I'm Jamie. I used to write about video games. ...I used to write a lot. This was back when I thought I might want to do it for a living. I wanted to change the face of game journalism from an extension of the media hype machine into a forum for honest critiques that would make better games. ...Hah. As it turns out, most gamers prefer things the way they are, for some reason.
Now that I'm back to reality, I think I might want to start writing about games again. But, rather than always write reviews, I'd like to write about what I'm doing in games, or what I'm thinking about games. I guess sometimes, those would be "editorials", but even that's not my ultimate intent. I like to keep journals of what I'm thinking as I play games, because I write interesting and insightful things that don't always have a place in reviews and editorials. Sometimes, I like to come up with fun challenges for games that I play, and I'd like to discuss them somewhere.
...And, of course, there'll be the occasional review and editorial.
About my gaming habits. The first things to know are, I am a competitive player of 2D fighters, and I am a WoW raider. In particular, the fighter I play the most these days is an old Capcom fighter called Vampire Savior. Since I am in a perpetual state of playing these games, I have a blog for each that I update whenever I feel like it. They will not be discussed here. Other 2D fighters may be. I don't particularly care for 3D Fighters - they are great, but they're just not my thing, and they require a different enough skill set than 2D fighters that I am not so spectacular at them.
I also love JRPGs. Or rather, I love the potential that JRPGs possess. Right now, they kind of suck. My favorite JRPG of all time is the grossly unpopular Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. I will probably mention it frequently as a pinnacle of good game design example. I think JRPGs have a lot of potential to be the forerunners of story-driven video games, since they are the most difficult to emulate a hollywood movie-style narrative with - a big problem in game narratives today. However, the narratives we see in the genre now are rehashed crap, and the gameplay hasn't moved an inch forward in general since like 1995. It's a love-hate relationship. If I post any reviews on here, the majority of them will be JRPGs; my original goal with the whole "game writing for a living" thing was to be a JRPG critic. How naive I was!
On the flipside, I don't like most Western RPGs. I think they usually get the ambience better; however, I prefer my storylines to have clear themes. Since most Western RPGs are not only extremely non-linear in how you progress, but also non-linear in your character's motivations, means, philosophies and goals, I think Western RPGs have a difficult time making interesting philosophical points about anything.
I also enjoy platformers, and I think I'm much better at them than I really am. I like to proclaim that I'm very good at them; but, I'm also very picky. For me, control is the make-or-break in a platformer, and I would frequently have trouble giving reviews to any game with poor controls when I used to be serious about game journalism. For example, I seriously disliked Super Meat Boy because the controls were just too wild and out-of-control. I'm also probably the only person who disliked Super Metroid, because I felt like the controls were extremely sluggish and unresponsive. My favorite platformers - and incidentally, some of the best-in-class in control - are from the Mega Man X series (although admittedly the PSX installments felt a little...stalled? I can't think of a good word right now).
I typically enjoy 2D games more than 3D, because their gameplay tends to be less convoluted and their narratives focus a lot more on using non-verbal communication to get their points across...ironically. You'd think that with 3D, where there's a lot more potential for more effective non-verbal communication, that this would have been its finest improvement. Instead, I feel like most narratives in 3D games epitomize the TV Trope, "That Makes Me Feel Angry".
Other than my pet genres, I'm always looking for games that give me a sense of wonderment. I love experiencing things that I've never seen before. I feel like many games these days are the same game with new skins, or a new gimmick replacing some old ones. For example, when I saw the gameplay trailer for the new upcoming game "Watch Dogs", I was able to easily determine how that entire gameplay sequence could have been done without the game's "core gameplay mechanic" of hacking every electronic device, and instead been done in a plain-Jane, Grand Theft Auto style. I want to see games that aren't reskinned rehashes of other games. Don't get me wrong - I think Grand Theft Auto III was a fine game. I just want to play a new game, already.
These wordy paragraphs hopefully explain what I enjoy about gaming. Hopefully, by reading this, you have a good idea of what kind of games I'll be talking about. Hopefully, being able to write without deadlines and restrictions will allow me to the most exciting side of my gaming life.
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