So right now I'm sitting on copies of Rage, F1 2011, FIFA 12, Dead Island, Forza 4, Trackmania 2: Canyon, The Binding of Issac. Even more embarrassingly I've still yet to properly complete Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Gears 3.

I've been waiting months for some of these games, but ever since Chris (Gamespot UK's video wizard) set up our staff Minecraft server, I've gone into a block-laying relapse.

We're planning on opening up the server to Gamespot users real soon, so maybe I'm doing it to make sure I've something to show for myself once people stary flooding in. Minecrafting for some sort of social acceptance? yea, that fits in with my personality pretty well.

I NEED HELP!

So here is my addition to the server, a big vomiting Christ the Redeemer with an underwater church/ravine and some game sprites. Welcome to my Church of Gaming!

Seriously though, need to stop this bloody addition and play some real games. Perhaps if I take up this "heroin" all my neighbours seem to be on.

I'll get around to finishing my second staff blog I SWEAR!

I hope nobody think's I'm flaking out - I had to fly home for a funeral last week and then returned to London with a bloody cold which meant shooting and editing my latest Bluffer's Guide in my appartment. I like the style though, feels a bit more personal than the other episodes, like what I was to do when I was freelance.

Let me know what you think:

[video=6337113]

Once I'm back to good health I'm looking forward to a few awesome video projects we've been working on. More Bluffer's Guides and a few special videos in the mix too.

I'm flying off to Dubai in the first week of November to see my girlfriend. After 7 years of going out I'm pleasantly surprised that we're both quiet happy living apart. Maybe I should be worried... :P

Need to pick up Gears tomorrow, though F1 2011 and FIFA 12 are keeping me busy.

What's everbody else playing?

I may have to start playing Unreal Tournament 3 again....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs-qfcfnsBw

As a long time member of the community I thought it would be cool to post about my transition to the staff, so from time to time I'm going to blog about my experiences at Gamespot UK. Apologies if this seems self-congratulatory or vain, that's not the goal. I just think this is something I would have enjoyed reading myself a few years ago.

My first real job was some Christmas work in an independent game shop in my home town. It was run by a twenty-something chap called Keith who took me on initially as part of a school work experience program. Apparently I wasn't too awful so he asked me to stay on for an extra three weeks of paid work. I'd wake up, wrap myself up in my winter jacked and practically skip down the hill to work. I loved that job, and I'd spend entire weekends looking forward to clocking in on Monday. Fourteen year old Danny had tasted something very dangerous, and something I've strived to find again ever since; a dream job.

I actually hate the phrase "dream job". It's too reductive. Ask a child their dream job and you're sure to hear some interesting ideas. Chocolate taster, bunny rubber, power ranger, John Terry. For adults it's a lot more complex. You want to be challenged, but passionate enough about the work that you push yourself to succeed. Hard jobs are challenging but stressful and easy jobs are simple but boring. The ones in the middle have nothing going for them.

So when I talk about how satisfying my first week in Gamespot UK was, it's may not be for the reasons you could assume. Last week I learned more about the industry and the art than I could working on my own projects. Instead of doubting a choice, I asked a question and got an informed answer. Instead of working solo, I collaborated with talented people to create something better. I work in a place surrounded by by talented people, but with the tools and a support network to achieve that level of talent myself. I've never been to excited and hungry to work in my life. It's a pretty amazing feeling.

Though I mostly shadowed people and acted like a info-sponge this week, I did get the opportunity to shout at Johnny while working the autocue on Friday and I edited this weeks episode of Super Start Select. Well except the Assasins Creed feature which, lets be honest, is best edited part of the show!

I also spent some time in the downstairs green room, getting familiar with the cameras and studio and even got some time on the roof where Appetite for Distraction is shot in between disruptive helicopters flying overhead.

I'll be making more on-screen contributions to the Gamespot UK output over the coming weeks, but at the moment I'm enjoying getting my Final Cut X skills up to scratch and helping with the guy's workload whenever I can. I've yet to play on the CBS Interactive pool table, but the Gamespot UK arcade machine has been getting some lunchtime action.

