James Woodcock – Freelance Journalist

Index

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

James Woodcock, owner of Pixel Refresh. A UK based Freelance Journalist, Copywriter, Author, Blogger & Podcaster specialising in gaming, gadgets and technology both retro and modern.

Ever since he experienced the first controllable pixel movement on the television screen, he has been entranced by the possibilities and rewarding entertainment value generated from these metal and plastic boxes of delight. Writing hundreds of articles including commentary and reviews on various gaming platforms, while also interviewing well known industry figures for popular online publications.

FREELANCE JOURNALIST | 2002 – PRESENT

Self-employed Freelance Journalist employed by various companies and individuals since 2002.

  • Written articles, reviews and guides for various magazine and website publications both print and digital. Researching and understanding new areas to create content suitable for the client’s unique audience, setting a mood and atmosphere appropriate for the brand. Highlighting key strengths, delivering a message while providing interesting content in a recognisable style that connects with the reader.
  • Proofreading magazine and digital content, offering advice and suggestions for improvement and correcting errors in both punctuation and detail.
  • Managing social networking profiles and content – including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others to raise awareness of products, sales and overall brand. Also utilising social media to cover events and communicate directly with the community.
  • The creation of video content including reviews, promotional presentations, tutorials and demonstrations made available via YouTube, DVD and Blu-ray media. Undertaking the entire production process, including scripting, audio & video setup, operation & capture, location setup, lighting, presenting, narration, directing, editing and final publication.
  • Arranging guests, compiling questions, hosting, recording, editing and publishing audio and video podcasts on a variety of topics – both recorded & edited for later release or transmitted in a live setting to encourage audience interaction.
  • Utilising Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems – Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite including the latest versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition and Photoshop.

EXAMPLES OF MY WORK

I have a varied and wide selection of skills and below are a few highlights…

REVIEWS

ARTICLES

PODCAST HOSTING

Hosting, capturing, editing and publishing audio and video interviews as well as being a guest on podcasts on various websites. Arranging interviews by contacting various PR agencies and individuals directly.

RESEARCHER

Researcher for Retro Man Cave (RMC) – YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers, securing and scheduling interviews for his Retro Tea Break video interviews and writing the initial set of questions.

The interviews contributed to his book Retro Tea Breaks – Selected Interviews Vol. 1

VIDEO GAME MUSIC

Composing individual music tracks or complete soundtracks for mobile video games featuring an array of instrument voices and musical styles.

Example: Steve Jackson’s Sorcery – The Shamutanti Hills on iOS

PROMOTIONAL DVDs

Filming, editing and producing DVDs for Yamaha UK to help promote their latest keyboards and digital pianos. The DVDs have been featured for free on the front of independent Yamaha related magazines and distributed by local Yamaha dealers.

TUTORIAL DVDs

Filming, editing, producing and co-hosting numerous tutorial DVDs for Yamaha keyboard and digital piano enthusiasts who require step-by-step instruction for operating their musical instruments.

FREELANCE JOURNALISM

360Zine Magazine

Microsoft Xbox 360 online magazine. Featuring my blog and community articles as well as hosting audio interviews including Major Nelson (Microsoft’s Xbox Live Director of Programming – Larry Hryb).

Console Monster

Independent gaming website covering Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 news, reviews, previews and more. I have written numerous reviews and hosted and edited many of their podcasts, discussing the latest gaming related news and offering insights into many video game titles.

Fusion Magazine

FUSION Annual 2021 – 128 pages of hardback fun covering gaming – all types of gaming across Retro, Indie, Current, Handheld, Table Top and even games such as Flight Deck from the 1980s toy-box.

HGZine Magazine

Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS online magazine. Featuring my audio interviews with publishers and developers.

MSXbox-World

Independent gaming website specialising in Microsoft Xbox 360 coverage. I have written numerous reviews for this website over the years.

P3Zine Magazine

Sony PlayStation 3 online magazine. Featuring my audio interviews with publishers and developers.

Simulator World Magazine

Free German digital magazine covering rail, flight, farm and other types of simulators. Article creation and screenshot gathering with additional captions.

