Tonight I was finally going to buy the domain name GamePortrait, but someone thinks they're funny and stole the name. So, if this "gameportrait.com" becomes anything, it's not me. but it's my name.

So today I'm going shopping for all the podcast equipment I'll need for the site. I'm buying a USB audio mixer with 4 microphone ports, 4 microphones, and I should be good after that. Weird thing is, the podcast will always be recorded in the back room of my Gamestop, and be conducted by me and fellow employees. Don't worry we wont try and sell you pre-orders. But I needed some suggestions on the podcast's format. It'll probably open with a nice intro, and we'll tak about what we're playing, followed by what's coming out, then ending with news. However, everyone does that. So any ideas? No, I can't do a live guest sort of thing, unless you can explain how to do that. Also, ideas for a name?

thanks,

Steven

I know it's old news, but some people on various forums still don't know. Lego Batman has NO online co-op. Why? I don't know, but to me a game in this generation needs to incorporate online in most of its features, especially cooperation. Am I wrong here? I'm still picking up the game this afternoon, good to play with the girlfriend, and I did enjoy Lego Starwars. Another thing, those reviews Giantbomb featured, half of them are not good.

Writer for CrispyGamer, and freelance contributer to Gamespy.com Jason McMaster has agreed to write for my upcoming site GamePortrait.com. I'm interviewing him WEednesday, and I'll post updates. The Mass Power Outage in southern Ohio has prolonged site development, but is back on track. My tech guys had to take a week off due to personal reasons, but the site still should be complete by the first week of October.

Steven

It's a gaming publication in its infancy. I have people on all sides writing reviews, creating content, forming art, and making the damn site itself. This site for me has only one single purpose beyond filtering information for the public, and that's a big fat thing to put on my resume. After I'm done with fighting in Iraq, I'm moving to California and looking for jobs in professional videogame journalism. But before I get my masters in journalism, and get my ass shot at, I decided to form a community based videogame site that will hopefully standout from the rest. So what is the site all about?

Well when a journalist, like say, Hilary from Ign reviews a game like Too Human he's going to look at the game from a critical point of view. But there's a huge difference in how you look a game critically, and your own personal experience. My favorite game ever is Final Fantasy IX, but if I was working for 1up I would probably give the game a fairly mediocre review, but GamePortrait would praise the hell out of that game because I had a very fantastic personal experience with that RPG. So what does this mean? Games are becoming more about the personal experience, and it's becoming more & more impossible for a writer in the videogame industry to write a review that suits the majority of the community.

I can't realistically expect the public to visit my site first for reviews. While writing a review for a game, unless it's an unknown jewel, then I'm writing it assuming you the reader know what the game's about, what it looks like, and the general public opinion. So while I'm not writing a 1up style review with a critical analysis, I'm forming my own opinion. A game like Too Human may get the shit kicked out of it for its bugs, but my personal experience was fairly positive, therefore that game wouldn't get a very negative review. Also, the ten point scale is trash, we're using the 5 point scale. Like X-play and Giantbomb, no half stars.

Beyond personal reviews, expect to see news blogs, community contributions (details later) audio podcasts, and professional video reviews.

A lot of people out there are already doing what I'm working on, but I don't fell too many of them are doing it right. So hopefully you all enjoy the site, coming first week of October.

Community Contributions

Without giving too much, here's a list of what I can promise, expect to see more

-We'll host "Community Person of the Week" we'll post a blog, or review you've written, or even a video or podcast you made. You'll be given all the credit, and you'll be asked for permission first obviously.

-Guests on Podcast

-Moderators on forums

-Questions sent to us

-and anything you can think of

So just to let you all know, I live in south western , and for anyone living in my area we had heavy wind storms all fucking day yesterday, cutting out power for over 300,000 people. It was while I was working at Gamestop this happened, and after we kicked customers out of the store, processed all the trade-ins we felt bored. So what do three Gamestop employees do with four hours of spare time at work? No, not that you homo, we cracked open a few copies of Force Unleashed for early “testing”. This was also the PSP version, unfortunately. To my surprised the compromised handheld version gave me a very clear idea on how the console version will play out, and I must say I’m very pleased.

