Blog de Dyer

I’m a writer, or at least, I try to be. I’ve been writing on various websites for a couple years or so, I guess, up until now where I’m helping a buddy manage one. As someone who digs video games a whole bunch, it’s only appropriate that I write about them, right?

I’ve noticed that I’ve been writing very differently as of late, and I’ve been looking to where I’ve been reading about games. News blogs, magazines, and websites like 1up. Pretty standard stuff. What I’ve noticed more specifically is that I’ve been trimming down on, well, the bull sh*t that I’ve been reading. I’ve dropped a few magazines simply because I either don’t like the way they write things, or out of pure lack of trust. My reading of magazines has boiled down to OXM and EGM while 1up and Gamespot are my current internet go-to sites. In this, I’ve noticed, as mentioned, my writing being changed. What these mags/sites offer is a more real approach to reviewing games. I’ve always found reviews to be too stock-standard in a lot of places.

Intro
Graphics
Sound
Gameplay
Conclusion

Nobody envelops all of these ideas in to one cohesive body of work, except for my selected Ziff Davis outlets and OXM. Specifically, and strangely, Fran’s review of Blue Dragon caught me most. I analyzed it, which I don’t really do, but will continue in the future. She mentions the visual style maybe once, and never again. The point is made when you say “Anime and 3D”. Does CoD4 really need more than “holycrapitlookstotallyawesome”? Not really, and Ryan made a point to point out that yep, looks good, but check THIS out.

I recently wrote a Mass Effect review that I kind of like, and kind of hate. It’s new to me, which is kind of weird, but I love that it’s different than what I’ve been following for years. I don’t like changing my style, which has consisted of this standard rubrick that everyone’s been going on for as far back as I remember, but at the same time, it feels relieving to go away from:

Intro
Graphics
Sound
Gameplay
Conclusion

My review has an intro, conclusion, and a few in between paragraphs, and I’ve done my best to avoid broad aspects and narrow it down to a few poignant things that I think encompass the details of what I liked about the game and what I did not. I don’t think I mentioned the graphics once, since you can look at a screen and see “Yeah, looks good”. I mentioned the soundtrack off hand, and how the voices were great, but I didn’t have a body of text to look at it specifically. It’s better to look at things in context and in detail as opposed to in a wide spectrum. Whether or not OXM aims for this kind of thing, reviewing independently of the norm, or influencing people, I don’t know. I just wanted to say thanks, because whether OXM likes this style or not (maybe I’m interpreting something wrong) you’re changing things. I like to think I have a future in this industry, and I hope OXM realizes they’re shaping that future.

Also, please check out

http://www.nukoda.com 

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