I realized after posting the Majora’s Mask review that it has been a very long time since I updated the site. Actually, updating of my site has been spotty since it’s inception, but the most recent gap was too much, two months shy of a year.
At the same time, something remarkable has happened… I’ve reviewed 78 games. That’s extremely close to 100 games. Realizing how many games it’s been, I started to wonder, how can I attract an audience to my writing? That’s when I thought a book would be appropriate. I don’t know what to call the book. I’m still thinking of a title. Also, there isn’t a lot of consistency to what I review, other than “It’s games I like.” The good news is, there are basically three platforms I work with: Valve’s Steam, Microsoft Xbox (360 and later), and Nintendo’s Virtual Console. I can do something with this.
Upon closer inspection, there’s a problem with some reviews: they’re too short. Some reviews are as little as one paragraph. Twenty-three of the reviews are full length (at least five paragraphs), the rest are not as long. I am taking steps to resolve this problem by expanding old reviews. I’ve expanded five one paragraph reviews so far. Adding the five to the twenty three makes 28, about ~36% of existing reviews. Obviously 28% of the total.
Here is the process for updating an old review:
- Compare review on WordPress with my Microsoft Word/Google Drive review. There are discrepancies with my reviews on file and those posted to WordPress. I go into editing mode, no matter the platform.
- Look for a longplay of the game online. A longplay is just a video of someone playing a game start to finish. Perhaps this is controversial, but I really did beat the game first. The video is just reminding me of the game’s contents. World of Longplays is the best source around, but there’s more than one.
- Work on review after previous two steps. Five paragraphs is the minimum.
- After finishing updating the reviews, read at least one competing review to see where my opinions differ.
That’s basically it. Again, I’ve updated five reviews to go into further depth. I am still making new reviews, and plans to review a fighting game are in the works. Book publishing is a hazy and unclear business to me, but I’m still interested in making it happen. A friendly aside is that I keep a list of every game I’ve finished, and it’s up to 150 games even. It’s a friendly reminder that I can still review games that aren’t on the site, and I’ve got… oh, a couple in mind.
Blimps Go 180 