History / Bio
I’m something of a jaded gamer. Like most, I got my start speed-running through 2D platformers, but over the years I’ve become a veteran of everything from competitive fighting games, to a wide variety of JRPG’s, to the most hardcore of both unrealistic FPS (Quake, UT) and the most highly realistic tactical shooters (ie; Infiltration).
As time goes on, the tendency of the industry to focus on pushing visuals through the roof and find the next big marketing gimmick, while making only minor additions to play mechanics and fumbling the transition of great 2D series into the realm of 3D, all leaves me increasingly underwhelmed with videogames as a whole. As a result, I took to blogging on 1up.com to vent my frustrations and provide an experienced and detailed view into the shortcomings of games.
After a while, the editors noticed my blog and linked it on the “popular blogs” section of the 1up front page. It had been gaining popularity at that point, climbing the top 100 most viewed blogs list, but getting “front page status” put it in the top 25, with a few thousand views a month. I started getting comments like “you’re the best writer on 1up” and soon people from Deeko.com were inviting me to write for their site. It’s not currently a paying gig, but it gives me the chance to get my articles published and read by a larger audience. While writing for Deeko and continuing to blog on 1up and Deeko, my blog got front-paged on 1up a second time, as well as having a few articles receiving “best of the week” awards on certain clubs on 1up.
These days, 1up’s blogging interface (or lack thereof) is rather annoying, so I decided to try moving my entire blog to WordPress to open up the audience and have an easier time maintaining things. I’ll still participate in the 1up community, cause I have an established audience there, I just won’t be confined by it anymore.
Modding
In addition to playing games and writing about them, I also create mods for FPS games. I don’t really have any programing skills, but most of the projects I take on don’t really require it, as they usually just involve tweaking things for better weapon balance in multiplayer, or more challenging difficulty level in campaign. My most finished projects are for the Halo games, but I’ve also done stuff for Doom 3, Quake 4, and UT2004.
Painting
While writing increasingly looks like something I might make a career out of, I’ve planned to be an artist by trade most of my life, and studied Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. I just graduated in May 2007, so I’m still trying to figure out how to make a living. At the moment I’m juggling between painting and writing while working part time around campus looking for a solid day job. Hopefully, at some point either my art or my writing (or a combination of the two) will pan out into something I can do full time.
Related Links:
My 1up Blog (where this blog got started)
Deeko (where I write freelance)
Filefront (where I post my mod projects)
My Illustration Website (see my paintings)
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lol something of a gamer. This kid thinks he’s a big bad hotshot. Someone just needs to shot him down and show him he’s just like us (probably lower actually)
Budders, maybe if you actually read any of the stuff here instead of just making dumbass comments, you might actually learn something. Blogging isn’t about showing what a badass you are, it’s about actually having something to say.
People disagree with my opinions all the time, but they continually fail to “shoot me down” because my opinions are backed by well thought-out arguments and evidence which can’t be refuted.
If you want to play with the big boys, then instead of trolling at websites preaching your Xbox 360 propaganda, you should join in the discussion at http://halomonks.net or http://gnam.1up.com.
Also you want to learn to think for yourself instead of listening to the kindergarten bullshit that IGN and Gamepot are telling you, then try actually reading any of the articles here, or at http://insomnia.ac/ and http://www.actionbutton.net/ .
Your next juvenile comment here will get you banned.
well thought out arguments? All I’ve seen so far are a bunch of far sighted, fact-lacking statements. You’ve just thrown out some crazy, ridiculous, and false comments, and then gone and said that you suddenly are far more advanced than the entire gaming world. Please, give me a fucking break.
And go ahead and ban me, it just further proves your immaturity and hot-headedness. And seriously, don’t fucking proclaim that your more advanced than the rest of the world, it’s just a sad load of bullshit.
LOL, your “omg more advanced than the rest of the world” interpretation of my writing is hilariously simplistic. It’s not that hard to have expectations which go above and beyond what gaming actually acheives when all games today are marketed and dumbed down for the lowest common denominator, just like crappy big-budget hollywood movies. This is not a sentiment exlusive to myself, this is a frustration shared by nearly all experienced gamers.
The only one being immature and hot-headed here is you. After all, you’re just a console warz troll who’d rather preach console manufacturer’s propaganda like it’s a religion than actually think for yourself.
you guys need to stop arguing. You’re both not getting anywhere, so why continue. Although I must admit, Budders – Julian has some good articles on here, and you really should go read them before saying he’s a “big bad hotshot”, because they have good points, and Julian – you do come off rather arrogant and selfish through you’re comments and bio.
