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Badly Written Reviews You Can Use


On 02/27/2013 at 03:37 PM by Jamie Alston

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Okay, so it’s been nearly a week since the news about 1Up’s fate came to light and we former-1Up bloggers packed up and vacated the place.  The dust is beginning to settle and a good number of my friends have flocked here to Pixlbit as a safe haven for gaming community goodness.  Within a day or two of settling down here, I decided that it this would be the perfect place to continue writing retro game reviews.  But I also had a small conundrum on my hands.  Should I go back an re-post all of my old reviews and lead up to my latest works that aren’t posted yet?  Or should I just pick up directly from where I left off at 1Up and just move forward?

Those two questions were going back and forth in my head over the weekend.  One the one hand, re-posting old reviews might be annoying to the former 1Up readers that already read and commented on them in the past.  Maybe they just want to pick up from where I left off previously in the other blog.

On the other hand, if I simply just continue from my latest review, then this Pixlbit blog would feel incomplete to me personally.  Plus, anyone who isn’t familiar with my 1Up blog won’t be able to visit that page to see it once 1Up gets blown away.  I hate the idea of 8 years worth of work going down the drain. 

After doing some serious thinking, I finally decided that I’m going to try re-posting my old reviews from 2005 on up ‘till now.  It just feels like the right thing to do.  That way, newcomers won’t have to miss out on reviews of games that they might have been interested in, and at the same time, I’ll have the satisfaction of having a completed review archive on Pixlbit in the process.

Also, if I neglected to post the old reviews, it would just kill the completionist in me in terms of games with sequels that I started back on 1Up.  Take the Mega Man series for instance.  It doesn't feel right for me to review Mega Man 4 without first posting reviews of MM 1,2, and 3 from my 1Up blog first.  It would feel incomplete to me and they would annoy the heck out of me.

Not to mention, most (if not, all) of my current friends from 1Up had befriended me sometime within the last 3 or 4 years (some maybe a little longer), so some of you may not have had time to read my earliest reviews.  And if you have already, then this will be a great way to see how I began writing reviews and what my first few choices were when I started out in 2005.  Think of it as a subtle history lesson within a history.  It’s a classic gaming version of Inception!

I probably won’t have any reviews ready this week, but I’m hoping that I can have something ready to go by sometime next week.  Part of the reason why is because a good number of my earlier reviews need some major cosmetic surgery.  Going back and reading some of my first reviews on 1Up made me cringe just a little bit.  Let’s just say my writing style and placement of screenshots has evolved over time.  I’d like to bring them up to date to better reflect a more organized approach to game reviewing.  So here’s hoping I won't have omit and entry or two due to embarrassment over them.

Thanks to 1Up’s awesome “My Contributions” section that keeps track of your past blog posts, I was able to archive my reviews in chronological order.  Turns out that I’ve written over 120 reviews so far. But don’t worry, I don’t plan on taking 8 years to post them.  I’m thinking I can probably pump this stuff out over the next 6 months (or less?).  However, I’m not going to flood Pixlbit with a mess of reviews just so I can say I posted them all.  I’m thinking maybe twice a week would be good.  I hope this I can make this work and you guys will be interested in reading them.

-Spunk A Dunk


 

Comments

mothman

02/27/2013 at 03:42 PM

As one of the newest friends I'm not sure what I read over at 1UP but I'll certainly catch up here. 

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 03:49 PM

Cool.  Thanks for the support.  I feel kinda bad re-posting old content, but it's got to be done.

Our Take

Jesse Miller Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 03:51 PM

Mix it up.  Bring some new ones to the table and pepper in older reviews on off weeks since the PixlBit audience isn't familiar with them.  Best of both worlds.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 03:57 PM

I've been considering doing that too.  I just might.  Thanks!

Aboboisdaman

02/27/2013 at 03:53 PM

Awwww yea. So glad to hear this Jamie. I missed a lot of your reviews and don't mind reading / commenting on them again at all. I've already reposted some of mine lol.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 03:58 PM

I noticed your re-posts a few days ago.  You waste no time I tell ya!  I'm looking forward to getting mine posted.

HEKTR0

02/27/2013 at 04:00 PM

You should go back and rewrite the ones you're not happy with, that way you won't just be copying and pasting for six months. 

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:44 PM

That's precisely what I'm going to do.  The first 7 or 8 review definintely need rewrites in order to be up to my current standards.  But yeah, this situation affords an excellent opportunitly to do just that.

Nick DiMola Director

02/27/2013 at 04:05 PM

Also worth knowing - you can Draft post everything now and just release them as you see fit. That might help if you want to backlog them and only release them incrementally.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:45 PM

Thanks for the tip!  I'll keep that in mind.

BrokenH

02/27/2013 at 04:25 PM

I wouldn't mind it. You're a good writer and there's no reason why someone shouldn't be able to bring up the same topic twice. Heck, we do it all the time anyway!

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:46 PM

True.  Good point.  I always get timid when it comes to the thought of re-hashing something I've already talked about before.

Ranger1

02/27/2013 at 04:40 PM

Jamie, please do repost. I'll be reposting some of mine, figure I'll call it Classic Rangergirl or something like that, and mix them in with new blogs.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:47 PM

Yeah, I'm digging the idea of mixing old reviews with new content!

angelfaceband42

02/27/2013 at 04:50 PM

Looking forward to your reposts.  I missed most of your reviews but liked the ones I've read so far.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:47 PM

Thanks bro.  I'm looking forward to getting you up to speed with my past works.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 05:01 PM

classic game reviews are timeless!  Happily repost!

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:48 PM

I most happily will!

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/27/2013 at 06:43 PM

Dammit, there was a "My Contributions" thing this whole time?! Tell me AFTER I fill out a million captcha codes on Blogger to archive my 500 blogs why don'tcha! lol

Look forward to your reviews, as I joined 1up in Summer '06, and didn't really meet you until BaD, probably quite a few I missed.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

02/27/2013 at 10:53 PM

Great!  Glad to know that yo'll be tuning in!

Surfcaster

02/28/2013 at 09:42 AM

I haven't read any of them, so I'm definitely interested in seeing your older reviews.

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

03/01/2013 at 12:02 AM

Thanks man!  I'm working hard to make sure I give the best presentation I can and I hope you guys like it.

FAF101

02/28/2013 at 10:00 PM

I have only read most of your new stuff from 1up so seeing some of the older stuff would be a nice treat for me to read!

Jamie Alston Staff Writer

03/01/2013 at 12:03 AM

I'm trying to clean up as many of the old one as I can so they will be ready to go soon.  I hope to get one up come Monday night.

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