@ Denis – yes, I think going back and reflecting on older titles is a very useful process. I was thinking just the other day that going back to the Wii’s launch title selection (esp. Red Steel) would be fascinating.

@ Purvis – when I saw your posts I became extremely confused, as I didn’t remember posting that! I think we’re going to have to rely on last names around these over-Daniel-populated part of the woods…

@ Nismo – thanks for dropping by! I’ll have to check out your blog. I agree that finding things to write about can be the hardest part, but persevere. I find myself agreeing with Roger Ebert more and more these days in that ‘The Muse visits during the process of creation, not before.’

And also, apologies to Michael if he ends up reading my comment for forgetting a ‘t’ in his surname…

Anyway with regards to this topic, something I have been considering doing the past few days is to have a notepad (or similar) next to me as I play through whatever game I am playing so I can write down anything and everything that comes to mind. I was thinking of doing this to help me come up with blog posts of my own (since I don’t seem to post as much on the PALGN forums these days), but the more I thought of it the more I realised that it could lead into quite a few different areas of thought about the game. Reading the various blogs that I do, I see the authors focusing on particular points and going in-depth with them and I really enjoy that. I would like to do the same but choosing what to focus on is something I feel I may struggle with – that’s irrelevant though, just having written down anything that comes to mind while playing through a game could lead to a lot of potential discussion (or even just thought) and that’s exciting to me.

Especially when (due in part to being a completionist) I’m not on par with the industry when it comes to playing new releases. It was only in the last couple of months that I was (finally) able to play both Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty 4 for example. I’m lucky this year in that I can get quite a few of the games coming out (or are already out – I own Fable but have barely played it) but even so it might not be until a few months later before I can actually play and enjoy them the way I want to. Maybe the completionist aspect of my gaming actually hurts me when it comes to keeping up with everyone else, but as Michael Abbot’s ‘Chew Your Food’ post sort of detailed, it’s not actually a bad thing if you take time to enjoy a game for all it’s worth. After reading that post (and some others), I’ve certainly re-assessed how I approach my gaming and now I don’t think I care if it takes me forever to get around to say, Dead Space. All in good time, really.

Anyway, long comment…

Great post, so much to think about.

I only got into BioShock this month, and thus only recently blogged about it. I don’t think that coming late to the party devalues a blog post, even if it does make it less interesting to the Kotaku masses with short attention spans and fat wallets.

I’ve already discussed with some friends how we’ll definitely have the initial discussion of games coming out, but I want to revisit these games and see if they’re just as compelling when we face the next onslaught of titles.