Contact

A quick word about who I am. Or rather, who I am not. I am not a games journalist. Or a science journalist. I’m merely a guy who knows a heck of a lot about science and games and likes writing about them because I’m passionately interested in both. So if you want to contact me I’d like you to keep the following in mind:

  • My science posts are intended for a general audience. I have the technical qualifications of a scientist although I’m not engaged in any active research, and aside from my thesis subject my knowledge of most areas, while robust, is by no means comprehensive. If there’s something you think is missing from a post on a particular subject that’s probably because I was trying to keep it simple; I’ve been at this for a while now and I have a pretty good idea of what people will understand and what will make them go “Buh?” If there’s something you think is wrong, however, that’s more than likely because one of us has misunderstood it, and if you’re a specialist in whatever I’m talking about it’s probably going to be me. Feel free to take it up with me in the comments or shoot me an email at the address below.
  • I’m not going to repost press releases or post about news or previews of upcoming games. Similarly I am not going to publicise any Kickstarters or other similar projects. It’s a simple matter of numbers, really; with roughly fifteen gajillion games in development at any one time there’s no real reason why I should talk about yours specifically unless I’m actually holding a copy of it in my hands. And speaking of numbers, you should believe me when I say that with this site’s reader numbers there are much better ways to get the word out about your game than trying to coax me into posting about it.
  • If you want to send me a review copy of your game(s) that’s a different matter. I can’t guarantee I’ll actually review it, but I’ll at least try it and if I particularly like it (or dislike it) I’ll talk about why on the blog. If you’re comfortable with that then fire away.
  • If you want to commission me to write something for you freelance then please go right ahead and contact me with the details of what you want done, and if it’s something I think I can write about then it’s very likely we’ll be able to work something out.

Anything else not covered on this list, well, it can’t hurt to sling an email my way. My address is hentzau@scientificgamer.com

19 thoughts on “Contact

  1. Joe says:

    I’ve been enjoying your posts recently, since looking for info on Endless Space led me here, and thought I’d bring a hidden gem of a game to your attention.

    It’s called Startopia. An odd little space station building game where you manage resources and achieve objectives all while managing the business and entertainment of a bunch of aliens.

    I just figured I’d mention it as I think you’d really like it.

    • Hentzau says:

      Startopia! I actually bought a copy of that for £3 from HMV back in 2002 (which tells you a lot about how successful it was commercially) and I thought it was really good; the only thing stopping me from writing about it now is the fact that my old copy no longer works and I’m not quite invested enough in the idea of a replay to fork out for the GoG version just yet. It’ll probably happen soon, though.

  2. Ironhead says:

    This morning I thought why there is so hard to find goodwritten in-depth and unbiased sort of review on any game. And in the evening the Eador review link brings me to your site. It is not that I really need such reviews, I can see it for myself if needed. But it is such a pleasure to read your thoughts that places everything you thought in a perfect order. You are awesome, keep the good work. Sorry if my english lacks something in it.

  3. Matias Mogni says:

    I just found out about this website yesterday on the RPS forums. Man, i’ve been missing out. Gaming AND science, all in one site? Sign me up!

    Cheers from Argentina! And keep up the good work. I know i’ll be visiting everyday to see what’s new.

  4. Tom says:

    I love your site. I got some inspired ideas from TomsHardware and ran through the various game review sites. Yours came across as one of the most professional and interesting. Please do not stop what you are doing.

    • Hentzau says:

      Thanks for the positive feedback! It’s been a little slow over the last couple of weeks for one reason or another, but I haven’t given up yet and hope to get back on track (more-or-less) very soon.

  5. Aesir says:

    Found a link to one of your articles completely by accident and, since I spent a lot of time at airports this weekend, basically flew through most of your archives for 2012 and 2013. It’s depressingly rare that you find reviews of such depth and insight, and I absolutely love your writing style. Added benefit is that I have always been fascinated by physics, but never gifted with enough of an aptitude to actually get into the field, so those articles are a huge bonus. In short – consider me subscribed, and keep it up!

  6. jirishus says:

    I found this site about 2 weeks ago and now check the site daily. I like the simplicity of the site, which is why i like kotaku so much, and enjoy the excellent writing. Oh, by the way, it looks like your avatar is from that game “The Dig” which absolutely amazed me as a teenager. Cheers!

  7. Chris says:

    Are there any games that you’ve seen that are truly outstanding 4X type games? Right now, Age of Wonders 3 is about to be released, and I suspect that it will consume quite a bit of my time (assuming its good).

