I've noticed recently that almost everyone on my friends list on Xbox is either, hanging out on the dashboard, listening to music or watching something on Sky(UK) or Netflix(US). Whats up with that? With Gears 3 out.. Rage.. Dark Souls.. why isn't anyone playing games anymore? Has the xbox become more of a tv and movie service? I won't lie, I do watch films on Sky Player, often before bed, but I miss the days where I'd log in, get invited to a party chat and we'd all jump on a game. Just doesn't seem to be happening anymore or perhaps my friends circle has changed. I've always considered the xbox as being more socially interactive compared to the PS3 (note: I am not saying either console is better) so I think its a real shame Im no longer enjoying or experiencing this element. Last night, I pretty much used the xbox as a phone, talking to a friend from America for hours - we weren't playing any games. I do suspect that when Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are released a lot of my xbox friends shall engaging in this. Unfortunately for me, these are two games I won't be buying - not because they aren't excellent games, because the budget doesn't allow - just my luck! So today, I will go home after work, log into xbox and see an array of friends... just not doing much. I can't go and play Gears by myself now can I?! I'll die straight away! Haha! Or equally... yes, maybe that it what I'll do today, with the lack of gaming friend activity, this is perfect time to practice! Every cloud..!! =D

So I finally managed to pluck up the courage and hand in my resignation letter to my manager today. Made sure he understoof that I was extremely grateful for having this opportunity and experience but the industry just isn't of interest to me and I find it hard to get excited about a product I have no interest in to market.

So.. what now? Did I do the right thing? From a personal view, yes of course I did. The job was stimulating or exciting and the environment I was(still am at the moment) working in, is incredibly mind-numbingly boring and irritating - some things I left out when talking to my manager. I simply can't make myself stay in a job which I have no interest in, purely for the money aspect. So yes I did do the right things.
Was it right for me to leave at this time in the economy? Probably not, no.. I saw on television this morning that unemployment in people aged between 18-25 has hit the 1 million mark and there I was handing in my notice. I don't know how long it's going to take for me to find a new job, I'm kind of putting my hopes into networking more at MCM Expo at the end of the month. I'll be looking into game internships and any other vacant positions, trying to post more on sites like this to try and gain some recognition in some shape or form.

The way I look at it, is that Im 23 - almost on the wrong side of 20 - but Im still young and I dont feel like I should be stuck in a tedious job when I can push myseld to excl in the industry that I actually want to be in.
So anyone in the UK looking for a PR or Marketing Assistant in the games industry... I am your girl! I am ambitious and eager when working for something I have a huge interest in =)

Lighting connectors.... just not something I can get excited about..! >_>

If you follow my blog, you would have seen one of my previous posts entitled 'An Angry Office Rant'. Last week was a pretty bad week.. but I stick by everything I wrote in that blog, except one thing.. sticking it out until I find another job. After a lengthy debate, mostly with myself, I have decided to hand in my resignation today after work. I have some potential leads on the tables for a new job, but I simply will not be this unhappy in a job. Now many of you are going to think I'm being incredibly stupid and say 'noone likes their job'. You are so so wrong, everybody has days where they wake up and don't feel like going to work, but then they get there and it turns out to be a pretty good day and I know a lot of people who love their jobs even when they're having the most stressful day/week. I have my moments, where I can be a complete realist, but this is not one of those moments. I'd much rather be happy in a job that could take me a while to find, rather than being beyond unhappy in a job that I could get any day. Does anyone else agree? Is this just the way I think about things? I appreciate that I was given this job, but it's sad to say it was convenience rather something I wanted to pursue.. I have Expo coming up soon, and I plan to meet the guys here at GamespotUK again and a couple of other people I have been in contact with recently. I'm hoping this could be my break into the game industry as this IS something I want to pursue and make a career out of. If I do turn out to be out of work for a while.. I suppose the bright side is... I can blog more! =P I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow - I'm not going to like handing in the letter, especially because I'll be here till the end of the month and everybody will be asking me why. I sure can't tell them the real reason can I?! To be fair, I didn't lie in the letter either, this is job isn't what I expected and the driving commute does put a strain on things.. I want to be a London commuter!! XD

