Construed

I haven’t been in WAR since before the weekend due to birthday events & on my return I find that my feedreader is bursting at the seams with unread items. So while I catch up on my reading, I thought I’d do a little cleansing/stock taking of my feedreader at the same time.

Here are the results -

• I have 34 subscriptions in my google reader.
• Gaming Steve hasn’t posted anything new since the 24th June which was a Diablo III announcement. GS was a champion of Spore for what seem like forever, way before the game release. Maybe he’s sucked into Will Wrights creation for good? Am debating on removing this feed…anyone know what Gaming Steve is up to currently?
• Book of Grudges has become the most updated feed in my reader. The guys there cover mostly WAR & are members of the I2I guild of which I am a member. There’s been some great posting going on over there in recent weeks. Worth a peak if your into your WAR gaming.
• Out of the 34 subscriptions, 11 concentrate the majority of their content on WAR – 7 of which are in my Top Ten most update feeds.A 3rd of all that I read through google reader is what can be classed, WAR gaming related…hmm…seems a little unhealthy.
• Only 4 of my feeds are from non-game related sites: Liverpool FC[oh, you beauty...], a mix bag[Soul Kerfuffle], Heroes[Beaming Beeman]. Again I think this is unhealthy for my reading & a cull of some of the WAR feeds maybe in order to restore a little balance.

My outcome -

I know I need a more cosmopolitan depth of content from my feeds which will keep my reading interesting & proactive when it comes to adding future content here on Construed. I’ll porbably cut back on some of the gaming feeds I subscribe to, readying some room for future subscriptions. So If you have a feed you feel worth reading, please let me know by adding a comment here or dropping me an email.

DM∞

BREA GRANT PRACTICES WITH ZACH THE ART OF HEAD CUTTING taken from Beaming Beeman blog

I am hoping to be impressed by the returning Heroes show premiering here on UK TV, Wednesday night. Season 1 was a promising beginning to the drama series but I did feel the cutting edge of the show got blunted in the closing episode of that season, ‘How to Stop an Exploding Man’. Season 2 was strangled by the writers strike & only 11 episodes were aired.

‘Villians’ was initially to be the final 13 episodes of season 2 but instead it now gets to premiere season 3 with the concluding 12 episodes being titled under the volume of ‘Fugitives’. I’ll be interested to see how this affects the flow of the show through the course of this new season.

For those of you who like to know a little of what goes on behind the scenes of shows like Heroes, you might like to add Beaming Beeman blog to your feeds. Greg Beeman aka Beaming Beeman is one of the directors/producers on the Heroes show & I read through his posts regularly while season 2 was being aired. Of late, he hasn’t been updating his blog but 2 new posts are up which cover the filming etc of the first 2 episodes of the season 3[spoilers here - be warned!]. Included In his posts, Greg likes to add in some photos of the backstage antics of the stars from the show – it looks like Heroes is a lot of fun to make.

More thoughts on season 3, as the episodes are aired.

DM∞

Last year I spent my birthday abroad in Bermuda – what a beautiful island! This year I’m not as lucky & am spending it at home in the UK.

As years go, this past one has been very good for my writing – I have had a number of freelance game reviews published online & have made a few good PR contacts within the games industry, I really can’t complain.  I hope that the year ’til, September 26th 2009 progresses further still with regards to the developing of my writing skill, via Construed & with my freelance work. You can help by criticising what you read here – don’t worry you won’t offend me easily, as I have developed quite a thick skin since writing my first blog post, all the way back in 2007.

To get an idea of what I have been up to recently, here’s a selective list(with links) from what I have written, freelance or otherwise, in the videogaming field over the past year. To some of you this maybe old news & I can only apologise but please just humour an old guy eh!?

• Q&A with Tabula Rasa community Manager, CuppaJo – 15th December 2007
• Boom Blox(Wii) review for Ripten.com – 20th April 2008
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2008(Wii) review for Ripten.com – 25th April 2008
• Iron Man(PS3) review for Ripten.com – 9th May 2008
• Plans for a Massive Age of Conan Evolution Revealed article for Ripten.com -14th June 2008
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl(Wii) review – 29th June 2008
• PS3 in the Age of MMOs – 8th July 2008
• Bad Company(PS3) review – 20th July 2008
• Overlord Raising Hell(PS3) review – 4th August 2008
• Fallout 3 preview “from the ashes of Van Buren” – 7th August 2008

OK, I’ll be back posting after the 27th when regular broadcasting will resume.

DM∞

After my lukewarm reaction to the demo of Star Wars The Force Unleashed, coupled with some earlier doubts that I had posted about the game, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Activision reacted the way they did to my request for a copy of the code to review(see above image). The PR at Activision could have at least ready the email I sent them first, ah well looks like I maybe losing my touch!

Nice to know that my worries over this title are being backed up in reviews. The most recent one that I have just read? – See EDGE Magazine issue 194 page 90(5/10).

EA SPORTS today revealed a new online mode called FIFA 09 Clubs, designed for PLAYSTATION 3 and XBOX 360, that enables gamers to form or join user-controlled ‘clubs’ anywhere in the world. Through FIFA 09 Clubs, gamers can form or join clubs of up to 50 friends and field their strongest team when competing in Be A Pro: 10 v 10 Online Team Play, a feature that enables 20 people on 20 different consoles anywhere in the world to connect online to play a single match of FIFA 09.

FIFA 09 Clubs will determine the best virtual team in the world. Clubs are ranked based on total points and placed in a division. Clubs are relegated and promoted to different divisions based on their performance during the season. In addition, FIFA 09 Clubs will enable Club Managers to scout rival players to identify a player that fits his or her squad, and then recruit them to join their club. Up to 10 players on a Club can participate in a single game and Clubs are able to play multiple games simultaneously if they wish.[1]

The Be-A-PRO option in FIFA 08 felt a little unfinished but hopefully with the introduction of Clubs in 09, we will see that area of gameplay fully realised.

This is probably the single most interesting gameplay option that I am looking forward to getting involved in, in FIFA 09. I am already signed up into a club & have October 3rd marked on the calendar – I’ll be covering my clubs progress in a game diary, here at Construed.

DM∞