'The GRCade Games Guru Competiton IX'

I did enjoy your article quite a lot Parksey, but I thought it was quite an odd choice for the task as I could have seen some people feeling that it didn't really meet the criteria.

Dark Ritual wrote:I did enjoy your article quite a lot Parksey, but I thought it was quite an odd choice for the task as I could have seen some people feeling that it didn't really meet the criteria.

So, are you saying it is wrong for me to hate an evil organisation that would turn me and everyone I care about into mindless zombies, just for their own personal gain?

Yeah, you're right, it's much more understandable to hate plastic packaging. It's people like you I hope get noshed on (not noshed off) first if when there is a zombie holocaust.

Wonder what Task 2 will be. I can't remember who said this earlier but I too, wouldn't be surprised if all of the first 3 tasks are creative tasks.

Parksey wrote:

Dark Ritual wrote:I did enjoy your article quite a lot Parksey, but I thought it was quite an odd choice for the task as I could have seen some people feeling that it didn't really meet the criteria.

So, are you saying it is wrong for me to hate an evil organisation that would turn me and everyone I care about into mindless zombies, just for their own personal gain?

Yeah, you're right, it's much more understandable to hate plastic packaging. It's people like you I hope get noshed on (not noshed off) first if when there is a zombie holocaust.

Hey, if you decide to work for that company, it's your own fault.

Parksey wrote:I really could have done with 500 words more though. I had to cut it down a lot and it seems so very brief now.

I feel the same. Mine is lacking in context and examples, plus it doesn't join very well, two separate parts that aren't quite woven together.

I found it difficult to rant properly in such a small amount of words. I liked my piece but didn't feel I got across why I didn't like what I was ranting about which is pretty vital

Some great stuff in there though, well done to the top 5. Writing tasks have always been my weakest ones so I'm happy this one's out the way and looking forward to some proper gaming knowledge shiznit

I remain under the impression that DML was deliberate in setting very vague parameters for the first task. The rule to not double up just gives it an edge.

Personally, I'm drawn to the conceptual pieces. Yours [@Parksey] was benefited by the way it appears on the screen (though I am biased on that facet, since I'm in the process of writing a dissertation about the visual architecture of online literature.)

Yeah, the hardest part was cutting it down. Having to axe 300-400 words off something is not an easy task.

I managed to hit the word count window on the first go.

Delusibeta wrote:I managed to hit the word count window on the first go.

Same. Relatively.

Dark Ritual wrote:

Parksey wrote:

Dark Ritual wrote:I did enjoy your article quite a lot Parksey, but I thought it was quite an odd choice for the task as I could have seen some people feeling that it didn't really meet the criteria.

So, are you saying it is wrong for me to hate an evil organisation that would turn me and everyone I care about into mindless zombies, just for their own personal gain?

Yeah, you're right, it's much more understandable to hate plastic packaging. It's people like you I hope get noshed on (not noshed off) first if when there is a zombie holocaust.

Hey, if you decide to work for that company, it's your own fault.

Employment opportunities for evil scientists are few and fair between. You get involved in one little misdemeanour - like helping someone take over the world or creating a massive laser and turning it on France - and it haunts you for the rest of your days. Only certain companies will take you on with that on your CV.

When it comes to writing tasks, I always think: "Do I want to just write a serious, slightly-hackneyed bit of tedious gaming journalism"? I am not saying the other pieces were like that, but I don't really fancy sitting down and writing an essay on why I hate respawning enemies or why turn-based battles must die. I feel like everyone knows the flaws of such things already and doesn't need me to say more on the matter.

So, I try and have a bit of fun with it and mess about with the structure a little bit. Now, this task wasn't as bad as the review ones (if anything, the subject was so broad I struggled to think of anything not-completely-obvious). I hate the ruddy reviewing tasks. Let's face it, none of us here really have anything new to say when reviewing a title, so I try and approach it a different way. You don't need me to write 500 words saying how good Ocarina of Time is, do you?

I'd like to see a few other people take a punt on something concept, slightly naff and with a few poor jokes, rather than just a serious review and whatnot. It's always a risk, mind, as for some reason, seriousness is well-regarded here and people would rather you give Ocarina of Time 9/10 then write a travel guide about Starfox Adventures. Sob, I thought that was a really good piece, if you don't mind me blowing my own trumpet...

You'd think I would learn my lesson each time and actually write something serious, but I am not sure I would enjoy it as much. My other idea was to write a piece from the POV of a gaming bad guy (probably Bowser or someone) ranting at how criminally unfair and biased towards the hero games actually are.

This piece though, really needed the extra words to flesh it out. It was, obviously, meant to be a light-hearted account of all the archaic flaws in the Resident Evil series, but it was really hard to do with 500 words. The humourous format was just a way for me to convey that, actually, I quite like the way the games go about things, even if they are completely ridiculous at the same time.

Parksey wrote:

Dark Ritual wrote:

Parksey wrote:

Dark Ritual wrote:I did enjoy your article quite a lot Parksey, but I thought it was quite an odd choice for the task as I could have seen some people feeling that it didn't really meet the criteria.