So that's enough for this week, my new central London flat that's dustier than a witches armpit so it's time I got back to cleaning. If you have any questions stick them down below and I'll be glad to answer. Looking forward to getting back on Xbox Live over the next week, whenever my TV arrives back here from Ireland. Haven't played online in 2 months, so I'm looking forward to getting my ass handed to me for a few weeks :P

For now though, I'm just looking forward to Monday.

Twitter: @dannyodwyer

So I'm gonna be spending a lot more time here on Gamespot than I already do. Like at least nine hours a day, with a break for lunch thrown in there somewhere.

In just a few days, on August 1st, I'm starting work at Gamespot UK.

I'll be joining the awesome team here in London as a video journalist - spending my time chipping in on existing programming while producing & presenting brand new and exciting video content for gamers in the UK anilld beyond.

There's no point in denying that this is a massive deal for me personally and the culmination of years of producing content both here on my blog, and on my Gamespot inspired project Citizen Game. For years I have dreamt of working for this company and now that I have the opportunity, the most prominent feeling I have is a deep sense of responsibility. I guess after years of talking the talk, it's finally time for me to walk the walk. Something I plan to do. Once I've stopped pinching myself of course :)

So before I get that elusive staff emblem, I want to thank everybody on here who has supported and criticised my work over the years. The users who turned into friends, the staff members who always had kind words of support and the Americans who told me they couldn't understand my accent - I hope it's clearer now!

I'm going to use this opportunity to create peerless video content that Gamespot users and gamers around the world can be proud of.

The real work starts now!

Well not right now - I'm back in Ireland for a short break at the moment so the only thing I'm starting right now is drinking. And maybe eating a donor meat and chip when I walk home at 4am tomorrow morning. I guess it's time I stopped preparing for it and actually celebrated!

My Twitter: @dannyodwyer

Since boxing up all my stuff and sending it back to Ireland almost three weeks ago, my gaming has been restricted to Minecraft, Starcraft 2, Blast Billiards and that trebuchet flash game that is kind of like Angry Birds. Crush the Castle or something. Not arsed googling.

As it happens I needn't have bothered sending my consoles away because the whole Dubai trip is out the window. Well, for me anyway. My darling girlfriend of seven years is still jetting out in August, but due to an amazing career opportunity that fell my direction at the 11th hour, I'm sticking around. A spanner in the works for sure, but a gold plated spanner encrusted in precious stones that can travel back in time and revive the dead. I'm very much looking forward to spilling the beans about this new job in the coming weeks. It's pretty awesome.

So while I flat hunt and learn how to wash my own clothes, I'd love to know what you guys have been up to this summer? What have you been playing? Any nice holidays?

I've been playing quite a bit of Minecraft....
Also, at nighttime.

There's a really great street festival in my hometown every August that I make sure to fly home for each week. I've already booked my flights this time around and look forward to checking in and going home. It's basically the same feeling I have with Gamespot whenever e3 is on. I usually take the time off work and stay glued to the stream and live shows all week. I once spent a summer working in a bank. Easiest job in the world really - branch porter. I'd spend all day walking around town in my suit, hand-delivering letters and paying lawyers to sign documents. One year I spent 4 hours delivering a massive bundle of afternoon mail. Well, at least that's what I told the staff. 3 doors down from the bank I was sitting in an internet cafe chatting with my fellow gamespotters about the latest batch of 360 games.

Well things are a little different now. I'm peering in from a slightly different angle. Oh, make no bones about it, every time I watch the live show I wish it was me up there interviewing guests like I was taught back home in radio. Just 5 minutes, and I'd have them in the palm of my hand - at least that's how it goes in my head. But now I'm looking at it from a developers perspective too. As we enter crunch mode on our own game, the industry changes shape in front of me. Where once I saw exciting new games, I see rivals. Trends matter more now, as our game will (hopefully) be released before the next e3 comes around. So lets get to it.

