This Is My Joystick! » The TIMJ Team

The Obligatory ‘Game of the Year’ Article

The TIMJ Team — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:54:27 +0000

The one thing we’ve stressed since our site’s inception is that our writers and staff have complete freedom in expressing their opinions across the board. For example, our reviews don’t represent the entire staff team’s view on a particular title; it is after all the experience of one person (another reason we don’t have a traditional or rigid scoring policy). People tend to differ so much in preference and tolerance to particular aspects of games and other media that I don’t see how any site can offer one definitive point of view.

The same, I feel, can be said of the many ‘Game of the Year’ articles you’ll read this holiday season, which usually run down the year’s titles and give out a single GOTY award that ‘the site’ has chosen. Here, maintaining our belief in individuality, and as one mans GOTY can be another mans dud, we open to the floor to the entire staff team to tell us about their personal GOTY and runner up’s.

Enjoy!

Andy.

Despite the PS3’s supposed superior power compared to the Xbox 360, I have to say that I’ve yet to encounter a PS3 exclusive that just couldn’t be done on Microsoft’s machine. Uncharted 2, however, is easily the first game I’ve come across that has made me wonder if the 360 has hit its peak in a visual standpoint, as I’ve seen nothing to match it on either console before. Graphical aptitude aside, the second adventure of Nathan Drake and the gang is simply a stunning adventure all around. The first game introduced very humanistic and likeable characters, who were all fallible just like the best of us. The sequel took that established cast, added a few new faces and just put them in one jaw-dropping, epic situation after the next. The high production values are rounded off by fluid gameplay, a well-paced storyline and excellent writing. This was miles ahead of any of my other choices for this year.

Defining moment: Seeing the helicopter in Borneo for the first time. Really highlights the gorgeous visuals.

Honourable mentions: Street Fighter IV, Borderlands, and Operation Flashpoint.

This has been the most anticipated game of the year for many gamers, including myself, with some going as far to say the most anticipated of the decade. This game really lives up to all the hype that preceded the launch and has set a brand new level for all action games to follow. Modern Warfare 2 is a direct follow on from Call Of Duty 4 and drops you straight into the action after a short recap of the controls. After that, it doesn’t stop. Its jaw dropping visuals, in depth storylines, twists and turns and buttery controls make this game for me the most additive, most played and officially my game of the year, maybe even of the decade.

Defining moment: The massive overhaul of the Multiplayer mode, and introduction to the Special Ops missions.

Honourable mentions: Halo 3: ODST, DJ Hero, Borderlands.

After my positively obsessive reception of the original I awaited this sequel with ravenous hunger akin to the many zombies contained within. Boy, am I satisfied? Expanding on the unique and original formula of the first game, Left 4 Dead 2 manages to expand it extensively without overcomplicating the visceral run-and-gun gameplay that made the original so much bloody fun. Massive campaigns, new Special Infected, loads of dirty weapons and an online framework to die for elevate this above other shooters for pure joy factor. That’s the reason why, above all others, this is my game of the year.

Defining Moment: Bolting round a dark corner only to be faced with a towering, angry Tank. Tanks with no warning music makes them all the more terrifying…

Honourable mentions: Skate 2, Modern Warfare 2, Trials HD, Shadow Complex.

New features

The TIMJ Team — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:37:01 +0000

Just thought we’d give you a quick rundown about some key changes following the recent backend maintenance work:

One user account for three awesome gaming websites
If you are new to one of the Complete Gaming Network sites (TIMJ, XBLN.net and PS3N.net) and register on one of our sites, you will automatically have access to the other two. So not only will registering on TIMJ grant you access to some brilliant editorial work, but it will also give you access to some of the best events and leagues on the web.

Slight redesign
We had a tinker with the site design, makes it stand out a little more.

Shoutbox
We now have a shoutbox on the right-hand side. It has a few issues which we’re looking into (apostrophes problems mainly). We had experimented with a few alternatives, but none were really suitable. If the problems are unworkable we’ll probably ditch this feature.

There should be on-going work on more features, so more news on it as we have it.

Important: Possible downtime tomorrow

The TIMJ Team — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:22:51 +0000

Hey guys, the site might be having a little downtime sometime tomorrow afternoon. We’re attempting some backend maintenance that will match your XBLN.net and PS3N.net accounts with This Is My Joystick. We’re not entirely sure yet how this will pan out and effect existing sign-ups, so stay with us. If it fails we’ll revert to our back-up and progress how we have been doing thus-far.

Because of this we’ll be holding off on articles until Wednesday when normal service should resume no matter the outcome.

Don’t just keep refreshing; go out, read a book, play a game… you’re just sat there refreshing aren’t you?

Touch me.

The TIMJ Staff Team.

Welcome to This Is My Joystick!

The TIMJ Team — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:34:02 +0000

If you have stumbled upon this little site of ours or ended up here pre-launch through word of mouth, you might be wondering just what we’re all about. We are ‘This Is My Joystick!’ and our mission is to not only bring you news, reviews and the regular stuff that you expect from gaming websites, but to do it in a way that is completely our own. A large portion of our content will focus on original editorials relating to the latest talking points in the industry; our writers will deliver the facts just as you would expect, but we encourage them to impart their personalities, humour, individuality and views (no matter how opinionated) on all the work they set to do. We want debate on our site (not childish bickering though); agree/disagree; let us know in article comments.

In the mean time why not have a gander at our staff profiles or see where we stand on reviews. Follow us on Twitter.com/myjoystick for other updates.

Other than that, we are looking to go live any day now and have a great list of articles to kick off the site with including our opinion on the Left 4 Dead 2 scandal, a humorous look on how to turn your partner into a gamer, and a few reviews for good measure and much more. A pre-launch podcast will also be going up anytime soon and will be available from iTunes shortly.

So that’s about it, hope you keep checking back and stay with us, because we have a lot of surprises on the cards in the future.

Lots of love, the TIMJ team. xxx

Not the cast from 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. Honest.