We stopped arguing months ago Mr. Observant. Besides which, anyone would appear “arrogant” in the company of dearly departed Budders’ paramecium-like intellect.
I’m sorry Julian, but I just don’t see your point. Your last post just further goes to show your ego and poor attitude.
How could you not see my point? Try looking at the dates when these replies were made. My “poor attitude” is fueled by the continued irrelevant drivel posted by people like you and Budders, so if you don’t like it, either wizen up, or leave.
that’s the best you can come up with? I’m dissapointed.
Helpful Hint from the Admin: Budders hasn’t posted here since March. You’re posting in July. Therefore, your original statement to “stop argueing” missed having a point by 3 whole months. Therefore, there was no need to “come up with” anything since your comment had practically no actual content to reply to.
Wow GnaM, people LOVE to disagree with you. However I cant tend to understand why. You blog post show how much of an experienced “vet” gamer you are. You understand “FUN”. You know what made games “FUN” from when you were younger, such as the innovation that gaming possessed back in the day. I feel the same way you do about video games in this “New Generation” and how everything is just rehashed garbage that companies produce just for the dollar. I guess the reason why I enjoy your blogs so much is that I have many of the same thoughts and believes about gaming. All that being said, mods like your recent Halo 2 and Halo gameplay overhauls are the type of things that will SAVE gaming for the old school “hardcore” generation. The industry as already made it clear that there focus is “nongamers”(go figure), so its time for us vets to go underground. Anyway another great blog post, keep em coming. Im still waiting on my AR so i can soft my XBOX to play ur mods.
It doesn’t matter what you do or say, because nothing’s going to change. You’re just an “elderly gamer” who s stuck in the past and can’t adapt to modern games. New games like Halo and Call of Duty are all super-popular because they’re so fun, and they’re so innovative. Nothing like them has been seen before, and they’ve defined a new generation. They’re not just some “rehashed garbage”. People play them because they’re fun and entertaining. And frankly, you talk about the environments being boring? The Halo series has had a huge variety of environments, ranging from humanoid to parasitic alien. You’ve got no arguments there. Any more alien and people would complain even more than they do now about it. You need to learn to adapt to the now and future, and you need to realize that the games being released today are fun and entertaining. And not only that, but they have a CONVINCING, IMMERSING storyline. I’ll use Halo again. You’re Master Chief, a genetically engineered super-soldier who is the last of his “batch”. An alien race, the covenant, attacks earth, and Master Chief (you) is earth’s only hope. You set out on a perilous journey spanning across the galaxy, fighting many different kinds of alien life forms, in many different, heavily ranging environments, in a race to destroy the halos and the covenant. You even run into a side-species, the flood, who are yet another obsatcle in your way. Whats not to like about that? There’s a reason that Halo 3 was the number 1 in revenue amongst ALL forms of entertainment in it’s opening week, including CD’s, movies, and books. It even topped Spiderman 3 in it’s opening week. A video game oply does that when it’s outstanding, and that’s what Halo 3 is.
You go around, saying you’re a vet gamer, however all you are is just a normal gamer, obsessed with his mediocre games, except you’re from the past, the previous generation of gaming. It’s time to move into the next era, because you’re just getting washed away.
Kairu – Yes, people often have difficulty with my alternative points of view, but it’s just par for the course these days. The internet is full of fanboys who don’t want to hear games they like criticized for any reason, under any circumstances. I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying my blogs though. I’m doubtful that it will ever change the rest of the industry, but keeping the word out there is worth it if it serves as a beacon of light for others unhappy with the way games have gone.
Bjorny - it’s not a matter of “adapting” to modern games. Modern games are easy to adapt to, because they demand very little from the player. The more time goes by, the more developers dumb games down for the masses, and the less input is required of the player, for fear of making things too hard to be accessible. Consequently, most modern games are nothing more than asset galleries where you button mash your way through ogling at the set pieces and cutscenes rather than experiencing actual gameplay. Games like Halo 3 and COD4 are only fun for n00bs who have played very few other shooters and consequently don’t realize how simplistic the games are.
