If anyone can set up a website and publish news and reviews, is the traditional games press doomed?

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The internet is saturated with sites and blogs that publish games news and reviews at a phenomenal rate. Within seconds of press releases being sent out, they appear on the internet in a dozen different ways. Technologies like Twitter and Facebook allow us to release snippets of information without even needing to write a full article. Games reviews get published on the internet days, weeks or sometimes months before the traditional printed press have a chance to release theirs. I spoke to one very unhappy staff writer recently, who was complaining that he needed to have reviews written for a magazine that was to be published in 2 months time. He could not convince his editor that it would be pointless releasing reviews of games 2 whole months after everybody else. At any given second of the day there is more information being uploaded than anyone could feasibly read.
So what does this mean for games magazines and the like? If they cannot keep up with the speed at which the internet can get information out, what place do they have in our world? Read More ...

If you want good review scores, make good products.

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This is a bit of a rant, but here goes.

I was recently questioned about my ability to review a product objectively (possible inadvertently).  Now as someone who has written one or two reviews, this came as a bit of a shock.  I always thought I was impartial.  I write reviews based on their merit and compared to other products I know.

So I got to thinking what could have spawned this question.  Then I looked at the links I sent them, quite a few of which were Steelseries reviews.  And then I understood. Read More ...

What is social media to you?

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Imagine that social media is a telephone network, but rather than only you and the person you call being able to hear your conversation, every other phone user on the network can choose to listen in and comment.

That is how "generation y" see it. I am talking to my friend over twitter about elearning. I know other people with similar interests on twitter will be scanning the stream for just such a conversation. I am also aware that they may choose to comment. If they do, suddenly I have new contact and a new conduit to information. Read More ...

Will I buy an iphone 4?

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Will I buy an iphone 4?

I am definitely looking at it. I was all set to but a desire, but iphone 4 just seems to push me over to the dark side. I am not an Apple fan at all and have avoided iphone for a long while, despite most of my friends and colleagues having them. But times move on and so it would seem does the iphone.

So what has turned me? Does it have any exciting new features that no other phone has? Erm.. not really. Is it the best looking on the market? Possibly. Has Steve Jobs eaten my soul? No in fact he was one of the main reasons I was not wanting one!! Read More ...

Martial Arts and me

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Martial arts and me

Here I am, 31 with about 10 years of Martial arts experience, a 3rd dan black belt, until recently my own club and a real problem with it all! You see until a few days ago I thought I was doing it all for the wrong reasons. I have not trained properly for nearly a year, I have not taught for about 6 months so have had time to think about what it all means to me.

My fear has been that I was doing it just to collect a black belt. See, there is a group of Martial artists out there who I call belt collectors. They strive to get as many belts in as many arts as they can, not that there is anything wrong with that if your motivation is to learn. But a lot are motivated by that elusive black belt and the power that comes with it! I guarantee that most of them would rather die than step on the mat with another coloured belt on! Part of my problem has been I have never felt that I deserved my black belt. Sure I have trained regularly for years, taught for years and have several permanent injuries! But was that enough? For some it is about physical achievement, but for me and many others it is more than that, I have changed and grown as a person. Then it struck me, I hadn’t wanted to go back, it was no longer fun. I kept feeling like I had to achieve something every day! So in the new year I shall go back with a fresh set of eyes and a less jaded opinion of what it all means. I will go back knowing that if I didn’t deserve my 3rd dan I would never have got it. Most of all I will go back because I want to and enjoy it! Read More ...