Mission: Statement

Hi,

I'm Jason, and I play video games. A lot of video games. (Exhibit A: My list of currently and formerly owned video games, on various platforms.*) This isn't to say that I'm a hardcore gamer, as I'm not, but I am more hardcore than your average person, and extremely hardcore to your average non-gamer.

My personal preferences have traditionally been anything but sports games, but I do like a good game of FIFA and I guess you can include the Tony Hawk games as sports. I'm also a sucker for licensed games, even though I really should know better, but even that is changing.

I game for the experience of gaming, which is different from game to game. (I know that's obvious to people who identify as gamers, but people who identify as non-gamers have weird ideas about that: such as, that they aren't gamers, for example. If you play Windows Solitaire, you're a gamer.) I don't really have a preference for genre, I have a preference for experience. I like immersion. I like to get lost in the game play, and I hate it when the game play gets in the way of the experience. While I like a challenge, I dislike dishonest challenge. I hate it when the difficulty of the game is artificial, and is only so to extend the length of game play.

Finally, the last thing about me is that I have no console bias. I own a PC, a PS2, a PSP, a Xbox 360, and when I have the cash, I will own a PS3 (as I really need the TV to go along with the Blu-Ray, and I don't feel like it's worth having a PS3 without a good TV.)

So, about the blog...

What I intend to do here is review the game experience, as opposed to reviewing games. While I may talk about a specific game in a specific post, they aren't reviews in the traditional sense. I won't be laying judgment on games, per se. What I will be doing is contrasting the experience of playing that game as compared to it's peer games.

I'll also be posting links to industry news stories that deal with the business and design side of gaming news. I'll try not to link to marketing puff pieces from sites like IGN, Gamespot, or the like. I'll also be linking to general interest stories from mainstream media, regarding the games industry, but only when they say something worthwhile... which is rare. When it comes to review links, unless I'm referring to a specific review, I will be linking to the Metacritic page for the game.

That said, I've included a link to G4TV's Feedback VODcast with my links, as it is very insightful little weekly show hosted by Adam Sessler, from G4's X-Play and the also linked to, Sessler's Soapbox. If anything, I'll include links from that show and Feedback, as I find that they go well above most other video game 'journalism'. Same thing goes for the Penny Arcade guys.

So, coming soon will be my first real post, and I'll probably be looking at the game The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which I've been playing recently, and talking about Shooters.

- Jason, July 2010

*I finally decided to start trading in games that I'm not likely going to play anymore, so this listing is no longer being updated as of August 13, 2010, and will be shrinking as I purge stuff.**

** ... which I've also since stopped doing as I've been re-purchasing some of the stuff I traded in.