We managed to get an exclusive interview with the Games Animal himself, Mr Dave Perry. Not to be confused with David Perry of Shiny and Earthworm Jim fame, Dave Perry was part of the greatest gaming television shows ever…GamesMaster.
Games Animal Dave Perry - Games MasterGamesMaster ran on Channel 4 between 1992 to 1998 for seven series and was the first-ever UK television show dedicated to computer and video games. If you wish to find out more about GamesMaster then check the Wikipedia entry here. GamesMaster also spun off into a magazine which still runs to this day.
How did Xbox One do in 2016? Pretty damn well, actually. With a decent raft of exclusives, some great upcoming Xbox One games, and a new piece of hardware on the horizon, Xbox One is in great shape. But was it all sunshine and kittens for Microsoft this year? Matt Gilman - Editor of Official Xbox Magazine - is here to give you the low-down on all things Xbox.
With no new high quality AAA exclusive retail games for the first 10 months of the year, it certainly looked like backwards compatibility was more of a focus for them to fill the gaps, and it seems Xbox gamers loved it.
Shame on the lack of exclusive GOTY winners for another year running: http://gotypicks.blogspot.c...
What else...? Oh, yeah.... MS closed and cancelled 8 first-party studios/projects in March: https://twitter.com/vg_dave...
This is not being addressed by the hardcore, but boss job on the couple of quality holiday exclusives and BC! 👍
Dont really care for xbox but I will say they did a much better job with backwards compatibility support than sony, which to me is non existent. Me and my roommate were played RDR on Ps now and we were complaining about how having a xbox one we would be able to play all these old school games without having to deal with slight lag and rare connection problems while playing Ps now. Not only that, most last gen games looked better on xbox360 compared to ps3 anyway. Pretty nice if you wanna play those games and have a xbox one.
But hey, Katamari forever is awesome to play on PS now.
Microsoft exclusives have sucked a lot over the years, but so has sonys. Looking to Nintnedo to have consistently good first party games now....
Of course it's non existent. Ps now and re-releasing old games isn't a BC solution.
@Kokyu
THANK YOU!!
i don't get the hype about BC at all, it is literally playing old games instead of new ones which you could already play with your original console. i get it for people who never got the previous gen but why so many people who owned previous gen getting so excited about it instead of being excited to new games?
Lol yeah games like Bloodborne, Until Dawn, Uncharted, etc. Suck ohhhhhh waittttt there's a graph running around that shows the quantity and averages of exclusives this in 2016 on every console including Nintendo and ummmmm Sony is killing them on all fronts. Please take that fanboy bs elsewhere. Its cool if you want to troll but don't come on here spitting non facts. Nintendo if anything have the least amount of new exclusives and haven't innovated in software since the 90's its the same cookie cutter sequels we use to love but have gotten stale.
Fight the good fight with propaganda my lord.
Most "multiplats" you mean performed better in early years of the Xbox 360 and ps3 due to devs not being able to master the complex CPU but your a joke bcus Sony exclusives all looked better than any and every game on Xbox. No game on Xbox looked as good as God of War, Tlou, Killzone (murdered Halo in graphics), etc.... Not only that just like this gen Sony had higher rated exclusives than 360 by far :).The cell is also the reason BC wasnt implemented in ps4 from the get.
I see you comment a lot in Sony articles, also switching information and history. Who are you trying to fool? You have ppl gaming for years in this site that know your info is nonsense lol
Kokyu,
All I ever seem to hear is keep your old systems if you want to play your old games. Why would I want to do this, only to have a clutter of systems hanging out under the TV? Ironically, the people who are saying this are the same people who complain that an inconspicuous power brick behind the TV or external HDD are ridiculous notions in this day and age. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Which is worse, a wallet sized HDD or an entire system sitting on a shelf? Furthermore, there are games on older consoles which have no contemporary analog. Styles and genres that just aren't popular any more. Just because a game is old doesn't mean it's no good, and that's part of the problem we face by living in a technologiically disposable world.
