Vitals: 32, taken (sorry, ladies)

Education: B.A. in Liberal Studies from California State University East Bay with an option in Early Childhood Development. He is currently working on getting his teaching credentials.

Publications: Phil has been writing about videogames for over 11 years. He started as a Contributing Editor for Electronic Gaming Monthly and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. After that, he wrote strategy guides for Expert Gamer, and became a reviews editor when that magazine evolved into GameNOW. From there, he moved on to GameSpy. Currently, he is a co-host on the Player One Podcast.

Platforms played: All the current consoles and handheld systems. I haven't played many PC games ever since games like Myst killed games like Day of the Tentacle. As a fan of classic gaming, I still have all of my old systems hooked up, too (along with a near-complete NES collection).

Genres played: Platformers, mostly. I'm also a big fan of retro games and goofy Japanese titles. I'd enjoy RPGs more if I had the time to sit down and play a game for 80 hours.

Multiplayer or single-player: Single-player. I've never been much of a competitive gamer.

My favorite Top 10 games ever played:

1) Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2 (SNES)
2) Mega Man 2 (NES)
3) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
4) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
5) Super Metroid (SNES)
6) Gitaroo Man (PS2)
7) Katamari Damacy (PS2)
8) The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES)
9) Mario's Super Picross (Super Famicom)
10) Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade)

When making this list, I tried to avoid putting multiple games from the same series on it. Same with compilations -- but feel free to imagine that Super Mario All-Stars and Mega Man Anniversary Collection are right at the top.

What makes me tick: Squirt, carnival food, TV shows on DVD, 'The Complete Peanuts,' my lovely lady and our cat.