And as far as Halo 3’s story, come on kid, the plot of that game is on par with Pirates of the Caribbean 3. The whole story of the game is basically just the last 2 levels of Halo 2 which got cut out of the game because of time constraints, pumped full of filler and unsuccessful “dramatic moments” in order to stretch it out for an entire game.
And the environments? People don’t complain because they’re too alien, people complain because they’re repetitive to the point of being blatantly copied-and-pasted. It doesn’t take an outstanding work of art to sell millions in anything today, particularly not videogames – it’s all about marketing, glitz glam and mass appeal. Claiming that Halo 3 is a great game simply because it sold a lot of copies is like saying that Thomas Kinkade is a great artist because he sells a lot of paintings. For Christ’s sake, even Pirates of th Caribbean sold millions.
You can shove your “it’s time to move on to the next era” crap up your ass. As far as we’re concerned games today are shit that’s not worth playing. I have far better things to do with my time than play bad games, and if the current state of the game industry renders it incapable of producing games I enjoy, I simply won’t play any games, and be far better off for it.
Bjorny- Please understand that the games you consider “hardcore” such as COD4 and Halo3 are geared towards a more general audience. This is because in this day and age these games cost billions of dollars to produce and developers want to insure that they are making a substantial profit on games they spent so much capital on making. So how do you figure that these games are “fun” and “innovative”, when they are clearly just a more polished version of what moved units that previous year or two years ago. This is proven through the number of sequels you see compared to the number of original titles on the market today. There is no question that developers have an “if it aient broke, don’t fix it” approach when it comes to there products. You may argue that COD4 is an exception to this idea because it brought the COD franchise into modern times. This is true, but before you make that statement, look at some of the better selling titles released before that game was. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (G.R.A.W.) and Rainbow Six Vegas are too games that are both set in modern times that sold relatively well. Clearly those games paved the way for the COD to make the jump to modern times. Im not trying to insult you or make a fool of you man, Im just trying to get you to see that the industry today is focused on the all mighty dollar. They used to be satisfied with getting it from just from the “hardcore”/oldschool generation. However in an effort to make MORE profit, they try to “expand the industry” which is a BS way of saying they want to make gaming more accessible to everyone so everyone can spend there money on there products. As a result, we get broken gameplay as seen in halo and a lack of developers taking a plunge into trying something new. My two cents probably will not change your opinion on the industry but hopefully it well help you see the reason for blogs like this. Take it from us, GnaM and I, two gaming geezers as you may say, we’ve observed this idea and are saddened by it. Saddened to see a passion of ours for all of are life’s be ruined by a disregarding pursuit of money.
Yes, let’s just reduce ourselves back to the crummy original zelda which had practically no storyline, and you were “placed in an open world with virtually no enemies and only 4 ways to move, and all you can do is slash your sword”. Yes, let’s see how much fun THAT is.
and while we’re at it, let’s just go banning anyone who annoys us?
wouldn’t that be fun?
honestly, I would much rather play lower tech games that are to create a new experience rather than the same games as yesteryear. For this reason, I play GnaM’s halo mods, because they create the perfect competitive gaming experience.
Let´s put words in people´s mouth´s idiotically by using the phrase ¨let´s¨!
For starters the original Zelda has MORE enemies than in later games, and the fighting is much more challenging. It´s still a fun game. Furthermore, no one has suggested simply playing NES Zelda all the time, so your blabbering here fails to make a point.
Budders was banned because he failed to discuss things in an intelligent manner and essentially just posted here to spam console war progaganda. I won´t ban people merely for disagreeing with my ideas, but I will ban people for doing so in an unintelligent manner which fails to back up any statements, make any points, and is essentially only geared to harass and annoy out of anger that someone has criticized games they like. Bjorny, if you continue the way you are going, you will be banned for those very reasons, so I suggest you either wize up or leave.
I’ve looked back at Budders’ posts after reading this, and he’s made just as many valid points as you have, so your ego is obviously getting in the way.
And Kairu, GnaM’s mods are the same game, just the weapons are changed up a little bit. ITS THE EXACT SAME GAME DUMBASS.
No, Budders has not made any valid points, as he’s quite incapable of doing so. All he managed to do is spam my blog with his console war troll’s BS, and considering I left him at it for about 6 months before I finally kicked him out, I was extremely lenient on him. While we’re on the subject, you haven’t made any valid points either and I’ve wasted more than enough time on your moronic drivel. Bye.