6/10 - This review is like Skyrim with Guns!

IGN, GameSpot, Joystiq, Metacritic, Kotaku, GameInformer, Youtube, other blogs, hell even this blog (well not yet, but there are plenty of started ones that I just did not like what I was doing with it and canned it.)

We all do it, they are out there, you can Google search hundreds of them. Game Reviews. They are everywhere. People of the Internet (Yes, I imagine it as a place of it's own, if you have delved into any depths of the internet or Youtube "You might like this video" and followed that rabbit hole of doom and despair, you would agree.) In the gaming community give them a lot of flack and mostly for pretty legitimate reasons. I have a love/hate relationship with reviews and will talk about why they are both good and bad, in my opinion, for the game industry.

"Oh man, did you play the new Assassins Creed game? It was so good!"
"No way, it's terrible! I have never liked that series"

These kinds of conversations happen all the time when games are involved. I am guilty of them myself!When the game South Park: The Stick of Truth came out I had no interest in what-so-ever. I have never really cared for South Park and when the game came out I had no interest in it, thought it was going to be lame and never gave it a second thought. Until I caught a stream on Twitch and really enjoyed watching the game. I can't wait to get it and play, it looks like it will be a blast.

But what does that have to do with reviews? Well what exactly are reviews? Someone sits down, plays through a game as quick as they can to fire out a written report on how they felt the game was, what they liked or didn't like. There are a couple of keys here.

• First off they have deadlines in which the review has to be turned in, edited and posted. This doesn't give them a lot of time to really dive into the games and search through all the nooks and crannies. This isn't inherently bad, or wrong, it's more of an injustice. The reviewer isn't really to blame for this, reviews need to be done and they have to be done before the reviews goes live, in print this could be even quicker. Some games might take a very long time to get into and even more to complete with any sort of majority completion of additional side game areas. This means the reviewer is going to fly through the game as quick as possible to try and get through the game.

• The next thing is that Reviews are often opinion based. This is pretty widely known, but reading the comments section of a review you would never guess that. I am not a fan of fighting games. I find them tedious, boring and repetitive. I am terrible at them, I know this though and I know I would not fairly be able to review a street fighter game. My opinion is not high for those types of games so I would have a bad taste in my mouth already and would not do so well. Everyone has a specific type or types of games they like and possibly don't like. Reviewing a game you may not like might cause some unfair nit picking. Now of course, that is also speculation, I do not know how every company sets the rolls for the reviews.

• Last of the nay-saying and thankfully this seems to be getting phased out, but the number scale needs to go away. Giving a game a score of 9/10 or 3/5, two stars and so on is not efficient and doesn't really say anything about the game. There are quite a few places that do a number score and break down pros/cons. I like how IGN and GameInformer break down a wrap up on a review.

As an example IGN and GameInformer both reviewed Dark Souls II. One gave the game a 9, the other a 9.75. While that is a discrepancy it is of course not much of one, but it still reflects that people will judge and rate games differently. But what I like about both is IGN gives some + and - at the end and highlights the review and GameInformer will breakdown categories such as Graphics, Sound, Playability which adds a good wrap up in my opinion.

• As an example, a review I would write for a game I recently played Titanfall  would be something like this
• Pros: Running and movement feels very fluid and controlled. The feeling of being able to wall run jump to another wall to clear a titan and land on the back of an enemy titan is very comfortable and simple to do. 
• During the time playing there was not any weapon I felt that was overly overpowered. I felt powerful within a titan, but still vulnerable enough to make sure I kept an eye on my surroundings.
• Cons: No single player, "story" kind of weak. Respawn had said there would be no single player and while they mostly kept true to that word they felt the need to include a story mode which is nothing but the multiplayer game with narration. It was really kind of a waste and could have been left out.
• Overall: I really enjoyed Titanfall. I felt it is enough of a different FPS to not feel like a CoD wash away but is still a shooter to the core. Movement is super good throughout the game and fighting in a Titan is very exhilarating. 

Obviously this is small, this is only to show as an example as to how, in my opinion, a review can be done left purely as an opinion piece leaving out the "score"

Now I know you are asking. "But Leo, if reviews are so bad, why bother?" Great question! Take reviews with a grain of salt. I will happily read a review to see how the reviewer enjoyed or didn't enjoy the game. I will see what they did, how they played, especially games I do not know much of, or want to get. I like to see what they say about the game but if I am going to get the game I am going to get it regardless of what a reviewer writes because my game tastes might be completely different then theirs so while they may hate a game, I might love it and conversely I might hate a game that someone might love.

All I am saying is that reviews can be great for research, but take what you read in a small dose. Someone might only play Shooters, yet review a RPG and hate it or might love a game that you end up disliking. Reviews can be great for helping you learn more about a game itself. Remember that a person is behind the scene playing through and writing it out. We all have different tastes and likes, games are not a one size fits all. Get out there, play some good and bad games and write up something about the game. Why did you like it, why did you dislike it? Great reviews dive into they why's and the how's.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more!

