How We Write, and Why It Matters

One of the things that I have wanted to accomplish since the inception of Play With Pixels is to offer an interesting voice that goes beyond the standard news, previews and reviews grind that a lot of video game sites focus on. That model works for a lot of sites and that's fine, but there are more than enough places out there to get that type of content.

What I have not quite figured out is how to do it; our reviews to date have been analogous to a hybrid of the traditional (classic GameSpot) and more cerebral (Kotaku, specifically Stephen Totilo), but what I really want to expand to is exploring big ideas. What really clicked for me recently was attending a talk with the inspiring name of Taking the Long Road: The Penny Arcade Report Discusses Long-Form Journalism by Ben Kuchera at PAX East 2012, where he made 3 stark recommendations:

1. Ditch the reviews
2. Keep a Rolodex of people smarter than you are (especially for an outsider perspective)
3. Realize that writing is hard, takes time, and you will create lots of bad work before good work (usually a minimum of 5 years)

I'm not going to ditch the reviews. I think there are a lot of interesting insights that reviewers can offer to explain and enhance an experience with a game, and Play With Pixels will continue to explore those possibilities until we excel at providing that (in my opinion, the platinum standard remains the outstanding work that the team at Area 5 created with the beloved CO-OP web series).

The Rolodex is tough, but I'm working on it. Between attending PAX and local Toronto events as well as trying out new and exciting games on a variety of platforms, it will take time but Play With Pixels will become a gathering spot for other exciting voices (including those outside of strictly gaming).

Writing can be very, very hard. One of the strongest pieces of advice that Kuchera mentionedin his talk was that he does not solely work on a single story at once; at any given time, there are 10-15 pieces in various stages of completion that he moves between until a particular piece is ready for publication. It is a model that allows each piece to grow organically and the writer's mind to work on what it wants to, when it wants to rather than forcing the issue. It's somewhat uncomfortable doing that on the current SquareSpace platform, but I'll figure out a way to make that more natural or explore a technological change.

So, there you have it! I have already started to put the above into play, our new weekly feature should debut by next Monday and I have a few reviews in various stages of completion that should start coming out in the next few days as well.

Stay tuned!

And We're Back!

Hmm! It's been some time since a proper update, so let me tell you what's going to happen around here.

Play With Pixels is going through some big changes:

1. Back to a Regular Schedule: First and foremost, I want this to be a site that keeps you as the reader engaged. I had a tough time trying to keep up 4-5 posts a week, something more manageable such as a couple of posts per week is the current goal.
2. More Long Form Posts: After attending the last 3 PAX shows (!!!), what has really excited me both at and between those events is the variety of long form journalism being done by places such as The Penny Arcade Report under the stewardship of Ben Kuchera and Giant Bomb since the arrival of Patrick Klepek. I have a ton of ideas in the hopper, and those posts will start going up by next Monday at the latest.
3. Contributors: I have a few friends and colleagues who I would like to bring in to contribute their opinions and thoughts to Play With Pixels, so look forward to that once schedules are aligned.

I have a regular feature planned for Mondays (be sure to check that out starting next week), along with a hot topic type of feature tentatively scheduled for Thursdays and reviews when I can.

Thanks to those that have stuck around and/or dropped by after a long absence to see what's going on. There's a lot of exciting things to come, hope you'll be a part of it!

Games are Great!

 Yes, I'm still alive! Not a lot of time for games in the year and a half since the site went on hiatus, but hopefully I can fix that in the new year.

Lots of new articles ideas in the hopper, see you in 2012!

This Week On PWP: May 10-16, 2010

It's been quite some time since we did a proper one of these! Play With Pixels veered sharply into fighting game territory in the last week, with:

• Super Street Fighter IV: Pound for pound, the best fighting game on the market.
• Super Street Fighter II HD Remix: Proper remake of an all-time classic, worth checking out.

We also had some coverage of the Halo: Reach beta, which has been a lot of fun. Trying to avoid committing to coverage in case it gets delayed, so I'll just ask you to stay tuned for next week!

Review: Super Street Fighter II HD Remix

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo is a hallmark in the annals of fighting game history, and there are still a lot of arcade machines floating around today. It was the technician's choice against the more visceral but less sophisticated Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 at the time, and still holds up as a really solid fighting game.

That said, its graphics are understandably dated and Capcom gave it a must deserved face lift for Super Street Fighter II HD Remix for Xbox Live Arcade. Teaming with Markham, Ontario based Udon Studios which has handled a lot of the Street Fighter comics and art books, the game has been completely redrawn: every fighter, every move and every stage has been re-animated by hand for a clean and crisp high definition look. I actually think it's gone a bit too far in that direction, as there are parts of the game that look a bit stiff. The colouring is flat in some places, and the inking is a bit too thin to properly distinguish the characters from the backgrounds. That said, overall it is an attractive face lift and the new standard for updating 2D classics.

This leads to a choice between the Remix mode with tweaked game balancing and slightly altered hit boxes to match the redrawn art, or you can stick with all of the original settings as it was built. It's a difference that will only be apparent to the hardcore (I couldn't spot the balance tweaks on a regular basis), but it's worth noting for anyone that may be concerned about the changes. The classic strategies will still work: Ryu's quick cross ups, Sagat's corner traps and Ken's air control is all still in full force here.

The network code isn't great, as lag rears its ugly head in fits throughout all of the matches I held online. It certainly doesn't help that I'm a below average player at this game, and the irregular delays threw off my shaky timing which led to being regularly destroyed. A lot of gamers have moved on to newer choices as of this review, so the remaining players are almost all really hardcore and really good; many of them exhibit the timing and combos that have been honed over a decade of destruction.

Super Street Fighter II HD Remix is very good. It probably doesn't offer enough variety or different modes to hold you over the long term when an incredible option like Super Street Fighter IV is available, but it's a remake that was crafted with care that all fighting game enthusiasts should check out.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars