Alright guys, sorry if I wasn't able to post a blog as promised last week. As I explained to Star, last week was pretty busy. We have preparations for our dept's 2nd year anniversary. Then came the deadlines. I am a full time reviewer for Adventure Lantern, an online magazine at the same time I was just accepted in xbox360achievements.org's review team. I did took a 3 day extended leave to catch up with my life and it did paid off.

So let's get back to business. :)

Last time I wrote about the troubles of being a faq/guide/walkthrough writer. With that said, I can only think of writing some of the good stuff I got for being a writer.

Daily fan mail

Not really those kind of fan mails but mostly questions and suggestions. I do get occasional Thank You letters from readers and I really appreciate those. Fortunately, nobody has ever sent a hate letter or something. I just hope I'll never receive those but we'll never know right?

I try to answer reader emails within a day or a week, depending on my workload at that time.


Recognition

Though I am not an online celebrity or something, it really helps a lot for people to know me since my works are posted on major gaming sites. Helping people out is what drives me to spend days of my life writing guides to help out players. And one of the things that gets me going is the recognition for all the hard work.

Just google me and you can find my name all over the place, lol.

Freebies!

Depending on the quality of the guides written, gaming sites sometimes reward writers with freebies such as gift cheques and games. IGN was the first gaming site that picked me for the Faq Writer of the Month for March award. That rewarded me with my very first *coughs* original PS2 game, Rogue Galaxy.

Mr. S from IGN Faqs team then invited me to write exclusive walkthroughs for them. First is Dawn of Mana. The game is not that good, IMO and since it was my first guide I wrote it on PDF. I don't have Gamebridge to take screenshots at that time so I used my crappy camera phone. Then came Persona 3 and Ace Combat 6.

Gamehelp.com also chose two of my faqs for their Highest Bounty award or something. Unfortunately, they can't send my prize overseas...


More Friends

When I started here in 1up early 2006 if I am not mistaken, I was also a budding writer at that time. Of course, you guys don't know my "sideline" at that time, lol. But one of things I enjoy is being able to know more people. Sometimes I make acquaintances with my readers and fellow writers.

So pretty much that's it. I don't know if I have time to write a fresh blog next week so I will just put it all on this page for the meantime.


New games!

Here are the new games I got from my last paycheck:


I am almost finished with it. Its like a generic FPS, put in some Dino Crisis and Starship Troopers elements and you got Turok.



Meh, this is an average game. Good graphics, repetitive gameplay and unexciting gameplay. The story is very confusing and the stages themselves will challenge your patience of whether continue playing the game or trade it for another title.


One of my favorites. I have played Burnout from the PS2 and the PSP and still found it amusing to watch metal shreds flying around. Paradise is the best of the series so far. ROAD RAGE!


Awesome game. I love those sick combos and Nero as the new hero is just fine. Too bad my copy freezes on Mission 6. My killing spree will have to wait until I get a replacement.