My name is John and I am a gamer .....

[John Beaulieu]

Writing a blog is hard.

Not just deciding what you want to write about that particular day, worrying about whether you dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s so the punctuation monsters don’t jump down your neck, wondering whether what you are typing is actually coming across to the reader without making you look either egotistical or a fool (or both).

Nope, the hardest thing is knowing that once you start you are going to find it bloody hard to stop.

My blog is going to be a mixture of styles, depending on how I am feeling at the particular moment in time that I sit down and let my fingers start hitting the keys. One day it might be me ranting away about gaming related issues, another day it might be me throwing an idea out there to see whether it sticks or not. It might be a quick look at what I am playing that day, or not playing, what I am buying or not ... I am sure you get the jist of it. My blog might even be where I discuss site related issues with anyone who wants to chat about them (yes I know we make announcements regarding these, but some days I might want to delve further into them). I am hoping that some of you will find mine, and every other person’s who blogs for the site interesting enough to read (and comment on if something catches your eye).

So with no further ado I will crash on with this opening...

As seems to be the norm for gaming blogs a bit of history about me should be shared with you all, just to see whether I qualify as someone you want to spend time reading or not.

Well, as my blog title tells you, my name is John and I am a gamer. I have been gaming on many different platforms for over 25 years – played countless numbers of games in that time (easily in the thousands) and enjoy most genres. I buy my games from every region, same with my consoles and I don’t give a damn where a game is developed or published. I can’t read Japanese, though I can work my way around an options menu with the best of them, and one of my pet hates is unskippable cut-scenes. I love multiplayer gaming, even if I am not the best out there, and one of my joys in life is the regular games nights that me and a few close friends have every month which normally results in a session on Tiger Woods lasting till the early hours of the morning.

And that’s about it – I don’t want to bore you all this early into my blog so will cut it off there.

[MarioMark]

Writing a blog is hard.

Not just deciding what you want to write about that particular day, worrying about whether you dot all the i?s and cross all the t?s so the punctuation monsters don?t jump down your neck, wondering whether what you are typing is actually coming across to the reader without making you look either egotistical or a fool (or both).

lol I know what you mean, worse times will be when you proof read what you have put like 3 times and still you miss an error; or when you publish something and then you think "I shouldn't have put that" after. Don't worry though, the only person who will be concerned is you. That goes to all bloggers by the way.

[Paulos G]

worrying about whether you dot all the i?s and cross all the t?s

The apostrophes aren't required in that bit John.

[charlesr]

"and one of my pet hates is unskippable cut-scenes" - oh man. I was overjoyed to find Silent Hill 2 has skippable ones. Watch em once.

Bearing in mind that I don't do RPGs, I had a go at FFX (I keep trying things I don't like in case I change my mind). After about 300* hours of unskippable scenes, I finally came to my first bit of actual gameplay (yes, a random battle) and promptly died due to not really know what I was doing in this genre. "Ah ok" I thought, "I've got the hang of this I think. I should be able to defeat them with another attempt. Hang on, what's this? No save point? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! And unskippable 300* hours of intro?" Needless to say, I didn't bother trying again.

*(possible exaggeration).

[Riskbreaker]

Metroid Prime 3 is the worst offender. I can put up with most cutscenes if they're attempting to portray something interesting. Watching Samus' ship take off for the upteenth time drives me up the wall. I know it hides the game loading, but I really wish they'd thought of something else.

[John Beaulieu]

Today I had my blog all mapped out - was going to broach two topics, both which have been in my thoughts for a while now. Planned to go on at length for the first topic, and throw out some random lines for the second.

Trust me on this, today's topics would have been bloody brilliant ...

But something put paid to all of that. At 10.15am this morning the postman knocked hell out of my front door to deliver Super Mario Galaxy.

Super Mario Galaxy is my game of the year - without a question of a doubt. 2007 has been absolutely fabulous for gaming, but SMG isn't the cherry on top of the cake, it's an entire banquet of goodness. SMG justifies my Wii purchase way back at launch (which I subsequently sold and then bought another one a week later), in fact it justifies my entire reason for gaming.

This game is fun, it will make you smile, it will keep you coming back for one more go time after time after time. It's jam packed to the rafters full of magic, not just in the main game but the little touches which get you giggling away like a 12 year old school girl ... like on the first Bee planet, jump too high for the swing and watch how Mario wraps his arms around the vines and slides down, watch how the stars (Lumo's) spin when you spin close to them, the music speeding up or slowing down, the flipping between asteroids and satellites - everything just feels so right.

When I was a nipper I used to get new consoles or computers as my 'big' present at christmas - and christmas morning used to be me and my brother (and dad and uncles) all sat in front of the tv playing away on the christmas game. This was a time of wonder, of imagination, of joy and more than anything else of fun. Super Mario Galaxy brought all of those feelings flooding back - I am nine years old, and the world of gaming is once again my oyster.

[jimmbob]

I've heard nothing but great things about Mario Galaxy, which makes me even more annoyed as I must wait until Christmas to get to play the old girl. To be fair though I still get that excited feeling knowing I will have a "proper" Mario game to play come Yuletide.

[Roddie]

The apostrophes aren't required in that bit John.

Yes they are!