So, are you saying it is wrong for me to hate an evil organisation that would turn me and everyone I care about into mindless zombies, just for their own personal gain?

Yeah, you're right, it's much more understandable to hate plastic packaging. It's people like you I hope get noshed on (not noshed off) first if when there is a zombie holocaust.

Hey, if you decide to work for that company, it's your own fault.

Employment opportunities for evil scientists are few and fair between. You get involved in one little misdemeanour - like helping someone take over the world or creating a massive laser and turning it on France - and it haunts you for the rest of your days. Only certain companies will take you on with that on your CV.

When it comes to writing tasks, I always think: "Do I want to just write a serious, slightly-hackneyed bit of tedious gaming journalism"? I am not saying the other pieces were like that, but I don't really fancy sitting down and writing an essay on why I hate respawning enemies or why turn-based battles must die. I feel like everyone knows the flaws of such things already and doesn't need me to say more on the matter.

So, I try and have a bit of fun with it and mess about with the structure a little bit. Now, this task wasn't as bad as the review ones (if anything, the subject was so broad I struggled to think of anything not-completely-obvious). I hate the ruddy reviewing tasks. Let's face it, none of us here really have anything new to say when reviewing a title, so I try and approach it a different way. You don't need me to write 500 words saying how good Ocarina of Time is, do you?

I'd like to see a few other people take a punt on something concept, slightly naff and with a few poor jokes, rather than just a serious review and whatnot. It's always a risk, mind, as for some reason, seriousness is well-regarded here and people would rather you give Ocarina of Time 9/10 then write a travel guide about Starfox Adventures. Sob, I thought that was a really good piece, if you don't mind me blowing my own trumpet...

This piece though, really needed the extra words to flesh it out. It was, obviously, meant to be a light-hearted account of all the archaic flaws in the Resident Evil series, but it was really hard to do with 500 words. The humourous format was just a way for me to convey that, actually, I quite like the way the games go about things, even if they are completely ridiculous at the same time.

Like I said, I felt it was well written and enjoyable. I'm not attacking the piece at all, I just thought that a reviewer could judge it as missing the criteria set out as something you hate in gaming, that's all.

With 500 extra words, it would probably have been a lot more... obvious, but I didn't think you had to dig too hard, to see that this diary from an employee who thought the Umbrella Corporation was a really pissy place to work, was really a kind-hearted dig at how the Resident Evil series used to operate.

I had a better ending planned as well, as I had to basically bolt one on under the word count.

It's all DML's fault. The original ending would have been the employee inadvertedly tipping the original STARS team off, not through any moral or ethical reasons, but because he was really bloody annoyed at working there.

Not to take anything away from the "serious" ones, as some of them raise interesting points. I think Banjo's was one of the best, about a lack of gaming terminology. It struck me at how often a game is praised for being "cinematic", which is obviously rather an odd thing to say when you think about it.

Like I said, it was actually a good task. So much better than the review ones (where I think more people should definitely not go down the serious route, for reasons I have already stated).

I felt that it was more important to argue a case for hating something than laying out its latent failings. Perhaps Jack was an easy target, but I do feel that he fundamentally needs to be hated.

DML wrote:So - who has won the first task as an individual?

Ladies and gentlemen, your first GGGCIX Task Winner is (getting the full 24pts) is...

WINNER!

MVUEMBA

This was a nice surprise to come back to! Thank you everyone for the plaudits.

For a first task the standard here was very strong, so a well done to everyone, but special mentions go to the newbies placing in the top five in their very first task. Very impressive.

Skippy wrote:Ahhhh mummy strawberry floater

BID0 wrote:

DML wrote:So the Reds - denied of their captain have seemingly against all the odds taken the Task One title.

Funny that

I did my best to drag them down, I swear!

I do want to congratulate Drummy, but I also want to say to the two who came bottom that this was only three peoples opinion. My favourite was Elbo's.

Good job Drummy.

Shame Noes (and blatantly myself) got poor results to drag the team average down.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

the-elbo wrote:started to raed them but itfs late so will have a porper look laters also btw dml you sent me a pm about wihch pices I can reviw and which ones i ca'nt but Iam not the reviewer fro team drumstick. pretty sur e banjo is.

Out last night elbo?

Aye, but I wasn't even that bad. That embarrasing excuse of a post is the result of drinking + trying to type while lying down with the laptop balanced on me + being too tired to bother try to correct anything.




Doubt I'll be about at 2pm tomorrow so hopefully the new task doesn't have a very tight deadline.

Congratulations to Drumstick on winning his first World Heavyweight Degree In Journalism title from Skippy.

Also, based on my score, I have emailed Edge asking them to ignore my application for lead games reviewer.

Bring on Task 2. I need to come out fighting.

DML IS LIVE.......................

TASK 2: POST PICS OF YOU DRESSED AS A VIDEO GAME CHARACTER.