I tell you what, being a gamer sure does teach you the value of money, or rather.. how to budget and save! The couple of months (and the next few to come) have been packed full with new releases for us to enjoy. Unfortunately I just can't afford them all! For one thing, I had to fork out for a new xbox, since mine had met its death in July last year, and no before you ask, I didn't wait a year to buy a new, I went to Australia for 8 months instead. This did mean, that I had to sell all my games to raise some cash for my trip. I got rid of everything.. my xbox games, my wii and wii games, and ds and games too. It was a hard thing do, but had to be done!

I was lucky when I came back in June, because I managed to land a job within 2 months of being home (if you see my previous post, you'll know that it hasn't quite turned out as I thought) which meant... on my first pay day.. the xbox was back in my possession! Horaay! The only game I have bought since then is Gears of War 3, but I had that on pre-order months ago. So, I have allowed myself one major purchase a month. This month I bought another Wii and Wii Fit, next month, perhaps a 3DS.. The issue now is.. having the money to buy the games for the consoles. I've already missed out on Deus Ex, Rage, Dark Souls etc.. I will get them, I'll just be a little behind than everyone else. I will however by buying Batman: Arkham City when that arrives in a weeks and Zelda: Skyward Sword too.

Anyway, the point of this blog was to emphasis how much discipline I have become now that I have a couple of consoles again. I could easy go out and buy all these games, and while I don't think it'll be a waste of money, I can wait a while until they drop in price and be a little more sensible with my spending =)

Happy Gaming!!

It is just me... or does it really matter which console you choose? I'll admit first off, that I only own an Xbox. My brother has a PS3 and we have always been Sony followers. I only bought an Xbox because when I was in University everybody had an Xbox. So to play games online with my friends, I had to have an Xbox. However, in saying this I see the pros and cons of both consoles and I'll soon own both of them myself. Why? Because of the exclusives, eg; Left 4 Dead, Gears of War, etc are only on the Xbox whilst God of War, Final Fantasy Versus XIII etc are exclusive to PS3. I just really can't understand why some people, when I tell I have an Xbox so riled up and try to convince me that it's the worst console in the world and how PS3 is much better and I suck because I don't have one.. Well.. Im sorry, I opted for the Xbox first and then I'll buy a PS3 when I have the money! Im just a gamer who likes games and plays games that are enjoyable. Whether they're on the PS3 or the Xbox doesn't matter to me. I find the online community a lot easier and more sociable to use on the Xbox whereas when I get a PS3 I'll probably be playing the exclusive games that I can't get on the Xbox. Why do I need to chose? I want both..! ^_^

So for those of you who have played and completed Gears of War 3, this is my version on how I think the story should've have ended. In Act 5 (I think) in the cut scene with Adam Fenix in his office, the camera focuses on a containers with emulsion inside. Of course, now this is going to be significant in some way during the rest of the story. So here's what actually happened: **SPOILERS** In the last chapter you are fighting Myrrah while Adam is trying to activate the machine to destroy all the emulsion and anything/one effected by it. Once Myrrah has been defeated (sort of) you find out that Adam has been injecting himself with emulsion and therefore is destroyed by the machine once activated. I know I know, I didn't word that very well and while quite impactful as Marcus had just found his dad again, here's my version: Like I said before, the emulsion inside that container HAD to be significant. I thought that Adam had been infected (or in real case, been injecting) with the emulsion, and previously in the game had seen humans turned into lambent creatures.. During the last battle with Myrrah, before Adam had been able to activate the machine, I think it would have made more of an emotional impact on the story, if Adam had proceeded to turn into a lambent creature himself. Marcus would have to kill his own father whilst the other Gears continued to try and activate the machine. With Adam dead in Marcus' arms, the machine is activated and Adam disintegrates in his arms. Marcus kills Myrrah and the rest of the story continues how it actually does in the game. So what do you reckon? Thats what I thought was going to happen as soon as I saw that emulsion.

