#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

There’s something about the phrase “Character creation” in a game’s description that makes our eyes go wild with joy and possibility. I mean, who doesn’t love putting a virtual version of themselves into a game and slaying a dragon or buying a huge house and throwing crazy parties in it?

The evolution of character creation was slow. Of course it started out in those pen and paper games we all love, and when PC gaming and console gaming came around, well there was just nothing stopping us. And it’s not just games where you fight hordes of monsters or save princesses.

I bought Fight Night Champions the other day. Why? Cause I like boxing and I like beating people up, that’s why. Don’t judge me. But I bought it and I was looking through the game modes and found out that you could create a little boxer dude and have him go through a career in boxing, fighting made up boxers and real ones. How could I resist?

So I made digital John Sollitto, seen here:

And off I went. Really the big thing about making a character for me is that level of immersion. It’s letting you do all those things you’ve always wanted to do but never could, to fully escape reality. It’s why people read books, or watch movies, except you’re inside of it and your decisions influence the outcome. It’s your tale.

Sports games do this all the time now and thankfully so because I am crap at some of the games in real life but by god can I catch ANYTHING in Madden or score six hat-tricks in a string of hockey games.

Of course you get people who are like, “Why don’t you go out and ACTUALLY play soccer?” Why don’t I do that? Because I’m terrible at it and I want to play in the FIFA World Cup one day and if I spend $60 I can go there in a second and be amazing and win, as opposed to training my whole life and maybe getting there.

Is it so wrong to live out a dream in digital form? Can’t we just escape reality and turn our volume up on max and watch ourselves score goal after goal in glorious succession to the roar of the crowd? Or what about seeing ourselves climb to the top of a mountain and defeat a dragon?

I literally jumped up and down in my house when I defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Fight Night. The dude is a MONSTER. He had like 7 inches and 20 pounds on me and I KO’d him with a straight crack to the face! IT WAS AWESOME. I mean look at him! He’s crazy looking! He’s like the non-blonde Ivan Drago.

What I’m trying to say is that video games offer us just as much of an escape as other forms of art and literature. Games are glorious and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without the little digital Johns running around in the video game universe saving worlds and winning title matches. They’re fun, what else is there to say?

I think the industry has finally realized that immersing the player in the game creates a level of investment that you honestly can’t replicate. It’s ingenious, it’s incredible, and I applaud game devs.

However, the more this happens the better the immersion has to be because if people feel cheated with a character they’ve created and feel that their level of freedom is cut off, then creating a character can backfire. We’re seeing that now with the Mass Effect debacle.

My favorite is when they tell you that the player has “INFINITE LEVELS OF CUSTOMIZATION” and what they really mean is “You can change the character’s clothes and weapons! And choose their skills! But you have to be the same character because that’s our story.” There’s nothing wrong with this, but there is misleading market speech when you say “character customization.” That phrase comes with so much expectation now that there should be more specificity to diffuse potentially disgruntled customers.

I’m so excited to see what the future of the industry brings, especially with so many cameras and facial technology coming to the front. We’re about to see a lot of our own faces in games, and not just the best recreations we can do. THE FUTURE IS NOW!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist (I can haz blisters!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

I GOT BLISTERS ON ME FINGERS!!!! Sorry, I’ve been saying that all week and if my coworkers have to deal with it then you all do too. You know why I’ve been saying it all week? ROCKSMITH EXPERIMENT! That’s why, baby.

Okay, so if I tell you EVERYTHING that happened so far then there’s no point in all of you watching the videos when they come out, so I’ll give you an update as to what we’re doing and what’s been going on so you can feel like you’re there without actually being there. S’alright? S’alright.

So, day one? Pretty good, we all showed up, got our duel TVs set up and we all began workin’ away like busy bees.  Our experiment group, the guys who are doing both tabs and the game came and we talked them through their portion of the experiment and what they would be doing. We’re checking on them periodically to make sure they’re workin’ cause we want good data.

                  Everybody picked a song and here’s the list:

                  John: Tighten Up (The Black Keys)

                  Michael: Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)

                  Jesus: Breed (Nirvana)

                  Heath: Sunshine of Your Love (Eric Clapton)

                  Russell: Plug In Baby (Muse)

                  What’s that? You don’t like reading lists? Oh, okay, here’s a little picture to go with it:

The reason Parker isn’t participating is because we found out that he actually knew how to play so we couldn’t have him mess up the data for us learners. Oh, P.S. we found that out about Anders too so he got booted from the group. Buncha liars. Okay, so they didn’t lie about knowing how to play, I guess I just wasn’t paying attention. Which happens…a lot. That’s probably not good since I’m Editor-in-Chief but it’s because I think about editor-y things all day. Yeah, I just made up a phrase. Deal with it.

