Dear Bitmob Community,
My name is Jackson W. Ryan and I am a budding community member who does my best to provide fresh and sometimes unusual looks into the games industry from the perspective of an adolescent white male (nothing new there). I frequent a number of gaming websites in my travels and I feel like, right now, some of the best content is coming from people with relatively little skill or experience in the industry. These people are generating the discussions and many of the larger, well-funded websites are surfing those highs and lows with the smaller, community-based websites. Bitmob is certainly one of the places where unique content is being produced and I am happy to be a part of it. I haven’t done a Meet the Mob post yet, so I thought I would include a short video about me, so you know who I am and what I’m about here at Bitmob. However, the video also has a somewhat impossible to disguise underlying message and that is, like Princess Leia, I need your help, Obitmob Kenobi.
[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5hTrKuhHtk ]
The reason I write to you guys today is that I am in a rather unique position. You may have seen some of my other articles – my ongoing narrative based on Shadow of the Colossus or my recent creation “The Science Portal” where I marry science and video games as best I can. From these articles you may be able to tell that I am trying to approach things a little differently, get a different perspective from the world of video games. However, let me get to that unique position I am in.
I recently entered a competition that was being run in Australia/New Zealand via my humble, sleek and often dusty Xbox where the winner would be given the opportunity to fly to LA and attend this year’s E3. Specifically, the overall winner has the chance to meet a lot of the industry developers, publishers and alumni that attend the event as well as get their hands on the latest video games. I, fortunately, was selected as one of the Top 5 and now it comes down to a community vote to see who will make it to E3. I have included the entry video below, which I hope demonstrates my boyish charm and rugged good looks but realise really demonstrates my often dead-in-the-water humour and horrible neckbeard (thank god the lighting is good).
[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MOb0BYnihU ]
For me to win overall, I actually need the help of the Xbox community*. I need them to vote via their Xbox’s that they like my video. Hell, you might not even like my video and that’s cool – this is not a plea for votes, rather I just want to know what you guys want to know that’s a little different to the norm. Do you want me to go to E3 and ask about the gameplay of game X, or the innovation in game Y? Or do you want me to go to E3 and ask major developers like Cliffy B how many beers he’s chugged in his life and if the bone structure of Marcus Fenix is actually capable of supporting the weight of all that muscle? What about Miyamoto's drinking habits? Do you want to hear about the soundtrack to game X and who’s behind it? How about TESO? I don’t mind what the community wants to hear, I feel like as this is a community-based competition, it deserves to be questions from the community that make it over there. I’d rather meet the global community’s desire for something different and fresh than anything else.
So please, do go vote on your 360* (even if it isn’t for me [id love if you voted for me]) and send one of us over to LA (like… me right?) and leave your comments about some of the unusual, different questions you want asked. There’s really no point going if I don’t have the backing of the people. I know there is already a post dedicated to this thing from earlier on, but I feel it only covers a small section of the community’s wishes, so think outside the box about some of your burning questions about video games. Nothing is sacred.
Oh, and thanks for meeting me!
*I believe that voting is restricted to Australian and NZ residents only and thus, if you are from glorious Oceania, please get all over it. If not, still leave your comments for me so I can find out what people wanna know about that is a little different to the standard previews and whatnot!