Current Happenings

Thought I'd drop a quick update along with the re-posted archive. The newest additions are reviews for Naruto: Ultimate Ninja and Jaws Unleashed for PS2, reviews of Field Commander and Tomb Raider: Legend for PSP, and a feature about the Chicago gaming development industry called "Eye on Chicago Gaming." It's not super in-depth, but it wasn't meant to be -- it's merely a primer to some of the highlights of the local industry, which I hope to embellish upon with future interviews and feature articles.

I'm leaving for Italy next Monday, but that doesn't mean I'm spending this week relaxing... quite the contrary. I have a shitload of stuff to get done.

- Review of Chromehounds (360) for WorthPlaying
- Review of LotR: Battle for Middle-Earth II (360) for WorthPlaying
- Review of Prey (360) for Static Multimedia
- Review of Big Brain Academy (DS) for Static Multimedia (maybe)
- Completion of half-year wrap-up feature for Static
- Pirates of the Caribbean (PS2) interview
- Advance Look - August 2006 feature for Static
- Mobile Burn - August 2006 column for Static
- The usual PR junk and working with writers

I also forgot to mention that I've been named the Games Editor of Static... which doesn't mean much, really, but it's a nicer title and it gives me control over the section so that it's success will mean much more for me when I'm looking for a career in six months. But yeah, big list... I'm almost done with Chromehounds, and I'm about a quarter of the way through LotR:BfMEII. I'm about that far in Prey as well, but that's a shorter game. I just started Big Brain Academy... it's pretty much the same as Brain Age, so I should be able to whip up the review before I go.

The half-year feature has three of the Games writers (including me) picking a favorite for the year so far and writing about 200 words on it, then listing up to four others. Not terribly inspired or phenomenally interesting, but it'll do for now. I had hoped to get more writers in on it, but not everyone was on board... and one of the lists I got was so phenomenally bullshitted that I had to tell the writer she wouldn't be working for the Games section anymore (not just for that, but it was the final straw). Mike's all about +++ content, but I'm all about quality content, and I'm not posting junk when it falls on me. I can't stand behind that kind of work.

The Pirates interview is something I'm proud about... I definitely want to do several interviews in the coming months, and I was able to arrange one with a developer from Seven Studios, who just made the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow game for PlayStation 2 (I gave it two stars -- review should be posted today). I sent off the questions via e-mail and have yet to recieve them back... really hoping those come through before I leave. As for the other stuff, I'm preparing the articles I usually write for the beginning of the month so that they can be posted while I'm gone.

Any questions?