It boggles my mind why people are so excited to play last gen games on a current gen console. I'm not getting rid of my PS3. When PS5 comes out I won't be getting rid of my PS4. I admit it would be nice for Sony to have bc, and I hope they do it in the future, but I'm more worried about the games on current hardware
@Ivan
Emulatuon is the most common form of it, what the heck do you mean?!
@Kokyu Lol, right? I've been playing last gen games since before it was cool. With a lot less hassle too, I just pop them in and play. No need to download a new copy or clog up my new hard drive.
If you don't care for BC or maintaining support of them with later hardware, that's fine. But, let's not act like supporting old games on new hardware is not a good thing in any way, shape, or form. And, while MS may not put out as many new games as Sony, that doesn't mean the games they do put out aren't well selling and liked by their gamers.
Erik...
I gave u facts and your response was some lame rebuttal. Again the list states more than a dozen high rated ps4 games just in 2016 lol so your response that it only has a couple of high quality games is beyond false.
Next time take that fanboy salt bs elsewhere especially when what you are implying is the total opposite of reality. Sony has the highest rated game this generation and an abundance of highly rated games compared to the competition.
@Christopher
The thing is the games aren't well selling or liked. Obviously there will be people out there that do, but for the most part no. That's why studios keep getting closed and the focus has been on other things like bc and such. I'm not saying at all that supporting last gen's console is a bad thing through bc. I'm only saying that my primary focus for new hardware is new games. Otherwise I'd just keep the old system around, which I do and still don't play it because I'm too busy.
***The thing is the games aren't well selling or liked. Obviously there will be people out there that do, but for the most part no. That's why studios keep getting closed and the focus has been on other things like bc and such***
I guarantee you that more people are playing Halo 5 and GoW4 now than are playing Uncharted 4. I'm not sure how you can say they aren't liked. And, well selling, well, that's just wrong unless you only want to say it must sell better than a previous version of the game. And, again, Sony IPs aren't doing that either for the most part.
And, the studios they've closed? You mean things like Lionhead who have an IP that never sold well compared to the first game and were making a game that was completly different than what they had done in the past? Which is it, then, are they wrong for having old IPs that don't live up to the potential of a past game or are they wrong for cancelling them when they don't meet that potential?
I just found out this little trick.
Use Google and put in these words exactly.
"playstation 4 most played games"
"xbox one most played games"
It even brings up a special little tab for them, I'm not sure how accurate it is or where it's pulling the info from, but interesting regardless. It also works for PC games and makes sense in the ordering there.
i rather play last gen AAA BC over sword fighting, japanese games. Shooters, , sports, driving and fighting game is why am a console gamer.
So im guessing you kept your PS3 and Xbox 360 instead of buying a Xb1 or Ps4?
So you don't play Forza, Halo, Gears, Killer Instinct, Quantum Break, Recore? And you won't be playing the upcoming Scalebound since it's a Japanese game? Do you actually play any games or do you just cheerlead Xbox all the time?
Almost all of Micosoft's published retail games came in the first 10 months of the year (except for Dead Rising 4) so what you said is dead wrong.
Sony had one more retail exclusive this year. Sony had SFV, R&C, Gravity Rush remastered, MLB 16, Uncharted 4 and The Last Guardian against Microsoft's Quantum Break, Recore, Forza Horizon 3, Gears of war 4 and Dead Rising 4. So if your calling MS out for a weak year you should be doing the same to Sony cause 2 of their games were remasters... the only difference is Sony released most of their games in the first half of the year and then one game in December and MS released most of their games after the summer with one in Spring.
Shame on the lack of GOTY winners ? Is that how we judge games now ? Not on whether we like them or how much fun we had with them cause if not that is extremely shallow to only consider games that get awards.
Can we stop with the bias. I personally think both MS and Sony had good years. And I look forward to both companies lineup next year.
