The Imaginarium

Man, I’m sweaty. It’s weird, I’m in an air-conditioned office and I’m not doing anything but writing and I’m still sweating my ass off. I’ve just been working non-stop from on this feature and it just takes it out of me - sometimes by the end of the day, I’m shattered and mentally exhausted.

Not that I’m complaining; I love writing and I love my job. It’s the job I always wanted, right down to the regular Riyad Vs. Joe arguements about System Shock 2 vs. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. (System Shock 2, dammit!)

The depressing thing though is that I probably work the least hours out of everyone on Bit-tech and sometimes Tim and Rich are here into the early morning. Idread to think how exhausted they must be at the end of the day. I guess it’s a good thing I can type fast.

Things are going to be hectic these next few weeks - Tim is over in Taiwan seeing his missus, Rich is off somewhere too and then I’m off on holiday with Hannah (and hopefully Dom and Katy too) for a week. I never really felt like I needed the break, but now I’m kind of looking forward to it - hopefully I can read some more and get some new energy in my writing. People still seem to like it, but I like to keep it fresh wherever I can.

A week with some Alfred Bester, On Writing by Stephen King, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and some good gaming magazines should really help me out.

But I’ll probably just build a sandcastle instead.

Out, Joe

Hannah got a job today, which is cause for celebration *does the snoopy dance*.

Starting soon, she’ll be working as a receptionist at the South Hill Park Arts Centre. While it may not sound like much to some, it’s great because it means she gets to work in the same place that shes studying for her internship and that she doesn’t have to carry on temping over at Ascot Racecourse.

It also means that we can raise enough income between us to keep the flat we’re currently living in, which is fantastic as we just spent the weekend moving furniture about and I can’t be arsed to move it all out again.

Time for a celebratory picture of the beauty, methinks.

In other news, I’ve ordered an R4 for my DS lite so that I can do homebrew, so expect some posts in the future. One of things I noticed when browsing homebrew sites was the lack of support for specific devices, so if people want to send me questions then I can answer what I can. Or not. It depends on what you can offer me.

I still want a pony.

Joe, out.

I had a hectic weekend. Dom, Gemma, Hannah and I all went surfing in Cornwall and went to the King of Dirt biking comp. Dom broke his elbow and wrist on a practice run and then had to drive us home one handed, which took forever. Hannah and I meanwhile didn’t have any camping gear and had to cope with a tin-foil blanket and a copld, hard floor for comfort at night.

That said, it makes my week when I can come back to my PC to find messages like this waiting for me from Bit-tech readers. This one’s from Zurechial - shouts out to you dude!

“Joe, Bit-Tech has become an even better site since you joined up.

I don’t normally spew this kind of thing, but I quite like your articles and posts here, and I find myself constantly empathising with your taste in games.

I figure you wouldn’t normally read this kind of thing from people here (unless I underestimate the other people), so I thought it’d be good to let you know and give you some positive feedback on your contributions to the place.

Keep up the great work.“

So, score another ego-stroke post for me!

Joe, out

My article, part of a continuing feature, about writing stories in FPS games went live today and seems to have been quite a success. Digg front page, and as a reader kindly alerted me, has been controversial in the French gaming press:

Hello,

I just noticed an article about your article “Writing for the LCD: FPS games” :
http://www.nofrag.com/2007/jul/23/26123/

Here’s a translation of what the author wrote (it’s written in French) :
“A pretentious moron writes an article about how to write a FPS . Our opinion : drop the scenario. Make games, not limp interactive films. “

Free speech is a thing, abuses are another one.

The French law gives you a right to reply to this insult on nofrag.com. If you want to use it, you just have to contact them with your reply and they must publish it within three days. (to contact them, use this form : http://www.nofrag.com/contact/form/question/ )

Last thing : keep up the good work you’re doing whatever websites like this one say

Regards,

Fabien

Still, the support has been very good mostly and if you want to read the article then please let me know what you thought by dropping me a comment.

Also, my article talking about Ageia Physx cards has proven quite popular too, getting a link on Engadget.

And yes, this post was just one big ego massage. So sue me.

Joe, out.

I got a new T.V. recently. I bought it off of Geoff and Tim for the cost of the moving van, which is a pretty sweet deal. They were throwing it out as they have a fancy new 50″ Hi-Def TV which they got from a mate who’s a millionaire.

The TV I got from them is rear projection, but it’s 40″ or so, which means it’s more than a enough to replace the crappy old 12″ers that Hannah and I had. It’s the first time I’ve had a TV this big and playing games on it is excellent.

