Now before you jump to conclusions, this isn't an article featuring a new Star Wars title or anything even remotely Vaderish. In fact, it's not even about a specific game or a chosen platform. Instead, I'm going to focus on a much more sombre and contentious issue, which in the past few years seems to have gained some momentum in the form of a daisy painted bandwagon.

I am, of course, referring to the bad press that some areas of the gaming industry and their associated titles receive, namely their supposed negative effect on modern society. The press often feature articles on how gamers, or "Nerds" as they like to put it, become lonely, obsessive hermits with the dietary habits and physical characteristics of a baby hippopotamus. I may be slightly overweight – as the government likes to put it – but, as a gamer, I'm still a long way from wallowing in mud with a pair of large tusk-like teeth for a face.

For a kick off we have the whole "Nerd" thing going on. Years ago the gaming industry was seen as something of a shameful niche, an area for those with no social skills and no friends – a place where people only talked in bits and bytes. I suppose many mainstream businesses saw video games as a flash in the pan, and once it was all over most of us would go back to hiding in dark alleyways or taking out insurance policies to protect us from alien abduction. Boy, were they wrong.

The gaming industry now demands the best and the brightest, and the most creative. Gone are the days of 48K Spectrum's that displayed an eye-watering maximum of ten colours and a loading time on par with a flight from London to Edinburgh. Now we have a worldwide multi-billion pound industry that was apparently the only business sector to thrive in the recession. The once small-fry hobby is now a mainstream financial giant.

Other areas of concern for those who collect African peace crisps, drive a hybrid car and wear shoes made from cabbage leaves is the effect the gaming industry has had on the individuals that play those games. According to some of them games, among other things, will be the downfall of mankind. We frequently see articles concerning teenagers that, supposedly, spend twelve thousand hours a week in front of a screen shooting and driving their way to an early grave. I'll admit there is a level of responsibility that very firmly rests in the lap of the aforementioned gamer, as there is with everything in life. And I will also admit that if you were to put a four-year-old in front of Grand Theft Auto 4 they would probably end up referring to everyone as"Behatch" whilst occasionally threatening to "pop a cap" in someone's "ass", during playtime in primary school. But games like these have an age rating for a reason. Parents who ignore them do so at their own risk.

Another, more controversial area of debate is the root of violence in society. Individuals are seemingly turned into mindless killers who draw inspiration from games like Manhunt and GTA. I know that Manhunt, in particular was under a significant level of scrutiny after a teenager was murdered in 2004. While playing violent games from a young age will certainly de-sensitize an individual, it is unlikely to turn them into Hannibal Lectors' love child. For those that doubt this, take a look at the more infamous serial killers. Jack the Ripper never played Manhunt or GTA. He didn't even have a Nintendo DS. The root of his killing spree lay with the fact that he was a sociopath.

Obviously, I'm not going to convince everyone that gaming is harmless fun, but I will leave you with this. I served in the British Army for over nine years. I was trained to use a variety of weapons, all with lethality in mind. And I've been playing computer games since I was eight. But you certainly won't find me prowling the streets at night, with a chainsaw in my hand and a Jack Nicholson grin on my face. In other words, I turned out alright.

I'm now a quarter of the way into chapter 9. I'm hoping for chapter completion within a week, but work tends to get in the way of that.

My original self-imposed deadline of June the 1st has clearly fallen behind. So I'm just doing my best to finish it before the Autumn. That way, if accepted by an agent and a publisher, the editing should hopefully be out of the way by the end of the year, ready for publishing in 2011.

Halo Magic

Well, later this year I'll be part of the Halo bandwagon again, as will many of us, but what exactly makes Halo so damn successful? I've tried to answer this question on more than one occasion but each time I hit a brick wall.

Of course, there are the obvious attributes to any good game: great gameplay, a sound online setup, graphics, weapons and longevity but a lot of these can be found on any other game, but those other games just don't have what it takes to keep up.

Call of Duty: MW 1 & 2 are both exceptional games. They are masterpieces of gaming creativity and both have provided me with bucket loads of entertainment. The same goes for GTA4 and Gears of War, but despite impressive sales, especially with GTA4, we still don't have a game that can stand out as an iconic title as much as Halo does.

