Wii Rally

Hello everyone tis a holiday up here in Canada so I’m taking the day off to celebrate Lord Simcoe. Lord Simcoe was the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada which is now known as southern Ontario where I was born and currently live. So all you Canadians out there don’t forget to thank Lord John Graves Simcoe for the long weekend.

I shall return tomorrow till then Happy Simcoe Day!

I really need to stop trying to do things that depend on streaming internet video. I know I promised all of you a breakdown of Nintendo’s E3 media briefing today but I can’t seem to get the feed to work. I will try again tomorrow. Sorry everyone but check back tomorrow for all your Nintendo E3 goodness.

OK let me take a minute to catch my breath. Whew! What crazy couple of weeks, yes that’s right I’m back baby.

Like I said the past two weeks have been kind of a whirlwind between putting the finishing touches on “300: Blood and Glory“*, (My thesis project for which my team and I got an “A”) attending my first graduation ceremony, and moving a good hour and a half outside the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) which has been my home for the better part of 23 years it’s almost been too much to handle.

As I write this post I am sitting outside on my new veranda enjoying a quite cup of coffee. My new office is still under construction, the floor went in this weekend thanks to my Dad and I. The walls are next and once that’s all done it’s just a matter of procuring a computer and voila Tim Ashdown Publications has a new home. I’ll keep you all updated on the progress.

For now all of you Rally landers can take solace in the fact that I’m back to covering the Wii for all the Nintendo junkies out there. I did use some of my vacation time playing a couple of recent titles for review. So keep it locked here for upcoming reviews of Mario Party 8 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

*300: Blood and Glory is a fighting game which uses the Ogre engine and is for the Windows O/S. The game is for educational purposes only and is not a licensed “300″ product. If you would like more information on this game or other QCF Studio titles please email tim.ashdown@gmail.com

Hey everyone, whether you noticed it or not I have been absent the last couple of days. So I’ll fill you in on the haps. As long time readers may already know I have been moving and my new office is not exactly up and running yet. So I’ve been using some vacation time to sort things out and settle in to the house. Things should be back to normal by next Monday so you can expect the Rally to be back on track by then.

Hey all it’s wrap up time.

Some of you who happen to read other 451 press blogs may have noticed that our friends at 1pstart have left the network. From what I have heard BB, Kezins and Mazz have moved on to bigger and better things and Wii Rally wishes them all the best in the future. What this means for you Wii gamers out there is that Wii Rally is now the only place on the 451 network where you can wet your Wii whistle.

I’ve been incredibly busy working on a fighting game called 300: Blood and Glory for PC and we are looking at a June 25th completion date. My point is that working on a game and writing an unrelated blog can be tough but I’m not going anywhere and I will try my best to bring you interesting stories everyday.

Now on to the wrap!

Monday
Out of Commission
NA VC Update 05/21/07

Tuesday
Wii Summer Releases

Wednesday
“Turn Up the Rock Turn Down the Suck!�?

Thursday
Video Thurday: ????? Edition
Reggie Re-confirms Big Titles for ‘07

Feature Friday
Web-slinging Never Looked So Bad

So there I am walking down the street minding my own business when Mr. Head Cold steps in front of me and punches me in the face. A couple bed ridden days later and I’m getting over it but I finally have enough energy to clack da keys of me keyboard.

It’s amazing that working on a computer requires little to no physical activity but when you are sick you dread even switching on the power button. My friends all thought that something had happened to me since I hadn’t been online. Perhaps even a few of you out there in Rally land were concerned. Never fear I have returned and I have some new reviews for you all. So keep that RSS reader locked on the Rally.

Greetings all, I had a crazy one this weekend. Some of you may know that I graduate this June I’m really excited to enter the next chapter of my life and the next chapter of my career as a budding games writer.

I figured I’d let everyone on a little secret. My girlfriend and I are buying a house but the hose will not only provide us with a place to eat and sleep it will of course be the new home of Wii Rally and Tim Ashdown Publications. I’m going to be launching my own website this summer which will feature my portfolio as well as a personal Blog so you can get all you uncensored Tim craziness. Don’t worry Wii Rally will still be around and the content won’t change. I like writing for 451 Press and will continue to do so as long as I can.

Other than my own uncensored website I’m excited that I will be able to devote a lot more time to writing come July 1st with school done at that point. So be on the look out for my takeover of the intertubes MUAHAHAHAHAHA! On to the Wrap!

Monday
NA VC Update 04/23/07
Nintendo Booth Bound for TGS ‘07
Wii Browser Warning

Tuesday
Rumour: Wii-boards On the Way

Wednesday
A Few Words About The Godfather: Blackhand Edition

Thursday
Wii/DS Combo Helps With Record Numbers

Feature Friday
Feature Friday: Internet Channel FAQ
Euro VC Update 04/27/07

I may or may not have been the victim of an April fools joke played by the editors of EGM. No one has been able to confirm or deny that Mushroom Kingdom Hearts is Wii bound. If I have been had then I have to laugh at myself for buying this story hook line and sinker but there is nothing funny about stealing someones works and passing it off as your own.

I was checking digg.com today and I found another story about Mushroom Kingdom Hearts upon clicking the link to the story I was shocked at what I saw. My story about the EGM blurb has been posted word for word by someone named Pinata on www.vgcharts.org.

He used my image, he posted my misspelling of SquEnix, he even submitted the story to digg and received more diggs than me. No link was made to my post and absolutely no credit was given. I contacted vgcharts.org and asked the following questions.

ME - One of your users or contributors has blatantly stolen one of my posts.
My name is Tim Ashdown and I write www.wiirally.com for 451 Press LLC and someone named Pinata has stolen content from my website word for word. No link or credit is given. Any comment?

VGCHARTS - Not really, it happens all the time and the contributors are allowed to do
whatever they want - there is an option to cite a source but they
obviously chose not to…

ME - So you guys plagiarise people’s work all the time?

VGCHARTS - It’s user - submitted news. Just a blog-style page where people post the latest news stories. I could probably find 4-5 other places that have used your story (by a law of averages) - be flattered.

This leads me to believe that this is common practice at vgcharts.org. Be flattered? Not only is this dishonest and unethical I’m pretty sure it’s illegal too but I’m not a lawyer. 451 Press LLC is now handling the matter I will update all of you with further developments. I know this happens to journalists all the time but this is a first for me and I must say I feel dirty. I used to think that vgcharts.org was a reputable organization but I guess I was wrong.

My post
Plagiarism post

[UPDATE-1] VGcharts.org has since added a link to Wii Rally to the post. The victory is bitter sweet however the addition of the link comes after the site stole a whole days worth of Digg traffic away from my little site. I really appreciate being ripped off like that. I wonder if they’re going to send me a check for lost revenue too? Or at least apologise.