Been holding off on writing this for a while. But at least the typing of my keyboard makes a little bit of noise around me and slightly distracts me from the immensely irritating noises coming from the desk next to me.. So Im sat here in the office, an open plan office. An open plan office that is completely silent, except when the phone rings. An open plan office that is completely silent, except when the phone rings with a man who sits next to me, chewing gum, chewing his damn gum, chewing his damn gum making the loudest noises possible. Not only this.. he seems to have to inhale a significant amount of air (loudly) before he takes a noisy slurp of his tea. Whilst I might add, he has chewing gum in his mouth. Does anybody else do this?! Its crazy! This is not somewhere I can see myself for the rest of the week, let alone opting this as my career for the rest of my life. I want to wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work. To some form of bright atmosphere where I am going to enjoy my work and be interested in the product/service. Unfortunately I must stick it out here until I find said job, as in this climate it is just as silly to leave a job without having another to go to. I guess its partly another reason why I am on Gamespot now. To network, to get some contacts and information. *shameless plug* so if anybody out there is looking for an enthusiastic PR assistant, I'm your girl!! I'm just waiting for someone to notice me and how much I want to work in the games industry so I can start my life properly!

I know it is such a gimmick and now its pretty old too, but I really think Wii Fit works! I've owned about 3 Wii and subsequently sold them too, all with Wii Fit. Before you call me crazy, I had to sell each one for either lack of money purposes or because I was leaving the country. The last time I had Wii Fit, I managed to stick with it, and I am a generally impatient person so I was pretty proud of myself for doing that. I managed to do an hour in the morning and half and hour before bed for about.. 3 months (before I had to sell the Wii). Now I didn't see any change in myself, but my friends and family did, so I figure, what they hey..... So yes I've bought another Wii and another Wii Fit..! This time though I have managed to upgrade to the black wii with the motion plus sensor, unfortunately due to my impatience I couldn't wait until the 7th Oct to buy the black Wii Board too. Its more likely that I will sell my white one and claim a black one, just so it all matches ;) Another plus side of buying my 4th Wii.... ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD! =D

What did Enix do to Squaresoft? I mean really.. I've always loved the Final Fantasy series, but for me it stopped at FFX. Like alot of people my favourites are VII, VIII, IX and X. I'd throw in III and VI too but that's just personal preference. Anyway my point is, after X I don't feel like there has been much of story and the characters have been lost in graphics and style. I didn't even get through XII, as after an hour of gameplay I had to turn it off. Playing FFXIII on the xbox, I have reached the final disc, but struggle to have any urges to pick it up again. Don't get me wrong I love the battle system of XIII and the graphics look outstanding, BUT there is no story, there's no connection between the characters and the player. When *no spoilers* something terrible is to happen in the game, I'm not remotely emotionally tied. Unlike the love story between Rinoa and Squall or the heartbreaking death or Aerith in VII! Where has that all gone?! Not only this but XIII completely took away the freedom that we love from the franchise. It is such a linear game, it just becomes tedious. However I did hear (as I've not paid too much attention to XIII-2 after the disaster of X-2) that in the second part, XIII-2 we can once again walk around towns and go into shops etc. I know I have spent the best part of this blog expressing how disappointed I am with the Final Fantasy series recently, but we all know I'll be buying XIII-2 and Versus XIII when they come out. Again, Versus XIII looks to the part to me and Im hoping with a much better story. My other concern is that alot of these recent games include more people/gun/vehicles rather than, monsters/magic/summons.. Perhaps I prefer to be stuck in the past, casting my spells at one eyed creatures..!