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ZombiePie

To each and every one of you reading this; be kind, earnest, and nice to those around you.

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These Lose All of Your Abilities Missions Need to Stop

By ZombiePie 14 Comments

 So I just borrowed Prototype from a friend and there are two things about the game that I really don’t like to see in games ever. In Prototype I experienced probably my least favorite cliché in video games: the arbitrary loose all of your abilities mission.

The thing that gets me about these missions is only about half of them actually feel right. For how much I hated it and groaned when the developers made me run around without my abilities, I begrudgingly accepted it as it made sense story wise in Prototype. I still grumbled to holy hell the whole time and shot through the levels as quickly as possible to get it over with though....

Run You Idiot!
Run You Idiot!

It always pisses me off, always. If you want to challenge me, challenge me. Throw in a boss the causes me to utilize all of my abilities. Or how about enemies that constantly change their tactics? Don't dumb me down so you can pretend to challenge me because anybody can kick a kitten. And this is why I dislike these missions most of the time; they feel extremely arbitrary. These "gamey" moments can really pull you out of the game and ruin any potential immersion the game has developed.

I’m not saying that it can’t be done right ever. These types of missions if implemented correctly makes the user feel vulnerable and cause them to play more cautiously. For numerous RPGs this tactic is used to usually push a key point of the narrative through, and to also make high level characters feel as if they are under a greater level of danger. The Fable series has done this TWICE and every Thief game has this type of mission at least once, and both of these series did these missions rather well. However even then most of the times it feels like a stall tactic to length the game experience that rarely contributes to the story in a successful manner. It’s as if developers feel like their video game should religiously follow the heroic cycle.

Now I want to talk about the second thing I really hated about Prototype, the beginning. This is another gaming cliché that I really don’t like. In Prototype the game showcased all of the abilities you will receive by the end of the game, it didn’t take anything away from you per-say but it showcases what the game would be like latter down the road.
 
I hate this.
 
You Can Forget Things Easily
You Can Forget Things Easily

The preview of powers introduction is just a love and hate type of thing, and I hate them. Sure I like getting a feel for what I will get in the future but I also loathe having the surprise ruined. This is something that I never liked about Assassin’s Creed. Sure the degrade in power in Assassin's Creed was tolerable and made sense for the story, Altair is being punish for being reckless blah blah.... But why ruin the surprise? Assassin's Creed wasted everyone's time by teasing us with full abilities then taking them away. What really annoyed me about it, personally, was that they weren't even all abilities that required the items you lost.
How the HELL do you forget physical dexterity, countering, and the ability to grab onto ledges mid air? Did they give Altair a frontal lobotomy as punishment?  Altair just "forgets" these atributes because he's gone down in rank. Altair can't perform his mission as well not because he can't find the equipment; it's simply because of a 'rule' that he can't use them. Like I said before these “gamey” limitations just feel looney and ruins the immersion of the game; which is one of the few truly flawless aspects of Assassin's Creed.
 
For Some Reason I Don't Think This is the Big Picture
For Some Reason I Don't Think This is the Big Picture

Also if there is one thing I learned from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, it's that an awesome powers introduction beginning could be a sign that the game is more of a bottle rocket than a fireworks display.
 
This is one of the reasons why I am looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2. Instead of starting in the middle of a guy's career and getting dumb down for penance, we get to be at the beginning of a new character’s career and work our way up. It makes me feel like I am part of the story from the ground level instead of feeling like I’m some middle manager coming in after the company got off the ground, so to speak. It is also this same reason why I’m simultaneously looking forward to Metroid: Other M. The concept that I’m going to play as Samus as she is trying to establish herself has a lot of potential.

Okay, okay, you probably knew going in reading a blog that complained about loosing abilities that the Metroid series would at least get a mention. However with the Metroid series I feel more ambivalent about loosing abilities and then having to collect them. That's right, the Metroid series is one of those times where I think the  cliché is done correctly. Prime was a progression, parallel worlds in Echoes was a progression,  and Other M appears to be a heck of a progression, but item collecting is a (hopefully) constant aspect of the series.  Removing the weapon spilling stops it from being a Metroid game. Metroid (like most Nintendo) is about a very specific game play style that persists throughout the franchise. If I play Halo I expect the story to involve a bloke with power amour and badass weapons of mass destruction to jack fools, if I play Metroid I expect item hunting. Now when dealing with the backtracking that shit is getting old and it better not be in Other M or else I'll bitch about it with no feelings of remorse.
Please Tell me I Don't Have to Find the Pile Drive Ability
Please Tell me I Don't Have to Find the Pile Drive Ability