Well it's been a while since my last post, so here is an update at the behest of my dear friend Bozanimal who manged to request a new post despite having triplet toddlers to attend to.

Our game is going well, dispite a few major personal developments that have shook it's release schedule rather violently. First of all, my good friend Dale successfully started a research masters which is good news for us as it gives him a healthy wage and a nice long timeframe (18 months max) to dedicate to the game. On the other hand, the initial month of this masters took quite a lot of his time, so some major engine work was put aside for a time.

In the time since I last posted we've made great strides with the artificial intelligence, which is arguably the most important element of the entire game. Level design, difficulty and the gameplay nuance of our three game modes cannot be properly executed and playtested without the AI working as required. We've nailed down "enemy" activityto three primary states that work across the board, and after much hard work and problem solving, it's mostly complete. We expect lots of changes to the system as we start playing more with gameplay and difficulty, but it's a solid and important start.

The other major peice of news is that I'm leaving London. I'm not going home, or to another city in the UK. In fact I'm moving outside of Europe altogether, to Dubai, in the United Arab Emerites. It was always mine and my girlfriends plan to move after 2 years unless I was successful in getting work on a games website. Tried as I did, it wasn't to be and aside from the bad taste left in my mouth I'm looking to a new adventure. We had a shortlist of places to go to and Dubai (which we are more than familiar with thanks to her sister who has been there for nearly 3 years) ticked more boxes than most. It also allows me a lifestyl3 similar to what I have here, but with a more comfortable wage. Well...once I get a job. My lady has secured herself a fantastic job in an English curriculum school, so I'm job hunting once more. I'm confident I'll have a job once we leave late August, these past two years have been pretty good to me client-wise. I'm also stepping away from Citizen Game and handing over the keys to my good friends left in the UK. I had already done as much when we started our game, but the move makes it official I guess! I like sand, but the lack of available pork is going to be heartbreaking. Love me some sausages.

So it suffices to say the timeline of the game has been pushed back a bit. We were gunning to get it out before August, but it's our first game and it makes more sense to take our time. Don't be alarmed though, we'll have video some stage over the next month or so.

But anyway, enough about our personal lives crap, lets talk game!

The Reveal

I guess this is the first reveal (not that anybody cares!) and honestly many of you guessed correctly at the end of my last blog. Our game is a top-down shoplifting arcade game which resembles something like the lovechild of Metal Gear Solid and Pacman Championship Edition. Currently we have 3 distinct game modes that will fit into a narrative as individual levels, and also be playable in all 3 ways in some sort of arcade mode. Here's a basic overview:

1) Steal Mode
Your basic "get these specific items" mode. You're given a list of items to steal and you have to get out with as many as possible. Bonus for not being seen at all during the lift. This is where most of the enemy trappings are explained to the player. And we have a lot of enemy types! I'll explain more about them in another post.

2) Hoard Mode
Yes, spelled that way. In this you have 5 slots to collect as much accumulative value as possible. The catch is that smaller items can be "combined" into one singular item, and thus one slot. So you could pick up coffee, sugar and milk (3 slots usually) and they would collapse into 1 single ("Coffee Break") item, allowing you 4 more slots to collect/combine items in. The idea is to encourage the player to think of the shop as a puzzle of mind, and not just a maze. Clever combinations mean higher scores. We see this being the main mode later in the game.

3) Dash Mode
A "supermarket sweep" mode where you're not worried about being seen, and just running through the level tapping buttons to clear shelves into a basket/jacket. You're main aim is to rob as much as possible while avoiding security guard's paths. Lost of fast music, flashing lights, over the top count-downs and Pac-Man ghost ****AI baddies.

With these 3 modes, we've been able to create dozens of unique level situations which keeping the complexity of the game as low as possible. It all works well on paper, now we have to test it all out for real!