                  Here are some wonderful pictures of us all attempting to be musicians:

Mike looks so pensive.

Jesus is not amused by us taking pictures of him while he rocks. And I think those are my feet in the back. ^

And me wearing my oh-so-appropriate Hard Rock Café Hong Kong shirt. ^

I’m sure this all looks so scientific right? Well, actually we’ve been really testing out the game and putting it through its paces and I’m very honestly impressed by it. Are there issues? Yes. It can be very finicky when it comes to getting certain chords exactly right, and that can grate on your nerves if you’re a beginner and don’t know how to play. It’s really about finger strength and dexterity which, surprisingly after years and years of videogames, we don’t quite have.

However, I’m really enjoying learning guitar this way. I actually switched the type of music I was learning mid-way. Let me explain this. At first learning I was learning the rhythm guitar part of Tighten Up and was finding it very difficult due to all of the chords. I found that the lead guitar part was an option in the game and checked that out. I did just as good at that as I had been doing after three days of playing rhythm so I put in the appropriate amount of time for lead and have switched so that the data isn’t skewed.

The fact that the game offers such a variety of learning methods, parts of songs, and types of songs is so awesome because you can go from bands like Megadeath and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to The Rolling Stones and T-Rex and learn the type of music you like at your own pace.

This is an honest and completely unbiased opinion right here: If you are thinking about learning guitar and you want an introduction to the instrument and would like to learn at your own pace with a program that acts as an amp, tuner, and partial tutor, seriously consider this game. I paid about $200 in total for my guitar and the game and honestly, I was a great decision. The game now costs about $80 and you can snag a good learner’s guitar at Guitar Center or wherever you wanna buy it for about $100. It has to be electric though so it can plug into your system, keep that in mind. And you have to have an X-Box 360 or PS3, so there’s that too. Other than that, it’s up to you to decide if you want this.

I can’t wait for you all to see the vids and all the pics of us when this is done. I’m really proud of our team and of the work we’re doing here. If you want to keep updated, follow me on Twitter or check our Facebook page (facebook.com/GameCreatorsVault) for our posts. Rock on with your bad selves!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist (I Don't Finish)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

Hello there nerds and nerdettes. Notice how my segment is called “Confessions of a Videogame Journalist.” You see that? Up there? Yeah, I’ve realized I don’t do a lot of confessing so much as I do these weird kind of life-lesson articles.
   
Granted, I haven’t heard anyone complain yet (this is not an invitation to complain, I’m lookin’ at you trolls), but I feel as though this section should live up to its name every now and then. I would also like to point out that I’m still  young and that I don’t know all there is to know, but I appreciate the positive comments (as well as the constructive ones I have received) from those of you who read my stuff.
   
HOWEVER. I shall now confess something. You ready? *deep breath* My name is John Sollitto…and I do not finish all of the games that I buy. I know right? It’s SHAMEFUL. So shameful. This is me shamed. Relish in it because me shamed is not a common thing, as some of you who follow me on Twitter will TOTALLY know.
   
For a more professional look at this phenomenon that is happening all over the world simultaneously to other nerds, hop on over to Misti Dawn’s site and read the article she’s got there. I don’t think I’m going to be professional about this so that’s why I give the link.
   
Now I have a lot of games, and many of the major franchises I have completed. Things like Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed and whatnot are the ones that I make sure to from start to end, stem to stern. But I have MAAAAAAAJOR A.D.D. when it comes to new games that look good. When a new game comes out that I want, I get like this:

For the sake of example I’m going to use a game called The Witcher as a stand in for games I don’t finish. When I got The Witcher I had the full intent of seeing the game through to completion. I spent hours on it searching every nook and cranny for all those little side mission to fill my addiction of gaming. Unfortunately, that Christmas blessed me with Call of Duty: Black Ops and my time was therefore monopolized by playing a steely-eyed Alaskan marine voiced by Sam Worthington (whom I have a man-crush on). Plus I got stuck on this one part in a swamp and I got lost and I was getting tired of fighting giant rats and the Call of Duty seemed like a nice break from all of that. You know how it is.

