The World of Joel Szerlip » Gaming

Finding Time to Blog Working Full Time

Joel — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:41:17 +0000

I always took for granted my schedule when I was in school and working part time. I for the most part had either days at school where I would much rather blog then be paying attention to a lecture or just extra time in general to blog. Since starting to work full time back in December I have found it increasingly more difficult to get to the blog and write interesting posts. I just don’t think people will find my daily grind at work all that interesting to read about, so I choose not to post about work related things.

I have been able to get in a really solid routine to work full time and come home and work on Darkstation, which has worked out well. I get home a good hour or two before Jenn does which gives me time to just make sure I get it done. So far this has been a good system and things seem to be going just as good if not better then before I started working full time. I haven’t had as much time to play video games however as I usually get home work on the site, eat dinner, watch some TV and hit the sack, so most of my gaming is on the weekends or late nights.

I am finding myself enjoying games more now then I have in the past couple of years, mostly because it has become a nice escape from work. When I get home a lot of times I just want to gravitate towards something interactive, enjoyable and fun. I have found myself going for a lot more causal or easy going games rather then the FPS or RTS that I normally would go for.

All in all things are going really good, and my only hope is that I start to make more time for the blog as it still is something I want to keep going for a long time.

A Great View of Online Video Gaming At Its Worst

Joel — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:03:53 +0000

I don’t play a lot of online multiplayer on my free time. I do play more for review purposes, but if I had my personal preference I would stick more offline then online. This video that I have taken from Youtube is an example of what I don’t like about online gaming. First off your playing with a lot of 13 year old kids who swear like a sailor and make games not all that enjoyable. This video however takes a lighter look on online shortcomings and to me its pretty spot on. The video does have some rather poor language which is why I battled on whether or not to put it up, but the underlying message is rather funny and these days we all could use a laugh or two.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just One of Those Updates…

Joel — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:07:59 +0000

I sat for a good ten or fifteen minutes before writing this post. I just am not sure what to write about today. I know I have gone a few days without a post, but I feel like I have nothing interesting to say or at least not enough for my typical post legnth, so I am going to break it down into a few smaller posts in one.

I’ve Been Twittering The Past Few Weeks

Twitter.com is one of those technologies/innovations I just don’t understand, but it sure took off. The whole idea is really micro blogging, making posts that are under 120 characters. I know a few people who do and I started to, but to be honest I just don’t see the point. However on a day like today where I just don’t have a real interesting post to write this would come in handy!

Darkstation.com Has Been #1 Focus

Some weeks I just feel like blogging, I have a lot on my mind. Other weeks like this one I just want to get my work done on Darkstation.com and move on. I have had the site under my control since August of 2008 so over 6 months now and the site has truly improved in both stats and I think in looks. Updated have been frequent and I feel like we continue to offer a better product today then yesterday and hopefully will continue that trend.

Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive For Steroids

Does this really come as a surprise? I mean I can’t say I was 100% sure he was taking steroids but at least we had to be a little suspicious of anyone who has been on a proffessional baseball diamond in the past 10-20 years. I, just like everyone else was in love with the McGwire and Sosa HR race, it was great. We the fans knew something wasn’t right and we still loved it. Now the best player in baseball comes out and says he was taking it. The last big name that I think would really shake people up if he came out with steroids is Ken Griffey Jr. I am not sure if he took steroids or not, but if he did I think more people would really be in uproar. I just never liked A-Rod maybe because he is a Yankee, I just have never cared much for the guy and now that he was with steroids I really don’t care for him. We all new this was going on, its just a shame to see such a great sport be dragged through the mud over and over again.

We Invested in a Wii Fit

Joel — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:28:50 +0000

Since Christmas Jenn and I have been trying to pick up a Wii Fit. After I tried the game at my parents house I was convinced that it would be a good investment. With my new job and with my constant disregard to workout I thought what better to get me to work out then to invest in a video game. Will I continue my daily work out regiment? Who knows, what I do know is that Jenn is seriously into it.

So we go the game and I went through the strength training exercises which was a series of push ups, sit ups, lunges, and a few others that really did give a bit of a burn. Jenn being Jenn went through a ton of the other activities and games. I put my goal as loosing three pounds but we shall see how that goes. I have a BMW of 22 which was right in the middle of normal weight. I am slightly under 140lbs so I went to get back down to 130 range. One thing is for sure if I do continue my daily routine it can only help!

Darkstation.com In Its New Beginning

Joel — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:44:43 +0000

So its been a few weeks since the relaunching of Darkstation.com! I am actually not sure what to call this. It never was really taken down, updating was becoming more and more sparse but the site still remained up and updated. The new design and backend for the site has really allowed me personally to do more with the site then I had been able to in the past, and our traffic is already showing signs of improvement.

I have three main simple goals with this site:

1. Stay updated with great content, don’t just post content to have content

2. Offer viewers plenty of chances to win prizes, because let’s face it who doesn’t want to win free stuff.

3. Increase our readership by 200% by the end of the calender year of 2008.

#3 is by far the most challenging out of the list but I also find it to be the one that really drives me each and every day to update, and keep the site running like a fine oiled machine. We shall see what happens with the site in the coming weeks and months, and I have a feeling we will be able to see what is working and what’s not for the site and continue to improve upon it. Let me know what you all think!

Darkstation.com Has Officially Re-Opened Its Doors

Joel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:27:51 +0000

WELCOME TO THE NEW DARKSTATION.COM!!