    Ideal game:
    - Alpha Centauri-like but with modern graphics
    - In depth factions
    - Terraformable world
    - Tech tree that was thought out (and other things like secret projects)
    - Rich atmosphere (if you get what I mean)
    - Bonus: Thought provoking (which the game was in many ways – contrast this with Stardock, where Wardell seems to want to promote his American right wing libertarian agenda, but does a very poor job at it)

    Addresses shortcomings of SMAC
    - Better tactical combat
    - Better unit designer
    - Certain areas needed work (ex: AI could enter your territory but you cannot enter their territory)
    - Good AI
    - Graphics competitive with modern games

    Are there any 4X games like this? I guess good gameplay trumps good graphics, but even allowing for that, are there any games? It can be fantasy, space, planet, etc.

    • Hentzau says:

      Ah yes, unfortunately this game does not exist to my knowledge. The 4X genre has for many years consisted of developers swinging at the SMAC/Master of Orion/Master of Magic pinata and missing completely, and there’s nothing that’s recaptured their magic, let alone advanced the genre.

      One game you *might* try, if you haven’t already, is the original Sword of the Stars (stay away from the sequel). It has a decent unit designer, decent tech tree and races that play very differently, as well as a universe with lots of weird and wonderful random events that can kill you. The flipside is that while the developers came up with a rich and detailed backstory for their races, precisely none of it is in the game itself, resulting in an empire map that’s somewhat sterile and disappointing. Still, you can pick it up for pennies on Steam next time a sale comes around.

  8. Chris says:

    Hi Hentzau,

    Yeah I do play SOTS 1 quite a bit. There’s actually a pretty big mod still being developed for it right now. It’s not perfect but it’s a pretty decent game overall.

    There is one other thing that I would like to see. Each faction is very different from the other. Starcraft, although an RTS game (apples to oranges comparison here), is an example of where Protoss-Terran-Zerg were very different. Alpha Centauri I suppose, the sheer richness of the storyline helped distinguish the factions, but I would have liked to see this reflected in tech trees and units.

    You may be right that there is no perfect game out there. What’s always a shock to me is that it seems like the genre itself has stagnated.

    Sadly, there are fanboy communities around. I’ve been looking for an objective community. SOTS2 has a very, very fanatical fanboy community where well – in their eyes, Kerberos can do no wrong literally. There is also a very loyal Stardock community, in whose eyes, Brad Wardell can do no wrong. To them, GC2 is the greatest space 4X game and Elemental: LH is the best fantasy 4X.

    Others are more honest – like yourself. There’s also Total War Center, which has been very critical of Creative Assembly since the release of Rome 2: Total War (I think you made a review of the game, but yeah it did suck).

    Increasingly, I get the impression that the games industry itself is stagnant. There hasn’t been a revolutionary game in a while. We’ve seen incremental improvements in graphics, but often many newer games seem to be shallow or they seem like their development was rushed. 64 bit gaming might bring some incremental improvements here and there, but I don’t see anything revolutionary happening any time soon. It begs the question, have we hit a sort of peak?

    Regards,

    Chris

  9. Chris says:

    (I think you made a review of the game, but yeah it did suck).

    I was referring to the game itself – Rome 2, not your review, which was one of the few that was honest about the state of the game. What shocked me about this game was that it was not an incremental improvement over Shogun 2 but a step back in so many ways.

  10. When you get a notifing mail the main link leads to http://scientificgamer.com/blog/

    But this page does not exist

    Mystery

  11. Babarian says:

    Sadly it seems this blog has been abandoned – a shame. You really wrote some outstanding content and I enjoyed reading through your blog. I hope you have the chance to pick it up again someday!

    • RustyJ says:

      This^ I really enjoyed reading this blog weekly, and am still hopeful one day it’ll return.

    • Hentzau says:

      Not quite abandoned, just on a very long hiatus while I sorted out some personal stuff — and after six years I think I needed a bit of a break to recharge the writing batteries. I’ve found I really do miss it, though, so I’ll be slowly picking it back up again over the coming weeks.

      P.S. I have traditionally been quite bad at responding to comments, but it was very nice to log back in after five months away to have the first thing that greeted me be this one. Thanks very much!

      • Babarian says:

        A pleasure, as I said I really think this blog is first class, and I’m not only saying that because your taste in gaming is almost similar to mine. I enjoy your thoughtful analysis combined with a very good writing style and what seems to be a deep and genuine appreciation of video game history (something sorely lacking in professional gaming journalism today).

        Delighted to have discovered a new article on your blog today. Hope you can keep it up, I will be checking for updates regularly.

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