-Ender410

THE Charity Event for Gamers, "Why I Extra-Life"

It was about 3 years ago, maybe end of August or beginning of September, I was reading through the a game magazine when I saw something about the Extra-Life charity event. It caught my interest because the add was short and sweet and said, "Play Games, Save a Life." I checked out the site, read up on it, and was hooked. Now, following the Extra-Life Facebook they had a post about "Why you Extra Life" which got me thinking. That post, and coming up on my third year of participation, made me want to reflect a little bit about "Why I Extra Life."

It really began some years even before that. I used to work for a game store company (no longer around) that was a pretty big supporter of the Make-a-Wish foundation. One year while I was the assistant store manager my boss came to me and said that they were taking a trip to a local hospital, which happened to be within the Children's Miracle Network(CMNH) set of hospitals, with some Make-a-Wish foundation people to look at a bunch of consoles the company I worked for had donated and to tour the hospital. I had the opportunity to tag along to the hospital visit to see the console setups, talk with some of the kids and just see the organization. I was pretty young, so hospitals kinda freaked me out, so I was nervous, but I thought it would be cool so I went.

The console's were in this box on wheels that could be moved around from room to room which was really cool. But I was really touched by the enjoyment the kids got out of being able to play games during their stay. I talked to a few of them and it was overwhelming for me to see the reaction to something that can be so easily taken for granted as a video game. Some of the kids were in the hospital for months, or were going to be for an extended stay, but they were still cheerful and talkative, challenged me to a game or two and had a pretty damn positive reaction to everything. I was really touched by this trip and seeing the kids and what these organizations do for the kids and parents made me realize how much support these organizations give for them. If you don't know much about the Make-A-Wish or Children's Miracle Network Hospitals take a moment to Google them, or click the names to read a bit more about them. I know I did when I got home and since then I have been a huge supporter of the Make-a-Wish foundation and the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals since.

When I had my daughter I could not even imagine what it would be like to have to go through, or to have her go through any of that. I won't lie, it is a thought that has had me watch her sleeping from her doorway, or kept me up at night worrying when she was sick, but I knew that those organizations are there to help people. So when I saw the cause for the Extra-Life charity event was in support of the CMNH I knew there was no way I could not participate.

So, "Why do I Extra-Life?" I have been lucky to not have a need for any of the services or anything like that the CMNH provide, but I know that without their support, those kids and parents would be a lot worse off. Being able to help, support the network just a little bit and know that I was able to contribute to something MUCH greater than myself in a way that I feel is unique to me is why I participate every year. Some people go out and give a bunch of money, some people go run marathons, it doesn't matter how they are doing it to support a cause they believe it, the fact is they do, and for me I am able to do this through a medium I love (and feel like I am pretty good at haha!)

This year is no different! I am, for the third year now, participating in the Extra-Life charity but this time it is for 25 hours of gaming!

So head click here to go to my profile page. Take a look and if you can donate. If not, share this with someone else to look at so they can share, participate, educate, anything. This year I more wanted to spread the word then anything else and if just one person reads up about this event, or even looks at the site I will have set out what I wanted to do.

Let's Get Dangerous....no wait, serious, I meant Serious!

So I have been back and forth on wanting to do so many things. The problem I have, have always had, still seem to have but am trying to work on is my ability to WANT to do so much extra stuff, but never actually sit down and do.

I always feel like I am not doing anything and I want to! But I always back away, worry what if it does not look/sound good?! I am deciding to not worry about it so much. I have always been very cautious to showcase myself or my work and I have decided it is time. I feel that I have vastly improved overall thanks to school, working on side stuff with friends and the super crazy intensive final project through school (more to come on that later!)

You might be asking, "what does this all mean?" Well, I plan on getting serious with a lot of things professionally. I want to be more visible on this blog. I want to keep my portfolio updated (http://leomurraysportfolio.weebly.com). To keep me on this I have made reminders on my phone, wrote on my calendar, used a handful of sticky notes and more to keep myself reminded and I plan to stick with it.

For good or for bad, I will once again welcome any and all who take the time to read this to the ramblings from my mind. I will post about games I am playing, have played, plan to play and such. I will post about projects I am working on (if allowed) and keep updates going on what I am doing. I will also just post about things that come to mind, but I don't have any plans as using this as any kind of crazy soapbox.

So keep an eye out. I will be posting in the next couple days about either the Extra-Life Charity event I am doing, the school's final project, or some games, I am not sure yet, but keep a look out!

-Leo

P.S. Bonus points to those who get the Darkwing Duck reference! +1

Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome!
My name is Leo and I am a student at Full Sail University studying Game Design. I decided to start a blog to practice writing, reviewing and just overall thoughts and feelings on whatever else I can think of. I will tr to keep it interesting and see where we go from here!
-Leo