GIMO

Introduction

I’ve lost count of the amount of websites I have started, but this one is for real. Honest. Of all the websites I have designed, the gaming ones are the only ones I’ve had the passion required to make it a long-running website and now, thanks to my university studies, my developed abilities with a computer and my growing love for Photoshop, I have the determination to keep this up and running.

The important part of this site is not the pictures, or the stunning layout, but the writing. This site was set up so that I could collect and showcase my journalistic style for future employers. So, without further rambling about myself (though you can click on About Me for more details), welcome to GIMO – Gaming, In My Opinion.

[Important Note: This site is based entirely on Opinion. The clue is in the title. You don’t like my views? Deal with it. Or contact me and let me know.]

- James “BatchGC” Batchelor

The Footballer's Roar

Wednesday 30th May, 2007 - 2:58pm

I hate football. Can't stand it. All of the matches involve nothing more than twenty-two men being paid horrendous amounts of money to kick a ball around a field, all the while avoiding the man in black who has one of those unfortunate jobs where, no matter what you do, no matter what decisions you make, someone (or, more often than not, most people) will begin to hate you.

I don't understand the rules of the game (aside from the obvious 'each team boots the ball to the other team's goal' premise), but one thing aids the translation - the footballer's roar. The various 'oohs', 'ahhs' and 'yeeeeeeahs' tend to indicate what is going well and what isn't. I, of course, have never roared at a football game - truth be told, i don't think i've ever watched one all the way through.

This morning, I was looking after my young cousin and he brought with him a copy of Mario Strikers Charged.

My experience of online games boils down to ten hours on WoW, a handful of Mario Kart DS races and two Defcon matches, none of which really excited me. Yes, it's cool playing against real people, but it felt no different to playing a normal multiplayer game - albeit without the restrictions of split-screen.

So, after a few matches, my cousin and I took on a few online people. When I played against my cousin, I was able to rack up ridiculous scores like 21-0 and 18-3 - then again, he's only six! When we took the computer on as a team, the game became a little more balanced with scores like 1-All and 2-0 (to the CPU :S ). So we knew that victory wasn't exactly guaranteed, we thought we'd go for it.

As we battled the likes of M@RCEL, Jordan and JW, we were well and truly trounced. We didn't score a single goal until our final match against JW, but when we did, something unexpected happened.

I leapt off the couch and roared. The Footballer's Roar.

As the match continued, we scored again, and again, each time prompting another roar and even some brief victory dances.

Now, the Nintendo fanboy in me reckons it's Nintendo's approach to games, but I don't think that's the case. It's online. With all three consoles now featuring online functionality, with the press speculating which franchises and games will be online when released, there seems to be an emphasis about online play, and now I understand why.

The triumph of knowing that each goal is a step towards beating a complete stranger, the mental image of some Frenchman falling to his crouch in momentary despair. Only online play has managed to provoke the Footballer's Roar from me, and if it can do that, if it get make me enjoy football, there's no telling what the internet can do.

The eXploration Factor

Sunday 19th May, 2007 - 12:43pm

I read Jim Rossingnol's blog today and added my thoughts on exploration in games. It's a subject quite important to me, as I love nothing more than delving deeply into a game's world and discovering all manner of treats and goodies.

I think the Golden Rule is that exploration has to be rewarded with discovery. As most people here have said, the joy of Oblivion is stumbling across a temple or shack. The latest Legend Of Zelda title was also a prime example; wandering the shores of Lake Hylia saw players discovering a cave that seemed without end, and their perseverence was rewarded with a pocket-bursting volume of rupees and the traditional Heart Piece.

Rewards such as this encourage gamers to explore, to experiment with their characters abilities, and can prove to be more immersive than a cinematic main storyline; I feel more like Solid Snake when I'm searching for an air vent than when watching a few hours of overly philosophical cutscenes.

In my opinion, the Thief series (mainly I and II) had a fantastic approach to exploration. Searching every nook and cranny of the levels was the only way to find the best loot and even offered the optimum solution to the game's levels, bypassing the guards and delivering you straight to the objective. The bank level in the second game was a masterpiece, with at least five points of entry including a basement window, several doors and even the roof!

As for travelling through games, it depends on the mode of travel. I find swinging through the city in Spider-man 2 so enjoyable that I can often lose hours to the game and achieve nothing, other than the personal satisfaction of not smacking into walls. Grand Theft Auto titles, on the other hand, don't thrill me as driving has long since been established as a gaming convention - it's merely a way of getting from A to B.

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The Footballer's Roar

The eXploration Factor

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