It's always good when something turns up saying "Confidential Property of *******" on it. It's like being in the world of spies.
Looking back over our wedding day photos, it’s hard to believe it was nearly a year ago that all the fuss was made over Hannah and myself.
Lots of people travelled a combined distance of hundreds of miles to be there; guests took time off work, left children with carers and everybody did what was necessary to join us there on that one day.
I look at the photos now and I find it astonishing, really: a true one-off occasion, with friends and family all present to show how much they cared for us. It’s humbling and heartwarming at the same time: it’s a wedding cliché to say that everybody’s presence mattered, but it genuinely did. Old friends, loved family members, energetic children: every person there made a huge contribution to the day.
Hannah is in Berlin this week, a place that is arguably more “our city” than anywhere we’ve ever lived. The zoo, the parks and the streets belong to us, and not having her around is naturally getting me down. To know she’s there, revisiting some of our favourite places from our honeymoon, is enough to bring a smile to my face, though.
I remind myself every day how lucky I am to have found Hannah: we’ve been together for nearly ten years now, and I look back and laugh at the 17-year old boy I was when we first met. But I still see a lot of him in myself and Hannah is still recognisably the girl she was all those years ago: passionate, forthright, beautiful and unique.
Of all the billions of people in the world, all it took was a short message to introduce the two of us. I don’t really believe in fortune or luck, but I truly feel we’ve beaten the odds. I miss her now, but when she’s back I couldn’t be happier.
Sega sequel getting extra precision
Most people's issues with The Conduit didn't focus on the controls which were, in general, pretty good, but High Voltage Software is clearly keen to tidy them up with the sequel, announcing that the follow-up will support the MotionPlus peripheral for even better accuracy.
Just a few weeks after Japan
We fully expect to hear more about Samus Aran's Wii-bound adventure Metroid: Other M next week, but Spanish site Pikmin Squad has just posted a rumour stating the game may be on its way to Europe before the end of September.
New DSiWare puzzler on the way for 500 Points
In the real world, if coloured gems the size of oranges started raining into your lap you'd rush to scoop up as many as you could whilst also, probably, trying to shield your head from serious injury. Not so in the gaming world however, where the instinctive thing to do is match three of the same coloured gems into a line for points. Teyon knows this, and wants to help hone those matching skills with its upcoming DSiWare puzzler Super Swap.
I bought a game called Chrono Trigger for DS today. I've never heard of it but apparently it's quite good. It looks a bit rubbish though.
You've probably only just wiped away your tears of sadness following yesterday's introduction to the story of Ivy the Kiwi?, but you may now start weeping tears of joy with the announcement that Rising Star Games is bringing the title to Europe this Autumn.
What’s in store for Nintendo’s current gen handheld?
We all know the buzz around Nintendo’s announcement of the 3DS is reaching fever pitch, but it would be foolish to write off its current DS hardware: DSi is barely a year old, so there’s bound to be a lot of titles to convince DS owners not to abandon the system just yet.
I’ve been writing for Nintendo Life for about two and a half years now. In that time I’ve been to London, Paris, Poland and Dewsbury, reviewed over sixty games, written hundreds of articles and met dozens of wonderful people, from PRs to developers.
That said, there’s still that nagging feeling that, because I have a day job to pay the bills, I’m not quite a meaningful part of the industry yet. Not to say that the industry metes out status by the size of your pay packet, but to make my living solely from doing what I love to do – that is, writing about it – is a long, long way off yet.
There’s the thought that I still measure my success in a print medium, that to transfer across from writing online to getting my name on paper is a huge step up, when if anything the overall industry is trending in the opposite direction. Perhaps that explains why I’ve been so reluctant to start work on a piece to pitch to magazine editors, though it’s much more likely I’m simply being lazy.
I do wonder where I’ll go next, and I don’t mean geographically. This year promises to be a huge year for me to prove I’ve got what it takes to make a name for myself in such a hugely competitive industry. From small beginnings I have the opportunity to go global, and that brings a smile to my face.
The answer to that seemingly rhetorical question is “yes”. I am in the industry: I may not have influence, but I have a part to play. The 10-year old me would have dreamt of this lifestyle and it seems blase of me to criticise it. I have the opportunity to make my dreams come true and I’m going to do just that.
Spaceships and bullets beckon
Sudoku, crosswords, solitaire: these fine pursuits are all well and good for those tranquil moments we all enjoy from time to time, but when you want to get stuck into some heavy duty blasting there aren't many options on DSiWare. Here comes Saturnine Games to introduce one more to the mix, unveiling its new 2D shoot 'em up Cosmos X2.
My name is James Newton, and this is my website - a collection of my writings about
videogames, music and all my other thoughts.