As a side note we've also struck a deal with an incredibly talented individual to write, produce and perform the soundtrack for the game. He's one of the best chiptune & guitar artists I've ever had the pleasure of listening to and I look forward to revealing his work in a forthcoming blog. He's worth much more than a bullet point, so we'll get to that soon.

I'm really excited about the next six months. Between the big move and our game it's going to be one of the most bizzare and intense times in my life. But for now I'm looking forward to seeing how other people's games are panning out. See you in the e3 live-stream chat guys!

PS: Taking suggestions for names. Chris Watters already invtented a genre for us (TDS - Top Down Shoplifter) and bacchus2 came up with the brilliantly copyright-infringing "Grand Theft Supermarket". Send them in, if we use it you'll get your compensation! :P

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For instant updates on the project follow us...
on Facebook
on Twitter
at www.tripledgames.com

Let us know what you think of the concept here or via any of the social links above. Thanks!

Remember when I said I was working on an actual game? Yea that's still happening. So I guess it's time for an update!

Apparently it's not difficult to start work on a game. There's no shortage of things that need doing be it programming, graphics concepts, gameplay brainstorming, figuring out the story and it's characters let alone all the legal and business stuff. I guess the difficult part is figuring out what matters most, especially with such a small team.

To us it seemed important to first figure out what the game was and to make a prototype to make sure it all worked. As good as we think the concept is, it's pretty important we dive into the nitty gritty as early as possible to make sure it's as fun in real life as it is in our heads. A common theme of our progression is doubt. It stems from that fact that apart from programming knowledge and passion for video games, none of us have much of a clue about developing and creating an "actual" game. At least at this stage in the development we can use that doubt to be critical of everything we do and hopefully come out with something that's refined to a high level. Either that or it will cripple us emotionally and the game will be a hideous wreck - time will tell!

Another reason to get a prototype working as soon as possible is we're going to be pitching this game to at least two parties and the game we show them will more than likely be a big brother of the original prototype. The two organisations in question are Valve (to secure a Steam release) and Microsoft (initially for entry in the Dream-Build-Play competition). The deadline for both of these is the start of June. Tick tock!

With that in mind, we all got to work on setting up whats needed for the prototype. These include:

Platform: Can we design for multiples concurrently, what coding framework to choose, do we concentrate on PC or console?

The Rules; win conditions, AI states, controls, goals, time and ability constraints.

Planning level design; How it looks, how the graphical styl3 influences gameplay, how graphics influence our ability to design varied levels, how we can use levels that properly utilise AI and player movement, where a level starts and ends, scalability.

Graphics; Whats the styl3 and how easy it is to reproduce, how long does it take to make each element, how many do we need, menu graphics, logo, character art.

Controls: How it works on each system, are they simple, do they reflect the actions on screen.

Difficulty: Scaleability, learning curve, replayability, challenge, reward.

That basically means a we're not allowed spent any time on the "NOT IMPORTANT YET" list which includes the soundtrack, the story, mission structure, the game's title and loads more. In fact blogs are supposed to be on that list as well, so I better cut this short. On the next blog we'll have an actual prototype so look forward to more actual screenshots, actual gameplay footage and actual solid facts about the game - perhaps even a title!. But for the time being I better get back to work.

For instant updates on the project follow us...
on Facebook
on Twitter
at www.tripledgames.com

Oh, and take a guess about what type of game it is....here's a clue:

Just like my first childhood bike crash and my first real kiss (with my cousins babysitter in a water-ride in some cheap amusement park near Birmingham) I can remember, vividly, the first time I came across Gamespot. Back in 2001 typing GAMES into Yahoo only returned two results. The first was called IGN and looked terrifyingly complex and ugly, the second was called Gamespot and was then what is still is now - among the best designed websites I've ever visited. Years later I became a registered user and delved deep into the revolutionary community tools at my disposal. In 2008 I started my own gaming community from this very spot, and have since met and spent time with friends I'd otherwise never have met.

