Q: Why did you stop sending Virtual Console notifications?
A: Because there was an issue in my original design of the script. The subscribers have gotten to be too many, and so my host's SMTP server was being saturated with connections, causing the script to abort. The next time the script was scheduled to run, it would start from the beginning, meaning anyone at the start of the list would be mailed again. This repeated several times, so many people got the notifications up to seven times. Only two people informed me that this was happening, and my own Wii only ever received a single copy of the messages. Rather than fix it, which would be quite trivial, I just disabled it.
Q: Why did you stop sending Game Release notifications?
A: This script was designed much more robustly, however, it is a lot of work to keep on top of game release dates when you're a lone person working on it. Release dates change monthly, weekly, even daily, and sometimes release dates get pushed back even after the company announces that a product has already been shipped. It's just too much. It's the most terrible idea I've ever had for a site, work load-wise, and I've had enough. When the opportunity to end release date tracking presented itself (via the Nintendo Channel, which includes release dates), I took it.
Q: Why don't you just sell the site to someone with more free time/dedication to the cause?
A: How much are you offering?
Q: Why didn't you just hire on someone to help out?
A: I don't have money to pay anyone, and in the entire lifespan of the Wiisels.com website, nobody has ever inquired about helping out or joining up, paid or for free. Besides that, I have such high standards for myself, it'd be tough to find someone else like me, who pays attention to such details. Not that I didn't ask for help; I did, it just never came.
Q: Couldn't you pay someone with money you made from this site?
A: HAHAHAHA. If I made any money from this site, maybe. But we haven't ever received a donation, and there are no advertisements on the site. Although, somehow, if we had intrusive ads, I think we'd get more traffic and more respect from other sites. If you're a pro, you must have ads - it's sad.
Q: You lie! What about the Amazon referral links?
A: Oh yeah, two people used those, so I have fifty-three cents stored up in the Amazon referral account. I'm taking that money, grabbing a jet to Paris, and livin' it up in France! Cya, suckers!
Q: So what happens to Wiisels.com now?
A: Well, the plan so far is to just continue on with (read: resume) writing articles and reviews, and eventually posting exciting news. Certainly not every single detail of everything that goes on, but major, or important news (as deemed worthy by me). I'll probably have one or two other people writing content for the site as well, in time, so long as they get by my stringent standards and someone shows some kind of interest. Also, I will be adding a feature to recommend pricepoints for Wii games - based on my own algorithm, I'll calculate what the best value for a game is. You'll see!
Q: So it's just going to be another Wii blog? Don't we have enough of them?
A: No, it won't be a blog. I use my own software that I code by hand. I don't like using pre-made sites, and hacking on someone else's code is something I do all day long - the last thing I want to do is the same thing in my free time. And for the record, not all blogs are bad, but there are definitely too many - and way too many big and popular ones, at that.
Q: So why should we care about your reviews or articles? Who are you to tell me what to think?
A: Well, for starters, I am not paid off by anyone to write glowing reviews of shitty games like Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast and Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. I am a gamer, just like you, and I tell it like it is. I happen to have no other real hobbies outside of gaming, so I end up picking up far more games than I should. I've played a lot, and I know what is garbage and what isn't. I'm not going to give a game praise unless it deserves it. I'm not brainwashed by Nintendo or third parties and the free lunches they give the other, bigger site editors. I have yet to receive a single review copy of a game. I'm not bitter; in fact, I think it makes me a better, more fair reviewer. That fact should also help earn your trust - if I waste my money on some trash heap of a game like Chicken Shoot, the last thing you want is to do the same thing - so I will warn you. Besides all of that, I try to be consistent in my quality, and clear, and comprehensive in my coverage. My reviews might come a little later than the big guys, but remember, I get them the same day as the rest of the world, and I don't like to put five or six hours into a game and then spout my opinions. I generally do my best to finish each game I review, before I review them. Occasionally I may not get all the way to the end, either because the game is punishingly difficult, or absolutely terrible/impossible to control, but if I've put enough time into it to score it fairly, I'll do it reluctantly. In cases where I really hate a game AND don't play it enough to give a decent review, such as is the case with Mario Strikers Charged, then I just won't write a review. It wouldn't be fair.
Q: So you're a hardcore gamer - is that really fair to the casual audience, then?
A: Actually, I'm not a hardcore gamer. I'm not a casual gamer either. I'm somewhere in the middle. Some people might call it "casucore", or "hardual", or even just "gamer". However, the correct term is "softcore". I am a softcore gamer. I can appreciate most games, if they're fun. Yet, I expect more from a game than a few puzzles with difficulty levels fit for pre-schoolers (especially when they're supposedly making you think and making you smarter).
Q: Your artwork is terrible!
A: That's not a question! Shut your mouth, or Maximus will bite your ear off!