A Testament to Community...

Ever since BXB held its first LAN event, I've been continually amazed by the BXB Community Spirit. People are willing to travel miles to meet each other they chat to on a forum.

Poeple are more than willing to go miles out of their way to pick up a fellow BXBer to take them to a LAN party while other members send each other free games that they've won because their online friends can't afford to buy them.

Another brilliant thing about BXB's Community is how itself polices itself, I think Dave "Apocalypse Cow" Cartlidge put it the best: "I like to do things for BXB because the site's all about the people...There's a kind of self-policing that goes on that I've never seen before...It's that kind of community feeling that keeps people coming back".

And we're not just talking the long standing members getting into this Community spirit, even the newer visitors have been getting into the swing of BXBs Community.

Take KLOiD, he joined the forum just before the launch of the 360 and he's obviously been drawn into the spirit of BXB as he's actually running a competition, off his own back, for the users of BXB!

KLOiD explained: "Okay, everyone likes a bit of friendly competition to get the excitement going yeah? I thought it'd be cool to run a little race between the BXB members to see who can get the first Pearl Flower on Hexic.

This is how the comp'll work: once you've got your Grand Pearl Pooh-Bah achievement, say so in this thread and get another forum-poster who's on your FL to check the achievement and confirm it (if you don't have any friends( ), add me and I will). Recognition shall be forever yours!

To spice things up I'm willing to throw in some actual prizes for the winner, which I'll post out once s/he's been confirmed. These are just a few things I don't need or I've got two of (don't worry, they're in perfect nick..!). The prizes are: 1xDVD of Akira (Original 4:3 transfer with original production report extra) 1xUltimate Spiderman - Power and Responsibility (Collecting issues 1-7 of Marvel's rewriting of the Spidey story. Getting bitten, wrestling, Uncle Ben's demise, Green Goblin... it's all here. Quite funny too.) 1xDVD of Ong Bak (Wireless martial arts madness + tons of extras)."

Check out his thread by clicking here!

This guy is prepared to give away his own stuff as a prize to some random guy he's never met on the Internet! Well, KLOiD, I salute you!

So, why is BXB's Community great? Well, I'd like to think that it's down to how fantastically BXB runs the site but we only play a small part. J Allard spoke about the fact that all he did with the 360 was to provide a service and then when the console was let loose, it was up to the users to see what it evolved into.

Pah! Move on Mr Allard, BXB has been doing that since the beginning.

At the end of the day, the users make BXB and it will never cease to amaze me how far they are prepared to go to contribute to the Community.

NDA Culture...

NDA stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement and is basically a contract between a Publisher and a media outlet that sets down the rules regarding the reviewing of games.

Personally, I’ve signed one with Phantagram and I have another one in the workings with EA and I’ve had to sign a Licensing Agreement with Microsoft. These are all instances where I’d consider an NDA to be appropriate.

However, there are places where they aren’t and some people in this Industry seem to regard the signing of an NDA to be some sort of right of passage. I certainly didn’t feel anymore or less important when I signed the NDAs I have.

As I spoke about in my Blog yesterday, I’ve recently come to an agreement with xboxgamezone for them to organise BXB tournaments for us. Now, I’ve had these agreements before with other members of the gaming industry and I haven’t felt the need to sign an NDA with them because I made the agreement on mutual trust and mutual interest. Essentially - I trust the person I made the agreement with.

On a couple of occasions that was the wrong thing to do. As without a legally binding agreement either party can do as they wish without fear of legal retribution. Just below the level where I feel the application of an NDA to an agreement are a bunch of people who are using these things without need and to inflate their own sense of self-importance.

When working with one "industry professional" he asked me whether we needed to sign an NDA before we moved forward in the working relationship, I replied that I didn’t feel it was necessary. However, in hindsight, crafting and signing an NDA would have perhaps been a good idea as this "industry professional" then proceeded to lie and bullshit me for several months before I confronted him and ended my dealings with him - in the end I came off the worse in the situation.

I understand the need for NDAs when dealing with such important agreements as licensing out a Development Kit. But for a small agreement on working a few things together I felt it was out of place.

The NDA is representative of a paranoid industry. With an abundance of online media outlets that grows everyday, publishers are inundated daily with hundreds of requests for review copies of games and sifting through all this mail to find the genuine sites from the free loaders hunting for a few free games must take a hell of a long time.

I once saw an e-mail from one major publishers in which they were complaining to the people on their mailing list that they weren’t being sent URLs to the reviews games they sent out. They weren’t seeing the come back for their investment, can we blame publishers for being a little bit paranoid about who they are dealing with?

EA wouldn’t even entertain the idea of working with BXB until we were added to the EMEA Reviewer Kit List and even then they are asking me to sign an NDA. Why? Because it’s a way of ensuring that they are working with a genuine media outlet and if they turn out to be a free loader they can flex their legal muscles and royally own the fake media outlet.

