Well, I think I can safely say this is the longest I’ve gone without updated GE. I’ve taken weeks off, but nearly two months?
Yowzer.
At any rate, this is owing to a few reasons. Half the time lost can be owed to the holidays, which tend to be somewhat busy. This is the first time in a few years I haven’t had to worry about papers and exams, but since graduating I’ve become occupied in building something, and in the last month in particular, that activity has grown.
Another reason for the delays has been the video section. Since doing the Catherine discussion a few weeks after the game’s release, I’ve wanted to do more. I’d initially intended to follow with El-Shaddai, which seemed promising at the time, but the game turned out to be so flat I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Discussing any recent games basically means have a degree of foresight- I have to have something that seems like it will be worth discussing since I generally need to record my experience the first time through- unless the game is short enough that I can (and will want to) play the game a second time. Prior to Catherine, we’d attempted to do a Shadows of the Damned video, only to be plagued by technical difficulties while getting used to the new recording device. After having already played the game three times (and grabbing every Achievement, no less) it just didn’t seem worth it anymore and the project got shelved.
That said, a new video actually exists- in pieces, mind you. The other problem with doing game analysis via video format is the level of work involved. The next video we’re working on is actually an adaptation of an older article I wrote. This approach requires relative familiarity with several games in order to cobble together all the footage, as well as the means to access that material somewhat readily. A long game with no chapter select function or ability otherwise to revisit old areas/events/scenes can be difficult to use in analysis, no matter how good or pertinent it is. I think discussing game mechanics and ideas via video can be great, but the amount of work required is more daunting in that regard than it would be for television or movies.
The problem remaining with the videos at the moment is technical- the computer used to edit the Catherine discussion, well… sucks. My wife had to struggle with it as it kept crashing during the process, something which makes doing another one a bit more difficult to approach. We plan to have some new hardware before the end of February though, so hopefully we’ll have something in early March.
Beyond this, the other problem existing is that GamEntropy isn’t my job, or my career choice. While I was going to school, it was easier to maintain updates since it was part of a routine. Now that I’m out of school, that routine is gone and in its place I’m working on building something new, exciting, and scary. I talk about games because I love them as a medium, an energy which I want to direct towards not just playing them, but making them.
I’ve no plans to quit or close GE, but updates have been sketchy lately and I wanted to address that. Still, new video planned, and I’ll try to write a few things in between for the parties interested in reading them.
