Need some feedback on some VG blogging

[[Daniel Primed]]

Hey people, in my spare time I run a video game/life blog called PrimeScape (http://danielprimed.com). In the past few weeks I've been working hard on my writing in order to create the best content that I can. I was hoping that I could get some hardened critique from some fellow gamers.

I just want to know if you think that the content in this blog is worth subscribing to? What could be improved? And just any general opinions on the content,design etc.

Thanks for taking a look guys, much appreciated. :)

BTW here are my favourite posts, should help you get started:

The Social Gamer (http://danielprimed.com/gaming/getting-out-and-about-–-the-social-gamer)
Bargain Hunting for videogames (http://danielprimed.com/gaming/bargain-hunting-for-videogames-5-rules)
The Official CD-I Reference (http://danielprimed.com/gaming/the-official-cd-i-reference)
Retro Review – Lufia 2: The Rise of the Sinistrals (http://danielprimed.com/gaming/retro-review-–-lufia-2-the-rise-of-the-sinistrals)
Retro Review – Shinobi III Return of the Ninja Master (http://danielprimed.com/gaming/retro-review-shinobi-iii-return-of-the-ninja-master)
Getting the most out of your avatar (Feat. Hugh Jackman) (http://danielprimed.com/tutorials/getting-the-most-out-of-your-avatar-feat-hugh-jackman)
DP’s Guide to buying your first digital camera (http://danielprimed.com/tutorials/dps-guide-to-buying-your-first-digital-camera)

[Boggy700]

The 'Avatar' article was good, and brought up a number of points that I had pondered myself, but the spelling could be tightened up in a number of places.
Also, being that the subject matter of each article varies significantly, I find I'm simply not interested in about half of those links.
(To be honest, I only ended up reading the 'Avatar' one, but that's due to laziness rather than disinterest.)
Otherwise, I would certainly revisit your blog, if I was a big blog reader.
I'm not, but I would if I were.

The one blog I read frequently is John Kricfalusi's (http://www.johnkstuff.blogspot.com).

[Kronz]

I would actually like to comment on the design a bit, and then go to the articles...

The design is very nice, but for a blog, don't you think it's too broad? I mean, there's a lot of space, which is occupied for the most part by text and links. I think it would be infinitely more attractive and stylish if it were about 780 pixels broad. It looks as though it's about a thousand right now.

Furthermore, in your style (.css) document(s), I recommend that you add this...

img { border:none; }

... so as to preclude any possible compatibility issues with Firefox and IE 7, being how when I visited the blog, I saw a solid two pixel border on the header and the XML icons. I'm sure you did not intend to have an ugly border around all of the graphics on your site, and this line of code will fix that in these two browsers, which happen to be the two most popular. (If you did, though, ignore this and forgive me for calling your borders ugly...)

About the articles, they need a lot of work in terms of spelling and diction, though they are avowedly pieces that even the non-gamer can read, relate to, and consequently enjoy. This redounds to your benefit, I think. And like Boggy, I liked the avatar article the best. It's not something you see everywhere and, what's more important, it's fun to read. From what I read, I'd say that, save for the creative spelling (I got this weird e-mail from some website called BestSchools or something talking about kids and their "Creative Spelling" and how it's a period of "profound learning"), your stuff is vastly more enjoyable than the usual journalistic fare. And that per sé is enough to warrant a few more visits.

Keep it up.

[[Daniel Primed]]

Yes I have realised these awful problems, you see I have no experience with web programming and got my brother to do it, it took him about 3 months to get of his ungrateful ass to code my design. Once he did it he was like "well, its done and thats thats it, not changing anymore" and it'd take him forever for him to change much.

Thank you heaps for your suggestion its been a plaguing problem. I can't help but think tat its been turning people away.

I think that my spelling problem comes down to my rough typing skills, not always 2x checking and using Openoffice which has a terrible spell checker. Do you have any suggestions beyond MS Word that could use.

Too much variety in my content is something that I've been very wearly of lately Boggy700. Thank you for your input. What do you think I would have to do in attract more people like you that normally don't read blogs?

Thanks for the input so far, this has been a great help.

[Boggy700]

I think the most important aspect of getting non-blog-readers to read yours is to develop an entertaining and distinct writing style voice... the way you talk about things.. rather than what you talk about.
If you write about something I'm interested in, I will read it, and if you wrote it in an entertaining way, I will want to read more of your writing, regardless of the subject matter.
For example, a lot of the stuff that Maddox writes about doesn't interest me, but I've read a lot of his articles anyway.
It's all in the delivery.
(Well maybe not all, but a lot.)

On actual content, I would suggest trying to pinpoint more original topics that are parts of the social subconscious, albeit often unnoticed, such as the 'avatar' article.

[Kronz]

It's a guilty pleasure of mine, but I read The Superficial (www.thesuperficial.com) once in a while. It's a blog where they basically poke fun at celebrity faux pas. Their articles exhibit at least a modicum continuity in terms of style and voice, and they all seem to fit together. I know I couldn't have suggested anything farther from your subject matter than this, but just look at the writing and forget about the Britney Spears articles. Also, another blog I read pretty often is TechCruch (www.techcrunch.com), and though there is much less humor to it, all of the articles are varied in content and the writing style is top-notch. Engadget (www.engadget.com) is also good, perhaps the best. Just look about Technorati for popular blogs and just study them for a while.

[[Daniel Primed]]

I think the most important aspect of getting non-blog-readers to read yours is to develop an entertaining and distinct writing style voice... the way you talk about things.. rather than what you talk about.
If you write about something I'm interested in, I will read it, and if you wrote it in an entertaining way, I will want to read more of your writing, regardless of the subject matter.
For example, a lot of the stuff that Maddox writes about doesn't interest me, but I've read a lot of his articles anyway.
It's all in the delivery.
(Well maybe not all, but a lot.)

On actual content, I would suggest trying to pinpoint more original topics that are parts of the social subconscious, albeit often unnoticed, such as the 'avatar' article.
The problem is that it these kind of social subconscious topics take a while to first recognise. Pulling the apart is easy. Definetly a good point though. I'll work on that.

I've also been working on trying to inject more personality into the blog this past week or so.

Overall I think that I am slowly but surely getting better. I've only really started blogging for an audience since about May and so far I have made a huge leap. So I just have to keep working hard on it. Thanks for the advice guys I apreciate it.