In the end I stopped playing Prototype on my friends’ Xbox 360 not necessarily because of the issues mentioned above but because that game is JANKY AS HELL! Jesus the pedestrains are idiots who are satisfied with me running them over with a tank, and the game doesn't look all that great. But then again you might as well just bitch about one thing and piss off a few people than bitch about a lot of things and piss everyone off.
14 Comments

Nope, it's Not a Big Deal

By ZombiePie 1 Comments

It's not like I'm going to cut my wrists or chop off my left nut. The games that got delayed are going to come out soon, I mean Q1 2010 is close enough to the 2009 holiday season where it's not completely intolerable. For a lot of games like Bioshock 2 they probably need the extra time. If it really hurts you that much go find some patience, I hear it's a golden virtue.

1 Comments

Happy Birthday MTV...I Guess...

By ZombiePie 26 Comments


No Caption Provided

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m. viewers were greeted by John Lack and his words "Ladies and Gentleman, rock and roll."   Then there was an MTV montage video spliced with images of the Apollo Moon 11 landing. Immediately after this viewers were treated to their first music video, The Buggles's aptly titled "Video Killed the Radio Star." After this over sixty more music videos would then play, one after the other, all the while viewers would occasionally be treated with the voice of a Video Jockey, latter called VJs.

This first broadcast was only seen by a few thousand, but latter a few million would watch this same very channel. Many would consider these first few hours as one of the most important moments in television since the switch to color. As many consider MTV the "killer-app" for cable television. With numerous teens begging their parents to subscribe to television and pay for a service that numerous households thought was a free commodity, cable TV had become an acceptable form of television delivery. And for that MTV, maybe we all should thank you.

 However, to many you have become an abomination. For with the advent and growing popularity of reality television you have become something that you were never intended to become. To others your founding was detested since your inception.

However for a select few we will merely watch you with the tinge of nostalgia, realizing that you have moved on. On the same hour you aired your first broadcast MTV, you now will air a documentary detailing the life of Michael Jackson, times have surely changed since your first days. Today you now have grown larger and now with numerous tentacles, and you even have become involved in the video game industry. So I'll re-watch your first broadcast one more time--for old times sake.

For those interested in joining me, here's MTV's first broadcast listed in chronological order (I'll also help you with your first music video below):   

   1. "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles
   2. "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar
   3. "She Won't Dance With Me" by Rod Stewart
   4. "You Better You Bet" by The Who
   5. "Little Suzi's on the Up" by Ph.D.
   6. "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard
   7. "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
   8. "Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren
   9. "Take It On the Run" by REO Speedwagon
  10. "Rockin' the Paradise" by Styx
  11. "When Things Go Wrong" by Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
  12. "History Never Repeats" by Split Enz
  13. "Hold On Loosely" by 38 Special
  14. "Just Between You and Me" by April Wine
  15. "Sailing" by Rod Stewart
  16. "Iron Maiden" by Iron Maiden
  17. "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon
  18. "Message of Love" by The Pretenders
  19. "Mr. Briefcase" by Lee Ritenour
  20. "Double Life" by The Cars
  21. "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
  22. "Looking For Clues" by Robert Palmer
  23. "Too Late" by Shoes
  24. "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
  25. "Surface Tension" by Rupert Hine
  26. "One Step Ahead" by Split Enz
  27. "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
  28. "I'm Gonna Follow You" by Pat Benatar
  29. "Savannah Nights" by Tom Johnston
  30. "Lucille" by Rockestra
  31. "The Best of Times" by Styx
  32. "Vengeance" by Carly Simon
  33. "Wrathchild" by Iron Maiden
  34. "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" by Blotto
  35. "Passion" by Rod Stewart
  36. "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello
  37. "Don't Let Him Go" by REO Speedwagon
  38. "Remote Control/Illegal" by The Silencers
  39. "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton
  40. "Little Sister" by Rockpile with Robert Plant
  41. "Hold On to the Night" by Bootcamp
  42. "Dreaming" by Cliff Richard
  43. "Is it You?" by Lee Ritenour
  44. "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac
  45. "He Can't Love You" by Michael Stanley Band
  46. "Tough Guys" by REO Speedwagon
  47. "Rapture" by Blondie
  48. "Don't Let Go the Coat" by The Who
  49. "Ain't Love a Bitch" by Rod Stewart
  50. "Talk of the Town" by The Pretenders
  51. "Can't Happen Here" by Rainbow
  52. "Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold
  53. "Bring It All Home" by Gerry Rafferty
  54. "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" by April Wine
  55. "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" by Kate Bush
  56. "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie
  57. "Just Between You and Me" by April Wine (was both the 14th and 57th video on MTV, making it the first video to be shown more than once, so yes you have to watch it twice!)
  58. "Rat Race" by The Specials
  59. "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads
  60. "Victim" by Bootcamp
  61. "Tonight's the Night" by Rod Stewart
  62. "Cruel to Be Kind" by Nick Lowe

