Topic: A proper intro from one of NL's new writers 😎

Hello everyone!

I thought it would be a good idea to actually introduce myself here.

Hi! I'm Kate, and I'm handling news and various other things on here alongside the rest of the NL team. I've been a journalist for a while - I started my career at Official Nintendo Magazine (RIP) and I've since worked at Xbox, GameSpot, and Official Xbox Magazine. My true love will always be Nintendo, though, so it's nice to be back

Also, I live in Canada! But I'm originally from Leicestershire (represent) and I've lived in London, Devon, Cheshire, and The Cotswolds. I used to live in Montreal, but now I live in Nova Scotia, where the pandemic is almost non-existent. It's pretty nice!

Since it usually comes up: my favourite Nintendo games (not ranked) include:
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Ghost Trick
Ace Attorney
Majora's Mask
Fantasy Life (if anyone else loves Fantasy Life, please let me know)
Hades

Anyway! If you wanted to ask questions or just chat, I'd be super happy to get to know you all, too.

Wow, that's a good mix of games, I will always love Majoras Mask though. That game is insanely fun, and I'm really hoping it gets a switch port or remaster.

Hello! Cool that you're reaching out to the community!

@KateGray Majoras mask needs a switch port, that game was just to good.

Welcome! Nova Scotia is a beautiful part of the world I visited many moons ago.

Will you be doing reviews for the site at all?

I was looking at Ghost Trick recently as was thinking of compiling a small collection of physical DS games to play on the 3DS I acquired during last years lockdown. Would you say it holds up today?

Wooo, a fellow Maritimer! I'm from New Brunswick myself, but I also lived in PEI for about 5 years when I went to university. Nice to see members of the staff interact with the community on the forums.

I'm a big fan of all the games you listed, although Wind Waker is probably my favorite Zelda. It used to be Majora's Mask, but when the HD version of Wind Waker came out and fixed most of my complaints with the game, it stole the #1 spot. And yes, Fantasy Life is amazing and doesn't get talked about enough! Same with Ghost Trick too, but I feel like that one is often brought up as a hidden gem on the DS.

@KateGray @BongoBongo can you do reviews if you don't finish games? I never finish games so I can't judge. TBH I don't even know why I buy them when I won't finish them. Anyways welcome to Canada. I wish there was more snow this year.

@BongoBongo I know you asked Kate, not anyone else, but I had to pipe up. Yes, Ghost Trick absolutely holds up today. It’s a fantastic puzzle game/visual novel, and there really isn’t much else like it out there.

Hiya, @KateGray! I'm in north east US. I see your not-fighting-ganon in botw, and I will counter it with not completing Thousand Year Door 🤪. That's more about me not liking turn-based combat, though. Anyway, welcome!

I skipped two console generations, and got the Switch at launch because I had to have Mario Kart 8. And after skipping 2 generations of consoles, playing BOTW, Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2, was just surreal.

@KateGray What's made you decide to leave the UK? The weather, Boris Johnson, Rastamouse being cancelled?

@BongoBongo I have done a few reviews already, and I'll be doing more

Ghost Trick is fantastic, and it's aged well, too. It's by the same creator as Ace Attorney, and MOST of those games hold up pretty well! It's a little tricky to get hold of (in my experience) but it's worth it.

@FroZtedFlakerZz I agree! Not a particularly controversial bunch of games, though - maybe I should pick ones to really rile the community up

@Cynas I haven't been to New Brunswick at all, yet! In fact, I've only really been to Newfoundland because of the airport. I need to explore the Maritimes more, so I guess I'll have to get a car!

@sixrings when I review games, I endeavour to finish them. That's not always possible, of course - if I get a game that's 80+ hours long and the review is due in two days, I try to get a really good sample of it before I form my opinion.

To be honest, game reviews are... tricky. I don't know if you saw the latest GameXplain news where it turned out that reviewers had put in sleepless nights and overtime to review games. I've never had to do that, but it is often not particularly fun to review a game on a deadline!

I think that having to rush to the end of a game is not going to be a very useful way of getting to know whether you like the game or not. If I had to play BOTW for review, I'd be stressed the whole time about getting to the end in time to write about it, rather than savouring my time and exploring!

@WoomyNNYes I had a similar experience with the PlayStation! Played PS1 a bit, then didn't play again until PS4. There were soooo many games I'd missed out on. I'd basically gone from Crash Bandicoot to Uncharted 4 and it was WILD.

Also, do I not get any credit for beating all the Divine Beasts? Those were technically Ganon fights, too!

@jump I'd always wanted to live in Canada, and when I was freelance (living in London) I realised... I could just do this anywhere. And probably pay less rent!

Also, the summer of 2016 (post-Brexit vote, a fun time), I worked in Sweden for a month, and met a bunch of people from all over the world. That made me realise that I'd barely explored the world at all, but also that I could live just about anywhere relatively easily. Canada seemed like a nice choice, since it's culturally between the US and the UK (sort of), so I wouldn't have to adjust too much

I am sad about Rastamouse being cancelled, though.

@KateGray I am also in Nova Scotia (Annapolis Valley). What area are you in? I'm guessing in HRM
Yeah, the pandemic being what it is here, I often forget that most of the rest of the country and world are still in pandemic lockdowns. We've had it very good.

@KateGray id hate to review games and be pressured to finish them in a certain amount of time. I hate binge watching or playing. Much prefer a little here and there... Id hate that job.

Ive only been out east once and it was super nice. Welcome again.

@Shadowthrone you guessed right! I'm here in snowy HRM, on the actual peninsula and everything. About 20 minutes' walk from the waterfront! I have a close friend who lives in Wolfville and I've been meaning to visit

I used to think NS was a bit too rural for my tastes, but after living in Montreal for three years, I love how friendly and kind and talkative everyone is here!

@sixrings luckily, I've found a good balance between gaming for fun and gaming for work! I tend to request reviews for games I know I'll play anyway (like Story of Seasons... fingers crossed I get that one)