This is around about the 3rd or 4th time somebody has completely misread my comment in regards to this now. Read it again, please: "With no new high quality AAA exclusive retail games for the first 10 months of the year,"
I said "high quality". You are trying to make this about just Sony published first-party games, which is not what I said. I'm talking about the entire output. To this end you are missing plenty of PS4 games against XB1 lacking in the first 10 months of the year. Again, if you think The Last Guardian was the only quality exclusive PS4 game that came out in the second half of the year, you're not being honest. The release of PlayStation VR makes your claim even more ludicrous.
GOTY winning games are significant, and the fact that Xbox hasn't had the luxury of one in 10 years is telling of their direction and their output vs. the competition - just putting that little factoid out there. PlayStation games win best game awards just like Nintendo games do. How come Xbox games aren't good enough to do that anymore, and why hasn't this generation created another HUGE hitting exclusive new IP like Halo and Gears did for their previous consoles? Honestly, it's like the company is not even trying anymore and I think it's relevant to bring that up. They're closing first-party studios. They're bringing things like 4K Blu-ray and backwards compatibility in the fold as marketing distractions toward the fact that their stable of new exclusive games is waning.
@because
"Sony cause 2 of their games were remasters..."
And every one of those MS games you mentioned are also on PC so are not exclusive...
You also ignored the VR games.
You say there should be balance then slag remasters whilst touting games released on more than X1 as "exclusives".
I also noticed you only included retail.
Because once you count digital also Sony shit all over MS from
a great hight.
Sony Published games 2016:
Gravity Rush Remastered
MLB 16: The Show
Ratchet & Clank
The Last Guardian
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Alienation
Bound
Hardware: Rivals
Heavy Rain
Kill Strain
Shadow of the Beast
The Tomorrow Children
Driveclub VR
Here They Lie
Hustle Kings VR (Retail, UK Only)
RIGS: Mechanized Combat League
The Playroom VR
PlayStation VR Worlds
Super Stardust Ultra VR (Retail, UK Only)
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
Total 20
MS published games 2016
Dead Rising 4 (Co-published with Capcom)
Forza Horizon 3
Gears of War 4
Quantum Break
ReCore
Cobalt (Co-published with Mojang)
Killer Instinct: Season 3
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
Total = 9
FACTS
@Mr-White
Oh playing the semantics card with the word "exclusive" as usual, that's what most fanboys do try to turn everything into list wars. Very shallow argument. And I mean PC releases 10 fold what consoles release so maybe you should be playing on there if all you care about is how many "exclusives" you get. I didn't bring up VR cause it is neither comparable and Xbox doesn't support VR yet. I wouldn't bring up Kinect games if I were comparing PS4 vs XB1 AAA games.
Digital Raptor only mentioned retail. So that's what we were comparing. I've already said I thought both MS and Sony had great years but ye fanboys only seem to care about lists and exaggerating everything negative about Xbox instead of just enjoying games.
And I didn't slag remasters, I said they didn't fit his definition but included them anyway. You see what you wanna see, just to incite arguments. I mean I could have added non-MS published games that aren't on PS4 like Superhot, Gigagantic, We Happy Few and other Xbox preview games but I didn't cause I was trying to be fair in the comparison.
I think they're putting too many of their eggs in the BC basket. They said that 50% of their users "have used" backwards compatibility. That seems like a curiously vague statistic for a company known for touting things like "X number of bullets fired in Halo 5!"
I'd be interested to know if they have more specific details. I mean, they give free 360 games each month, so the fact that half of the owners "have tried" BC is not a big surprise. I wonder, would that number drop if it was: "Percentage of X1 owners who have tried BC more than once." or "Percent of X1 owners who have played BC games for more than 1 hour."
Some of you like it, and that's great. I just don't buy that BC is this huge demand.
Because it's not, it's an option! People are not buying Xbox 1 for BC, and if anyone says they are I'd say they're straight up lying. Even now in advertisements it's not even promoted in sales, 4K resolution, UHD, 4K Video Streaming are the selling points of Xbox.