The Witcher has remained untouched in my computer since then. That’s almost a year, give or take some days. This is embarrassing because I spent money to buy this game and to be honest it feels a little wasteful to me.

On a possibly more relatable note for those of you who don’t play games, I’ll use a LITERARY example to help flesh out this idea that I’m going to come full circle with. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo. That book is my weakness. And yet, I have never finished it. I’ve gotten like three quarters of the way through and then school hit me hard with The Grapes of Wrath and other standbys for higher education. And then it was too late to pick up where I left on and I’d have to start over and then new books came out that I wanted to read and yadda yadda yadda.

The Witcher is to videogames as The Count of Monte Cristo is to books. Get it? Why am I asking you? I can’t see or hear your response. Look the point is I kind of figured out why I don’t finish things like this book or game. It’s because I know they’ll always be there. They’re things I know that won’t go away, and honestly I won’t get much benefit from them if I do finish them other than the satisfaction of having finished the game or book.

Now, many of you are saying “GOOD GOD, MAN! How can not finishing a book or game be rewarding?” What I’m saying is that when games with sequels that come out frequently, or reading a book that you know is the continuation of a long standing saga, you get the sense that there’s more to come and you want to finish it faster so you don’t fall behind. With The Count of Monte Cristo there is no sequel, no follow up. I would say the same goes for The Witcher but the second game just came out and it’s definitely putting pressure on me to finish it.

When there is a sense of progression or higher accomplishment with something, we tend to put that higher on our priority list than normal. I mean c’mon. Can you honestly say that you haven’t put the thing you know will IMMEDIATELY get you satisfaction over the thing that will slowly get you satisfaction at a later much farther away date? We do it all the time when we say we’re going to “start that diet” or “work out more.”

It’s a motivation thing that we can’t seem to shake. A few months back, after realizing this about myself, I set some goals for. What were things that I’ve always wanted to do and wanted to accomplish, and how would I go about doing them? There were a few things on there and I’d like to share them with you:

• Learn card tricks
• Workout consistently
• Learn more Italian
• Learn to play guitar

Now, I can tell you right away that I’m well on my way to doing three out of four of the things on this list. But for the sake of the story I’m going to set it up a little for you.

The first thing on the list was card tricks so basically I searched YouTube high and low for card trick tutorials and things of that nature. God bless the YouTubes for they SOOOOOO work. As of today I can do at least two card tricks effectively and some dealing flourishes. To me, card tricks seemed like the easiest of the things to start with because I had cards available to me and internet access and a crap-load of free time during the summer.

This was an exercise to see if I could ACTUALLY finish something I started, and I proved it right. The next one didn’t work out so well. I started exercising frequently. Then not so frequently. Then not at all. Then frequently again. And so on and so forth. Eventually I realized that I needed some kind of planned-out regimen to keep myself on track because as much as I hated to admit it, I had no freaking idea what kind of workout I wanted.

If you follow me on Twitter you can see that I’ve started doing the Insanity workout stuff and I’m really quite pleased with it. When you read this I’ll be on day 3 of it and huffing and puffing and feeling so out of shape I’ll want to cry, but in the BEST way possible. The reason is that I’m getting to it. I’m happy I’m doing something I’ve set my mind to.

I don’t think I’ll be learning Italian any time soon because there really isn’t a NEED for me to do that other. And as for learning a guitar, I’ve cleverly found a way to make learning guitar with a videogame part of my job for the Vault. So I’m being kind of a sneaky bastard with that one. I’ll talk about that another day.

The reason for my confession is to admit that I had a problem finishing things and that I had a motivation issue. I still do, but maybe not as bad as I used to. Now learning skill sets and playing videogames aren’t as important as doing something like going to work, studying, or working on a relationship, but they’re small steps to a greater plan. My question for you is: What do you have trouble finishing, or what do you have trouble STARTING? And why do you think you have that problem?

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist (Love where you work)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

Occasionally, and by occasionally I mean like once every full moon of the third month, I get asked about my time at G4. When that happens I get one of those fuzzy-framed-nostalgia-filled flashbacks. Working at G4 as one of the Legendary Unpaid X-Play Interns was both magical and eye-opening. A lot of what I learned there has translated to my work at the Game Creators Vault.

