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.

Writing and Gaming

Its been almost 2 years since I started writing my first walkthrough. I always loved writing, from short stories to one unfinished novel that I started 10 years ago, since high school. During that time, I have learned a lot from pathetic mistakes to outright flaws. If you want to know how much trouble writers take to write that faq/guide or walkthrough you are using, then you may want to read below.

Patience, patience and patience.

This is the first golden rule. Don't get in this business if you can't stand completing the game at least twice, tend to skip cutscenes, doesn't care about exploring or doing the same thing over and over again.

There are certain events in the game that will need verification so you'll need to reload your game and check it again. It takes time and the readers will greatly appreciate it if you give the most accurate info you can provide. Also, reading through the conversations and treating them as clues is necessary to know what you'll do next or learn hints for some extra activities.

This virtue also applies when you can't get past a certain part of the game. If you want to overcome it, sometimes you'll need to farm experience, gold or just try it over and over until you get it right.


Sacrifice a bit of having fun to a chunk of writing down

Admitably, writers tend to sacrifice some moments of enjoying the game in exchange of pausing, writing down, taking screenshots and doing the same thing again. Unlike casual players, you'll just play through the game, wait until something happens next then continue. writers don't have that liberty. A missing info will ultimately affect the outcome of the walkthrough.


Playtime reduction

Of course, playing while writing the game is inefficient. So, writers need to cut some playing time, sit down, review their draft then type it. Also, they will still need to design the layouts of their documents and such.

This blog will be continued, next week.


========

For the meantime, I will you guys with a few questions.

1. What is the stuff you own you are most proud of because you bought it using your own money?

2. Given a chance, would you like two GFs/BFs or just prefer to stick to one?

3. Lastly, if you will be a console (any) what would you be and why?

Next blog, next week.

~~Laters guys!

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