Been thinking about Games Journalism recently. Or, in a slightly different spin of my usual ruminations, Games *journalists*. As in the people I've known who've done this for a living, and what makes each individual special, different or noteworthy.

Some people are already well ahead of me, with John Walker's careful analysis of his personal games journalist hero Bob Mandel. I recommend you read it.

But not everyone's rubbish.

(And there's far worse paid writers than Bob. He's just picked up Walker's ire because he likes some rubbishy old adventures. And that he's writing check-list reviews. Most of the big site aren't even *trying* anymore, and Mandel's stuff comes across as absolute poetry in comparison)

It's a joy in Games Journalism that despite rubbish pay and with barely respect from anyone, it continues to attract people smart enough to be briliant but dumb enough to realise they should probably spend their brilliance elsewhere.

It's always good seeing new people come through.

I don't really know Tom on Gamer that well. He's Nu-Gamer, so I haven't had the drunk-with-him-every-night-for-five-years thing I share with people like Rossignol or Ross. And he's a disc ed, which always fills me with the fear, especially the odd-ball breed of Gamer disc eds who can both understand technical things, love games and still can actually write. They give me the fear mainly because they can actually *do* stuff, and all I can do is put a few words together (And even *that* needs someone else to come along afterwards to make sure I've remembered to include fullstops). And he has facial hair, which always one of nature's STAY AWAY warning signs.

However, post-falling down the stairs and almost breaking his limbs on Friday night, I've decided we've reached the level of intimacy that I can now read his blog.

And he's only gone and made me give Half-life a deathmatch a try.

For the last hour or so I've been killing strangers by firing toilets at their head with a gravity gun.

Gaming is glorious.

Tom knows this. Go read about it.