BC has been nothing but a filler due to the lack of 1st party exclusives released this year.
More, less vague statistic is that in November, MS stated that 145 million hours have been spent on BC.
http://www.gamespot.com/art...
Assuming around 22-25 million consoles sold, that's makes for 11-12.5 million for half the install base, playing an average of 13- people playing a grand total of 11-13 hours. That's about all that can be extrapolated. Actual numbers would probably just prove that it's not as desired as people want to believe, because realistically, there are those that would play 100 hours, and those that might play for one then never care again.
It's a great feature though. Wouldn't mind it on PS4, but would prefer actual BC, and not emulation due to my personal taste in gaming for the long term....but that's just a minor quibble in the face of the way MS had to get it to happen with licensing and what not.
This is the type of nonsense this site allows, yet someone can praise Xbox and get moderated or banned. How is any of what you said on topic? How is any of what you said construed as anything other than trolling? Yet you have 50+ agrees and only 19 disagrees as of right now. That's the problem with this site in a nutshell.
Please cry some more. You and your ilk troll and spread lies about Sony and PS4 every day of your lives. You spend many hours a week in podcasts discussing talking shit about what Sony did in a given week more than you do about the company and console that you actually prefer and do so more than you actually game. I'm sorry that some people will bring up the truth about Xbox in 2016, the kind of things that that you ignore just so you can re-adjust your hate towards Sony & PS4. I suppose that's your problem in a nutshell. You put bleach in your eyes, cotton pads in your eyes, and dig your head under the sand, most of the time - and just when you decide to pop up for air, you don't like how it tastes or smells. That ain't my problem.
If you want to add to the discussion, then maybe try and inform others about how it actually is "nonsense" by bringing the facts, before looking as hypocritical as the next Xboy that tries to refute what I said.
You sit in 3+ hour podcasts every day talking crap Sony while praising MS, you make reviews for games you haven't played, you harass developers and executives on Twitter, you make racist comments to support your console of choice.
You and The Mooch even insulted the developer of That Dragon Cancer during the VGAs, proof at 2:55 and 3:35 in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
If you want to talk about problems then take a look in the mirror first.
Oh no I read what you said. And you seem to be dismissing Quantum Break, Gears of War 4, Dead Rising 4 and Forza Horizon 3 (which did get award nominations and wins) as "new high quality AAA exclusive retail games", I mean they were all high budget retail games that reviewed well. You may not consider those games high quality for whatever reason but then your just making this about opinions... of which everyone has.
Secondly PSVR isn't really comparable to Xbox One, VR is a completely different kind of experience and yes I would expect Sony to support their own device with games and experiences but their not comparable so it is only fair to compare PS4 and X1 games, plus I didn't count any Kinect games cause their not comparable or many this year anyway. And as for their "entire output", you said "new high quality AAA exclusive retail games" so that's what I was comparing. I mean their is nothing new or AAA about Gravity Rush Remastered but I put it on the list to be fair. I did forget No Man's Sky granted...
"GOTY winning games are significant." - To what end ? They don't really help sell a game. I mean it's nice to get awarded for all the hard work these developers put into these games I'm sure but MS and Sony care more about how well a game reviews or sells.
And yes MS closed 2 studios down (Press Play and Lionhead), they relinquished ownership of twisted pixel games and studios that were working on Kinect and Hololense games like BigPark, Good Science Studio, LXP etc were consolidated into other Microsoft Studios and teams. Not the same as closing them down so stop exaggerating everything negative going on with MS. Yeah it sucks any studios had to close down, people lose their jobs. Sony closed down Evolution, it happens and quite often in the games industry. Just the nature of the business.
"They're bringing things like 4K Blu-ray and backwards compatibility in the fold as marketing distractions" - What? These are things the competition doesn't have, that's just marketing 101. To advertise advantages over the competition. I mean MS have published/released more AAA retail games than Sony this holiday so I don't know why you consider that as them distracting from what you describe as "waning" exclusive games.
