Vitals: 40+, married, with children
Education: more than I need, less than I want.
Work: I've written for a host of publications both mainstream and gamer. I've written reviews, opinion pieces, regular columns -- but it's been many a year since you've seen my byline. Like a few of us, I made the leap from writing about the
thing to doing the
thing -- I went into game development. Since then I've worked on a number of titles, well-known, obscure, successful or disastrous -- often a combination. I have a different perspective on why game developers made certain decisions. I still love playing games, but have less time to play than ever. Writing reviews of games that interest me is a good way to make myself play, and I'll be reviewing from the perspective of a developer. Sadly, I need to review under a pseudonym -- wouldn't be great if I applied for a gig at Publisher X, and they looked less-than-kindly at some review I wrote of their latest disaster.
Platforms played: All the consoles, not so much the handhelds.
Genres played: RPG, MMORPG, action-adventure games.
Multiplayer or single-player: Yes.
My favorite Top 10 games ever played:
I'll approach this question as a personal one -- not the best games of all time type question -- because the truth is, old games don't stand up well to the test of time. While I loved the original
Baldur's Gate, it's a pretty unsophisticated game design compared to the types of RPGs being made today. These games all did something really interesting and memorable. So in no particular order:
The Old Games:
1.
Star Raiders
2.
Zork
3.
Wasteland
4.
Wizardry
5.
Bard's Tale
The Silver Age:
1.
Tomb Raider
2.
System Shock (the original, not the sequel)
3.
Resident Evil
4.
Wing Commander
5.
Myth
6.
MechWarrior 2
The Modern Era:
1.
Half-Life 2
2.
Lumines
3.
Ultima Online
4.
Resident Evil 4
5. Guitar Hero
6.
GTA 3
Overrated games: Doesn't mean I didn't like 'em -- just means that I thought the press loved 'em (you know who I'm talking about,
Mass Effect reviewers!) way more than the game deserved. Doesn't mean I did like 'em either:
1.
Halo
2.
Oblivion
3.
KOTOR
4.
BioShock
Games I'll probably buy next: Drake's Fortune, because my PS3 is so lonely;
Rock Band, because who doesn't wanna rock?
Mass Effect, because I still want to play a good RPG and secretly hope I'm wrong about BioWare's design sensibility as being overrated.
Games I'm looking forward to: GTA 4,
Army of Two, and of course,
MGS 4. Fallout in any flavor (RPG or MMO).