I'm a Game Reviewer!

[SlamDance]

When I was growing up, one of the answers I gave to that perennial question, "So what do you want to do when you grow up?" was "Work at a newspaper." This was, of course, a cover for my real answer which was (and still is) "For crying out loud, I have no idea!"

But wouldn't you know it? I move out of the Big City at the beginning of 2005 and within six months I'm working at a newspaper. And in yesterday's edition of The Cairns Post:



(Click on the picture for a link to the full article.)

[PMS Rogue]

Nice work Rob!!

[H2O Voran]

Great job

[H2O Forester]

thats a kool job

[SlamDance]

Thanks everyone! It's not a standing gig; it's an "in my own time" supplement to my regular duties, a show my initiative / add a string to my bow kind of deal. It's also dependent on the editor of entertainment and IT getting a comp copy of an XBL, Wii or PC game (I don't own a PS3 and the game that came in after Speed Racer was for that console).

I'm dreading the day he hands me something huge, like a GTA...

[PMS Cakes]

That's awesome! Congratulations on pursuing your dream and attaining it... it's something that others are still struggling to do! Good luck with it

[SlamDance]

I entirely forgot to mention this here: I've written two more game reviews and an article on gaming, and the Cairns Post published them!

Now, if you can't get to the links below I apologise in advance. My web log has taken to dropping offline every now and again; my web master is working on it. Give it a few hours before you try again.

Review: Halo 3: ODST
Article: Got-your-back gaming
Review: Borderlands

Next up: Bayonetta, then Mass Effect 2. (I've not got any review copies from work since Speed Racer, so I'm reviewing what I buy.)

[SlamDance]

Another thread bump: Here are some more game reviews I've written in the meantime. Two bits of good news: Firstly, the entertainment editor has bumped my reviews up from the small section in the Tuesday Digital Life to a good chunk of the page on the much-more-read entertainment liftout in the Thursday edition. Secondly, he's also started posting them on the paper's website!

• Bayonetta
• Burnout Paradise
• Mass Effect
• Mass Effect 2
• MX Vs. ATV: Reflex
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising (website) (PDF)
• Metro: 2033
• Transformers: War for Cybertron (plus expanded notes on my web log)

I also wrote three more articles, one on the local LAN gaming scene, one on the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta and one based on an interview I did with the lead developers of God of War III (PDF and website)!

Enjoy!

[Krevan]

Good stuff. I enjoyed the reads.

[Ranyos]

Very well done! I'm impressed. I am actually in college for journalism myself because I want to do what you're doing. Maybe we could chat one day and talk about how you "broke into the biz", as it were.

[PMS Killer Kitty]

Very nice! It is fun, isn't it? I used to review games for the now-defunct www.vg-force.com I was so upset, as we had E3 press passes and the site shut down right before my 18th birthday

[SlamDance]

My advice is simple, Ranyos:

1. Take your opportunities where you find them. In my case, luck worked out for me in that there was a position going at the paper that fit my skills, right when I was looking for a permanent full-time job. But I presented and interviewed like all the other candidates, and I worked on selling myself.
2. Be willing to start at the bottom (even in an unrelated department) in the company that employs your dream job. I'm not in the Editorial department at the paper; I work as an administrator in the sales team. But word got around that I was a pretty keen gamer, the previous entertainment editor had a Wii game and I had a Wii.
3. Be willing to volunteer. I don't get paid for my gaming articles or reviews (aside form the odd free game that comes my way). Although I can put some office time toward writing a review, my job comes first; this means I often do my first draft at home. Also, of those eleven published reviews, only three are of games that the company got review copies for; the rest I bought myself. There was a fourth comp-copy game I reviewed but the paper didn't publish it.

[SlamDance]

Originally Posted by PMS Killer Kitty

Very nice! It is fun, isn't it? I used to review games for the now-defunct www.vg-force.com I was so upset, as we had E3 press passes and the site shut down right before my 18th birthday

Ouch, Kitty! That had to suck! But yeah, it is fun - even when the editor turns around and asks you to trim another hundred or so words, it rapidly goes form a frustrating annoyance to an interesting challenge!

[H2O Hamlet]

Congrats on the new job! It's always great to see someone follow their passions in life, and having dreams become reality.

[SlamDance]

Aaaaand here's the latest: A review of Halo: Reach, naturally!