I know what some of you will be saying "He's just a Halo kiss ass, a fan where nothing else will do" but that's not true. Believe me. Halo has its faults. It's far from perfect. It lacks the realism of the two Modern Warfare games, the graphics of GOW and there's not as much freedom as GTA, and the online play features the occasional glitch or bug as well – sticky grenades fail to stick or explode and despite several shotgun blasts to the face an opponent can simply walk up to you and take you out with a pink fluffy pillow. Or if you're really unlucky you'll be killed by a predatory traffic cone.

Halo, I believe, is different to all of the other games because of two main aspects: an enigmatic storyline and longevity. Bungie have managed to create a universe that is vast and mysterious beyond comprehension but at the same time keep it relevant to each individual game without overwhelming the player. You are placed into the boots of an extraordinary soldier, usually the Chief, but you're always left in awe of everything around you - a small cog in a very big machine.

No other game seems to achieve this as well as the second level of Halo: Combat Evolved. The one where you crash land on the surface of Alpha Halo and are presented with an apparently normal landscape, all except the surface of the large ring-like structure that you are standing on stretching off from the horizon and into the dark beyond of the sky above. As a character you've just gone from a genetically enhanced, battle hardened super soldier and mankind's last, best hope to something the size of an ant.

I bet there are many of you reading this who have played that very level that did the same as I – gazed in wonder at the world around you only to be rudely interrupted by a strange, and very alien looking, tuning fork shaped craft.

Then there's the matter of longevity. Its how a game continues to entertain long after the immediate battle is over. Halo 3: ODST started off so well. It had all the hallmarks of a great Halo game, only to be let down by a substandard lifespan. Firefight was a brilliant idea and was a much needed element of Halo despite the success. But as Firefight featured no sort of matchmaking facility of any kind the numbers dwindled very quickly. It simply couldn't compete with the Horde mode of GOW2. But then I've always said, just as Bungie have, that ODST is simply an add-on. It's not really a game in its own right. So I suppose I can let them off just this once. The rest of the Bungie made Halo games, however, had all the right elements for a long and healthy life. Forge, theatre and an online set up that provides endless possibilities.

I suppose in reality you can't really sum up everything that makes Halo a monumental success but at least this is a start. I hope, as many of us do, that Bungie continue to use the right ingredients and the right formula for Halo: Reach. But things are looking good so far.

Chapter Four is now finished. I have been designing a few elements of chapter 5 and now that that is also done I can start on chapter 5 itself.

A weekend trip to the UK managed to slow most of my writing down but I have decided to enter several Short Story competitions. One of these closes at the end of November and another in December. I'll be entering them all and hoping for the best.

By the way, chapter 4 is on the go. It's not a big chapter but it does lead up to something spectacular.

Writing has always been a passion of mine and for years I have questioned If I should actually attempt having a bash at it. So that's exactly what I've done. I started off with a military-styled, action adventure novel in the third person and I thought all was going well. I managed to get around 25,000 words and 5 chapters done before I realised that I should probably approach an editor or editorial company for some advice. Most editorial companies don't usually accept a manuscript if it's still being written, but one company I found gave you the option of submitting the first three chapters for an appraisal. So I gave my first three chapters a quick going over, tidied it up a bit and sent it off. Two weeks later I received my first appraisal which was filled with a wad of advice. But my main problem turned out to be the point of view. Writing in the third-person has always felt natural to me but it obviously wasn't working. So, I tried an brief experiment with a short story in the first person perspective. Besides feeling more comfortable with first-person it also seemed to suit my style of writing. Currently I'm on Chapter 4 of my novel and I've projected a total of 22 Chapters, not including a Prologue and an Epilogue. Once written I'll be submitting them for appraisal. I'm hoping this blog will provide a weekly account of how my writing is going. So far: Prologue - Complete Chapter 1 - Complete Chapter 2 - Complete Chapter 3 - Complete Chapter 4 - In Progress