Let me begin with my initial interview. I got all purtied up, wore a nice shirt, combed my hair, the basics when you go for a job interview. The guy who interviewed me was WAY cool, really laid back and he made me feel really at ease. We talked a little about my writing for IGN and for City of Heroes, what I wanted to get into, and what kind of games I played.

Time passes and I get a call that saying I got the position and basically started right away. My first day? Play a bunch of videogames and record my time playing them, then go help Michael Leffler (the comedy producer of G4 also known as Drunk Link of any of the other hilarious characters on the show) film one of the Golden Mullet sketches. Seriously, first day I was playing videogames and doing a G4 sketch. It was a dream come true.The offices of G4 are pretty amazing too. I mean it’s a bunch of cubicles, but still each one has some crazy videogame paraphernalia or comics all over the place, games systems everywhere, G4 TV programming playing at people’s desks, costumes strewn about. It was glorious madness. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so at home in a place than I did at G4.

Funny thing about G4, they share a floor with the Style Network since they’re both owned by NBC Universal. So occasionally you’d get someone leading clients or talent through the halls and you’d hear “And this is G4, you can tell by all the toys and dolls on their cubes,” to which my friends would emphatically mutter under their breath “They’re action figures!!!!”

So amidst shenanigans of all sorts and fun times playing videogames I actually got to see how their programming was set up and how their shows got put together. They get their games like a month in advance so they can film all the appropriate footage for the review ahead of time, then the footage is logged down in the editing bays. That footage is paired up with the voice over of one of the hosts and the text they say is written up by one of the reviewers. There’s at least five or six reviewers doing stuff for X-Play so they can do multiple games at a time and work on different packages for the show so there’s always programming.

For the Vault, since we can’t get games ahead of time, we try to buy them the day they come out and then cap the footage at my place or Anders’s place. Then we try and shoot a multitude of videos on a weekend where Michael (or from this point on Megatron, since I call him that) will take them to his place and edit them. It takes one to two weeks for Megatron to edit a video cause we’re all students and I understand that he’s got stuff on his mind. Plus Megatron is the man and people ask him to help them with projects all the time so I let him slide cause he’s boss.

Now, the ONLY thing I did NOT like doing at G4 transcribing interviews. Seriously, that was the only thing I didn’t enjoy about my job and I did it maybe twice. I just don’t like it because I want to know what they’re saying and not have to take notes on it. Kind of like watching an educational movie in school, you just want to watch it not do the worksheet.

I got to go into the editing bays and see how the packages were put together, how the scripts were written, I got to even write some mock scripts of my own. Heck, they let me write an article myself that got published on the website in the Feed section! It was AWESOME. I didn’t just make friends in X-Play, I made friends with the Attack of the Show team as well as the website crew.

The thing I took away from G4 was to enjoy your environment. I mean seriously, I can’t explain how STOKED I was to go to work EVERYDAY. I didn’t want to go back to my apartment. They had to tell me to go home because I wouldn’t leave. I played videogames for work, I hung out and talked about comics at lunch, and I got to wear a raccoon costume and get beat up by Morgan Webb. (click here to watch the video)

Honestly, if you love the environment you’re in, you’ll get work done. It won’t feel like work at all. Time just seemed to pass without me even realizing it. I’ve tried really hard to make the guys at the Vault feel that way. I want them to love working on the site and with me. I want them to enjoy it as much as I do. Whoever you work with or whatever you do, make sure you do it in a place that you enjoy being in and are doing something you love there. Just make sure it’s not the toilet cause that’s kind of weird.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist (Knowing is half the battle)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

When I played The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, I knew I wanted to be involved in gaming. Now, I can’t draw for the life of me, programming is a little too difficult for me to buckle down and learn, but I liked to think I was a good hand at coming up with stories. So I decided I would write video games. I wrote some 12 or 13 games in my youth, none of which I hope to God see the light of day.

Time passes, sunrise sunset, and I’m going to an industry career day at Westwood College. The entire decision was based off of an article my dad saw in the paper that day and my mom suggested I go since I wasn’t doing anything that day. “Sure, why not? It might be fun,” I said. When I get there I sort of wander around the college peeking into the rooms before I find out that there’s some speeches happening in another part of the campus. So I go to see a speech by a man from Obsidian Entertainment, Jim Rivers. He shoots straight with all of us, tells us what would get us hired and what would make us blend into the background. And on that day, John Sollitto the gaming journalist was finally born.

