Chella hails from the UK and joined Gameindustry.com around the year 2000. It was so many moons ago, she can't quite remember. Back then, the only women you saw in the games industry were in bikinis and vertiginous heels at trade shows - oh how times have changed, kind of. Chella started as a humble reviewer, but soon became our European Correspondent and keeps us on top of industry happenings across the Pond.
She tends to like the weird Japanese games we've never heard of, so that's good for making us look all-encompassing and stuff. Chella does like games, so don't be fooled by the copious amount of columns devoted to bemoaning the lack of variety in the industry. When she's not surfing (the sea, not the internet) or camping up mountains, Chella likes a good action RPG (especially if it's sci-fi), anything with a good narrative and like we said, the weirder the better. She's also a regular in the GiN Lounge, but that's just because we like her accent.
The world of gaming is always a roller-coaster ride of emotion and this week is no exception. In the same week games have been praised and condemned in equal measure here in old Blighty. (that's slang for England for all you US readers) We all get spat out of the other end of the Christmas holidays, bleary-eyed and throbby-headed, but this year the New Year revelries were somewhat marred in the UK. On New Year's Eve two teenage girls were killed after being shot on a night out in Birmingham. Needless to say the country was shocked. The media was … Continue reading Pick Your Poison→
One day some fat suited types sat around a boardroom table and said, "I really love this idea about the big, green, farting ogre. I reckon we’re onto something here." I expect there was some kind of golden handshake. They all left the room with dollar signs in their eyes, high on the prospect of major marketing tie-ins; lunch boxes, bed spreads, games, maybe even a TV show. This could be the next Toy Story, they promised themselves. Shrek was good. I liked Shrek. But the same cannot be said for the string of games it has spawned. This time … Continue reading Shrek is big, but stupid→
Christmas is a time when all good little gamers can get some quality button bashing in – in-between peace on earth and family stuff of course. But now it's 2003 and a year of work stretches before us. This is not aided by long winter nights and cold winter mornings, unless you live somewhere hot, in which case pipe down. If only there was some sort of gamer hibernation program that meant we get to huddle up in front of consoles and PCs for the winter months. Fear not dear playmates, although I paint a gloomy picture thus far, all … Continue reading A New Dawn→
He’s a bald geezer with a barcode tattooed onto the back of his burly neck, but somehow he still manages to walk in the shadows and dispose of his targets with deadly efficiency. I am of course talking about Codename 47, who has returned to dish out some harsh justice in Hitman 2: The Silent Assassin. Step into the genetically engineered shoes of uber hitman 47 for some stealth and sinister underbelly of society type shenanigans. When the game begins, 47 has hung up his silencer and retreated to the confines of a Sicilian monastery. But local mobsters have discovered … Continue reading Hitting the Sweet Spot→
Yes it's that time again folks. The terminally unemployed are stuffed into Santa costumes and given a bell and a box for charity, housing estates around the country are transported into the upper echelons of bad taste (usually featuring light-up reindeer on the roof and plastic light up elves on the lawn) and I can delight in the comic wonder of Jim Carrey in The Grinch. Yes, it's Christmas time. It's around this time that journalists everywhere just can't be arsed to think of anything original so they look back bleary-eyed at the past year. Don't look at me for … Continue reading The Holiday’s Are Here Again→
This week dear play chums I am lamenting the loss of my dearly beloved Game Boy Advance. The GiN columnists aren't having much luck with gaming machinery lately. Although my loss can hardly compare to the General's casualties of war, it is never the less a loss. At this point I must admit that the lost GBA is partly my own fault. The event occurred after a genial evening of post work drinking in a most hospitable pub. After much merriment, I went home. It wasn't until the morning, when I went to grab my bag for work that I … Continue reading Bloody Thieving Bastards→
The summer's over and a new batch of bright-eyed students head off for university to get themselves an education, learn to drink copious amounts of beer and acquire a newfound appreciation of mum's home cooking. Nestled among the history, English and business studies students lurks a new breed of academic – the videogames undergraduate. It's been a long time coming, but it looks like academia is finally opening the door to videogames. Over the past few years, courses designed to train a wealth of industry savvy graduates have been cropping up like mushrooms. From Tyne Tees down to the south … Continue reading Games Invade Ivory Tower→
It has to be said, I have viewed the coming of Splinter Cell with some suspicion. I mean, I don't like Metal Gear, so why on earth would I put myself through the trauma of looking forward to and being disappointed by another sneak-em-up. Right from the very first screen shots, all I could see was some bloke crouched behind a crate, a gun held up against his cheekbone. Here we go again, think we've all seen this before, I said to myself. Yet another feeble attempt to step into the platinum "oh my God he's so wonderful" shoes of … Continue reading Suspect The Splinter Cell→
In the week that Pro Evolution Soccer makes a welcome return to every soccer-loving gamer’s console, I review the latest offering from Lego. Let’s go have a kick about in Lego Land. The premise here is a soccer (oh, for goodness sake, I’m gonna call it "football", so just deal with it), a football game comprising Lego men. Well, I thought to myself, this could be quite cute and with Lego’s reputation for good quality games, my hopes were high. Just for thoroughness I tested both the PC and the GBA versions. Both games run along the same lines, so … Continue reading Keep Your Eye on the Ball→
On an average day I scour the Internet, visiting my favorite games websites in search of news, gossip, hearsay and sometimes even fact. This week I followed a link to the CBC News website and the Marketplace page – Canada’s Investigative Consumer Program. And what did I find there? Well it all began with the story of a woman, no, a"gasp, single mother, who enjoys playing EverQuest once her children are in bed. Nothing strange there you may think, but Canada’s Investigative Consumer journalists thought differently, and in the name of Canadian consumers they dug deep into the dark underbelly … Continue reading Chella Vs. Wendy Mesley→
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