Oh, and yes, it’s been raining here a lot. Flooding actually, but I live in a top floor flat so it’s all Kool and The Gang for me.

Hm, what else is interesting? Well, I almost got run over yesterday. I was late at work and when I started walking back at about 9PM I was coming over the big bridge by Martins Heron train station and these two cars came up the road in fron of me, crashing into each other. The car at the back was already damaged and was ramming the other one, which too was damaged on the front.

The two cars were all over the road, filling both lanes and sending bits of glass and so on everywhere. When they got close to me one of them clipped up on the pavement and I had to jump aside a little - not too seriously though - and a headlight went flying off, landing in the grass near me.

The cars went past, way up onto the top of the bridge, where one of them spun out of control and slammed into the barrier, cutting off the opposite side of the road completely. The other car went up on the pavement on the otherside of the road.

I ran back with this guy who jumped out of a car and started calling the police/ambulance, but when we got there some nurses were already there and it didn’t look like anyone was hurt. Apparently the nurses had just been driving by and stopped to help.

It looked to me like the two cars, one of which was full of chavs, had hit and one had tried to get away. The other car apparently didn’t like that.

In other news, I had to go and see Ageia Physx yesterday for an interview (soon to be on Bit-tech.net) and preview thing and I got all wet in the rain. Was very miserable that I had to stay at wor, soaking wet for ages, though I do love our offices.

Joe.

There are certain things I’m looking forward to this year and, unlike the rest of the office, my eyes don’t fall only on Crysis. Instead, I’m looking at bigger and brighter things. Things like this, which make me all tingly inside… 

In other news, Han and me saw Twiggy and Roo this week, as well as Kirsty and Marcus, which was really nice. Great to catch up with old friends - almost as good as it is to be stalked by old friends.

Yes, I’m talking about Ben (or Bauul as hes known on the Bit-tech forums), who has been following me since I used to beat him up in pre-school. Playgroups, primary school, secondary school, university and three years of living next door to each other and he still can’t cut the umbillicus - as proven by the new job he’s got just half an hour away from me and Han. It’s going to be ace living so close again.

Plus, he may arrive just in time for me to boast about the Bioshock hands-on preview I’m going to be attending soon.

Joe, Out.

Good luck; it floats about like a gas and me and Hannah have stumbled through a motherload recently.

Not only was it Hannahs 22nd birthday recently and we got to see her parents (which is actually pretty cool), but Hannah also got offered an Arts Internship at South Hill Park which is excellent. She accepted it and then got offered a Gallery Assitant Job as well for extra coolness.

In other news, I’m still assembling the feature I talked about last and really getting into it, though Tim has suggested we delay it and try to get Marc Laidlaw involved.

We’ve also spent some time brainstorming how to reinvigorate the forums, and I suggested a games club of some description which may hopefully become a reality in the future.

Theres probably more to say, but Hannah and I have a big weekend planned (our first alone in a long time since we’ve either been with Hiren, Dom, Maddy and Tim or Hannahs parent.

Got to go now, Hirens giving me a lift.

Out, Joe.

Stuff at bit-tech is going good and I’ve been lucky enough to bag some interviews with some top people. Top people. Rob Yescombe, David Cage and Doug Lombardi to name a few.

I’m actually working on a feature right now which is about writing in computer games. My idea is to do one 3-4 page piece, with excerpts from an interview with Rob Yescombe who is writing Haze, on how stories are told in FPS computer games. I want to discuss problems like whether to have a silent protaganist or not, though it’s a bit hard to do and is taking longer than I hoped.

After that, the feature could continue into a look at similar themes in Adventure games, which is why I’ve lined up an interview with David Cage, who wrote Fahrenheit and is in the process of writing Heavy Rain. I’m actually playing through Fahrenheit again at the moment and it’s very good, despite a few flaws to do with the games supposed shift from episodic (about which I have writtena column this week) to a retail model.

It’ll all depend on the feedback I get from readers I guess, if they want more then I’ll give it. If not, then I’ll sell the idea to The Escapist and live like a king off the profit, mwhahah.

Got to go now, Hannahs parents are coming over and I’m only online to download some Fallout 2 patches, which is why I’ve not bothered to spell check or litter the post with links.

In other news, The Darkness for 360 is actually quite good.

Joe, out.

Got a competition I’m running over at bill-payer Bit-tech.net, so jump in and have a go. It’s easy and you stand a high chance of getting some goodies. 

Joe, out.

No More Need Be Said.