Tech Depot Blog UK (part of Viking Direct)

Technology blog provided by Tech Depot, part of Office Depot and Viking Direct. Tasked with launching a new blog to attract new visitors by highlighting the brand in articles, podcasts and videos as well as offering advice to potential buyers through written guides.

Also responsible of all of the social media including Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Google+ as well as maintaining the actual blog itself.

TESCO Magazine

Writing articles for an online magazine by TESCO covering the latest technology.

Train Sim Magazine

German based print and downloadable digital magazine covering rail simulators released bi-monthly (2 months). Article creation and screenshot gathering with additional captions.

The Yamaha Club Magazine

Subscription based bi-monthly Yamaha keyboard and digital keyboard enthusiast magazine. Various instructional and introduction articles as well as recording, editing and co-hosting tutorial disks on DVD video and advertisement trailers.

Also on occasion present online information regarding their website and my own Yamaha site at their annual prestigious event. I also created their current Yamaha Club website.

Xtreme Tech Blog UK

Technology blog that replaced Tech Depot Blog UK. Here I transferred all of the data to a new server and updated the theme to match the new store branding as well as continuing all my previous tasks as I did with the Tech Depot Blog UK website.

I also created articles and reviews for online websites including B4HD, Xbox Solution and Brit Xbox.

TESTIMONIALS

Here is a selection of testimonials I have received for my work…

Viking Direct

I have really appreciated everything that you have done for Tech Depot and Xtreme Tech over the 2 years that we have worked together. The quality of the blog and the posts that you put up on it were superb and really help to drive incremental traffic to the websites. I also felt that the way you handled our Twitter and Facebook accounts showed us in a very professional light and certainly allowed us to achieve things that we would certainly not been able to do on our own. I would like to wish you all the best for the future and hope that our paths cross again.

Gary Thompson – eCommerce Manager of Viking Direct

The Yamaha Club Magazine

James is a difficult act to follow because his honesty and integrity will be hard to match – and it’s these qualities, combined with an expert knowledge of Internet technology, that have played such a crucial part in YPKO’s success. Having just received another batch of letters complimenting Yamaha Club on the quality of its tutorial and promotional DVDs I thought I’d just drop you a line to say ‘thanks’ – because the success of these products is due every bit as much to your hard work and attention to detail during the filming and editing stages as to my (somewhat limited) knowledge of the instruments. It’s always a pleasure to work with you, James, because I can always rest assured that the finished product will be produced to the highest standard possible. The regular stream of positive comments we receive from our customers confirms this. Thank you… and here’s to the next!

Glyn Madden – Owner & Editor of The Yamaha Club Magazine

Train Sim Magazine

James has proved himself as a professional writer and talented editor, encompassing profound knowledge of all issues around Train Simulation. Combined with an impressive sense for visual implementation, this makes him a popular author when creating substantial contributions. Besides providing quality, he also fulfils another important area… He is always on time!

Frank Moellenhof – Publisher & Editor in Chief of Train Sim Magazine

Lee Jackson

I’d just like to say thank you for hooking me up with an interview with Neil. He was a most gracious host and was very easy to work with as an interviewer. I’d also like to thank you for your organizational skills – at no point during the process did I feel lost or left out of the project. I am very grateful for your assistance.

Lee Jackson – Music composer of Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad and other classic games

MSXbox-World

James is amongst the most honest, reliable and professional people we have been fortunate enough to work with at msxbox-world. James has always shown a great attention to detail and produced high quality and unbiased content within a timely manner. It’s always been a privilege to work with James and all of us at msxbox-world wish James every success with his endeavours and hope to continue work with him more in the future wherever possible.

Adrian Ricketts – Owner & Editor of MSXbox-World

DVD Production Feedback

The ‘Close-up with Tyros4’ DVD is perfect for the job. I think the production is first class, Richard’s performance in live mode is excellent (as is the camera work) and the overlays are most helpful in showing the viewer which part of the instrument Richard is using. All in all an excellent production…

Joseph Nicholson – Regarding Yamaha Tyros4 Keyboard DVD I produced commissioned by Yamaha UK

Thank you for the Yamaha Club DVDs which I have found excellent in both quality and presentation.