  


26 Comments

Four More Important People that Don't Have Wikis on Giant Bomb

By ZombiePie 12 Comments

For those who have not done so already please read the first edition of this series of blogs (Four Important People that Don't Have Wiki Articles on Giant Bomb) to understand my intention when making these blogs. As for this edition astute readers will probably notice two things. First that this is longer than the first part and that for the most part this edition places a greater emphasis on the more technical aspects of the video game industry. This, unlike my inability to produce concise sentences, is not unintentional. When we turn on our video game consoles and computers we have the expectation that they will work and be capable of processing everything that we desire them to. For those that have made this possible a certain level of thanks should be in store for them.

Oh and if you happen to be MattyFTM, I'd like you to know that I have triple checked to make sure you will be incapable of proving me wrong, and I'd also like to say that being attacked by you is like being savaged by a dead sheep.

-Doug Lowenstein-

Doug Lowenstein talking during E3, the trade show he created.
Doug Lowenstein talking during E3, the trade show he created.

To the many people who do know who Doug Lowenstein is, his contributions to the video game industry are clear. Mr. Lowenstein founded the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade organization that represents video game companies that are members of the organization. When he first founded the ESA he felt that the video game industry was in need of a trade organization that would represent the video game industry in the political world of the United States as opposed to leaving the video game industry a fragmented, self representing industry. One of his first decisions was to support the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and make the ESRB ratings, in the United States the industry accepted age ratings. Also while head of the ESA Mr. Lowenstein used the ESA to represent the video game industry when dealing with numerous pieces of state legislature that limited the consumption of video games. However the effectiveness of the ESA has been questioned on numerous occasions. To many it was his hands off approach when dealing with anti-video game figures such as Jack Thompson and Leland Yee that caused many to ask whether or not the industry even needed the ESA. However Mr. Lowenstein did create one event that ever gamer, designer, and writer supported, E3. In attempt to make the video game industry prove itself as a growing industry deserving the attention of the mass market Mr. Lowenstein created E3 to excite gamers about what the future would hold in store for video games. In doing so he founded one of the largest (until recent times) and most envied trade events ever organized. It would draw the attention of not only industry veterans, but also numerous burgeoning video game developers and publishers. However the effectiveness of theE3’s ability to promote smaller brands and independent video games projects was criticized as these projects would often times become strangled by the domineering personas of larger projects. While his effectiveness as a trade representative is often questioned, he was able to make many realize that the video game industry was large and rapidly expanding. As a result he convinced many critics that the video game industry would rival that of all other types of media.


-Bjarne Stroustrup-


Mr. Stroustrup thinking of how he could make C++ better than Java.
Mr. Stroustrup thinking of how he could make C++ better than Java.
Bjarne Stroustrup is man who after I inform you as to what he has contributed in his lifetime your response will be “Oh, he made THAT?” So what did Mr. Stroustrup create that makes him an important man to note? C++…Bjarne Stroustrup created C++. For all of those potential video game designers and computer engineers C++ has become your native language of sorts. For the unaware C++ is a programming language that featured many innovations when it was first introduced that allowed programming far easier.  C++ implements "data abstraction" using a concept called "classes", along with other features to allow object-oriented programming. C++ also adds a concept called "operator overloading" not seen in the earlier OOP languages, and it makes the creation of libraries much cleaner and simplifies memory management. Additionally, some of the features of C++ allow low-level access to memory but also contain high level features. For numerous of burgeoning game developers C++ was their first exposure for programming and memory management. For creating a simple and accessible programming language that allowed for a greater number of people to get involved in software and hardware development in the video game industry (and to a greater extent the computer industry)—Bjarne Stroustrup deserves a certain level of thanks.


