• 14Aug 08

  Results day

  Today is that day. Fortunately, it's been a pretty good day for me. To cut a long story short, I needed an A and two B's in order to get into university (college). That's exactly what I got, plus an extra B from General Studies. I got my A in ICT, which I was relying on to be honest. That subject saw the majority of my attention throughout the last school year. The two B's were in English Language and History. I was a little disappointed with those because I dropped from an A in English (an A from last year) and, in History, I was only 7 marks away from an A. Funnily enough, I scored full marks in one of the three units (European) but then managed to get an E in the last unit (Scramble for Africa), which dragged my overall grade down. Pretty similar stuff to last year, when the same happened in ICT. My teacher says it'll be sent off for a remark in the hope of gaining those 7 marks.
  
  But, whatever the case, I'll be studying Philosophy at the University of Manchester this September, so all is well and there's not much point in worrying about the finer details, and thanks for reading.
  • Posted Aug 14, 2008 3:24 am GMT
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• 27Jul 08

  Farewell GameSpot

  If you thought I was leaving, think again. I'm just bidding farewell to the GameSpot we know right now. If you haven't already heard, there's a new design being brought in that's currently a Beta (beta.gamespot.com). I don't know if it's wrong of me to say this, because I really don't know who has worked on it and to what extent, but it's horrible. I really can't like it.
  
  I've already ranted in the thread on OT so, to save time:
  
  "Every website uses that wider setup and I have to say that GameSpot, as it is, is one of very few that actually looks attractive... because of its narrow design. The wider setup stretches the content across the page and doesn't look tidy at all. None of the sections look proportioned at all. I've had to design websites before, without getting into the technical aspect of it, and it's extremely hard to make something look appealing when there's zero symmetry, as can be seen in this Beta. With the narrow design, that's not the case.
  
  I mean, just look at the profile pages. There's so much wasted space. The left column contains our emblems, level and name; apart from that it's just blank. I fail to see why that tiny section can't be stuck in one of the other two columns, making the page narrower. It might not fill your browser but you're not missing any content. You probably get more on the current setup because of how much more compact it is. The new GameSpot header already takes up about four times as much room, at the expense of the inbox section that's crammed into the corner.
  
  So that's my main gripe, but the rest of it isn't much better. The font colours are bad. That yellow is just awful, and there's no need for two luminous colours (orange too). The sections of the website are very bland - just boxes, really... if that - more like boxes for headers and nothing to define the content below."
  
  I'd also like to add that this design will probably come with its own share of glitches like the last redesign, and I'm not going to be as forgiving this time, knowing that the glitches are a result of regress.
  
  From what I've gathered, most people seem to like the new design. I'd like to ask how many of you actually like the new design over the current one or whether you're just happy that it's something new. I can't imagine GameSpot going back on their decision to change things, even though change is not needed at all, unless, of course, we all moan like I am... but that's obviously not going to happen. I did leave feedback asking them to leave the page width but even that'll be ignored, I bet.
  
  Oh, and apparently it looks like Giant Bomb. Well, yes, the colour scheme and the navigation do look very much like it; there's no denying that. I heard a few people saying Jeff stole the designs on his way out of the office. I seem to remember saying that as a joke in the old Giant Bomb launch thread... so erm, coincidence, or will people believe anything?
  • Posted Jul 27, 2008 4:59 am GMT
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• 11Jul 08

  My third birthday

  On GameSpot, that is. Technically I started out on GameFAQs, so I haven't been posting for here for three years... more like two and a half. I'm not sure what to say, other than it's been fun and all that stuff usually said in a post party. The main reason I've stayed so long is because of the Off Topic board. In the beginning I posted more in unions and the PSP board but, as the unions died out and the initial excitement of having a PSP faded, I made the switch to OT. I think it's a permanent switch. If ever I post elsewhere, it's in System Wars, and I don't think anyone could stay there for long, heh.
  
  I think we need a stat rundown: 43,207 posts, 71 blogs, 5 reviews and 588 friends. Hmm, yeah, that's quite a lot of tracking there at the end. I'm now expecting no less than 588 comments on this blog as a result.
  
  So, I guess things will continue as they are until the end of summer and then I go to university, at which point, I'm not sure what will happen. I can't see myself stopping though, even though friends tell me I should. I'll always have time to burn and there's no place better than here for doing that. That reminds me of the old minutes counter they used to have on the forums page underneath the post count and messages read stats. If they still had that, it'd be very.... scary, probably.
  
  I was going to go into town today to get my broken disk swapped but I slept in until the afternoon and it's raining... I'll wait until Sunday. I can work on beating MGS4, GTA4 and Grid for now.
  
  Oh, and thanks to those who always read my blogs and comment. Your suffering does not go unnoticed; I usually comment back, I hope. That can be my target for the new GS year then: to comment on more people's blogs, because I really don't do it enough, save for a on a select few people's.
  • Posted Jul 11, 2008 6:19 am GMT
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