Unfortunately for me I didn’t know he had been born that day. I continued to think that I had to work on my writing to someday be a project lead or a level designer so I kept at it. Time goes on and my parents buy the sign shop where I work today part time. In a strange series of cosmic events, the woman who owned it before us somehow bowled with a few of the people who worked at Obsidian Entertainment. She suggested I contact them and a few emails later I meet Jim Rivers again, this time he’s giving me a private tour of the facility and one-on-one advice.

Jim invites me to his industry mixer he hosts every Wednesday and I agree to meet him there. It took me some time to make friends and blend in there but eventually I got to be a regular fixture there. IF you’ve been reading my previous articles you know that this mixer is where I met Mark and subsequently got hired to the Vault where I work today. Jim however, was the first person to see my potential as a journalist. He told me that while I might have had some skill doing stories, I seemed more at home making connections and learning from the guys there. To be honest, I had to agree with him. One G4 internship later and a freelance deal with PC Gamer and I was set down the noble press path.

But this isn’t an origin story so I’ll spare you the details of how I donned the fabled G4 Raccoon suit and got beat to a pulp on camera for a TV sketch, effectively making me an official member of the video gaming fraternity of journalists.

The more I learned from those guys at the mixer about their jobs and what exactly they did, the more I started to look at how games were reviewed and the more I started to question it all. How did this game get this score and how did that game get that? Was a bug really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things? Didn’t these reviewers know how much work these people did? Why were they just focusing on the negative? I downloaded the Unreal Development Kit free game making software to see if I could really understand the plight of developers boooooy did I learn.

Did you know that making a game is some real hard work? No, seriously, I cannot begin to explain the complexity behind making a WALL explode into a dozen pieces, let alone the program that makes PHYSICS happen. And that’s just the Unreal Development Kit! Other companies use their own programs and whatnot which means that if you’re going to work at multiple companies you need to learn how to use ALL of them. Then there’s animation, concept art, programming, voice acting, motion capture, the list goes on.

The only part of the production process I’ve ever participated in directly is quality assurance focus testing. Basically I just played a game for six hours and made notes about bugs and things I didn’t like. That is one of the LAST stages in production and that takes SO long. But knowing as much as I did about how all of it worked, I was able to accurately describe what was wrong or really look at the details that would be necessary.

Now my point is this: a lot of people who write about the industry and review games just say that playing games is enough. To which I respond: hell to the no. Let me put it in perspective. If someone was a food critic, and all they did was eat food, never cooked it, never learned how to cook, but just ate food, would they know WHY the food tasted good? Would they be able to identify what was in it to know how to recognize it again in another dish? To know what went will with this and not with that? No, they would just know taste.

Granted if you play a lot of videogames you can see what sells and what many people find fun. However, a big thing that people do is complain about bugs and mechanics. A lot of fans say, “Hey, why didn’t they do this. This has been done before.” If you don’t have knowledge of how games are made then you can’t appreciate the work that they do or gauge how hard it would be to put in the things that gamers ask for. Plus the common misconception players have is that developers are a bunch of guys and gals jerkin’ around all day and screwing up games. The reality? Some dude hunkered over a desk for five hours trying to figure out why this one character can’t walk up the freaking stairs correctly in the fourth dungeon in the last level of the game while simultaneously answering an email about the running mechanics in the cutscene three levels ahead of that. It’s a long and arduous process. It’s hard to do. And often times, it’s a job that many people don’t want to do.

So when reviewing games, I have to take all of this into account. Common bugs like graphical glitches or texture problems, those things can be missed and if the bug doesn’t affect gameplay, then I don’t really knock the game down too much. But if there’s a problem that hasn’t been fixed for four games in the franchise that is still there? Then I have to say that will knock the game down a point.

The big picture to this article though is this: you have to know what you’re reporting on and know it well before you can go talking about it and passing judgment. I don’t know everything about games and I don’t think I ever will, but I like to think that my knowledge helps to make me a more effective and capable journalist. Plus learning more about the subject you’re writing about gives you new insight and may just spark your passion for more articles. Yes it’s a lot of work, and yes it will take time. However in the long run, you will gain more credibility and help you look beyond what you see. And now you know. And knowing is half the battle. GO JOE!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!