than downloading the Vanguard Beta (which appears to be a game in and of itself), I haven’t been doing much more than that game-wise. Even my non-console FPS friends are flipping over Gears. I think we have a winner.
• This weekend promises to be uber busy. PS3 launch, an opera with Katie, a big party at Mark De Smet’s in Chicago, the Wii launch, and a D&D session that will probably be mighty interesting. Good stuff.

Time’s up, so I’m away.

It’s been a surreal experience here the last few days, as I shift from space-shooters with a furry theme, to finger-lopping Asian gangsters. I’m now on to toy-based sci-fi remakes, and that’s kind of a weird shift too.

I’m going for an unusually ambitious week, this week. I’m basically trying to get a piece written every day, with today’s jobber being a MMOG Nation column for GSW. Tomorrow I’m going to write up the Shadowrun 4th edition books for Slashdot, and Friday should see the posting of my Lego Star Wars II review, to be written Thursday. I don’t usually accomplish these ambitious weeks, but I’m feeling remarkably focused.

The weekend before last, you might say, was relevatory experience for me. I’ve had a great attitude and a really strong work ethic since then, and I’m trying my best to live up to my own newly heightened expectations.

Next week, as an aside, I’m going to be out of town. I’m doing a panel thing in San Francisco, seeing some friends, and talking to people who I hope become friends. At the very least, it will be yet another learning experience.