Tom Francis Pwns Words

August 17th, 2008 · 32 Comments · Gaming

Tom Francis, of PC Gamer UK and Pentadact, is a finalist for the Games Media Awards for Best Specialist Games Writer - Print. Congrats, Tom Francis! It couldn’t have happened to a more talented, clever, deserving Tom Francis.

My first exposure to the writing of Tom (Francis), that I’m aware of, was his Oblivion review in PC Gamer UK in 2006. I’d heard some good things about Oblivion, and some bad, but I honestly didn’t think I’d actually buy it. I’m generally not into the whole swords and scorcery scene in games. On my lunch break one day, I’d gone to a shopping mall to pick up the latest issue of the magazine. I was flipping through it on the way back to my car, and saw Tom’s Oblivion review. I read it right there in the parking lot, then walked straight back into the mall and bought Oblivion, which has become one of my favorite games of all time and the inspiration for that blog I never update.

Tom made an interesting choice with that review — instead of writing in broad terms about the game, he actually described several of the side quests in detail, almost like a journal. Sure, they were spoilers for those quests, but they painted such a vivid picture of the game that a more general overview, the kind you find in most game reviews, ever would. I think it was a pretty bold choice of his to present the review that way, but I daresay it paid off — it says something that I even remember a single game review from almost three years ago.

And that holds true for his writing in general. It stands out. It’s creative. It’s memorable. With our mutual fondness for TF2, he and I often cover the same topics on our blogs, but whenever I read his take on things, I feel like a rank amateur (which, technically, I am). I think, “Dang. Why didn’t I write it like that?” And then I curse his name and pray for the worst punishment I can imagine: someone replacing his QWERTY keyboard with with a DVORAK, rendering him incapable of intelligible communication with the internet.

If you’d like to vote for Tom, and believe me, you do, you can cast your votes by e-mailing the GMA at the address provided here.

Tags: jgpo. frg yrm upabjco

32 responses so far ↓

1 Alexander // Aug 17, 2008 at 9:58 am

Definitely voting for him. He almost has more of a way with words than you…
2 Nonomu198 // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:02 am

Tom Francis rocks.
3 Draco_2k // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:04 am

Yaehgn dfu whg dgn.
4 Trid3nt // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:21 am

I remember that article! I Kept on dismissing Oblivion as stupid RPG crap, then I read the review. I bought the game, and even now, I’m trying to install the game into this goddam computer AND IT WON’T WORK *crawls into the foetal position and sucks thumb*
5 Lack_26 // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:25 am

He deserves it utterly, I’ve already given him my vote. Although he is playing spore right now, so he’s got a bit of a reward.
6 Killa-Ewok // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:27 am

Oh, Gordon Frohman and those pesky DVORAK boards.
7 AlphaHawk // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:43 am

DVORAKs. Feh.
8 poptart_fairy // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:52 am

Wait, wait, wait, Chris is in England? I always thought he was a Yank.

D:

Good thing to hear about Tom though - I’ve been in love with the PCG folk ever since I got their autographs in Bath. My fanboi status was assured from that moment on.
9 J. D. Harper // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:18 am

Is there a copy of that oblivion review online somewhere? I’d love to read it.
10 Tom Francis // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:18 am

Gosh, well, I say, really. Thank you very much, sir. I will now have no excuse when I inevitably lose, deepening the humiliation. I hope they make me do it in person.
11 Killa-Ewok // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:24 am

http://www.hlcomic.com/comics/concerned192.jpg

Reference noted. No need to thank me.
12 Trid3nt // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:25 am

It might be on the PCGamer website in an archive, but otherwise, I know not.
13 Major McMuffin // Aug 17, 2008 at 12:40 pm

I think I remember that review, it was well written.
14 J-man // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Yeah, I’m an avid reader of Mr.Francis and his blog, and I must say, his writing is of an incredible standard.
15 Mr. Brit // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Technically, PC Gamer launched in 1993 in the UK and 1994 in the US. Thus PC Gamer UK is just regular PC Gamer and PC Gamer US is a rip-off much like ‘The Office US’ (seriously, wtf).
Coming soon; ‘The league of American Gentlemen’, ‘American Extras’, ‘Fawlty Ranch’ and ‘Monty Python US’
16 Mr. Brit // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Oh, and kudos Tom Francis
17 Dave // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm

I still consider one of my favorite pieces of game writing to be Tom Francis’ GalCiv II war diary, chronicling the struggles of his fierce but puny race, the Bongolians. It’s just brilliantly witty, and every time I read it, it pushes me a bit closer to actually buying the damn game.
18 Soundwave // Aug 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm

How ironic, you’re the reason why I bought Oblivion. I guess I should vote for him as a bit of gratitude.
19 Eother // Aug 17, 2008 at 2:14 pm

@Mr. Brit

You are, of course, aware that the US version of the Office has completely different scripts from the UK version, and has succeeded on it’s own, rather than simply redoing everything the UK version did? I, personally, prefer it.

Anyway, I just voted for that guy. His stuff is awesome. I like his story on OMGWTFBBQ. It’s epic.
20 Newt Pulsifer // Aug 17, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Pentadact owns!!
Make sure you don’t miss his post about the “gnome quest” on ep2 :D
21 Chijts // Aug 17, 2008 at 2:26 pm

His GalCiv 2 article also made me want to play it. I downloaded the demo and it wasn’t nearly as fun as Pentaduct made it. Damn you lack of imagination!!
22 Mr. Brit // Aug 17, 2008 at 2:41 pm

@19, ok, maybe it’s just because I don’t like Steve Carrol.
23 Mr. Brit // Aug 17, 2008 at 3:40 pm

I mean carell
24 rammingspeed42 // Aug 17, 2008 at 3:42 pm

Does your tag say “Curse you Tom Francis”?
25 Newt Pulsifer // Aug 17, 2008 at 4:05 pm

@24
It does, apparently… if you use a conventional dvorak and type as you would on a qwerty.
26 blackberry829 // Aug 17, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Speaking of Livin’ In Oblivion, are you going to update it soon? You DID say you wanted something else to do, and Livin’ In Oblivion isn’t a comic.
27 Soundwave // Aug 17, 2008 at 4:38 pm

Wow. Best use of tags ever.
28 Mr. Brit // Aug 17, 2008 at 5:47 pm

@26, but what if?
29 Cpt. Falcon // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:22 pm

@24 & 25:

DAMN! I came so close with “Cups. You Tom Francis.”
I didn’t think to translate the punctuation.
Boy I wasted too much time on that.
30 Bootsie_B // Aug 17, 2008 at 11:51 pm

@29
That’s… pretty sad.
31 Bootsie_B // Aug 18, 2008 at 12:00 am

Oh, and Chris: it’s spelt SORCERY.
32 Heisteflafe // Jan 19, 2009 at 6:29 pm

I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too…

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