Eight days ago I got the chance to travel to London to play a game that I can’t talk about, and next month we’re heading to sunny Birmingham to play kwari, a PC game where the winner gets cash (which we can talk about once we get back) – it’s funny running a fansite because you get to see all kinds of stuff that the big boys wouldn’t necessarily bother with – and sometimes those things are really quite good fun and well worth the trip. And then there’s the treats that the postman can bring, such as a severed finger covered in blood (hi, Jericho), a dusty old map and the occasional bag full of cash wrapped around a dodgy game in a desperate (yet successful) attempt to soften the blow and gain a higher score from our all-seeing but easily swayed eyes.
And then there’s the crap, like incoming links peppered with ‘I don’t trust that site’, ‘What’s with all the grey’ and ‘I’ll wait until IGN post it before believing it’ like all we do is print lies for a laugh. As if. The funny thing here is that our lack of editorial standards and content guidelines mean we can get stuff up on the site sometimes hours before the America-based sites do, and although they’ll accompany their stories with pretty pictures and a comment from the publisher in question, the essence is the same – it’s the same news wherever it comes from, which is why the likes of n4g is so successful – video game news moves far quicker than a 5pm deadline so yeah, our site is a dull grey but at least it loads on a Wii.
Which brings me to Galaxy. I meant to get this on Thursday but the queues outside Sauchiehall St GAME were far too big and the three female Marios were a bit freaky, and then Friday ended up at the pub which effectively wrote off Saturday too. Thankfully a quick trip into town this morning meant a lovely afternoon sat in front of the latest Miyamoto masterpiece, and it really is a stunning game and every bit as good as Mario 64. It’s interesting (kinda) to note that the UR Mr Gay that appears on the box also flashes up on the in-game title screen too – once is a mistake, a pure coincidence, but twice? I don’t believe it anyway, anyone that dresses up as a fluffy bee is as straight as an arrow.
So, here’s to another week of TheSixthAxis, in which Michael assures me he’s going to add some kind of pagination to the site so you can find older stuff without having to check the homepage every hour, and we’ll finally get around to reviewing the games that are taking the longest to complete (hi again, Jericho) because what’s the point of reviewing a game that costs £50 unless you’ve reached the end credits, eh? Oh, the stories I could tell of certain print magazines. Be good, and if you can’t be good, at least don’t do it on a busy forum – seriously, the woman’s just trying to a job.