-Sir Clive Sinclair-


Sir Clive Sinclair with his greatest creation, the ZX Spectrum.
Sir Clive Sinclair with his greatest creation, the ZX Spectrum.
Sir Clive Marles Sinclair has been an iconic and often controversial figure in British industry for more than quarter of a century. He chalked up significant successes early in his life—the first pocket calculator, the first pocket television, and most importantly the best-selling British computer of all time, the ZX Spectrum. The Spectrum is widely and fondly remembered in Britain by those who grew up in the 1980's, and many of the games developed for the system by home programmers paved the way for many of the leading European software houses of today. It also taught a generation the basics of computer science and programming, due to the popularity of "program your own game" articles in Spectrum fan magazines, as well as numerous contests. In addition due to the limited functionality of the basic machine, many users "hacked" their computer to add additional functionality. As a result the ZX Spectrum not only ushered in a new era of game developers but also supported some of the first modders in the computer industry. However Sir Sinclair is as well known for his spectacular successes as he is with his horrendous failures, most notably the C5 electric vehicle. He was lauded (and eventually awarded a knighthood) by Margaret Thatcher's government for leading what was seen as a renaissance of British industry, but was seen in other quarters as offering only skin-deep solutions to Britain's industrial malaise. Now in his sixties, Sir Clive still continues to produce a variety of innovative products from his London headquarters.


-Robert Noyce-

The Aptly Titled
The Aptly Titled "Mayor of Silicon Valley"
While most of his innovations where never directly tied to video games or their consoles, if it had not been for two of Mr. Noyce’s projects the development of video game technology would have been greatly stifled. Look at the computer you are using right now and ask yourself who made it possible for it to process everything you want it to. If you don’t know the answer then now you do. Your laptop or desktop computer, video game console, and thousands of other computing devices all depend on the integrated circuit that Robert Noyce co-invented. That’s right Robert Noyce invented the first practical microchip…and if you don’t know how important that is for computer and console gaming then half of your brain must be missing. Robert Noyce did all this while he was Fairchild Semiconductors, a corporation that Mr. Noyce helped found. For those that remember the Fairchild name what happens next is clear. Noyce oversaw the development of the Fairchild Video Entertainment System; latter called the more iconic Fairchild Channel F. The console used Noyce’s Fairchild F8 CPU, and as a result was capable of being a programmable video game system. With the Channel F, video gamers for the first time were required to insert a ROM cartridges in order play their video games. This was a large improvement over the game dedicated console that had come before the Channel F. As a result of the Channel F, the ROM cartridge was established as the main form of data storage for video games until the advent of the CD-ROM. However Mr. Noyce would leave Fairchild Semiconductors to found another pioneer of computer and console development—Intel, where he he oversaw Ted Hoff's invention of the microprocessor. Which if you also don’t understand how important this is for computer and console development you must be missing half of your brain. A constant innovator, Robert Noyce continued to participate in championing the computer sciences until his untimely death due to a heart attack on June 3, 1990.

12 Comments

Where's the Sequel to Clayfighter?

By ZombiePie 2 Comments

Because the way I see it the fighting genre isn't really resurrected until terrible know offs get made in mass casuing the fighting genre to collapse due to a large influx of budget titles. Hence why I believe that the fighting genre hasn't truly made a comeback until another Clayfighter game is made!

Ahh Clayfighter...you were so terrible, but yet you had such an enjoyable intro song....

  

2 Comments

Four Important People that Don't Have Wiki Articles on Giant Bomb

By ZombiePie 23 Comments

I would first like to state what this blog is not. This blog is not in any way vessel for me to voice criticism towards the policies that define what should and shouldn't be given a wiki article on Giantbomb. I realize and support the concept that there must be an absolute rule with as little ambiguity as possible when defining whether or not a person deserves a wiki article on Giant Bomb. The first person didn't receive a credit because his version of the only video game he designed was scraped. For the next, video game credits did not exist at the time and also his only video game was never "formally" released. Then last two out of the four persons listed were business men that were not involved in the creative process of designing video games. However despite these facts these men exerted their influence on the industry, and this cannot be denied and is at least worth a blog. Also it's worth noting that these individuals are not listed or sorted by level of importance, but instead are listed in the order I was able to recall them.