James Rees – Regarding the Yamaha Tutorial DVDs I produced for the Yamaha Club Magazine

WEBSITE: PIXEL REFRESH: 2006 – PRESENT

Founded originally in 2006 as jameswoodcock.co.uk to discuss gaming, gadgets & technology. In 2021, the website was rebranded to Pixel Refresh to better reflect the content of the website.

WEBSITE: YAMAHA PERSONAL KEYBOARD OWNER: 2004 – 2011

I owned and operated a website called Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner, which offered information for enthusiasts regarding Yamaha keyboards and digital pianos. The site was lovingly nicknamed YPKO by the community for convenience.

In 2004 I purchased the Yamaha Tyros (1) and this fine instrument inspired me to create an online treasure trove where enthusiasts could share and discuss their love for Yamaha instruments and music in general. After two months of development, on December 21st 2004, Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner officially opened and slowly began to gain pace as a new resource for keyboard and digital piano enthusiasts. Six months on I realised that there were some imperfections with my original design and there was a need to extend the content and features of the site to satisfy the ever increasing community.

In a meeting with Glyn Madden from the Yamaha Club Magazine, another independent resource based in the United Kingdom, we discussed our common goals and how best to achieve them together while remaining independent. This resulted in extensive changes to my site to facilitate a discussion area that I would host and moderate, replacing the Yamaha Club’s own discussion forum allowing for members of both sites to co-exist with their common interest rather than our two identities competing with each other. With this new arrangement and all the other extra features I wished to facilitate, the development lasted three months.

October 1st 2005, Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner re-launched with a brand new logo and design, navigation system and the announcement of our new relationship with the Yamaha Club. Hosting their discussion forum where all the members interacted and exchanged thoughts and ideas together in a single place.

Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner evolution

I owned and operated Yamaha Personal Keyboard Owner in my own time as an independent venture with very little help. Yamaha Corporation did ‘not’ control content or own any share of this website, however I still enjoyed a very rewarding co-operation with Yamaha UK and worldwide, helping to obtain official information regarding their product catalogue, future update exclusives, access to early demonstration models, important news and interview features.

…you have created such a wonderful community with your website and it has been so exciting to visit on a daily basis and particularly to receive such valuable advice from so many people and giving us the opportunity to perform our music to one another. I wish there could have been a way to make it viable for you to continue, this is going to be a huge loss to us all. So, thank you so much for your time and the immense pleasure you have given with YPKO and I hope you can persuade your friends to provide similar content as your ideas for each section have been brilliant. Good luck with everything and I wish you a very successful future with your own website.

Susie Drage – Member of my YPKO website

Statistic Highlights

  • Nearly 12,000 members
  • 34 million page views
  • Over 300,000 forum posts

Further Reading:

WEBSITE: XBOXRULES.COM: 2002 – 2005

XboxRules.com

In 2002 I launched XboxRules.com. A Microsoft Xbox dedicated website, which enjoyed great support from the industry and its own membership of 10,000 registered members. It was a pleasure to operate as it only initially started out as a hobby, evolving into a thriving community. With a group of dedicated hard working staff, voluntarily giving up their own free time to submit news, reviews and other media, this helped bring XboxRules.com to millions of visitors in its active years.

Building relationships with many publishers, developers and PR agencies to secure review code, preview code to run on debug console units and other news content.

It was a very hard decision to close XboxRules.com down, but with so many factors working against myself and the staff, it was time to call it a day, so we could all move on and take with us a fantastic experience that we will never forget.

More information can be found here: XboxRules.com Items of Interest

WEBSITE: GAMING ATTITUDE: 2000 – 2002

GALogo1_1.jpg

My first ever fully functioning website that gave inspiration for future websites. It was very limited as I was only just beginning to learn my online craft – however it still featured news, reviews, previews and even a discussion forum.

A multi-platform website that covered various gaming platforms including PC, Sony PlayStation, SEGA Dreamcast and even handhelds of the time. It became clear that this ‘multi-platform’ approach was the wrong direction as it was very intense to cover every platform, so I then decided after purchasing the Microsoft Xbox, to create a dedicated website as I really loved the features the console brought to the gaming space.