"PlayStation games win best game awards just like Nintendo games do. How come Xbox games aren't good enough to do that anymore, and why hasn't this generation created another HUGE hitting exclusive new IP like Halo and Gears did for their previous consoles? Honestly, it's like the company is not even trying anymore and I think it's relevant to bring that up." -
I don't know why they haven't had a big new IP yet, but I don't think it's fair to say their not even trying. There is 100s and 100s of people that work at Xbox, 343i, The Coaltion etc. that I'm sure work really hard to give people great games, features and services and your just completely dismissive of all their efforts and contributions. Why don't you just stop being so negative when it comes to Xbox. And with up and coming new games (next year) like Sea of Thieves, Scalebound, State of Decay 2, Below, Cuphead, Ashen, Tacoma and bringing back old fan favourites like Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, Vodoo Vince, Phantom Dust, certainly looks like their trying to me. It shows their not just relying on Halo, Gears and Forza, they are trying and they want a big new IP for Xbox but people have to buy it, simple as.
I think you are missing the word exclusive or just don't know what exclusive means. now try to list some Xbox one exclusive games not multiplats
@MrMagoo123
Is that all you have to contribute to this discussion ? A semantical remark regarding the word exclusive ? We are literally comparing Xbox One and PS4 games so in that context why shouldn't I use the word exclusive. No Man's Sky and SFV are on PC yet I still include them as exclusives. So give it a rest with the "Xbox doesn't have any exclusives" crap.
@BecauseImBatman:
You don't seem to be bringing anything new to the discussion as well. MS may have talented people working on big budget titles, but time and again there are examples of them getting little results from them. Largely, in my opinion, because to corporate hierarchy is too fixated on online/multiplayer because that means XBL Gold. Kinect was VR-like bit last gen but because the focus there was online, and data mining, rather than making the thing work and be of benefit to consumers, when their always online plans tanked so did the device.
MS are their own worst enemy. Its past time their fan base accepted that.
@Godmars290
I don't disagree that in the past yes MS has been their own worst enemy. And their efforts with new IP and marketing these games hasn't been the best.
But everyone seems to be completely discounting the dramatic changes that have been happening at Xbox in the last 2 years. Since Phil Spencer has become the head of Xbox (not saying it's just to do with just him, everyone at Xbox is working hard to make the brand better) their has been a shift in priority's and focus toward things that matter to gamers. Like the Elite Controller, the addition of the preview program, backwards compatibility, ID@Xbox, no parity claus on Indies, new features and updates every month, more games funded by MS etc.
Look are they doing a fantastic job at everything. No but you can see they are trying and their games lineup for next year shows it and all they get for all their efforts is moaned at there not doing a good enough job. That was my point. These changes aren't going to just happen over night either, it will take time for MS to earn that goodwill and games take a long time to be made to, assuming their new "GAMES, GAMES, GAMES" stance was true.
Only time will tell if MS have truly changed their stance on Xbox and what it should be. I would rather be optimistic and say yes and I see a lot of good going on at Xbox to continue thinking that way.
@BecauseImBatman:
Thing is those dramatic changes are reversals and damage control. Nothing MS had done, nothing Spencer has supervised, is really anything new. Things like Scalebound and Crackdown 3 were announced with the XB1, and the Phantom Dust that's coming now is the original. Not the one that was seemingly canceled out of the blue and with the closure of the studio working on it to boot.
And the reason people are talking trash in regards to BC is, 1) It's more to do with the 360 rather than the XB1 and it's lack of titles and, 2) Something "gamers" complained endlessly about the PS3 when it had it and now condemn the PS4 for not having. Don't get me wrong; its great that MS is doing it, but the way that its being done comes off more as advertising. As well as something I suspect they were going to do anyway, only like with their original always online plans, were going to charge for.