Beginning in January of 2008 I began work along side Josh Salder from Josh Sadler Designs laying the ground work for the new Darkstation.com! Now a little bit of the backstory first. I began writing at Darkstation in September of 2002, and have been one of the bigger contributers in terms of content for the site. In the recent year, year and a half the sites owner has started his own business and has had little time to work and improve the Darkstation.com website. So I approached him at the end of 2007 into the beginning of 2008 on me taking over operations of the site. Like any webmaster who loves there project its hard to see at first, but we both came to the realization that the site needed to keep moving forward and not stay stagnant to long, so we began working.

When I say work, I mean 5-7 days a week, an hour or two a day getting the content transferred over to the new content management system (CMS) going through a ton of mock up designs, and then implementing this over the months. The project was one of the most developed projects I have ever been a part of, and to see it all come together as it has, is amazing. Now that the site has launched, and the anticipation is over, its now time to get to work. My hope is not only to bring the site back to a point where it used to be in terms of # of visitors, but I would like to far surpass those numbers and become one of the more distinguished fan based gaming websites on the interwebs today.

Please let me know what you think of the site, what you think of the design, content, load times, etc. I hope you all enjoy and you can expect a ton of updates on the progression of the site.

Welcoming in a New Month and the Announcement of my Latest Project

Joel — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:41:34 +0000

Welcome back everyone, I know it has been a while since my daily posts while traveling through Europe, but I needed to take sometime, get rested up, and really geared to get back to as close to daily updates as I can on this hear blog. What have you missed since coming back from Europe? Well Jenn and I are already on the search for a wedding location which so far has yielded some nice finds but as of right now no final decisions have been made. When planning the engagement, and planning to get married I don’t think I ever sat back and thought about the actual wedding. But that time has come and gone, it is the daily talk of the house, and it really is quite exciting. Outside of that, not anything else really new here, except for the announcement of my latest and by far biggest project I have worked on.

As many of you know, last year I went on a spending spree buying a ton of different TV site blog domains, developing the sites, and then I sold them earlier this year. That worked out really nicely. The problem with those sites were that they were not bringing in the type of revenue I would have liked, and secondly I couldn’t specialize in one area, I spread myself far to thin and didn’t do as great of a job as I could have. So I decided this year to go a different direction, instead of doing multiple projects I would work on one big project. What is that project? As of earlier this year I have been in talks with the owner of Darkstation.com, where I have been writing video game reviews, previews, interviews, news, etc for about 6 years and we have decided that I would take over the site and take it to the next level. So coming this month, yes this month, I will be launching the new version of Darkstation.com.

Taking over Darkstation is something that I have wanted to do for years, it has slowly been loosing steam and it was desperatley needing a new look, and some new blood. So Rizal (the owner) and I discussed a partnership of such where I would take over operations he would remain part of the site, but a smaller role. What does this mean for the site? Well it has gotten a complete make over, with the help of my good friend Josh Sadler who designed the site, and using CustomCMS we have created a site that I believe is far more appealing then the current product out right now. The new version will be coming out this month, there are only a few tasks that need to be done before launch. The design is about 100% done and the implementation in the CMS is about 99% done, where we are still working hard to finish is in content where we still have a bit of work to do. My estimated ETA would be next weekend. My original goal was 08-08-08 so I figure we are going to be extremely close to hitting that target date. Whatever the case I am very excited to show all of you the new version, get your feedback, and continue to expand Darkstation beyond what it already is today a great video game website and resource.

Developer Call for 2K Sports Prizefighter

Joel — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:45:38 +0000

As many of you know I am in the video game industry press. 2K Sports has begun doing developer calls for there games. I participated in one a few weeks back for Top Spin 3, and this morning I had one with 2K Sports for there upcoming Boxing title Prizefighter. What was neat about this developer call was that Don King and Larry Holmes was on the call with us. I have heard Don King before, this isn’t the first time, but man can this guy talk. On this conference call he went through 3 questions in 30 minutes or so. His long winded answers to questions were ridiculous, the man didn’t answer one question, for some reason he seems to just grab words from the dictionary and throw them in the air and hope some of them apply.

Larry Holmes on the other hand was interesting. The question was asked if he could fight anyone who would it be, he said George Foreman. Can you say bad blood? The conference calls are usually pretty informative, but Don King just talks to talk, I cannot believe this man, I have no idea what he was ever talking about. He goes from talking about the Bible to boxing, to the video game, to ancient philosophers.

The game itself looks amazing, the career mode being the center piece I feel like its a great idea. Fight Night from EA has always had there easy ride to the top, so I am hoping 2K Sports delivers. I wish I would have recorded this interview because if you could have heard some of Don King’s responses I have a feeling you would have scratched your head just like I was.

Giant NES Coffee Table Controller

Joel — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:22:11 +0000

There are very few videos these days on Youtube that I find interesting. I really don’t surf the site all that often, and so when I come across something interesting I try to post it up for you. I have to admit this video I found on Joystiq.com, and I have to say that I would love to have this coffee table! How fun would this be not only for Mario but all the great NES titles!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Grand Theft Auto IV Has Arrived..

Joel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:04:59 +0000

So as many of you know I review video games, I have been doing it for 5+ years and couldn’t find a better thing to do in the world. Days like today are why I love my job. I am obviously still a fan, although I am very critical of games as well, I see them for what they can be often times more then what they are. But today is different, I have been this excited to play a video game since The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess a few years back. Very few games make me “pumped up” to play, but Grand Theft Auto IV is. So just a word of warning if you are planning on viewing this blog in the next couple of days I may not be posting as frequently because I will be spending as much time as I can soaking up Liberty City. I’ll link you all to my review when it posts! For those who have got it, my XBL Gamertag is The Joelster so hit me up on there! See you in Liberty City.