Apologies

A lot has been happenning to me in the past few weeks since I got back from America, and I don't know what to say. I don't know how to apologise for not being here. I know, I know, we've been here before. I've said sorry I've made promises, and theres no reason this time will be different.
Hell I don't even know.
But I want to get back to it. I want to carry on. I have 2 podcasts ready to be edited so I will get around to that soon. I want to record a few more before we start posting again, so until then I suppose you only have me to talk to.

Since I returned I've had a ton of stuff to deal with, including going back to work, tryign to convince myself to start working out again, a couple of new games (Destiny, Sims 4 adn recently Disney Infinity 2.0) and my work contract has been changed so that half of my time will be devoted to Design, not solely Quality assurance. Which is huge for me.
It means I get to start working on new projects, start designing how games will be, not jsut making sure that they are how other people expect them to be.
I went to University to design games for a living and for 5 years all I've been able to do is help other people to do that.
Of course this may not work out exactly how I hope it will. My style may not fit with the company, My company may not need another designer by the end of my 3 month trial period or I may just not be very good at it. But it's closer than I've ever been before, and while it's exciting - terribly, terribly exciting - It's also terrifying. 5 years and my chance finally comes up, what if I screw it up?
But regardless, I'm going to do my best.

In hope to make sure I post in the future here's what I'm going to do in the next few posts:
Review of Destiny.
Review of Sims 4
Review of Disney Infinity 2.0

Along with anything that comes up I feel is worth talking about.

Your-Grammar-Tubes
- James

Upcoming

I've been doing a lot of game reviews recently so I thought I'd take a minute to give some advance notice of games I'll be looking at. This way at least if you're getting excited for something you'll know when/if I'll be taking a look.

 

Well, this weekend I may or may not be playing Wildstar, it's uncertain as their Non Disclosure Agreement is still heavily in place and I wont be able to talk about it whether I play it or not. So I guess theres no reason to mention it... except that I'm really looking forward to the game eventually coming out. it looks like a lot of fun, and like it's mixing up the MMO mechanics really nicely and in a way that brings a breath of freshness to the genre.
If you haven't seen it check it out here, http://www.wildstar-online.com/

I've been playing Toukiden for a week or so now and I'm enjoying it, but I haven't played enough to give a good review. Next week I hope I'll be able to do a review. It's fun, a lot like monster hunter but with a more eastern overlay. Where Monster hunter had dragons, dinosaurs and reptiles Toukiden has demons of all varieties. If you want to check it out here's their website, http://www.toukiden.eu/

Thief 4 is the latest game coming out on the PS4 and it'll be out next Friday so I'm hoping for some fun with that. I didn't play the old games but it seems to have all the things I've liked from other games like Dishonoured, Bioshock and things like it. Not so much magic powers, but multiple ways to do things, realistic stealth. I'm hoping to hit it hard on the weekend it's out and write up a review the following week. Here's their website, http://www.thiefgame.com/

I started playing Killzone Shadowfall recently and while so far the story is a little generic and confusing it looks very nice, so I'll definitely give it a good chance and write up my thoughts at some point. either the week after Thief or if I'm not ready for reviewing thief I'll do it in it's place. https://www.killzone.com/en_GB/shadowfall

 

The last game on my list I'm not sure when I'm going to play. I don't like scary games. I'm not good with scary films. Things that scare me in general... not good. It's strange, I'm not the sort of person to believe in the fantastical and yet this stuff... well it freaks me out and that's why I want to play it on camera. the problem of course is I only have twitch.tv to show from my PS4 (which I have it on) and at the moment they don't archive from the PS4. I'm not sure when I'll be taking a look at this, when I do I'll let you know. http://redbarrelsgames.com/games.php

Tubage
-James

Reviews to date

Since i have nothing better to say I thought I'd be a little self centred and post the reviews I've got of Exile to date. I've only had reviews in the UK and USA (as far as I know) so I'll post them.

Currently I'm at 4.7 stars out of 5 on Amazon.co.uk with the following reviews:

Bungy:
5 Star"very good book enjoyed every second of my read ended to soon would look for this auther again hope next book would be longer"

Paul Carrott:
5 Star
"This was one of the most captivating reads I have had in a long time time.

You feel part of this rather gripping story, one of the characters almost. The story itself is fun, bouncy, captivating and at times could be described as quite emotional. A very cleverly written and highly imaginative piece that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good mesmerising read and an escape to another galaxy!

Unfortunately I do have one complaint... It is a short story and I was left wanting more!

I hope this author has plenty more up his sleeve and I truly hope others get the chance to experience this fresh new writer. I will be recommending to others. Well worth buying!"

Chris Armstrong:
4 Star
"I really enjoyed reading this short story, but the problem was it was too short. There are so many different parts to this story still to be explored. But, it left me wanting more an you can't say fairer than that!"

I have a 3.7 star rating on Amazon.com

Liz
5 Star
"Not usually my sort of short story, but this one drew me in. The characters are believable and identifiable. The story is gripping and full of emotion and excitement. I fully recommend this amazing read!"

Wilson Kellie
4 Star
"All in all, I found this to be a good story and I enjoyed it up to the end. I had a bit of trouble in the beginning getting into the story because it seemed to jump around quite a bit. The formatting could have been a bit better and there were some spelling and grammar errors though nothing major enough to interfere with the understanding of the story. The plot twist I suspected by about halfway through the story but I was still pleasantly surprised with how it worked out by the end of the story.

Though it took some time to get a feel for the separate characters it was a good science fiction read. By the end I was well invested in the main character as well as curious about the setting which displayed a nice depth despite the short length of the story."

Dieter Rudolph
2 Star
"Not being a Star Wars fan in any way or shape, this is not a book for me. However, it will appeal to may people."

Other than that last review I'm quite pleased with the responses, and my problem with the last isn't that its a low star review its the reason for it. If I'd misrepresented the story or they thought it was poorly writen or something I wouldn't have cared, but they just dont like sci fi, so they're marking down a science fiction story... makes little sense to me.

Zero-Tube-Punctuation
- James