-Steve Wozniak-


The
The "Woz"
Unlike many of the names that I will list Steve Wozniak is an already well known figure, I mean the dude was one of founders of Apple Corp! However his influence on video games is not nearly as well documented as his contributions to computer design. The story goes like this, at the time Steve Jobs (if you don’t know who he is who’ve been living under a rock your entire life) was working for Atari at the time and was ordered by Nolan Bushnell to make “single player version of Pong.” Steve Jobs then approached Steve Wozniak, who was working for HP at the time, to help him with the project, which would later be titled “Breakout.” So what does this have to do with overlapping influences on the video game industry? Well something clicked inside Mr. Wozniak, seeing and creating all of these colored bricks did something to him. It would go on to convince Mr. Wozniak that the Apple II had to be more like an arcade cabinet, and that the computer’s interface couldn’t be monochromatic, that it needed to include paddles, and have various colored graphics interlaced on the screen. Also his experience in designing Breakout convinced Mr. Wozniak that the Apple II had to be capable of playing video games if the computer was going to succeed, hence why Mr. Wozniak calls his Apple II a “game computer.” However something else happened—something else extremely important worth noting. While designing the Apple II Steve Wozniak wanted to see if he could create a video game just from using an updated version of BASIC. So naturally he designed his own version of Breakout via the Apple II’s programming language, dubbed GAME BASIC, making it, technically, the first game for the computer. As a result Mr. Wozniak made himself one of the first (thought not THE absolute first) to program a game using only software and not hardware (e.g. an arcade cabinet), and the rest is well…you get the idea.

-Steve Colley-


You Don't Play the Eye, but That's the Point
You Don't Play the Eye, but That's the Point
If Steve Colley’s name doesn’t ring any bells then don’t worry it’s not your fault, I mean the guy only designed one game! However Steve Colley is probably one of the most unfortunately forgotten figures in the video game industry especially when the fruits of his labor are noted. Mr. Colley stands  as one of the most important early video game designers, and this all is due to his single piece of work for the video game industry—Maze War. While primitive to today’s standards Maze Wars is an incredibly influential game. For one thing it stands as one of, if not THE, earliest first person shooters. The game was also one of the first to be designed with three dimension graphics. However most importantly, Maze Wars was designed to network with your computer, and allowed you to play with other gamers via the internet. Yup, this was the first video game with online multiplayer! As such today’s massively multiuser online games owe a huge debt to Maze War for being the first to allow users to interact with other users that were not with their home. Oh and if you’re feeling sorry for Steve Colley for not knowing who he is, don’t worry, Mr. Colley would go onto get a job with NASA and would design and create prototypes for the Mars Rover projects.


-David Rosen-


Why Haven't You Been Nominated for the SEGA Hall of Fame?
Why Haven't You Been Nominated for the SEGA Hall of Fame?
So much was done under David Rosen’s arms, and yet he receives so little credit for it. Despite just being an American GI who was stationed in Japan at one point, Rosen would go onto found and create one of the largest Japanese video game makers, SEGA. So  for all of those gamers who hold some level of nostalgia towards the consoles that SEGA once produced, a certain level of gratitude is in order for Mr. Rosen. That’s right; David Rosen is the man who essentially got SEGA invested in the home console market. In fact it was Mr. Rosen who saved the company after the video game crash. Rosen was able to convince Japanese business man, Hayao Nakayama, that the video game recession wouldn’t last too long and would eventually pass over, meaning that it was an industry worth investing in now. The sales pitch worked, and after years of being owned by various companies, SEGA became…SEGA. With their spike in assets SEGA would go onto become the iconic figurehead that many gamers view the company to this day. However Rosen did one last thing worth noting, he convinced SEGA to found an American division of the company, Sega of America, meaning SEGA would become and forever remain heavily invested in the American video game market, and other than their competition Nintendo and a few other Japanese corporations, they were one of the first Japanese companies to do so and as a result more Japanese video game companies started to take the American video game market more serious.


