Digital Gigolo had an exclusive interview planned for its Christmas Special. Unfortunately my interviewee – Matthew Castle – has declined to take part. Not because he’s a meanie or anything, it’s just that he prefers to keep his personal opinions, well, personal. Completely understandable. And besides, he turned me down in the sweetest possible way. Hi Alan,
I’ve read your questions – and it’s certainly a quirky interview – but I don’t think I can answer them.
You’ve been here and know what its like, but Future business has to remain Future business and I’m just not comfortable releasing personal opinions about other mags(Edge, etc) and what it is we do. Truth is, I kind of like to keep my background away from the readers, too. Fact is, I applied for a job and got one. Not the best of stories!
I’m sorry if this disappoints – I really dig the intro to the questions and the tone it sets – but I like to keep my cards close to my chest. That said, I respect your continued efforts and am dead chuffed you would even want to hear my ramblings in the first place.
Maybe, and I’d have to ask Nick (Editor of NGamer), we could do a more general NGamer interview – about the mag, some of its workings, etc. That could work out…
Again, sorry if this puts me in your ‘Jerk Book’ (we all have one, right?)
Thanks,
Matthew
Matthew, you'll be happy to know that my ‘jerk book’ remains blank. In a time which celebrates convenience, stupidity, noise and fame for fame’s sake, I rather admire Mr Castle’s wish to remain free from self promotion and hype. Nonetheless, I know my readership are a curious bunch and I think they’d like a peek at the questions that I pitched to Matthew.
So here they are in the interview that will never be:
Matthew Castle is not an easy man to get hold of. I’ve been pestering him all year for this interview. It’s not that he’s shy. It’s just that he finds the whole ‘journalists as celebrity’ thing a little creepy.
‘I think I may appear a little pompous to allow myself to be subject to an interview’, he told me when I initially proposed the idea. ‘It would feel a little self-indulgent on my part - the mag is where I do my talking’.
Indeed. And besides, he’s a busy man. Matthew is the Games Editor for Ngamer and contributes regularly to Xbox World 360, PSM3 and Edge. He simply hasn’t got the time to indulge the nagging demands of an overenthusiastic blogger.
And yet here he is.
You see, as well as being acutely modest, he’s also a very nice chap. But I’ve got to be carfeul about pouring on the compliments too thick. Matthew agreed to this interview on one condition – that it didn’t degenerate into a sycophantic ode to his omnipotent greatness.
So then, let’s start with something a little tounge-in-cheek instead…
C’mon Matthew, it’s time you came clean. That Red Steel review – do you still stand by it? Be honest now…
Were you surprised by peoples’ reaction? Does anyone still give you shit about it?
As a games journalist who regularly writes for both NGamer and Edge, you are uniquely placed to comment on the magazines’ considerable clash in both style and tone. For the sake of convenience let’s compare the magazines’ Red Steel reviews:
NGamer – 90%
It's liquid movement... A massive improvement on previous console FPS control... Not only making excellent use of the Wii's controllers, this is huge fun in its own right. For a launch title to get so much right is an indicator of great things to come.
Edge – 5/10
It's easy to over-rate launch titles thanks to the shock of the new, doubly so when the control scheme is as interesting as this one, but at its heart Red Steel is just another lever-pulling trawl through big rooms and S-shaped corridors.
How would you explain the glaring disparity in these two reviews?
I’m looking forward to your Red Steel 2 review…
How do you feel when someone like Charlie Brooker mocks Edge for its ‘turgid school-essay house style’, which he finds ‘300 times snootier than the Royal family’?
Do you ever feel frustrated by Edge’s strict adherence to anonymity? Are you, for example, ever miffed that you’re never directly credited for your reviews? Or does this free you to safely savage a game under the comforting cloak of secrecy?
Right, let’s rewind a few years. A fresh faced young Matthew graduates from Oxford University with a 1st in English Literature - can you talk us through your path from student to staff writer?
Were you a fan of Super Play, N64 and NGC before you started writing for NGamer?
If you weren’t a games journo what would you be?
Whatever happened to Mark Green? He seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet…
Did you ever have a ‘Eureka’ moment, an exact point in your life when you thought ‘I’m going to be a Videogames Journalist’?
What advice would you give to those people who want to write for a games magazine?
Which authors do you admire and which single person has had the biggest influence on you as a writer?
Which game provides the best single player experience of this generation?
And multiplayer?
Best new IP?
Best franchise?
Which console has the best controller?
What questions did you hate answering in this interview?
Can we expect to see you in the role of Editor at some point in the future?
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