@Godmars290
Crackdown and Scalebound were announced at E3 2014, more than a year after Xbox One reveal. Phil Spencer was made head of Xbox in March 2014 and he was working as Xbox general games manager before that so yes he probably did have a hand in bringing these games to Xbox.
Anyway I would assume MS had planned to continue to release games on Xbox after their DRM/TV/Kinect plans were finalized, what I'm saying is after the backlash to all that and the change in management and priority they look like they've started investing more in games, to me anyway. I don't really know what happened to that cancelled Phantom Dust game, obviously MS didn't feel confident in continued investment. It sucks but games get cancelled all the time (we just don't usually hear about most of them), probably an error on MS's part announcing so early. Obviously the remake their doing is a consolation prize but it's better than nothing I guess.
I didn't say Xbox is doing anything particularly new, I'm saying it's doing things that are of benefit to consumers and gamers. That includes things like BC, Elite Controller, Preview Games etc.
BC = about 360 games, well yeah.
1) XB1 has a "lack of titles" - Well I disagree with that, don't have much to say about that except just cause PS4 has more games releasing doesn't mean Xbox has a lack of titles. If it were the other way around the same people wouldn't be saying jack all at Sony. I mean their is also Xbox fanboys who think Sony is the one with the lack of games... that's just typical console war stuff. Like I already said I think both MS and Sony had good years.
2) So a bunch of people (assumably fanboys that don't speak on behalf of a whole community of gamers) complained that PS3 had BC and PS4 doesn't have BC and that is a reason to slag Xbox for providing such a feature, uh okay. Well I guess those people have the right to say whatever they want no matter how warped there reasoning is. I mean if your someone who thinks BC is good thing I don't see why you should care what a bunch of others think regardless of platforms. I think BC is more important than ever especially when this generation has been plagued with publishers releasing remaster after remaster to cash in, something both Sony and MS have been guilty off. I hope console manufacturers continue to provide BC going forward, so we can avoid these kinds of things.
People say constantly that BC was just damage control and for advertising. Well like I already said that's just smart marketing to let people know their console has advantages over the competition. And as for damage control, yeah it kinda was... but like that is a bad thing. The DRM fiasco, Kinect, cost and less power was a big detriment to Xbox One's launch. Consumers and gamers lost trust in Xbox/MS. They were upfront about it and have been fighting to regain that trust ever since. BC was one of the answers to that (whether they were doing it already or were going to charge for is complete speculation, I've no idea). And in hindsight we should all be happy that MS plans failed and there trying to be better. The same thing also happened with PS3 and they picked them selves up and gained peoples trust back. Xbox deserves the same chance. That is basically all I'm saying. But this is the internet, everyone is so hyperbolic and moans at everything no matter what, so really I'm just wasting my time anyway.
BC was something MS always going to do with the XB1, only the DRM mess forced them to implement it to benefit the owners of the 360 versions. Otherwise they would have charged them just like they planned to do with re-sold XB1 games.
@Godmars290
All I said was that's speculation, unless you know for a fact that was their plan ? I could have definitely seen them putting BC behind a paywall and make you pay for gold to take advantage of it or something but again that's speculation.
I mean they may have planned it but in any case as I said in hindsight we should be happy that wasn't the outcome. And I mean Sony released PSN classics on PS3 and will charge you again for the same PSN classics on PS4 with trophy support. Having to buy your games again is not BC and it wouldn't have been if MS had done it with their 360 games either.
"Shame on lack of exclusive GOTY winners?" sorry but Horizon is good enough to win GOTY but you fools seem to think racing games don't deserve them...
Also your first point can be flipped for Playstation. They haven't had a big exclusive since Uncharted 4 and that was Playstations ONLY big exclusive this year. At least MS had 3 at the end of the year (Gears, Horizon and dead rising) In terms of games Xbox probably had a better year.
It's not just xbox with a lack of exclusives and highly rated games this gen its ALL SYSTEMS.
What on earth has happened to sony fans this past year, you've all turned into rabid obsessive fanboys with an rather pathetic amount of double standards who think Sony are some kind of gods...