This paranoia filters all the way down to the lowest levels of the industry, with absolute nobodies signing NDAs with other nobodies, neither of which have the financial ability to take any action if this fake "agreement" is broken. It’s a joke.

Perhaps that this paranoia is in fact a good thing. It’s something that we should all have to protect us from disappointment and betrayal. What concerns me the most about signing an NDA, except in the case of major companies, is that it makes me wonder that if the person I’m dealing with wants an NDA - what are they prepared to do in the absence of one?

In conclusion, there is none. I can see both the good and bad points about NDAs but one thing that does really piss me off, is people that bang on about stuff and when you ask them for more detail they say they’re NDA and can’t say.

It’s cringe worthy cock waving and there’s no need.

Simple Stuff...

Firstly, let me apologise for this blog going somewhat crazy over the last few entries, this is due to the fact I was having a break from BXB and hence was just posting a load of rubbish. Moving back onto commenting upon the Gaming Industry from now on. Honest.

I'm sure many a Community/Fansite owner has come to realisation that the chances of them making it to IGN kind of levels on their own is pretty remote. I'm also sure that these same people have thought about working with other fansites to create a bigger and better community for everyone. It's an idea which is discussed and re-discussed over and over again.

However, often, the one thing that stops this from happening is the desire to make it to IGN kind of levels without the help of others. A typical arrogant and egotistical reaction to creating your own endeavour.

Even if you're willing to tend to these egos and relent certain things to them, just because you know it would serve the greater good, these egos will still end up warring against you. So, when I meet someone who genuinely wants to do something for Gamers, the most important people in this industry, it's very refreshing.

My first experience was with Dan from Game Network. He struck me immediately as a genuine guy that loved games and wanted to work with BXB to make things better for everyone. We share goals and we share loves. BXB's affiliation with Game Network was without a doubt a very positive move in the right direction.

So, with this little success under BXB's belt, I started hunt round for other people to work with and once again I stumbled across someone who obviously shares my love of gaming and has the same goals - to give something great to gamers.

After some initial difficulty in discussing my plans for BXB Tournaments run by fellow XCN site www.xboxgamezone.co.uk with it's Competition and Event Specialist Lisa Bidder, I found that our discussion was short, to the point and basically incredibly easy and simple. Essentially, it was ego free.

Both parties involved knew that the other party has something to offer to the relationship and that this relationship would be beneficial to everyone involved. Hence, in the coming weeks, XGZ will be featuring on BXB and will be running a Project Gotham Racing 3 knockout Tournament which will be broadcast on Game Network.

The other end of the scale is a different story and ultimately more disappointing and troubling. Last year, I offered to work with www.thelastmanstanding.net in helping them organise a joint LAN event. A LAN event that would be bigger and better for everyone visiting because we would work together.

Sadly, after a number of frustrating discussions with the representatives of LMS, I decided to give up. The breaking point being perhaps when they asked me: "Why do we need your help?" My frustration knew no bounds because I couldn't convince these guys that BXB and LMS working together would be good for both parties. "We want to do it on our own..." They added. It's a fine example of where someone's ego gets in the way of everyone getting a better deal.

So, Lisa Bidder, I salute you for you ego free approach to this Industry and I look forward to more pleasantly simple stuff between XGZ and BXB!

RSCPA Officials were horrified today after they discovered the remains of a small rodent encased in a plastic bubble, on display in the National Space Centre, Leicester.

The small rodent has since been removed but has stumped vets and scientists alike due to it's odd colour and mysterious physiology. Further tests on the creature have failed to give a clue to its origins but many scientists believe the creature may have originated from somewhere outside of our planetary biosphere.

The RSPCA have released photos of the creature in it's imprisoned state in an attempt to shed light on this mystery.

Dr Frinkington, Biomedical Physical Professor of London told the press: "The creature is unlike anything I've ever seen on this earth. Perhaps the oddest thing about the animal is that it's brain to body size ratio suggests a rudimentary intelligence akin or possibly higher than dolphins and enlarged and oddly shaped vocal cords that are likely to allow the animal to communicate with other members of its species with loud popping or beeping sounds."

The National Space Centre management refused to comment on the findings by the RSPCA and Dr Frinkington. An insider told us: "The RSPCA and scientific community will certainly have a red face if this turns out to be a right clanger!"

New Years Resolutions

I was thinking of writing a blog about my New Years resolutions but realised there must be about a million other blogs which are exactly the same being written today and so decided to write something different. Then I realised there must be another million blogs which are doing that as well. So, fuck it, New Years Resolutions it is.

Well, I have a simple New Years Resolution. Become a Freelance Gaming Journalist. I feel that my time with BXB has helped secure the hardware, get the experience and earn the contacts I need to offer interesting content out to gaming magazines. And with such a large range of Xbox 360 magazines currently available I'm sure there's plenty of opportunities.

I'm also going to keep working hard on BXB because that's where this all began. I've made such a huge investment in BXB and I feel so close to the community that I just couldn't stop working on it.

It's that simple really.