Updates/Freelancing

This past week, I've been counting down the days until the newest "Alone in the Dark" game. The 5th in the series, but the bajillionth game to follow the lame and confusing "trend" of naming a new game in a series the name of the original game. You know, so new people don't feel left out! So you end up with multiple games called "Sonic the Hedgehog" (one was great and I grew up playing it. One sucks and I hated playing it!), multiple games called "Bionic Commando", and multiple games called "Alone in the Dark".

But while I'm stoked to play a new survival adventure game in the acclaimed series that essentially started that genre (even the horrible Uwe Boll movie can't tarnish that), reviews (all two of them) are only average, with some European players (the game is out over there, apparently) really disappointed with it (granted, this is the internet we're talking about). Still, these haven't diminished my desire to play the game... Not at all! But discussions about the length did... There has been made mention that the game lasts 6-10 hours, ish... Not horrible, but maybe not something I want to spend $60 on. I mean, if I did beat it in 6 hours (additional playthroughs for Achievement Points not withstanding), then that's like $10 an hour. So I'm going to wait for more reviews and/or see if there's any sweet deals for the game on it's release date next week. Maybe $10 off or something could entice me... Again.

See, ideally Atari would send ME a copy of the game for review, and I could be telling YOU whether or not it's worth the money. But alas, the folks at Atari (and several other companies) are still trying to figure out whether I'm actually a member of the press, and not just some kid wanting free games for the sake of free game.

Nintendo, on the other hand, has been super helpful so far, and the folks at Capcom are already saying, "Hey, uhhh... You want a download code for Commando 3 so you can review it for us?" Granted, I still haven't recieved said download code, but maybe they just don't want anymore less-than-stellar reviews on the net?

So anyway, since I probably won't be buying Alone in the Dark immediately, I took advantage of a sweet GameFly deal and ordered used copies of Devil May Cry 4, Burnout Paradise, and Clive Barker's Jericho for super cheap! Shhhh! Don't tell my parents I'm still spending money on games regularly! They won't understand that all three of these were cheaper than one new game, and that's totally why I bought them!

Anyways...

- In addition to the stuff I already do for the Daily Toreador, I'm going to try my hand at some freelance video game journalism. This would hopefully mean getting paid to write stuff for magazines and websites, like GameSpot.com if they're interested. Wish me luck, give me prayers, all that stuff. This is gonna have to be in God's hands, 'cuz while I can write, and I certainly know video games I don't know what I'm doing as far as the business end of it all goes.

- "The Awakening" will be shipped out to the Writers of the Future contest probably on Saturday. I'm... Iffy about it. I love the story, but really think it needs more time... Like 12 months, and an additional 60,000+ words, making it a novel and not a short story. But alas, I must force it out of the nest and see if it flies...

- "Time Shop" will also be shipped out on the same day (most likely), to who knows where. I haven't decided on which market I want my next rejection letter from yet. It might come down to posting all the publishers' names on a dart board and throwing knives at them, blindfolded.

- "Tobias" is back in production... Or will be once I stop being a lazy idiot and write the darn thing. Seriously, I have no one to blame but myself here... Myself and work, but that's kinda making excuses, isn't it?

- I'm about halfway through Ted Dekker's "Adam", and will probably finish it tomorrow. So far, it's absolutely INCREDIBLE. Very, very highly recommended.

I think that's all. I'm going to bed.

Waking Up

I have sent off the second draft of "The Awakening" to both a professor a several chosen/voluntary readers. So there's that... Hopefully they'll give me enough good comments and critisism to build on so my next draft is a winner for Writer's of the Future (*hint hint*).

I've already started another short story project, though it's pretty bizzare, and very likely won't be seen by more than, say... Six pairs of eyes. So that may not matter a ton.

The beginning of "Tobias" needs to be revised pretty desperately, but as more and more time goes on I'm more and more sure of how to fix it... And make it really, really awesome. I may write more (if not all) of the second half of the novel before rewriting the first, though.

In other news, GTA IV comes out tomorrow, and the fact that I'm so excited about it probably means that the world has turned upside town. Quick! Somebody flip it back over before Michael Jackson is black again!

Of course, the fact that it's currently tied with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for best game of all time (as OoT surely is) on Metacritic certainly helps things make sense... Sort of. Apparently the story is really, really good? Really? Then I shall play it!

In other other news: Go Stars!

Writing

No column from me today, apparently. I've yet to hear from Britney the answer as to why. Probably/hopefully just a delay that they neglected to tell me about.

So I'll just update you on a few writing related things, I suppose.

I went to a reading by Ron Carlson last night, which was pretty good. I was SUPPOSED to sit in on a class/workshop that he lead this morning, but this just had to be the one morning I somehow slept through the alarm that I was keeping right next to my head.

I had tried to set my body clock to wake me up no later than 9:30.

It woke me at exactly 10:30.

Apparently my body clock missed Daylight Savings Time or something.

While at the reading I finally met Stephen Graham Jones, who teaches here at Tech until the end of this semester. Seems like a super cool guy, and he agreed to meet with me sometime soon to talk. I want to ask him about writing and publishing, as he seems like he'd certainly know what he's talking about. Being nominated for the Bram Stoker award brings a certain amount of pedigree, you see.

Writing this semester has gone pretty well. I've made some serious progress on Tobias, which I should FINALLY be wrapping up in the near future. I also think I may have found a possible home for my short story Time Shop.

I'm also finally wrapping up the short story The Witch of Sheridan Peak, which will be sent who-knows-where.

After that? The Awakening, a new short story I'm about to start writing that will hopefully blow a mind or two. I intend for it to be my submission to Writer's of the Future. I think the writing of it could go fairly quickly.

In other news, to those who haven't been watching Lost: SHAME ON YOU! Last night's episode was fantastic.