I started Citizen Game in an effort to win favour with prospective employers, but after 4 years of hard graft I'm no closer to that dream than I was when I left college. I was close, a couple of times. As close as you can come really - but never did get that final phone-call. I'm okay with that, now. Though it took much longer than I expected to come to terms with it. For months I'd replay the final interview in my head, over and over. In the shower, in bed at night and most memorably on my evening run's as a way of motivation. Having your dreams dashed at the finish line is tough. Very tough.

Almost as tough as falling out of love with a project you've devoted four years and endless work hours to. That happened quite recently, and I'm wise enough to stop flogging a dead horse. Maybe the old mare will lurch back into life if someone else is doing the whipping - but my time on the reigns is coming to an end.

So when a programmer buddy of mine asked If I could help him on his next project, I jumped at the oppertunity. And that's where I am. After four years of operating on one side of the gaming fence, I've jumped over to development. So my college programming experience may actually pay dividends and thanks to my varied and scattershot project history - I feel quite at home running production, PR and marketing on my own.

I haven't used my Gamespot blog much in recent years as I didn't think it fair that I use it to publicize my own website, but I plan to use this space throughout development to keep you guys updated and get any feedback you'd be willing to give.

So that's it for now. We're currently working on the fundamentals of our game world so won't have anything of significance to show for a few weeks at least. The development life-cycle is looking between 5-7 months, and though I can't give specifics on what type of game we eventually chose, there are some clues on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

I'm very excited about the coming year. Who know's maybe you'll see me on Today On The Spot before the year is out *swoon* :D

For now though, please feel free follow our Twitter feed @tripledgames and LIKE our Facebook Page.

Oh and if you have any questions, please do to ask.

PS: Happy Valentines Day! :P

I think one of the things that surprised me the most when I moved to London last year was how insular the gaming community is. I expected the home of Codemasters,Lionhead and Media Molecule would have a rich community of gamers, who meet, play and discuss games together. But alas, just like back home we're all hiding behind our controllers.

This months London Games Festival is a perfect oppertunity for gamers to get out and engage with each other on a face to face level. I think it's pretty important for people to talk about games in the open. We all tend to pontificate via blogs, twitter or message boards but we tend to take more information in during real life discussions. Plus, games are fun, and fun things should be shared!

I visited the London Games Festival website last month to see what was on. Aside from the Eurogamer and MCM Expos at either side of the month, the event calander was chocked full of closed-off industry talks. So I decided to conceptualise a free event, pitch it to the LGF and see what happens. After days of brainstorming, costing, telephone calls, emails and lawyers it was all in order. This is what I came up with.

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The Citizen Game Review (Free Event)
Saturday, October 9th - The Star of Bethnal Green, Bethnal Green, London (12pm - 6pm)

This October 9th, take part in the first ever public video game review! Chill out, have a beer, sit down and play FIFA 11 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 with friends and strangers. Play the games, have your say! In association with The London Games Festival.

Citizen Game are hosting this unique event, where we want you to play the games and tell us what you think of them. Come down to our specially kitted out bar in Bethnal Green and play with friends on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 for free. Submit your thoughts to our public ballot, rant on camera for the video review or just chill out and spectate. This event is designed to show the power of citizen journalism while highlighting the oft forgotten social side of gaming. Afterward, the votes and opinions will be totted up and we'll release the results in video and written review form.

The public review is the first of its kind, completely free, and guaranteed to be full of last ditch tackles, free kick wonder goals and plenty of good chat between friends and strangers. Whether you're a huge gaming nerd or a bloke who plays the odd game on the weekend, we need your opinion!

To learn more about the public review, join our Facebook group, visit the the event page and follow @CitizenGame

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I've loads to say about the event and the reasons behind the format, but I'll leave that for a later blog. Just wanted to extend an open invitation to any London (or close by) Gamespotters who may like to attend. I'm hoping we get a good croud and help London gamers come out of their shell just a little. Bring your girlfriend or boyfriend, bring your mate, bring your mum! It's all about the collective enjoyment of video games and the concept of croudsourcing opinions for one of the most divisive game rivalries of recent years.

Thanks guys!