Editorial: July 2019

Welcome to July’s editorial post, a monthly progress report which rounds-up all the happenings here at Later Levels along with the games we’ve been playing. With our plans for GameBlast20 recently announced along with a trip to the London Gaming Market, let’s take a look at recent events.

Statistics:

Do you need more #BloggerBlitz commentary in your life? Then head over to #OverThinkerY and check out today's post! is.gd/pI6f2T

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Later Levels (@LaterLevels) July 22, 2019

Blog life:

It’s that time of year again: prepare yourself for Blogger Blitz! A group of awesome creators and their favourite video game characters are battling it out in a series of wacky challenges set by Ian from Adventure Rules, and a team of just-as-awesome judges will be crowning a worthy winner. Chris from OverThinker Y and I have taken part in the past two events but this year we’re combing our powers to bring you something different. Check out our first competition commentary posts to catch up on what you’ve missed.

Continuing the collaboration theme, a few other projects kicked off in July. I’m working on something special with Luke from Hundstrasse which will involve us being ‘away from keyboard’ (a small clue there). For GameBlast20, my other-half and I will be challenging ourselves to stream video games for at least an hour for 50-days straight from 05 January 2020. And starting from 01 August 2019, Phil and I will be taking part in this year’s Blaugust blogging festival and trying to publish a post every single day for a month.

Good news: started new job today! 😀 Bad news: won't have much time for blog-related stuff this week. 🙁 Please… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Later Levels (@LaterLevels) July 01, 2019

Real life:

After having to work a long notice period, I finally moved into my new role at the beginning of July. I’m enjoying it as it’s more technical than my previous IT career although I’m at ‘the bottom of the mountain’s and there’s so much I need to learn. Every evening I’m arriving home exhausted after trying to cram as much knowledge into my head as possible, and sadly that’s leaving little time for video games and blogging right now so I haven’t been on the scene much recently.

I don’t regret it for a second though and changing career was the thing to do. The lack of spare time has just made me realise I need to focus on the positives around me and do the things I enjoy when I do have a free hour. Fortunately our garden renovations are nearing completion so we’ll get to enjoy a few barbecues and being outside for at least part of this summer, and next month there’s a trip to Bristol lined up so we can visit Tim and Jake from GeekOut UK to play games over a beer or two.

Gaming life:

After buying a PlayStation 2 in the London Gaming Market in March, we went back to the July event to pick up some more games for the console. My favourite purchase of the day was Herdy Gerdy – I think I’m one of the only people who actually enjoyed this 2002 release and I’ll be doing a stream of it soon to relive the nostalgia! I also managed to find copies of Syberia and Syberia II to sate my point-and-click obsession, and Tetris Worlds could be a good one for GameBlast20 thanks to its split-screen functionality.

As for digital releases, I also purchased a few new games during the Steam summer sale – although I’ve managed to complete most of them already and am once again searching for new titles to play. The highlight was A Plague Tale: Innocence and despite not being overly keen on the ending, I’d love to see a sequel one day. If you’re looking for something shorter and have 90 minutes to spare, I’d recommend checking out Alt-Frequencies. The storyline feels a little rushed but the concept is definitely an interesting one.

Coming up:

And now over to you guys: what have you been up to lately, and what have you got planned for the coming month? Is there anything the community can help with or get involved in? Let everybody know in the comments below so we can show our support. Thanks for reading!