My vacation of the week before last rolled in to a pretty intense work week with two days of travelling to meetings before I could even begin to work out what had been happening whilst I’d been away. Couple that with a few other bits and pieces that have been going on and … well… what I’m trying to say is that I missed both last week’s regular post and the Friday slot for this editorial…

… and yeah, I’m not going to beat myself up about it. This whole blogging malarkey is a hobby so having an off week doesn’t really bother anyone but me from a content creator point of view. From a personal point of view however it’s a little frustrating that I couldn’t find an appropriate time for a hobby, and that’s nobody’s fault; it’s just the way that things fall sometimes.

On top of this I’m also down on community engagement; I know loads of great posts have been going up in the past few weeks but I’ve been out of the rhythm of reading them.

Setting all that aside, some exciting things have been happening! Question of the Month’s year long quest to come up with the ultimate video game concept has been gathering further pace. Taking the foundations of the Deep Sea, Deep Space setting that I laid out in January I’ve been thrilled to read all the different entries for this month’s journey to find a protagonist and join in the conversation with the other judges. Chris from OverThinkerY has laid out the official roundup and a huge congratulations to Brandon from That Green Dude for their Deep Space Detective concept taking the crown.

If you would like to get involved for March we’re looking for an antagonist – and let’s face it sometimes that’s where things can be most creative. Check out the details over at LaterLevels and don’t be shy. Entries can be in whatever format you want (just makes sure that we know about it… no point doing an antagonist inspired interpretive dance in your bedroom, we need to know it’s in the running!)

On the subject of community I can’t write this editorial without offering a further congratulations to the LaterLevels team for their successful GameBlast ’19 24 hour gaming marathon all for the excellent cause of Special Effect. Sadly I couldn’t tune in for long as I would like to have given that I’d driven for a good few hours that day and my bed was calling. I did catch them at the start of Until Dawn and we had some great fun in the chat picking out all the most antagonistic choices we could muster whenever Kim and Pete dared to ask our opinion! Can’t wait to see the full playthough for Halloween that they have planned. Maybe one year i’ll actually be organised and get involved myself!

February Wrap Up

In a move that surprises no one I spent a big chunk of the start of February checking out the Resident Evil 2 remake and in an effort to try and square it away with my own fondness of the original wrote a whiny fanboy style article where I think I came to some sort of conclusion – in short, it’s good and they’re both different games. One thing that I did discover was how good the Noir costumes and filter make the game look; sure, it’s a pretty game anyway, but the Noir setting works so well that I really just want Capcom to make a Resident Evil Noir that starts as a detective story and turns in to a zombie nightmare… now, how do I get someone from Capcom’s attention to pitch this? I think I’ll probably revisit at some point to check out the extra scenarios that are being added, but for now I’ve had my fill having picked through the four main scenarios and had at least a ‘go’ at the 4th survivor (unlike in my more youthful days, I don’t seem to have the patience to work out exactly how to complete that mad dash from sewers to rooftop however).

Next up I wrote an entirely illegal entry for Question of the Month. My Deep Space Deep Sea setting was calling to me so I had to outline the protagonist that I would have put in to that oceanic spaceship as it floated in amongst the rings of Saturn. Sure it’s not a legitimate entry, but it was still fun to write!

The excellent Livid Lightning and Later Levels that made a surprise declaration of #LoveYourBacklog week 2019 so I decided to join in and look at my own backlog and how I deal with this often tricky subject.

Finally I’ve been lost in Apex Legends recently and shared my first impressions of the latest battle royale game to sweep through the internet. It’s been an interesting journey and I’m still playing, although I’m generally a liability on a team rather than an asset.

Looking Ahead to March

I guess I’ll be playing some more Apex Legends, but I’ve also begun replaying Resident Evil: Code – Veronica X … hyper dash super edition Y… on PS2. It’s one of the Resident Evil games that I haven’t played through for a long time, and I have a feeling I may have only ever completed it once. I’ll be sure to share my impressions when I get to the end!

Happy March All!!