Mike Wants a Game Job

Right, so for anyone still reading after a week and a half of inactivity, I'll be on hiatus until next week. Work has been particularly hectic lately plus I have been moving, so I have not had any time to write or play videogames lately. I hope to get my hands on the new Ratchet and Clank, so I should be back in full swing soon.

In the meantime, you can check out another blog I have been contributing to for the East Coast Pokemon League some of my friends have started. Yeah, we're cool like that.

Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me. First and foremost, I have decided to scrap the podcast for now. After spending three days working on it and not coming up with anything I liked, the decision was made that my time would be better spent elsewhere, specifically creating my own mods for videogames. As a friend of mine who works as a tester told me, it"s one thing to be able to talk about videogames, but what people really look for is if you have the skills to back that up. With that in mind, I’ve begun work on a small module for Neverwinter Nights 2 which will hopefully showcase my ability to design a variety of game elements. Hopefully it will be finished by mid-September, so if you play NWN2 keep an eye on the NeverWinter Vault for my game. So far I’m really enjoying the creative process, and this makes me feel like I’ve found a truly fulfilling career path.

Also, I’ve begun sending out requests for informational interviews to various game studios in Maryland. Only BethesdaSoft has replied, but I’m remaining hopeful to hear from more companies once the summer begins winding down. If I don’t hear from them, I’ll just have to keep pestering them until I do. I can be very persuasive when I want to be, and by persuasive I mean annoying.

 In other job related news, I have applied for a job as a weekend blogger over at Wii Fanboy and DS Fanboy. I feel like there is a real possibility that I could get this job and I’m feeling incredibly excited about an opportunity to get into professional game journalism. In my application I referred whoever is reviewing me to this site, so if anyone from Fanboy is reading………..PLEASE OH PLEASE GIVE ME A JOB. I SO DESPERATELY WANT IT! PLEASE?! Seriously, I’ll do anything you want! Need your car washed? Done. Need someone to walk the dog? I’m on it. Need an enemy quietly and discreetly taken out? They won’t even see it coming.

 Ahem. Pardon me, I get excited sometimes.

 Lastly, I’d just like to say that these last few months have been a time of great exploration and creativity for me, and there’s someone I would like to thank. My girlfriend has been a constant source of inspiration and support for me and I have no idea how I could do all of this without her. Thanks SVB, you rock harder than a mountain.

Last week I wrote an entire post apologizing for not being entirely forthcoming with my reasons for starting this blog and for the quality of my previous work. It was long, bitter, and full of self-loathing, which makes me incredibly happy that I decided to sleep on it before posting. While I have decided to take this site in a slightly different direction, last week's post would not have been a good way to start it.

In that vein welcome to my new and improved blog, a place where I will be documenting my progess as I try to break into the videogame industry as a designer. This is a career that I've only dared to dream of in the past but, now that I've done my research and gained a little more confidence, it's something I believe I would be great at. I have been a hardcore gamer for the past 18 years, I have excellent critical and and analytical skills, a BS in theater and physics (yes, I know, that is "interesting"), an obsessive with perfection and detail, and an almost encyclopedic knowledge of mythology, history, and pop-culture. The key things I lack, however, are an impressive writing portfolio (or any writing portfolio at all) and connections in the industry. Through this blog I hope to develop both.

As this project continues, I hope to be able to hone the writing skills I've let atrophy for the past couple years as well as have some fun talking about gaming. Constructive criticism of my writing by those of you with experience will be much appreciated, and if you like what you read spread the word about the site. I'm hoping to start podcasting soon, as well, so everyone will have tat to look forward to (or dread) in the future. Until next time, in the words of Al Gore's disembodied head, "peace out y'all!"