-Jack Tramiel-


To Many Jack Tramiel is a Villain
To Many Jack Tramiel is a Villain
When the well known psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was asked by a British newspaper journalist on how he felt about his new found fame he responded by saying “I’m not famous—I’m notorious.” Such words can be used to describe Jack Tramiel, as he remains a controversial figure in the world of video games. On one hand Tramiel was the man who founded Commodore International, the company best known for making affordable computers for consumers (e.g. the Vic-20 & more notably the Commodore 64). The computers that Tramiel oversaw sold over a million units, a first for the industry at the time. As a result Tramiel propped up a burgeoning video game market for personal computers, and had it not been for his efforts to design computers for all markets of consumers, then PC gaming would definitely be different. However, on the second hand Tramiel also has the dishonor of mismanaging a video game and home console manufacturer, Atari. When Tramiel bought Atari from Warner Brothers the company was bleeding money, and in hopes that he could rejuvenate the company Tramiel took a hard liner and cut throat businesses style, but this plunged the company into even more debt. This coupled with the ill-conceived Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar launches caused Tramiel to eventually sell Atari to JTS Corp. As a result Tramiel is hailed by PC gamers as a pioneer, but is accosted by console gamers as a man who ran one of the most important video game companies straight to the ground. 
To Other He's Something Special
To Other He's Something Special


23 Comments

Not Since Doom RPG

By ZombiePie 1 Comments

Doom RPG was the last non puzzle game that I genuinely cared about. I guess the Need for Speed game a while back was good also... Look I'm only going to take cell phones seriously when they are capable of playing more genres than puzzle and strategy games, real gaming platforms can do anything the designer wishes and cell phones haven't done that.

1 Comments

Newspaper Comics Are Awesome

By ZombiePie 6 Comments

I woke up to some not so great news that I don't really want to talk about. It almost ruined my entire day to the point where I couldn't feel anything and I kind if just sat on the couch acting like a pickle. Then just recently I decided to read the newspaper and that made me even more depressed because it looks like the world is going to shit...

So then I went to the comics...and you know what? I think everything is going to be just dandy, just take a look:

I Love...
I Love...




...The World We Live In
...The World We Live In
6 Comments

Out For Lunch And Away From My GiantBomb Duties

By ZombiePie 7 Comments

Well not completely…but its worth announcing. So I’m going off to visit the capital of the United States of America. I promised myself that I would go to D.C. eventually and it seemed fitting for this year. So now I finally am going to do it , but I’ll be away from June 3-7. I’m really looking forward to the trip but I’m just warning all of you now that seeing how I’m going to be off the Community Spotlight probably isn’t going to be updated while I’m away. I’ll try my best to get an internet connection if I can but don’t be surprised if the thread goes dead on those days. The other thing that I’m slightly disappointed about is the fact that I’m going to miss a good chunk of E3, but hey information trickles quickly these days so I guess it’s no biggie.


BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

So one of the real reasons why I’m doing this blog is because I want to Spend some time talking about the Community Spotlight…because I know you all really care that much. So one of the issues that you may have noticed now is that the number of podcasts on the Spotlight has grown exponentially.  Now I have always maintained an open door policy when it has come to the podcasts on the Spotlight, but now I’m starting to reconsider that policy. Part of the issue that I have about this stems from the fact that some of the podcasts come from users that don’t really use the site very often and also that I’m spending my time having to stay up-to-date for most of the smaller podcasts. Part of the latter issues is my own fault. I happen to be one of the few Zune owners on the site which makes my life even harder because a lot of the podcasts aren't on the Zune marketplace! So I have to check everyone's goddamn blog/website every day because no one seems to have a discernible or easy to follow time schedule. So in order to know when everyone's podcasts is being released I find myself having to check everyone's website or RSS feed. So I’m thinking of delisting some of the unnecessary podcasts. It seems like the Spotlight is getting cluttered with the podcast table, but everyone is against that idea then I won’t do it.

As for the rest of the Spotlight, I’m eliminating the rule that prevents users from nominating their own stuff that they feel is worth plugging. Originally I wanted to establish this sense of community by having other people explore other people's content. However, I now feel like there’s nothing wrong with feeling proud of something you made or contributed to. It just doesn't make sense for me to punish you for having a little pride about your work. However to prevent the Spotlight from being flooded by one user I’m making it a rule for only one piece of content per user to be nominated for a single category in a single week. Also I’m thinking about doing a Best of Blog feature, but I think Sweep beat me to it with his Blogosphere thread.

As for everything else—it’s going great!  GiantBomb Community Twitter Account (which I also manage) has reached 80 followers, up from 26 users. So if you have a twitter account and aren't already following the Community Account, then go to it! Also the Spotlight has reached over 5,000 views…so I must be doing something right.

Oh well I guess that’s all I want to say! If you have any suggestions for the Spotlight or have any comments feel free to contact me. Also have a great E3 without me! Hopefully I won’t miss out in too much...and I'm still your czar...


7 Comments