MINOR SPOILERS

Following the battle Vader demands to know the whereabouts of the Jedi’s master, the fallen Jedi has no clue to what Vader is referring to, only he claims to sense someone “more powerful”. Darth Vader attempts to strike him in anger only to have his lightsaber taken out of his hand by a young boy,” A son?” Vader whispers. The young boy that couldn’t be any older than five raises the blade in defense. Vader throws the boys father with the force. Storm Troopers quickly arrive pointing guns at the young boy, Vader takes his saber from the boy and kills his own men. Darth Vader then tells the boy they have to escape quickly.

The next scene is the opening of the demo we’ve all played, with Starkiller accepting his training is complete, and being sent off to his first mission. So after this, I finished the Tie Fighter level, feeling like a badass the while time. Your female pilot is without doubt a love interest, and some shit is going to go down later between the Emperor, Vader, and the Apprentice. While I wish the levels weren’t so linear, it’ll be very interesting to what becomes of the plot. My only regret is that I wont be able to play the “real” version of the game until tomorrow when the game releases. TO throw my work free advertisment, you can go to your local Gamestop and pick up your copy of Starwars: Force Unleased tonight at midnight, line begins at 10:00pm

...rolls eyes

GamePortrait.com, coming soon!

So far my Rockband 2 experience has been somewhat of a mixed bag. I’m in the middle of writing a review, but couldn’t finish the game in time for the upcoming weekend, so I decided to write a quick impression. First off, I can’t say how I obtained RockBand 2 because I could potentially get a friend of mine fired. I’m also not going online with my gamertag with an early game on it, because I’m not sure about Microsoft’s terms of use. Anyway, RockBand 2. So when reviewing this game I decided that the game is obviously the exact same, save for minor mechanical upgrades. So a writer must look at the song list, and it’s pretty cool. Minus “Eye of the Tiger”; fucking HATE that song, very boring.

It’s very obvious that while this game has a massive 84 song listing, if you’re not able to connect to Xbox Live, it makes it very hard to recommend the game at full price. No matter how good the song list is, it’s always guaranteed that everyone’s not going to like 20% of the songs, and RockBand 2 is delivering 20 free songs by years end, probably to collide with the full bundle release. The ability to buy songs fused with Harmonix’s weekly support is truly the next evolution to what I demand from a modern music game. It’s unclear to how Guitar Hero “World Tour” will tout their online distribution, but looking back in history at Guitar Hero II claiming to deliver a “constant stream of content”, Guitar Hero 3’s online store being infested with the sound of crickets instead of rock, also with the release of Aerosmith as opposed to an expensive song pack makes one wonder.

What’s new about RockBand 2 that I’ve noticed so far is the drum solos, and cartoony band performances. I don’t know if the cartoon templates are random, but I played a Paramore song only to discover that instead of the usual routine where I watch my virtual band perform, it was a montage of each player with their insterments in stylized animation, which was stunning. My friends and I only played for a good hour, and I played solo for about another hour, so I haven’t discovered much yet. I should have a full review next week. As a side note drummers, buy the damn drum pads! They work so well. 

GamePortrait.com

With my new site GamePortrait, what do you guys want to see from it? Since I can't expect you guys to visit my site first for reviews, our reviews will be written assuming you already know how the game looks, and have a basic understanding of how it works. So we'll be focusing on the main pros and cons form a personal point of view, as opposed from a critic point of view. But what have sites like Giantbomb, Ign, Gamespot, 1up, ext have lacked? What can I do for the community, and contribute affectivly to an internet where gaming sites are ubiquidous?

Steven

The GamePortrait.com Mascot, which will attach to my logo has been complete!