1UP'd My Career

As of this morning, I am now a News Contributor for 1UP, the online gaming community that also serves as the portal for Electronic Gaming Monthly and Games for Windows. I've been a member of the site for over a year, but now I write for it. This is a big deal.

I've been working my way up in the industry now for some time, but this is my first paying gig, not to mention the largest publication (by far) that I've had the opportunity to write for. It's kind of like a part-time job; I work the morning "shift" on weekdays and I work with a crew of other writers to get up all the news. I'm not typically a morning person, but I've actually been looking for something to force me to wake up at a particular time each day, so this is helpful.

Here are the first two stories that I wrote today:

Halo 2 for PC Delayed by 'Partial Nudity'
The Sims to Become Feature Film

I probably won't post links to all of my news stories, as I may be doing 15+ a week once I get familiar with the system and up my speed a bit. Also potentially on the horizon is some freelance work (likely reviews) at a couple of websites. One of the guys I met at Gamers Day got back to me today and said he thought my samples were "pretty good" and had passed them on to his boss. He suggested that I would probably hear back about it next week, so I'm eagerly anticipating that. Between the 1UP gig and a bit of freelance work, I could be doing pretty alright for myself. Not enough to live on, but certainly enough to start saving some cash for when I am eventually on my own.

However, the addition of the 1UP gig means the near-elimination of my work at Bits Bytes Pixels & Sprites, just a month after I started there. They've been really great to me, and all three of the guys (Dan, Kevin, and Jim) were extremely supportive when they heard the news, so I'm quite glad to not be parting on a bad note. I'm not leaving entirely; I'll still be listed as a contributor, but I won't be doing a whole lot. It'll be nice to have an additional, less-mainstream outlet for when/if I have something to say that just doesn't fit elsewhere.

Sony's Gamers Day was pretty cool, though it was super busy since I was the only person from WorthPlaying at the event. I've written nine previews so far (been slowed a bit by some family stuff) and probably have four or five left until I've covered what I can cover. I met some very solid dudes while I was out there and also attended the Padres game on Tuesday evening. I was hanging with a couple of other guys and we left after the 11th inning. Naturally, Griffey Jr. lead off the 12th with the game-winning homer. Ah well. I wasn't too invested in Padres/Reds, but I love baseball, so it was a worthwhile experience.

On the horizon -- many events! In a week and a half, I'll be flying out to Santa Monica to check out the Transformers movie game. I was actually supposed to see The Pipettes at Empty Bottle in Chicago on the day I come back, but nobody else could cover the event, so I'm going. It's not a bad trade-off by any means, but I was looking forward to the show. One week later, I'll be flying back to Santa Monica to attend Activision's pre-E3 event, where they'll probably have the usual suspects (Call of Duty 4, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, etc). I dig both series, so "the usual" is fine with me.

And finally, I was invited to the E3 Media and Business Summit in July! It's in Santa Monica (jeez, I'm going to be sick of the place), and though my invitation is not tied to any particular publication, I will more than likely be attending for WorthPlaying (unless there's a big career change in the next two months).

Also, you'll notice a style/layout/attitude change here. I wanted something a bit more professional sounding/looking, so I stretched out the full name again and swapped templates to something cleaner and easier to read. That doesn't mean I'll update more often, though!