Matt Gilman, thats why the image of Sony is so far away on the mirror of your car and the gap is getting bigger.
When last gen games on a 3 going 4 year old machine is the best they got.... i think they are going in right path to lose in 2017 the second place for Nintendo and the Switch.
Wont even talk of exclusives the big games sold less and the new ip flop in the sales. The best news of the year was that the next gen machine Scorpio is coming in late 2017.
I tried to make sense of your ramblings, but failed.
Thanks to Sunny_D. I really didn't understand what he was trying to say.
He's saying XBOX needs to get real exclusives instead of relying on old last gen games or otherwise even Nintendo Switch will take over next year.
If your ps4 could play your ps3 discs you would not be posting things like this.
You have a hard time admitting it I'm sure.
Replies(2)
Matthew Castle:
Hello! Matthew here, editor of Official Xbox Magazine. As any Xbox One owner knows, Microsoft's latest console rarely stands still – the last two years have seen it add Windows 10 magic, backwards compatibility and a series of rolling changes to make life easier. So I thought it was about time the Official Xbox Magazine followed in its footsteps and updated to better represent its subject matter. I locked my brilliant team in an underground bunker for five months and forced them to devise their dream Xbox magazine. This is the result.
Gaming Journalism is a job that many people dream of, and in an interview with Jon Hicks (Official Xbox Magazine UK), Luke Albiges (Play Magazine) and Tom Bramwell (Eurogamer), Sam from Gadgets And Khajiits explains how you can get your dream job.
Step one: don't be a cheap, unprofessional basement journalist and register your own domain instead of using a free hosting site. "Blogspot," "WordPress," and various other sources are an instant turn-off for most sensical people. Aside from that, Google and other search engines tend to index these sources differently, to the author's detriment.
Step two: don't run around prompting people to visit your site, explain your personal situation and lifestyle, and disclose your juvenile age and behavior. It's embarrassing, and absolutely no one cares (do a Google search on this site; it's almost completely full of the author visiting other, more popular forums and practically begging people to check his site out. You know, instead of quality sites that have their actual articles and websites popping up on search engines).
Step three: Spelling and grammar are important. Rather humorously, the writers on this site seem to have a better grasp on grammar and general writing quality than almost any other "indie" blog that submits their articles to N4G (something to brag about, considering the incessant mentioning of the author's 13-year old existence), but it's still blatantly simplistic and rife with obvious errors. This article, for example, has double punctuation after each quote by the professionals referenced. That's certainly not taught or even implied to be correct in any modern English society, colloquial or otherwise, so it's an inherent problem with the author.
Step four: don't let your site look like a holdover from the mid '90s. Plenty of free resources, layouts, and tools, among other things, can greatly enhance any basic website, even without knowledge of coding. It can even be fun to play around with after a while, and it assuredly gives a sense of accomplishment and pride not found from an ugly font and drab presentation.
There are of course many other things to consider, but I should quit rambling. Don't take this as an insult or crude criticism; allow it to help you and your website grow and persevere in this cannibalistic industry. There is a real, plausible chance for any website to rise up from the lowest ranks to join the pantheon of respected gaming websites, but even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant oversight can irreparably damage reputation and perception. Being an early teenager with such aptitude and clear sense of ambition will carry you a long way, but never feel comfortable-- always keep growing and changing. Good luck!
Hi Rockefellow!
I'm the writer of this article and, the article says, to be a writer you need to take criticism well and use it to help you improve, so thanks for the tips! I'm currently learning how to code in school, so by the end of the school year the Gadgets And Khajiits website should be created, and cheers for the advice on double punctuation, my school's never really highlighted on that (But then again, we don't blog at school!) I'm glad that you're giving me constructive criticism, and I hugely regret doing those posts. It was early days (Well, January, rather) and I was desperate and in it for the views, but now I know that it's better to have a few loyal readers than to have a mass of passive ones.
Cheers,
Sam
And the new editions out today :).